The Big Vase

      

“I am glad that you have not forgotten me. Meeting an old friend after 14 years is really a moment to be cherished,” Pratham said lounging on the sofa of Siddharth’s home.

“It is the first meeting planned by us after the accidental meet in the Central Mall a week back,” Siddharth said.

“Yeah”

“How had been the last 14 years of your life?”

“Good. After completing my schooling, I studied medical in AIIMS and you see, I am an orthopaedic now. How had been the last 14 years of your life?”

“Everything had been good except for those memories which I would never like to recount,” Siddharth’s face turned pale as he said.

“Which memories are you talking about?”

Siddharth started narrating the story:

Well, you know that my dad had been transferred to Dehradun after we had completed class seven. I had to move with my family to Dehradun and that was the last time we met. With a heavy heart, I bid all the people here a last goodbye as I got into the cab that drove us to the Guwahati Airport. After few hours, we were in Dehradun Airport. We were greeted by representatives from dad’s company and a car has been arranged for us to drop us to our new house.

After a 40 minutes drive from the airport, we were finally in front of our new house. Our new house was a one storey bungalow painted with brown and yellow. The scenic beauty of the place mesmerized us. It was located on a hill top and it provided a great view of Dehradun. There were thick woods around the house. The place was sparsely populated and we had just few neighbours.

 We had a lot of work to do to remove the dust accumulated over the years. The first month had been very hectic for the entire family. After 20 days of our arrival, I and my younger brother joined our new school. My class 8 and Ankit’s class 4 classes started respectively. With the passing of time, I got adjusted here and I developed a liking for this place. My parents had been busy the entire month renovating the new house. It was on a Sunday evening, that we went to a home decor shop to buy decorative artifacts for our home. We were in the shop when mom’s eyes suddenly fell on a big vase that had been showcased for customers. The beauty of the Vase fascinated her as she urged dad to buy it. It was a navy blue vase beautifully decorated with black patterns. It was about the height of my shoulder then. A jolt passed down me as I saw the Vase, the reason for which I did not know.

“This vase is a great piece of art. How much will it cost?” dad asked the manager of the shop.

“It is made by our own skilled carpenters. It will cost 20,000 rupees.”

“Don’t you think it’s too much?”

“Such a vase deserve this price, Sir”

“Okay. I am ready to buy it. Kindly pack it.”

“Okay, Sir.”

We returned home that night along with the vase. The vase was showcased in the drawing room.

I had developed many friends and got to know the people here well. After the completion of our one month stay in Dehradun, guests like our neighbours and dad’s colleagues started coming at our house. There had not been a single guest who did not admire the beauty the Vase. It surely added to the beauty of our home.

By the time, our three months were over in Dehradun, we all faced some unusual occurences. All of us had strange and horrifying nightmares that would wake us sweating. The pictures of the nightmares were not vivid and by the time it was morning, we did not remember anything. None of us shared anything about it with each other. It was after one week since our nightmares started that we were having our dinner together in the dining room. Then we spoke about the nightmares with each other for the first time.

“Since last one week, I had been experiencing some strange and horrifying nightmares because of which my sleep is not complete,” mom told.

“What! Even you!” dad exclaimed with astonishment.

“What do you mean by even me?”

“I too have been having some strange and horrifying dreams just like you.”

“Even I,” me and Ankit spoke at the same time as dad finished his words.

“That means, we all have been having same types of nightmares. That’s rather strange. Because of these nightmares I always feel clumsy and I was scolded by the boss two days back for taking a nap during working hours,” dad said.

“I hope these nightmares stop soon,” mom said.

We all returned back to our rooms after that. That night, we slept with the hope that the nightmares would finally stop. The next day was a Sunday. That night we had the sleep of our lives that we had longed for from the last few days. We woke up late the next morning and gladly informed others that our nightmares had finally stopped. But this was just the beginning of the terrors that we were least expected.

It was six days after that, that all of us were fast asleep at night. But we were awakened by a loud shout by my brother. I startled. I switched on the lights of our room and mom and dad too arrived at the scene. We saw him trembling in fear and tears rolled down from his eyes. Mom clutched him.

“I-I saw s-ome-thing. I saw the shadow of a man on the floor when I got down from the bed to go toilet,” he spoke in terror.

“That’s why you should sleep early and stop watching that TV show about the supernatural and spirits at 11P.M. It is because of these reasons that you had an illusion tonight, mom said.

“But it was not il……..” Ankit was interrupted in between by dad.

“Keep quiet. You are not allowed to watch that weird TV show anymore. You will go to bed at 10 P.M. from tomorrow,” dad said in a harsh voice.

Soon they left the room. Ankit was furious that he was condemned from watching his favourite TV show and that mom and dad did not believe him. “They never believe me. I am sure that it was not an illusion,” I heard him whisper. I switched off the lights as we continued our sleep. I believed him as I too felt that it was more than just an illusion. Not believing in what he said was the greatest mistake of our lives. We did not know that the next day was going to be his last day on Earth.

Our room in the first floor had a large French window that opened to the balcony.

The next night, I had a sound sleep. We were unaware of what our eyes were about to behold that night. I felt thirsty in the middle of the night because of which my eyes opened. I was in a state between sleep and consciousness. In that moment, I saw the shadow of a boy on the balcony and the very next moment I went to sleep once again. After a few seconds I woke up because of a loud sound that came from the ground. The sound was as if someone had fallen from top. Even my parents heard it but they did not pay attention to it and went to sleep once again. I got down from the bed and I was startled to find that Ankit was not there. My heart started beating fast and sweat poured down from my forehead. I found that the window was open. I walked through it to the balcony. When I peeked down from the balcony, I let out a loud scream for I could not believe what my eyes had witnessed. My parents woke up and rushed to our room. We saw him lying on the ground and blood was pouring down from his head. We rushed to the spot below our balcony. We found that there was still some life in him. We could not wait for the ambulance to come and we drove towards the hospital in our own car. But Ankit breathed his last in the car. 

He was taken to the cremation ground and he was burned as the last rites were done. After inspection by the police, it was confirmed to be an accidental fall. Our lives lost color after that dreadful incident and the health condition of mom started deteriorating. It was not possible for anyone of us to digest the truth that the youngest member of the family was no more. This was the first death in the family. Two weeks later we were about to face another tragedy.

We started having dreadful nightmares. We even saw Ankit in our dreams. Whenever I looked at the bed beside mine, tears rolled down my eyes. I did not believe that Ankit’s death was due to an accidental fall unlike my parents and others. I started suspecting that whatever has been our condition, it is because of the Vase and that it is possessed by a spirit.

Mom usually gets up early for preparing breakfast for us. It was a week later that mom had got up early morning as usual for preparing breakfast at 5:30 P.M. Just then, dad and I woke up as we heard a loud scream coming from the drawing room.

Startled, dad and I rushed to the drawing room to find mom frozen on the spot. She was gazing towards the big blue Vase and I saw terror in her eyes. She was shaking and sweat poured down from her forehead. We took her to the bedroom and rested her there. We felt that her body was warm, so we checked her temperature and found that she had high fever. We called a doctor to check her. She behaved abnormally and screamed at nights. No doctor could specify a particular reason for her condition. It had been six days but there was not the slightest sign of recovery. It was on the seventh day, that dad and I were in the room taking care of mom. We observed that she was trying to speak something but couldn’t. Finally she spoke. “The Vase is possessed by a spirit. This condition of ours has been because of that spirit,” was what we heard her say before she breathed her last. It was intolerable for us to bear the death of Ankit and then mom. Now were convinced that the Vase was not an ordinary Vase. After the last rites were done, dad broke the Vase into a thousand pieces and threw the trash. It was our misconception that we were safe now.

After throwing the Vase, we started having terrifying nightmares. These nightmares were even more terrifying than the nightmares we had before. We could not wink for a second. We felt creepy wherever we were. Dad and I had similar nightmares in which we saw that a formless spirit was furious at us for throwing the Vase.

A few days later instead of coming through the school bus, I came with my dad. As we reached home, he unlocked the door. As we pushed open the door, we were terror-struck to find the navy blue Vase in the drawing room in its original form. A chill ran down our spine and our mouths went dry. We then knew that we can’t get rid of that spirit so easily.

Instead of entering the house, we drove to the store from where we bought the Vase. Dad entered the store furiously and dragged the owner by its collar.

“You have not done right by lying us. It is because of you that my wife and younger son is no more. How did you dare to give us that Vase,” dad told the owner furiously.

“What are you talking about Sir?” the owner asked.

“Don’t act innocent!”

“Sir, the Vase was provided to me by my friend few months before you had bought it. I felt that the beauty of the Vase would attract customers, so I put it up in my store.”

“That means you really don’t know anything about the Vase”

“No Sir. But my friend told me that he had found the Vase on the banks of the Ganga in Dehradun. There he was resisted by an old man named Mahesh from talking it. The old man claimed that the Vase is possessed by a spirit.”

“Where can I find him?”

“I don’t know Sir.”

“Okay, thank you for the information provided and sorry for what I did with you.”

We left the store and ventured out in search of the old man. We searched him primarily in the places located on the banks of the river Ganga. Finally someone informed us that he knows where the man we were searching for is and directed us the way. We drove according to the way directed by the man. Finally we came across a hut built with mud and twigs on the banks of Ganga. We got down from the car and walked to the door and knocked it. Someone opened the door and there was an old man of about 70 years in front of us.

“Who are you? What do you want?” the old man asked.

“I am Rajiv and he is my son Siddharth. Our house had been possessed by a spirit after we had bought the blue Vase. My wife and younger son have lost their lives because of the spirit. We have heard that you know how to get rid of the spirit, so we need your help,” dad said.

“Okay, you may come in.”

We entered the hut.

“There is a story related with the spirit,” the old man said.

“What story?” I asked inquisitively.

Once here, lived a man named Ratan. He belonged to the family of a very rich businessman. He had a childhood friend named Ramesh. When he grew up, Ratan took over the business of his dad. Once when he saw his friend Ramesh begging in the streets, he felt pity for him. He donated a part of his property to Ramesh and helped him in starting a business. Later, Ramesh’s business flourished and he was almost as rich as Ratan. But Ramesh was not satisfied with he had and started carrying out illegal activities to gain wealth. His eyes were also on his friend’s wealth. It was the day of 18th June, 1955 when Ratan thought of visiting his friend. That day he knew the real side of his friend. Ramesh did not want his truth to be exposed, so he shot a bullet into Ratan’s chest while his men killed Ratan’s bodyguards. Ramesh cut down Ratan into thirty pieces with his sword and put them into a Vase. He threw the Vase into the Ganga and over time, the pieces decomposed. Anyone who comes across the Vase, has to face tragic consequences,” the old man narrated.

“How can we get rid of it?” dad asked.

“There is one solution. You have to take the Vase to the house where Ratan was killed. After that you have to cut the Vase into thirty pieces with the sword with which Ratan was killed. You will find the sword in the house. I will give you the address of the house.”

“Thank you so much for your help.”

“I hope you will succeed in your mission.”

After that we drove to our house and took out the Vase. We kept it in the dickey and drove to that old house as we were directed by the man. As we reached our destination, we took the Vase inside the house and found the sword in the dusty drawing room of the building. We kept the Vase in a corner and as we were about to destroy it, lightning and thunderstorm struck. A terror filled inside us. We saw the spirit in front of us and it was furious. But dad carried on with his work. The spirit dealt him several blows but he did not stop. He was severely injured and blood flowed down from his body. Finally 29 cuts were done and as dad was about to make the last cut, the spirit dealt him a final blow and he breathed his last. I took the sword and made the last cut before the spirit could approach me. Suddenly, the spirit vanished and the thunderstorm and lightning gradually stopped. I breathed a sigh of relief and fainted on the spot.

The next day, I was escorted by the police and they informed my relatives about it. The last rites of dad were done and my uncle took me back Guwahati.

There was complete silence as Siddharth finished speaking.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you about you about your dreadful memories,” Pratham said.

“It’s okay. It was I who discussed it with you,” Siddharth said.

“So, I must leave. Check the gift that I have gifted after I leave.”

“Sure. Hope that we meet again soon.”

As Pratham left, Siddharth unpacked the large carton box. He was inquisitive know what was inside such a large box. After unpacking the box, a chill ran down his spine looking at the large orange and red colored Vase in front of his eyes. Its shape and size was exactly like that of the ghostly Vase but he did not suspect it because of its color. A week later an FIR had been lodged by his neighbours to find him. Siddharth had vanished without a trace.