Jagori Sarkar

Horror Tragedy Crime

4.5  

Jagori Sarkar

Horror Tragedy Crime

The photograph

The photograph

9 mins
431


Charu was informed her grandmother was seriously ill. It has been six months since Charu started her studies at NYU Law School, which she had joined amidst many refusals and objections.

She took the immediate next flight from New York to her native place Fort Kochi and landed at Cochin International Airport.

Charu never liked her life at Fort Kochi. The old home, the ancient traditions and the old lifestyle. She lost her mother when she was 12 and it was her grandmother who raised her. Her father, Mr. Mani Oomen, was a carpet exporter. He has two stores at Fort Kochi and one at Ernakulam. When Charu disclosed her interest to study law, he refused her decision outright. And now she is going back to the same place. Her mind was full of thoughts and she was in no mood to think about anything else except her return date from India.

From the airport, she took a self-driven taxi and drove to Fort Kochi, 20 k.m. away from the airport. It was 7 p.m. and the lights were all lit. She directly went to her grandmother's room and saw her, there were many machines attached to her. There was a nurse beside grandmother's bed. Charu went to her room and slept soon, as she was exhausted.

The next morning, she took a stroll to David Hall Road. The weather was breezy and the birds were chirping good. On David Hall Road, she saw the library open. There was a bookstore attached to the library.

'Old books for sale. Rs. 250 per KG,’ a board declared before the gate. She grinned. An avid reader that she was and since had nothing to do, she went inside the store. She picked seven books, paid for them at the counter and headed home.

The maid gave her a cup of coffee. Sipping her coffee, she started checking the books. The fifth book's cover intrigued her. It was a beautiful abstract painting of a woman with no eyes but had tears, nose and lips.

She skimmed through the pages. At page 67 there was a polaroid photograph of an old villa. She took out the photo and examined it. On its backside there was an alpha-numeric code written with a small map that showed directions to the villa. The code read: MV02FK09. The map had a starting point at 'Hotel AB*** and extended till the villa. The end point was a drawing of the villa that read ‘Home.’

The photograph created a bug in Charu's mind. She was thrilled. Will she be able to crack the code? What does it mean?  Does she know about the photograph? She was lost in thoughts for a few minutes. 

          The phone buzzed twice and she looked at the loomed up screen. " Hello di", said Charu with tear filled eyes. The woman on the other side was her elder sister who was on night duty so could not attend to her. " How are you dear? Has dad come home? Did you have your dinner?", she said. 

            They talked for sometime over the phone. " Didi, dinner ready hai", said the servant. Charu ate her food and then slept off. At night she woke up and heard some noise. It was a weeping woman's voice. She got up from her bed and went towards the window. Someone was standing there with her back towards her. "Hello.. who s there?", the figure of the woman with long black hair did not move an inch. 

          Charu slowly advanced forward and was about to touch her when she turned and the face ran a shiver down the spine. "Ahh.. h.. h..", Charu opened her eyes and was sweating badly. She sat up on her bed and was very frightened. She just had a nightmare. Was it just a dream? Was there an indication? She saw the face of the same lady on the book's cover which had the code.

           There was a connection. Charu went to the book store again. She enquired about the photograph and the shopkeeper told her that he did not know much but he could give her the address. The villa was in the outskirt of this town. She took the address and thanked him, was about to leave when the cell phone rang. " Didi come fast. Grandma is not well", said the maid. 

         Charu quickly reached home and went to grand ma 's room. She saw her sister's eyes filled with tears. "Choti.. nani", and she burst out in heartfelt sorrow into a loud cry. Grandma was no more. Soon the cremation ceremony followed and it was quite late when they came back home. 

          She slept immediately as soon as she touched the bed. That night she saw the woman again and this time she was herself entering an old bunglow which was beautifully decorated but soon everything became dark and she saw the face again. Her grand ma was standing beside her and looking at her with popped out eyes. " Come back .. come here Charu. You must seek for the truth. She is waiting only for you."

          She sat up and lit the bedside lamp. She was sweating in a cold chilly night. Why did granny visit her in her dream? What did she talk about? Charu decided that she should go there to find the answers. The next day she took her dad's car and left for the Villa. She found out from Doodle, the internet web page that Hotel AB in the map was actually Azad Birla which was a significant eating and resting destination for visiters of Kochi.

          She went to the Hotel and talked to the people working there. An old man, waiter approached her, " Madam, the photo you are showing belongs to the villa. The place is not good."

        " How do you know? Can you explain?", said Charu

        " Madam, I dont know whether you would believe me or not but 30 years back this villa named HOME belonged to a family. There was a man, his wife and his mother. The mother in law would torture the wife. They often had loud fights. In those days no one would dare to go to their house else the old lady would start shouting and abuse the woman. When her daughter was born they had a major fight. The husband also did not support her. So, one night she disappeared from the house with the child and never came back. A few years after that the old lady and her son were found hanging from the ceiling fan in their bed room. People say they committed suicide. No one knew the reason. They were found dead with their eyes popped out as if they saw something very frightening when they hanged themselves. Since then, often, at night people had seen lights on and noises of people talking and shouting throwing things in the house. So, no one dares to go there at night. It has become a haunted place."

             Charu was excited to know more. Was there really any connection? What was the code all about? Is HOME a haunted place? Are people just spreading rumours? She had to reach there at night. She left her belongings in the hotel and set out to reach there. As she approached near she could see the huge bunglow standing infront of her. The tall structure stood touching the sky and seemed so spooky. A gust of cold breeze ran a shiver down the spine. She saw the name plate HOME. 

             The entire place was desolate and only the house was lit up completely. Noise of someone working in the kitchen could be heard. She rang the doorbell. A lady opened the door. 

"Yes"

"Hi. Myself Charu Oomen, can I come in."

The woman's face lit up with a very graceful smile. Her deep eyes were penetrating into Charu's mind. She was so happy that she hugged her tight and started weeping. "Charu, my child you have come. I have been waiting for so long. Sheryl Varghese! see the wait is over. You were wrong.. you.. were", she wept hard.

"Who is Sheryl Varghese? ", asked Charu

" Come in please", said the woman

Charu came inside and saw a huge and beautifully decorated house. The woman gave her tea and some snacks. Then started, " Sheryl Varghese was the owner of this house. She was your grandmother." 

"Wait.. my grand mother.. but", she was about to say something but the woman stopped her.

" Listen to me Charu, I dont have much time. Tomorrow I must leave .. forever. Thirty years from now I got married to Jonathan and came to the Varghese house. My parents were not very rich and they wanted me to get married in the Varghese family to have a prosperous life. God sat back and smiled. My mother in law initially was nice to me but as days passed by she completely lost her mind. Every passing day was like a nightmare for me. I told my husband but all in vain. Even when I was pregnant she would make me do all the cooking and extra household work. 

          Then, one day you were born. She crossed all limits after that. She did not want a girl but a boy. My husband too would curse and abuse me daily for giving birth. I had no choice. One night she complained to him when he came home that I was sleeping and ignored my housework. He beat me black and blue with his belt. He was about to throw you outside the window.

 I ran away that night, approached my friend, your mother. I told her to look after my baby while I would sort out the matter with them.

          " Then, what happened?", asked Charu. Tears rolled down her eyes hearing the pathetic story of the lady.

          After a long silence she told," Listen Charu, before I left, I took a photo of this villa slipped it into the 67 th page of that book and wrote the code on it. I dont have much time. Please take this key and go to the basement of this house."

         "But..", Charu felt slight dizzy and fell down on the sofa. When she woke up it was already morning. She got up and saw that the key was in her hand. She looked around and saw that she was lying in an old dirty place surrounded by spider webs. All last night seemed like a dream. She got up and went to the basement of the villa and found a room. She used the key to open that and went inside. There amidst spider webs she saw a cupboard and opened it to find a safe with code lock. She entered the code written at the back of the photograph and opened it.

             The rest is history. She found some toys , a few gold coins and jewellery, a note and a picture. The picture showed parents and a small baby. Note below it read: Mr Jonathan, Mrs. Ruby & Charu Varghese. A cold shiver ran down her spine. Ruby, the woman she saw last night was her biological mother who died 30 years back.

    The note read,

 " I wont live to see this day,

    But would be with you

     In your thoughts 

        Everyday"


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