Silhouette

It was one of those hot and humid night in the city of Dehradun when I was unable to fall asleep. My roommate Arun, who was in his third year then was on a vacation and gone home, while I continued with my internship at the hospital. We had a few new members in the building where we were rented and they belonged to the pharmacology department of the college. I had known them well ever since I had joined the college. Since my roommate was on vacation for a month, I would often end up spending my time with these new members in their flat, which was just above ours. This particular day, I don't remember the date nor the day, but I am pretty sure it was a working day. I had chosen not to visit these new building mates for I thought I should let them have their own space too. I had my dinner and started studying to answer the questions that were posed to me during the day, as I did not want to embarrass myself, again. Let me provide you with a little insight on the location of our flat. It was a small flat, 1 BHK in a building with three floors and we were on the ground floor of the building. We had to cross the parking space, and walk down a narrow space to reach the door of our flat. It would open to a hall, where the kitchen and the toilet cum bathroom were on the left and our room was straight at the front. The room had windows opening to the road at the front. Across the road was a house with a garden space in the front and had trees on the boundary to the road. I was in my room reading, the fan seemed to blow hot air as sweat rolled down my forehead, I chose to open the windows with hopes of some cool breeze to cool me and the room. I could see the leaves in the tree sway but it brought no relief and I continued my studies and decided to take it to my bed. I placed the pillow on the wall and laid my back for support while opening the book on my lap, and continued my study. My mobile made a sound and I checked it for messages or calls and found none, but noticed my battery about to die. It made a funny sound which you heard when you knew that you either put it for charge, or it might switch-off. The charger was plugged into the socket on the wall opposite to the bed, I checked the time, it was 11:40 and felt lazy to just leave my bed, deciding to charge my phone in the morning or in the hospital. I thought it would be better if I slept, but there was no respite from the heat, the fan rotated at its full speed and I closed my eyes to fall asleep. I must have been tired with my trips to the library and the hospital during the day, I fell asleep. I could feel a pleasant breeze through the window and I slumbered into a deep sleep. I was happy within, as I was dreaming of something good, but all of a sudden it seemed things turning worse in my dreams, my throat was dry and I was awoken to find a power cut-off. The building had no power back-up then and it was all dark, I could see some light in the flat through the window. It was all dark outside, but there was a breeze that was slowly building up, which brought a pulsatile respite. I would feel the cold air on my face as it would chill the areas where my sweat rolled down from my hair to my chin. I wiped my face with the pillow cover and I was wide awake after the heat had interrupted my sleep. I felt my voice stuck in my throat, and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, I could see in the silhouette that someone had hung oneself by the neck on the tree of the house opposite the road. The wind blew fiercely and the body swayed with the wind. I could make out the head and the entire body swayed from the neck below. I decided not to look at it, but couldn't prevent myself from doing it. I tried getting down from my bed but decided against it. I rolled onto my back and buried my face in the pillow, with my back to the window, and the moment I did it, a weird thought crossed my head and I jumped again to turn around in a flash. My conscience would make me look outside the window, and I would get scared again. I was at loss of ideas, and my voice seemed to have betrayed me, for I was clueless as I had never faced such a scenario ever in my life. I would slowly turn my head to look out the window and see the body sway with the strong wind that had built up. I tossed and turned in the bed unable to move or think straight of any action, I couldn't bring myself to get up and close the windows. I felt coward. It must have been hours as I tossed and turned on the bed, the power was not yet restored which made it much more difficult. Finally, gathering all my will and courage, I got up from my bed, moved slowly to the window to shut it cursing myself within for having opened it earlier. The thing that had hung itself on the tree seemed to have been waiting for this exact moment when it decided to fly straight to my window as I stood there and had grabbed the latch to shut it. It flew straight to the grills of our window and made a strange noise, the flight from the situation took better of me, and I let go of the latch, hurting myself in one of the iron bars as I ran for the door. I opened it in a flash bothering not to close it and slammed it hard to shut it and flew to the flat upstairs to the new members. I narrated the entire incident in half words and asked them if I could sleep the night at their flat. They agreed, and one of them lit a torch to see if there was someone or something outside our window downstairs but could find none. I found no sleep, but I must be tired of keeping awake, I saw the time to be 4:13 in one of the mobiles lying around when I shut my eyes. I was awoken in the morning by small noises, and the incident of the last night dawned upon me. I sat up straight on the bed and sprinted to the terrace to see if I could find anything down outside our window. I reached the terrace and looked down at our window, and I found the bedsheet that I had washed in the morning the day before, clumped at the bottom of our window. That is when I burst into a laugh as enlightenment dawned upon me. I had ignored the clips on the washing line the previous day and had decided to collect the bedsheet in the evening after I returned from the hospital, but had completely forgotten about it. I kept on laughing for I had been silhouetted by the silhouette.

Supernatural

The funny part I felt about my medical school is that it had its mortuary just infront of the college canteen. As it was funny for me, it scared my room partner the most. He was scared because it was not only infront of the canteen but also cornered the road that lead to our flat. So, if we had to go to our flat we often had to keep the mortuary to our left while we descended the road. It was just the opposite when we had to come to college, the mortuary would be on the right. You people will tell that I am making this up but there was a small temple just at the end of the road when it turned further to descend to the way to our flat. Well my room partner 'Bhunde' as i called him was sacred of the only one reason when he had to return early in the morning at four that is when his duty changed or when he returned from home after vacations. Yes, he had a weird time to return, often when I was deep in my sleep alone in the flat, he would return a day ringing the bell for half an hour before I opened it for him. It was often when he said he felt he was being followed when he returned from duty early in the morning at four. He said that when he turned to encounter his follower he would find none. I would listen to his story and make fun of him as he was afraid of the dark. Yes he was afraid of the dark, he would sleep with the lights on and I would always switch it off after I felt he was asleep. The story is of a day when my room partner returned after his vacation and was in the bus stand when he rang me early in the morning at about four asking me to come with the rain gear. I asked him to wait for the rain to stop and then he could come but he insisted that I come as he had luggage. God knows why, I should have known the signs then, I picked myself up gathering my rain coat and an umbrella, I decided to give it a try. I reached the main road and took an auto to the ISBT. The auto driver charged me extra twenty bucks for his services in the rain. Unable to fight him, my sleep and the rain I paid him off. After I located Bhunde, we waited for an auto to take up to our place regretting my earlier decision of letting the auto in which I came leave. Five minutes in the rain seemed an eternity. I waited, waited and waited for what seemed like an hour when I finally found an auto going in the direction we had to. I called out loud,"Mahant Inderesh?" The auto came to a stop and I heard the auto driver say, "jaldi karo bhaiji, bahut tezz baarish hain." I called for Bhunde and together we sat in the wet auto to go to our place. I asked what was the auto driver doing in the rain when none auto was seen. "are bhaiji kya batau kisika accident ho gya tha to chhodne gya tha, main bhi Mahant Inderesh k paas hi rehta hoon," he replied. I talked to Bhunde and cursed him for making me do such a thing in the rain and wishing to get out of the auto asap. The auto driver asked if he could drop us before the temple in the corner which led to our flat. I asked him to go further but he begged, "pachas kadam hi to hain, yaha tak to chhod diya". I did not argue and god knows only why, I got down, took the luggage and asked him the fare. "Pachhis", he said and I gave him a twenty rupee note and was searching for a five rupee coin. I was glad as what he charged was ten rupee less than the normal fare and laughing within at the drivers generosity. As I was to place the five rupee coin on the palms that he had spread, the world seemed to go in slow motion. I dropped the coin and I am pretty sure on his palm but holy mother of god! The coin passed through his palms and hit the floor of the auto. I was sacred to death as I grabbed my senses and commanded ,"Arun, run." I turned back but saw the auto disappear in the thin air within the walls of the mortuary. This encounter made me never tease Arun aka Bhunde when he said his stories of being followed. I had myself experienced the supernatural.