Never Trust the FBI

It was December, 2012 when I got my first job. The fact that all my school friends had also made it to the same company quadrupled the happiness. Nothing like living a bachelor life with old school buddies, I told myself.

We were all placed in Infosys, Bhubaneswar. The office was located in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, in Patia. However, contrary to common sense and logic, real estate prices skyrocketed in this region. Land rates, house rentals had plummeted from the day government declared this region a Special Economic Zone. We decided that we would rent a house and live together near the Infosys office. It would help us share the burden of daily expenses which otherwise would be difficult to manage individually for fledgling engineers with meager salaries. And of course not to forget the fun part in living together with friends earning enough to keep the fridge well occupied.

We paid the advance for a duplex house located 2kms away from the Infosys office. The house boasted of five bedrooms, all well lit with cross ventilation. It had two balconies which apart from creating a good smoking spot for my smoker friends provided a decent view too. There were two rooms on the ground floor and three on the first. There was a staircase connecting the two floors internally which was “Sexy!!” according to Sovan.

So finally it was mid-February, 2013 when I and my friends (Sahil, Sovan, Gourav, and Anubhav) went on to live what was quintessentially every child’s dream when in school.

I and sahil being the lethargic ones took charge of the ground floor, Sovan, Gourav and Anubhav took hold of the first. They had the balconies so we got to keep the fridge. All amiable conclusions were reached, we decided all other essential stuff like hiring a domestic help, a sweeper and a laundry guy.

It took us a month to get acclimated to the new house and idyllic lifestyle. Everything seemed to go smoothly except this one thing that Anubhav kept griping about. He complained that every night he would hear footsteps from the ceiling above. Said he had gone and checked a couple of times but found no one except himself. Anubhav was the guy who was the cynosure of all our jokes, we always teased him but he never complained. It was during one of our evening roof top sessions that things took a different course. We all were high, thanks to the fridge and the balcony. Clenching our beer bottles (except gourav who was having a grappo fizz) we sat on the roof edge. As per the usual we started pulling anubhav`s leg. But this time he didn’t seem to enjoy it. He maintained a straight face and kept looking at the floor nonchala1ntly. Sovan said “kya be phir se phatne laga hai kya? fattu saala!”. “Fuck You! Asshole!” retorted Anubhav. We all kept quiet as we sensed that it was not a normal/casual fuckyouasshole, it was an I-mean-it-to-the-core FUCKYOUASSHOLE. “Abe serious kyun ho raha hai Saale?” said Gourav. Anubhav kept quiet. We looked at each other communicating guilt for having crossed the line and not hearing him out. “This is seriously bugging me; I can’t get a sound sleep. Each night I hear foot steps of someone running and jumping. I have checked every now and then but there seems to be no plausible explanation whatsoever. Bheem (Laundry guy) tells he knows someone who can help us figure this out”. “Woh benchodh FBI me hai kya?” said Sahil exhaling smoke rings into the air. After a twenty minute discussion on the existence of supernatural and favorite horror movies we called up Bheem and asked him to get the so-called FBI agent, Which sovan abbreviated as “Full-time Bhoot Investigation”, and it definitely made it to his top ten Pj`s of all time.

 As we were slurping maggi noodles downstairs the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find Bheem in his usual yellow t-shirt and black shorts. He told that he has apprised the guy, will be arriving any moment. I left the door open and offered bheem to sit. He preferred waiting outside. Meanwhile we were done with the dinner and having yesterdays left over pastries when bheem entered with the guy. I had made up a mental picture of the psychic-tantrik, inspired from bollywood movies but this guy didn’t seem to match even a bit. He didn’t have long hair, did not wear black robes, did not have beard and the worst part is he didn’t even sport the miniature skull necklace. Instead he was a middle aged man, balding, wearing polo neck t-shirt and trousers. He had a sense of assertiveness and didn’t seem the talkative type. “Inka naam Ravi hai”, said Bheem as I gestured them to sit on the couch. We all sat down and Anubhav began sharing his accounts. Ravi did not speak much; he kept nodding and scanning the house as if trying to figure out the dimensions of the room. Anubhav was not finished when Ravi stood up abruptly. “Aap log uss kamre me baithiye main upar se aata hoon” said Ravi, speaking for the first time and gesturing towards my room. We looked at each other, each one equally befuddled. Having no other alternative we started moving towards my room, rather hesitantly. Bheem decided to leave, said he had work back at home (personally I felt he had chickened out). Anubhav decided to accompany Ravi (Just in case the guy hoodwinked us and robbed all our stuff while we sat patiently in my room).

Anubhav and ravi left leaving me, Sahil, Sovan and gourav in my room. There was an eerie silence before Sahil began saying how he wanted to do a “spirit call” as a teenager. Gourav said he found this entire episode bullshit and wanted to sleep as it was already past 11`O clock. Meanwhile, sovan kept yawning and checking his watch.

Ravi entered, alone. For some reason he had switched off all lights. We enquired about the whereabouts of Anubhav. He said it was not safe for him to stay in the house so he had sent him out, to the nearby temple. We all were confused and scared at the same time. Ravi was holding two candles, which he lighted using sahil`s lighter. He switched the lights off, which sent a shiver down my spine. “I need your help, we don’t have much time”. “what do you want us to do?” asked Gourav. “I want you all to concentrate. Watch the candle flame as in burns and listen to what I say carefully”. Having not much a choice we decided to do the same. “we are not the only ones in this house at this moment”, Ravi began. “There is something Upstairs, I don’t know what it is. It has already seen me, so me going up will make it flee and later very difficult to track”. “So what do we do now?” I asked, sweat trickling down my cheek. “I want you four to go up in a group. Climb the steps carefully without making any noise. As soon as you see it and it sees you, Run down to this room. I will be here waiting for you. I will handle the rest. I have pulled aside the curtains to help you find your way. As soon as you see it, DO NOT WAIT, DO NOT LOOK BACK”, Said Ravi giving stress to the last few words. “Kya hum ye karne waale hain?” asked sovan, his eyes protruding. “Abe Mazza aayega be!” said Sahil as I nodded wondering if it was the alcohol or the weed that had given him so much strength and bravado.

We left the room walking in a single file forming a chain. I was leading, candle in one hand, other knotted with sahil`s hand. The trepidation was making me go mad, I could feel my heart thumping, threatening to jump out. Stairs seemed to be moving away creating an uncanny illusion. As we started our ascent I heard a song, like being played on a cell phone, low volume and unclear. A couple of steps and I could feel mild tremors like someone walking briskly or running. A couple of steps and I was able to hear the song better than before. We were about eight steps short of reaching the top when I saw something move in Anubhav`s room which was directly ahead. At this point everybody knew that there was someone. After four steps I could almost see the door. It was open; the room was dark as only the distant street lights were the source of illumination. We stopped as the floor vibrations were becoming very prominent. I could judge something coming towards the door.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw a plump woman standing at the door, laughing. The moment she saw me she began sprinting towards me and kept laughing at a feverish pitch. Without giving much thought I turned back and started running. I forgot that I was with others, for I did not find any of them on my way back. I reached the ground floor. I could see the door to my room. “Run down to this room. I will be here waiting for you”, I remembered Ravi`s words. I did the fastest sprint of my life and reached to the door, only to find it to be locked. I banged the door several times. “Open the door!” I shouted several times. There was no answer. Time seemed to have frozen, as if i had teleported to a different world. I looked back, I could see the lady descend down the stairs, and this time not in a hurry instead she seemed to be pleased about something, wearing a sadistic smile. Having nothing else to do I went to sahil`s room and locked my self in it. Scared and shocked beyond words I sat in a corner, unaware what to do next…

The door opened, as if it had never been bolted. There stood the apparition, I could see her clearly. She was a lady in her mid forties. Jet black hair, fair complexion, tall and grossly obese with unusually big teeth. She wore a green salwar kameez and sport shoes with mud stains on them. She was holding an apple and a knife, the knife being abnormally big. She kept beaming at me, enjoying every drop of sweat and fear on my face. “Who are you?” she asked. “My name is Abhisek Patnaik and I am a software engineer” I answered, my voice shivering. “what do want from me?” I asked gathering some courage. The door opened, sahil, gourav, sovan entered. All of them walking lifeless, unaware of the surroundings, like half dead. I called out everyone’s name, nobody responded. All of them blank, sitting on the bed. The fat frump seemed pleased as if she was anticipating this. “Please don’t kill me” I pleaded. “You will die, I will ruin your entire family”, she said as she guffawed at me. In an instant she hovered to stand right in front of me. I felt an inexplicable pain inside my chest. I could not breathe. I started to sweat profusely. There were tears in my eyes. I could not see anything properly; everything became hazy as I lost focus. Whether I closed my eyes or my eyes stopped responding it is difficult to say, but I gradually found peace. My ears did not hear anything, my eyes couldn’t see anything, and my skin was numb.

I gradually heard a familiar noise. I opened my eyes to find the maroon fan, its blades forming a translucent    disc. Damn! It was a dream. I was sweating, even with the AC in turbo mode. I got off the bed, wore my slippers and reached the door. But it won’t open. It was locked, from outside.Lucid dreaming.