18
Naanu was surprised to see Joyce with Rajeev. She smiled at Naanu. He arrived early in the morning to deliver Rajeev the new motorbike he has ordered. A Royal Enfield Classic 350.
It’s good that I ordered the motorcycle. Rajeev thought. His mind was full of death when he came to the village. But now he wanted to live. He never thought he will get his lost love back and he would now cherish the life with her. He ordered the bike only to keep anyone suspecting of his intentions of suicide.
Naanu saw the change in Rajeev, as a new energy has jolted him up. He looked cheerful and well groomed. The young man saw child like enthusiasm and felt the aura of life around his senior.
How easily women can change a person! He thought as a smile tugged his lips.
Rajeev thought to reveal that Joyce is the ghost Naanu saw but then decided against it. Every secret has its time to get revealed.
“Breakfast is ready.” Joyce invited Naanu. “Come inside.”
Naanu was standing at the verandah.
“Next time I will definitely have, sure.” He politely rejected as he was already late for work. He wondered when Rajeev would be officially taking charge of the promoted post. He handed over the keys and the papers to Rajeev.
As Naanu walked away, silence developed between them. Rajeev went to the dining table and started having his breakfast silently.
“What happened?” Mridula broke the silence. She stared at him, long and sharp without even blinking her eyes. Rajeev tried to read her eyes but the plethora of emotions were undistinguishable.
“Nothing, I am enjoying the food. Why did you asked?” He was confused seeing the mixed sentiments in her eyes. Did she think that I didn’t like the food?
They were having breakfast in silence until she asked an untimely question.
“No, I don’t want to know about the food. Rajeev I want to know what happened to me.” Her voice was demanding and he couldn’t ignore it. But the truth is he didn’t know.
“What do you remember?” He had to collect bits and pieces and join them together. He had to find out just like her. It was an enigma and they have to reveal it together. They didn’t know something; a powerful dark force was watching them all the time. It was waiting for the perfect moment to uncover itself in front of them.
“My memory about it is blank. I can’t remember what happened after our marriage. It seems like my memory has been erased.” She felt pain on her head as if she was hit from back. “Whenever I try to think about it my head hurts. I feel like my head is split open and my skin start to burn. I think I am stuck at some point of memory lane and I cannot go forward.”
“We have to find it.” Rajeev muttered under his breath.
“You tell me what you know?” Mridula encouraged him.
“You suddenly disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yes. You went to work as usual, left the office in time but never returned. I didn’t know where to look for you. Your mobile was switched off. Since that day I was searching you everywhere. I left our home two days later hoping you would be found somewhere else. I failed and returned here to see you like this. I didn’t know you were here in a ghost form and roaming in and out of this village. If I knew I would have returned earlier.” He decided to keep a secret which if she knows would make her devastated. “I have no idea how to find out what happened to you.”
There is one long shot remaining, a dangerous way. He should know it. But before that I should warn him about the danger lurking above us.
“I need to tell you something very important.” Mridula started with a preface. Rajeev looked at her curiously. “Sometimes I feel like we are being watched.”
Rajeev's heart skipped a beat. “By whom?” He doesn’t know what happened to them earlier but he doesn't want another shock in his life. After five years he got his Mridula back and he doesn't want to lose her again. Whoever it is, are they trying to separate her from me again?
“I don't know. There is a presence of immense energy outside our home. It's unwilling to get in but I can feel the rhythm of negative vibes. Something has drawn it here and I feel it won't leave anytime soon.” Her voice was calm but they both felt the hidden gale underneath the serenity. She has to alarm him but not to scare him.
“Do you know what it is or what it wants? Why is it here?” Rajeev didn't take his eyes off her. She saw dread in his eyes. Fear of losing her, again. It is not for me, I guess.
“I tried but it is invisible or it is hidden, I can only sense the energy. It knows everything about us. But I am not sure whether it is friendly or not. Why is it here? I don't know. Whether it wants to destroy us or protect us, it only knows.” She stood up and walked into the kitchen. She took a water jug and came back. She wanted to hide her emotions from him. “I think it knows what happened to me four years earlier.”
“How could we get information out of it?” Rajeev tried to be normal.
“I am working on it. It is something soulless. It is just a mass of extreme rage hence provoking it is too dangerous.” She wants to know what it wants. She wants to know what happened to her. Only then she could save her love.
“What do you have in mind?” Rajeev's eyes opened wide. Are you going to play the dangerous game? Whatever it is I won’t sit back and watch.
“I will try to communicate with it. I will offer an aide for its quest.” She said it so casual that Rajeev would never panic. You can’t do anything Rajeev. It is beyond your limits. Let me do it.
“Don't you think it is hearing us now?” An abrupt thought raised in his mind. If it is hearing them now then they are inviting the trouble much earlier than they anticipated.
“Maybe. Though I can't feel the strength of energy now. Probably it is not here now. But we don't know how immense its power is. If it is too powerful and has limitless abilities it can hear us no matter how far it goes.” She was blank; it’s an undistinguished power source of destructive momentum and unpredictable. She could feel the resource and sense the enormous strength but was unable to fathom the depth of its power. She had an impression that it could be unstoppable.
“How could we know we are safe?” Rajeev gave her a concerned look.
“We couldn't. But I feel like it doesn't want to enter the house. I don't know the reason.” Can I protect you? I am not sure. But it has to go through me before it could get you. She resumed. “It could be waiting for someone or something.”
“Someone?” He was taken aback. Is there more, coming?
“Or something to trigger it. I don't want to frighten you but I can smell blood, raw and fresh around it. It is thirsty.”
“Is it a ghost?” He lost all hopes. He knew his happiness is going to be short lived.
“No. Something beyond the ghost world. I told you it doesn't have a soul.”
“What is such a thing, so powerful but doesn't have a soul?” Fear turned into curiosity but his heart was already beating unbalanced.
“I don't know.” She looked at him helplessly.
“I am an angel, a fallen angel.” A deep whisper stormed over the abandoned highway. Seismic waves snaked under the terrain.
The ground ruptured and the long road cracked open and crumbled like a jigsaw puzzle further creating huge potholes and dents. The already dilapidated path developed more gaps. Soil pumped out through the cracks. A whirlwind shook the entire highway and dark clouds roared in the sky.
“Fallen angel.” The whisper resonated over the ground along with the cries and screams of innumerous toddlers.
Sky poured thick deep red fluid.
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