KalRatra (काळरात्र) A Night With Horrors

The family, the warmth and the love in the air!!

It was a pleasant morning for Vishwaprit. He opened his eyes with smile on his lips. He heard someone singing a song for 'Lord Krishna'.

Achytam keshavam krishna damodaram,
Ram narayanam janaki vallabham!!

The song was melodious and warm. He felt mesmerized, and started to walk towards the sound. He stepped down the stairs and reached the ground floor and kept walking towards a beautifully designed temple of lord Krishna. He saw statue of him, standing and holding a flute in his hands which was touching his lips. Then he saw a woman, who was singing for the god with immense love and faith. She reminded him of his mother a lot, who used to worship the gods dearly. He didn't have a lot of memories with his mother, but he knew the feeling of her love and warmth of her presence. He felt the same warmth in the air, in the presence of that waman who was singing. He kept looking at her. She kept singing for next few minutes and then she performed her 'puja' and stood up. Suddenly she saw Vishwaprit standing at the entrance, looking at her. She got surprised by seeing an unknown person, inside the house, staring at her.

She observed him carefully. He didn't look like intruder to her. Rather he looked like a very well-mannered gentleman, who was looking at her respectfully. She felt confused and she asked,

"Son, who are you?"

Vishwaprit heard her question and realised what he was doing. He felt uneasy and he apologized,

"I'm sorry for staring at you like a stalker. I am just.... I liked the sound of the prayer and followed the voice."

"Are you Raghav's friend?" She asked.

"Yes." Vishwaprit answered with little hesitation.

"Why didn't you say that before?" She asked.

"Sorry, I couldn't think properly. The thing that I surprised you by appearing in front of you like this, made me uncomfortable." Vishwaprit tried to explain.

"He is my friend, Ma. He came with me last night" Raghav shouted from upper floor. He hurried down the stairs after seeing Vishwaprit talking to his mother, without any introduction. He was afraid Vishwaprit might say something he wasn't supposed to.

"Hmm. I heard." Ma came outside of the temple while talking to her son.

"We came late at night so couldn't introduce them yesterday. This is Vishwaprit and Setupati is sleeping upstairs." Raghav informed Ma about Setupati too.

"So, there is one more friend?" Ma asked. She found their names unusually traditional, but she didn't interrogate them.

Raghav nodded.

"Well, I will arrange your breakfast then. What will you guys eat?" She asked like a warm mother.

Raghav smiled and said,
"Anything you feel appropriate." And he left. He asked Vishwaprit to go along with him.

Ma felt something unusual about Vishwaprit, but she didn't think about it. Raghav's friends have always been different and strange. She was used to it by now. But Vishwaprit was quite likable and humble, she felt. All his other party friends were nice, but loud and lousy. She couldn't decide about Vishwaprit's personality. She stopped stressing about it in her head and asked their cook to prepare breakfast for kids.

******

Vishwaprit went upstairs to freshen up. Setupati was still sleeping like a baby. Raghav got a clean set of clothes for Vishwaprit and went to bath himself.

They came down for breakfast after half an hour. Vishwaprit walked towards god Krishna's temple and paid his respect by praying for a minute. Raghav's Ma kept looking at that heavily religious boy and smiled, she liked him. She was too religious herself but none of her children was any intersted in god like her. But this boy, her son's friend, he was like long lost son to her. She gave a big motherly smile to Vishwaprit who returned to the table after paying his respect and joined them.

"Where is your another friend?" Ma asked with curiosity.

"Umm, he is still sleeping. He is little tired." Raghav said.

Vishwaprit shouted into his head to make Setupati wake up. Setupati refused to open his eyes, even in the mind realm. Vishwaprit stopped trying to wake him up and focused on his breakfast, which looked insanely delicious. He hadn't experienced such love from mother for many years now. Setupati's mother used to treat him that way, but she hadn't been around for a while now.

He felt immense gratitude towards Raghav's Ma and he started eating his breakfast with love and passion towards the food in front of him.

Few minutes later Taniya entered the room. Vishwaprit turned towards the movement and saw her walking towards the table. Her aura was so powerful for him that his bite choked him for a bit. He coughed hard and tears flew down through his eyes, but he couldn't feel any pain. His heart had stopped beating again. He analyzed his situation and looked at his food to distract his mind. He started eat his breakfast quietly without looking towards her, even though he was dying to see what she was doing.

Meanwhile, Raghav's Ma was asking him to have some water so that he wouldn't choke on his food again. But Vishwaprit couldn't hear a word.

Taniya casually served herself the food and started eating. She looked at that seriously eating fellow and wondered, 'why is he eating so seriously?'.
She ignored him even though she was curious to know more about him and asked Raghav,

"So, what's your guys plan for today?"

"Nothing special. I am going on a duty and they have their own errands." He answered casually with smile.

"Oh!" She replied with disappointment. She thought they were going to do something fun where she could have joined too. But then, she thought to herself that she had never expressed her interest of joining her brother's friends ever before, and right now she was dying to join them. But that's not gonna happen. She dropped the thought and finished her little breakfast and left for her internship.

Vishwaprit saw her backward figure walking out of the door. He felt his lungs had started breathing again. He couldn't understand the weight of Taniya's presence but he felt something powerful and happy songs were played in his mind, in the background. He had finished his breakfast, so he left the table and went to wake up Setupati.

He went upstairs and made Setupati open his eyes after a lot of tries. Setupati finally saw the sunlight for today and went to freshen up. He came out of the washroom after few minutes and they went downstairs. He smelled the delicious breakfast and smiled. He saw Raghav's Ma working in the kitchen, ordering around the cook. It reminded him of his mother. He sat on the table and said,

"Thanks for the kind gesture, mother."

Raghav's Ma heard his words and turned back with surprise. She saw Setupati smiling at her. She felt his love towards her like a son and she smiled back.

"Raghav's friends are also like my sons to me, my dear. Why don't you start eating. Ricky here will make you some more parathas."

She pointed towards their cook, Ricky, who was nodding his head in the agreement.

Setupati also nodded his head and started to eat his breakfast. Raghav asked Vishwaprit to accompany him to see around the house if he was interested. Vishwaprit walked around their big house which was very beautiful and he thought it was actually built very smartly. He liked the house very much. It wasn't very small but it wasn't huge either. It was just perfect! He felt.

"Love was still in the air, but he couldn't catch the feeling"!

Setupati felt it though, and he smiled to himself with wonder! Even he didn't know what was going to happen!!

******