Trip to Araku

Chapter 13

Muskaan's pov

I was getting bore and wasn't feeling sleepy even though it's midnight.

So I thought to wander around the hotel. It was pretty much huge and have a lot to see.

I slipped in my nike slippers and walked out of the room as fast as I could.

As I walked downstairs I ended up being in the hall. As I moved futher I saw beautiful piece of art hanging on the wall,some paintings and some pictures.

There was a portrait which caught my eye. A portrait of an elegant lady. It was the same picture which I saw few days ago.

She still looked familiar to me.

"She's so beautiful." I muttered and watched her in complete awe.

"Yes, she was." Out of nowhere I heard a voice.

I startled, goosebumps covered my body. I stayed still as I didn't know what to do.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw an old woman probably in her late sixties standing beside me too focused looking into the picture.

She was short, little bent forward,
wrinkles covering her face and body. She had grey hairs and spectacular eyes.

She smiled and said "I'm sorry dear, if I scared you."

"It's ok, I'm fine." I said pushing a smile.

"She was a good woman." The old lady said while looking into the portrait.

"What do you mean by was? " I asked out of curiosity.

"She died in a car accident. " She replied . A dejected look appeared on her face.

"Oh ,that's sad." I said.

Silence took over. I tried to start a conversation to break the awkward silence growing and suffocating me. I began with a question.

"Who is this woman and why her portrait is on the wall?"

For a minute the old woman hesitated but after few minutes with a long sigh she started telling the story of the lady from the portrait.

"Her name was Riya Raichand . Her husband Abhay Raichand was the owner of this hotel. They loved each other and were happy newly married couple. After few months Riya got pregnant."

"Both of them were happy and excited for their first child but unfortunately, Riya died in a car accident."

"People say that. But it wasn't the truth."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked being confused.

"Riya had a twin sister . She liked Abhay, Riya's husband and was jealous of her sister. She always wanted to marry him. She even proposed him but he denied by revealing the fact that he loves her sister Riya."

"Her heart was broken. Since from childhood she hated Riya because they looked same and her parents always favoured Riya over her. She was angry, jealous and her heart filled with hatred."

"She wanted revenge for taking away the love of her life."

"She truly believed in black magic and started practicing it. She spent day and night and was obsessed with her revenge. She tortured Riya everyday without letting Abhay know about this."

"Riya began to fear her own shadow. Her sister did this. She became a total psycho. She made Riya suffer mentally and physically ,a complete hell filled with pain and torture. "

"Riya's husband ,he didn't had a clue that what was happening with his wife. "

"When the twin was fully satisfied with her torturing and abusing she planned ,possessed Riya and then killed her."

"But when her husband knew that she murdered his wife and child. Without even thinking once he stabbed her and then committed suicide because he lost his purpose of living."

"It was insane. I mean how could you kill your own sister?Oh god! That was terrible." I said being flabbergasted.

"Yes,it was." She supported.

"By the way what was her twin sister's name?" I questioned.

After thinking for sometime she answered," Her name was Kiara."

Kiara, this name it sounds familiar.

"What happened is happened. Now it cannot be changed. So dear don't put stress on your brain",She said breaking the chain of my thoughts.

"By the way what is your name dear and what are you doing here in the middle of the night?" She questioned.

"I-I'm Muskaan I was just getting bore and wasn't feeling sleepy so I thought about taking a walk around."

"Well,what are you doing here?" I asked because she's here too in the middle of the night.

"Same as you, walking around." She replied showing a friendly smile on her face.

We laughed as we talk further about a lot more stuffs.

The old woman was not that bad and boring that i supposed she would be. She was too cool as a grandma. It was nice talking to her.

"Wow! That painting, it's a masterpiece."When I saw a maleficent painting on the other side of hall. I quickly moved forward to get a closer view.

"Hey! What do you think about this one? Isn't it beautiful?"When I turned around to see her she was not there.

The old lady ,she disappeared.

She wasn't there where she was a minute ago.

Where did she go?

I searched her in the hall, in whole gallery which was next to the hall and even looked outside for her but didn't see her.

Weird.