The Indian Exorcist

Chapter 7

He could feel the brilliance of the sun behind his eyelids. Strange shapes were burned into his eyes. He turned over finding the blanket to cover his head with and to block the intrusive sunlight. He pulled the blanket over his head and turned away from the window. It was hot with the blanket but there was nothing he could do. He just wanted to return to the sweet sleep which was taken from him by the cruel light.

Kabir tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position on his bed but it was all for naught. He gave up halfway before he realized he wasn't alone on the bed. With a start and jerk his half asleep self yelped and tumbled down the bed with an "oomph".

Pain radiated from his lower back and the back of his head, but it also cleared away the remaining grogginess. Despite the pain he was feeling a little better now. The aches and the pains hadn't gone away completely but he wasn't crippled by the weight of his injuries anymore. There was a dull resonance in the pit of his stomach as if someone had set up gong to be struck in his chest. 'Must be the effects of the soul grafting, its such a pain in the neck sometimes' he though to himself.

All the commotion had left the 'thing' in his bed undisturbed. Kabir rubbed his eyes to do away with the sleepiness. He looked at the giant lump on his bed. With the way the thing had taken up space on his bed, Kabir was surprised he hadn't fallen earlier. It took a moment for his brain to catch up with what he was seeing, he raised an arm to wake the person up but stopped hallway. Mouth open and hand in the air he turned around.

'He helped me a lot yesterday, the least I can do is let him sleep. He probably carried me through the stairs too. He's a big oaf but he is kind' Kabir smiled to himself as he climbed on his friend's bed. 'Friend huh? Never thought I would had one of those again.' With his face stretched into a gentle smile he and his eyes happy he turned around, willing to let go of everything and return back to the sweet realm of sleep.

Before he could close his eyes, Kabir's phone rang. He groaned in the pillow. Not many people had his number, in fact only two people did. He scrambled across the room, reaching to his suitcase he pulled the phone out.

It was an older model, with buttons and clunky design. He couldn't bring himself to like the newer smartphones. They never worked properly with him. A single name was displayed on the screen, 'chachu'.

Sighing he picked up it up.

"Good morning uncle, how are you?"

"Good morning, Kabir. How are things there?"

'Always straight to the point.'

"Its not pretty, there are more than one here. I saw about four but there can be more. And..."

Kabir paused before thinking how to continue. His uncle waited patiently, keeping quiet.

"And I had to use a soul graft to seal the door."

Kabir could hear his uncle stop breathing and for a second the line was silent. Kabir was sitting on the floor, with his head between his legs waiting for his uncle to catch up.

"Was it that bad?"

Kabir exhaled before answering, "It was, someone almost died because I couldn't do it sooner" the guilt in his voice was as heavy as his head right now.

It was his uncle's turn now to sigh. Kabir knew he had this conversation many times with him, but Kabir never changed. How could he, he was as stubborn as his uncle and kind to boot. How could he look the other way when people were going through what he had...

"Kabir, you should know, solving the world's problems-"

"Isn't my duty. I know. I know. You've told me that plenty of times"