The Indian Exorcist

Chapter 8

The rest of the morning went by uneventfully. Kabir went down to the mess for breakfast, after a proper bath. The school was literally buzzing, everyone seemingly wanting to know what had happened yesterday.

Kabir could feel hundreds of eyes on his back. It took Kabir a while to figure out why they were looking at him. He had been the one to carry the wounded and bloody girl to the ambulance. He could sense admiration, jealousy, and maybe even a bit of anger.

Kabir did what he had been doing in these situations forever, he turned his back on the people and focused on the plate of 'poha' in front of him. Before he could eat the delicious looking 'poha' in front of him, he felt a hand on his shoulder and his stomach grumbled in rebellion. He dropped the spoon back onto the plate and looked over his shoulder.

Principal Giya was standing in a regal blue saree behind him.

"We need to talk, come meet me in my office. Now."

If the students were whispering before, now they were openly talking about Kabir's fate. 'So much for staying low and finishing this job.' Kabir thought as he got up from his seat and followed the Principal.

Kabir had a pretty good idea of why the Principal was calling him, his late night 'walk' must've been recorded by the CCTVs. Kabir sighed and facepalmed himself, how could he have been so stupid.

In the short time he had known Principal Giya, she should be angry but he if explained himself pretty well, everything should be forgiven easily. Kabir spent the entire rehearsing what he was going to say.

They entered the office, the empty table of the PA reminded him what had happened yesterday. Giya settled on her seat behind the desk, gesturing at Kabir to sit too.

"The ambula-"

"I'm sorr-"

"What are you sorry about?"

"Ah um, nothing much, what were you saying about the ambulance?"

Giya looked like she wanted to pursue it further but dropped it for the moment.

"The ambulance. It arrived even before I came to know about Advika. It had been standing there for 10 minutes, repeatedly urging that they were here for the bloody girl who had been stabbed. I thought this must've been a prank and just argued with them. Then..."

Kabir leaned forward in anticipation. He saw that Giya's forehead had broken into sweat, he saw her take a sip from the glass to her right. Kabir waited, forgetting to breathe.

"...then they showed me a picture of Advika, lying there in her blood. They said the caller had sent them the pic and asked them to hurry. It didn't take much for you to arrive after that with the poor girl."

Kabir leaned back, his mind whirling with the new information. He was stunned for a few seconds to speak.

"Can ghosts do that?" Giya implored him.

Kabir drew up a blank, never have he ever faced a ghost with this level of intelligence. He didn't know what he was supposed to think or feel. He had gone up against plenty of ghosts in his life, but never the intelligent ones. And to have a thinking of this level. Ghosts didn't terrify him, he had seen plenty of those. But now he was, he was afraid.

"It can't be, they almost never have any capacity for rational thought, this must be the work of someone else." Kabir said, his voice squeaking in the end.

"That's what I thought at first and I had security check the tapes for yesterday. And just to be sure I had them check the day before yesterday's clip too."