Tale of Silent Longing

24| At the Haunted Prison

"Jahaan , just by looking at your face, one can easily say you are scared to go inside. Are you afraid of ghosts?" Tanya  asked.

"Not at all. I am not scared of anything. It is just that I wasn't feeling good seeing Jordan  that way. That is why I said what I said, I fear absolutely no one" Jahaan  was trying to sound all cool and calm.

However, his stammering voice was giving away his fear of stepping inside. The four of them decided that once they were inside, they were going to stay together but Tanya  and Illahi  had other plans in mind.

"Does this place remain so isolated all the time or today is just one of those days?" Illahi  asked the security man purposely.
"This place usually remains vacant, very few people enter," the man replied.

Jahaan and Jordan  were trying their best to put up a brave front but on hearing the security man, both of them got all the more scared.

The four of them entered through the front gate and realized that it was a completely abandoned prison. There were a few rooms inside, which used to be prisoners' cells in the olden days. One of the cells opened into the back gate from which one could take an exit.

"Why does this place look so spooky?" Jordan  whispered. He was scared out of his wits as he explored the place.

"From where can we step outside?" Jahaan  asked in a hushed voice.

"The security guy said that one of these cells  leads to the exit" Illahi  replied.
The four of them entered a cell together.

The cell had some rusted old chains and vessels. One of the walls had a broken door which was placed there randomly. As it was completely dark and Jordan  was already scared out of his wits, he thought it to be the exit door. He was so frightened that he ran towards the door and pulled it towards himself to open it. Instead of opening, the door fell on him.

This happened so suddenly that all of them got scared and screamed out loud.
Even Jahaan  could not hold back his scream.

Tanya rushed towards Jordan  and made the door stand straight again. Once the door was back in its place, Jordan  ran out of the room and hid behind Jahaan .
"Alright, enough exploring, now let's go back" Jordan  stuttered.
"But that was just a broken door. Why are you so scared of it?" Tanya  asked while coming out of the cell.

"And who asked you to touch any of the things present here?" Illahi  intervened.

"Enough. Now I won't walk even a single step ahead. Just tell me how I should get out of this place" Jordan  demanded.

"Let's do one thing. Three of you, just wait for me here. I will go and figure out where the exit is" Illahi  asserted and started checking out every cell alone to figure out where the exit was. However, she went to the fourth cell and did not come out for a very  long time.

" Tanya , why is Illahi  taking so long to come out of that cell? Is everything alright?" Jordan asked curiously.

"I will just go and check" saying this, Tanya  started walking towards the cell.

Just then, Jahaan  grabbed her hand and spoke, "No, don't go. I mean, look at Jordan . He is very scared. All of us should stick together".

"Oh... Alright, so let us all go together, the three of us will get inside that room and find out what Illahi  is up to," Tanya  said while looking at them.
They went inside and found no one there.
The cell was bigger than the other cells and it had the way to the exit too.

"Oh! Here is the way to go outside. I think Illahi  saw this and went outside all by herself, Jordan  said while looking at the door.

He was walking behind Jahaan  and Tanya .
They were very close to the gate when someone suddenly placed a hand on Jordan's shoulder . It was Illahi  and the moment Jordan  turned back, she scared him.

Jahaan and Jordan  screamed while the two girls started laughing. After a few seconds, Jahaan  realized that it was Illahi 's hand and he became silent. However, before Jordan  could realize anything, he was so scared that he fainted.

At first, the other three thought he was just putting up a show but he indeed was unconscious.

They got scared seeing his condition and Jahaan  immediately lifted him somehow and brought him outside the cell while the other two followed.

There was a beautiful little garden behind the prison which also had a lake nearby. A few kids were playing there and some families were there on a picnic. There were few food carts too and some visitors were clicking pictures of the sunset.
Jahaan  walked towards the grass and lay down Jordan  on it.

"That was such an immature prank, Illahi Look what you've done to him" Jahaan  rebuked her.

"But how would I know that he would get scared so easily? I was just having fun," Illahi  argued.

On the other hand, Tanya  was trying her best to bring Stanley back to his senses.

When Jordan  started gaining consciousness, he began to mumble, "Ghost! Ghost!"
Hearing him mumble, Tanya  and Illahi  giggled.

"What ghost? There is no ghost here. This place is not haunted. I was just joking" Tanya  announced.

"What do you mean? This prison is not haunted?" Jordan  said while getting up.

"Nope. This is a tourist spot and since it's a Monday, there is less crowd here" Tanya  added.

"Then why did the security guy say that not a lot of people come here?" he asked.

"That's because when you guys were parking your bikes, we included him in our prank" Illahi  chuckled.

"I am not going to spare you two. I am going to take my revenge very soon" Jordan  pouted.

They roamed around for some time, clicked a tew pictures, and before it got dark, they returned to the hotel. They bumped into Mrs. Mehta  at the reception.

"Hey! You guys have arrived at the perfect time. Go get dressed up quickly. We are going to have dinner together at a restaurant. We are going to try the local cuisine. The restaurant is very close to our hotel," she informed them.

The four of them went to their respective rooms and got ready. Once they were out, Illahi's jaw dropped on seeing Reeva .

"She is glowing after taking that spa session," Tanya  remarked.

"And her way of dressing up is always on point. No wonder why people call her the fashion icon in college" Illahi  replied.

Reeva was wearing a black colored knee-length dress. She was talking to her friend. She was also waiting for Jahaan .

From the hotel to the restaurant and back to the hotel, she stayed close to Jahaan . She didn't leave him alone even for once. Even at the restaurant, she sat next to him while Tanya  spent the entire evening being jealous of seeing the two together.

Will this feeling of jealousy create problems between Tanya  and Jahaan ? Will Reeva  succeed in attracting Jahaan  towards her? How will things shape up between the trio?