Haunting Memories

Chapter 12

The servants cleared out the table, and left a cup of jasmine tea in front of her. She nodded her appreciation, but then returned to her reverie. The tea grew cold sitting on the table, and Ritika just sat in her chair, her mind blank. An hour or two had passed perhaps, she couldn’t really tell how long, when she heard some noise outside the dining room door. Her heart skipped a beat, but then her sister walked in and she relaxed back into her chair, angry at herself for her jumpiness. Her neck and back ached, and she realised she had been holding them stiff all this time. The stress was getting to her.

Anjali came up to her, eyebrows raised, “You’re still here? I thought you would have gone back to your room.”

Ritika stood up slowly, not being able to admit even to herself that she had been waiting for her sister.

“Yes, we should head upstairs,” she said.

Anjali rolled her eyes, and walked out, and Ritika followed behind.

“I spoke to him. He will stay till the morning. What disasters you have planned for then is your problem entirely. I am so tired of you turning simple matters into such big deals. Honestly Ritika, just do what you will tomorrow so that at least I can move on with my life, even if you don’t want to.”

They had climbed up the stairs during Anjali’s rant and now stood outside her door. She looked at Ritika’s apologetic face, then sighed, “You make me feel horrible, like I’m super mean or something, but I’m just being practical. Please clear this out one way or the other tomorrow morning.”

Ritika pursed her lips, and then nodded. Anjali placed a hand on her shoulder, and Ritika realised how long it had been since someone had touched her affectionately. It brought back memories of Aarav with a sharp jerk and she held back the tears. Life was way too complicated for her at the moment for her to indulge in her grief.

“Good night then,” Anjali said and opened her door. She walked in, and as she closed the door behind herself, she gave a last look towards her sister.

“I love you, you know that, right?” she said reassuringly.

Ritika nodded and smiled, and watched as the door closed in her face. She had wanted to sleep in her sister’s room again, but she didn’t think she could now. She stood there a moment, building up the courage to go into her own room, and then left.

 

In a daze, she followed her nightly routine. She had changed into her nightgown, brushed her teeth, climbed in between her bed covers and switched off the lamps, all the time lost in thought. Finally settled in, she became acutely aware of her surroundings as she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. It was as if the entire house, the walls and ceilings and floors and furnishings, all waited for her to decide. What would she do the next morning? What should she do? Everyone was waiting on her impatiently, expecting her to make a decision so that they could move on with their lives. But what decision would let her move on with hers? She didn’t feel she could speak to her sister anymore. As painful as it was to admit, Anjali was fed up of the business, perhaps rightly so. She felt alone and helpless, and craved strongly for Aarav. If he were around, he’d understand her, he’d help her decide. If we were there, she thought wistfully, this wouldn’t be happening. They would be living a happy, peaceful life, perhaps thinking of a vacation as they often did this time of the year. The stress and pain became unbearable. She tried to get a grip. She wanted to decide before she slept, but she was drowning in her sorrow. She rolled onto her side and cried into her pillow for a long time, until her voice was hoarse, her throat dry and finally exhaustion caused her to drift off.

 

A loud thud jolted her awake, but she did not jump out of bed. She lay still, her grip tightening on her pillow, as her eyes wildly roamed the room around her. They came to rest on the bedside clock. It was almost two in the night. She thought of going back to sleep, but anxiety coiled like a snake in the pit of her stomach. Slowly, she sat up and looked around the room. Nothing looked broken or damaged, but the whole interior seemed off somehow. A seconds pause later, she realised that her bed was set against the wrong wall. Her bed was up against the wall opposite to where it always was- where it had been when she had slept. Fear built its way up her spine and her heart hammered, but she forced herself to close her eyes and take a deep breath. When she looked again, the scene was the same. She got off the bed, switched on the lamp and rolled the bed back into its original position. That was probably what had happened. The bed was on rollers, and had probably rolled away while she slept... The explanation was ridiculous. It had never happened, could not happen, but she tried to force herself into believing it.

When she was done, she stood staring at her bed. She couldn’t muster the courage to lie down on it again. She didn’t know whether her fear was just or irrational, she just knew she couldn’t sleep on that bed, not without dreading that it would carry her away somewhere.

“You’re so stupid,” she chided herself.

Something fell in the adjacent room and she reflexively looked towards the wall that she shared with it.

“Happens every night,” she told herself as she tried to look away.

But the fact that it was happening every night didn’t make it okay. It was not normal. Something was happening. Something wrong. She just didn’t know what to do about it. Complete silence filled the room then, seeming more pronounced after the loud noise that preceded it. Ritika could hear her wall clock ticking, and an eerie feeling crawled her skin. The silence seemed oppressive and full of malice. She wondered if she should go to her sister’s room after all, but didn’t know if she wanted to get out of her room. That was when she heard footsteps outside and went completely still, instinctively holding her breath. She heard them approach from Aarav’s room, and they stopped right outside her door. She looked at the gap below the door, and saw a shadow. There was no one in Aarav’s room. No one. There was no one on the entire floor, except her sister, and her sandals sounded very different from the heavy footsteps she had just heard. The servants weren’t allowed to come up, and even if one of them had gone there in the night, she would have heard them. All these thoughts just fed her fear. Her heart hammered in her chest and seemed to climb up her throat, until an involuntary whimper escaped her lips. She covered her mouth quickly with both her hands, staring wide eyed at the door. A part of her wanted to look around for something to use as a weapon, but the rest of her was frozen with fear and won out.

Whoever was outside dropped something right outside her door. She heard the shatter of glass and shards flew into the room from beneath the door. The footsteps then receded, but instead of going back towards Aarav’s room, they moved towards and down the stairs.

Ritika stood staring at the pieces of glass, and then heard a whisper. She whipped around, scanning the room. She looked out the window. It was a quite night, it could not even have been the wind. She heard it again, and looked around more desperately.

She was moving towards the tube light when the whispering started again. This time it was continous, and a little louder; and she could decipher the words.

“Get out.” “Leave.” “It’s mine.” “Die.”

Several voices whispered tiny words and sentences, repeating them over and over, the whispers growing louder, more malicious.

“No, no,” Ritika moaned, backing away towards the door. She stepped on a shard of glass, and it cut into her skin. She didn’t stop to check. She rushed towards the door, ignoring the trail of blood left by her foot. The knob wouldn’t turn, and she pushed on it incessantly, turning it in both directions, her efforts becoming more frantic and sloppy as the voices seemed to get louder and come closer. She was on the verge of falling to the floor, gripped with fear, when the door finally gave way. She stepped outside and saw a photo frame lying on the floor. The glass on the front was shattered and a smiling picture of herself and Aarav looked up at her. She walked away from it, towards the balustrade, her brain too wired to care.