THE VISION

1.4 | The Mystery of House 2B (Part II)

Episode 08

'I did not want to say anything before, but I think you should know something about this building.' said Mr Sharma.

'This building is built on the bodies of many people. For all who were present during that year could never forget that incident. The screams of the people went ringing in my ears for years. Till today, I hear their screams. No one helped them. The raging fire engulfed the entire building. Till date, no one ever knew who started the fire.' continued Mr Sharma.

'Isn't the owner of the building and the current builder involved in it?' said Abhay.

Mr Sharma was literally shocked by hearing it from Abhay. He knew it. He remained calm and said, 'Nothing was ever proved and till date, people are fighting to prove them responsible. But the fact is that the head of the hospital Mr Dharam Chakradhar paid good compensations to all the families of both the patients and staffs.'

'How do you know all of this?' questioned Abhay.

'My wife used to be a nurse in Setupati hospital. It is the oldest hospital in our town. We had our perfect lives. I worked as a journalist for a local newspaper. That day I was near the mental asylum covering a story when I heard about the fire. I ran towards the scene and the entire building was on fire. I could see people trying to extinguish the fire, but of no use. Fire wagons arrived, and they tried dousing the fire. They could not find any route to rescue people. The brave fire persons jumped into the building and looked for survivors. The search went on for some time, but the fire was at its peak. After some time, all the firemen came outside. They could find no one. The building was now entirely engulfed in the fire. Dharam Chakradhar, the head of the hospital, was standing in front and his eyes were filled with grief. His dream was now on fire. He kept on requesting the fire persons to extinguish it quickly. After a couple of hours, the fire was doused, but there was nothing left in the building. The half-burnt board of the hospital fell on the ground with a loud thud. There were cries all over.' stopped Mr Sharma for a while.

He continued, 'The investigations went on for days. I covered the news. Many times my articles were rejected by my editor citing lack of evidence. But I kept on continuing. Meanwhile, Mr Dharam without waiting for anyone's suggestion gave away hefty compensations to the families of the staffs involved in the accident and to the families of the patients. Many did not accept it. They demanded a fair investigation against the board and Dharam Ji to be arrested. But nothing happened. There were various cases in court. The police closed the case, giving the report as fire because of an electrical short circuit. The case was closed. Mr Dharam requested all to accept the money and forgive him. He accepted that it was a mistake which no one could rectify it. He never could recover from it. He went into depression. The cases also went cold. But I kept on enquiring further when one day I was fired from my job.'

'Fired? But why?' asked Abhay.

'Someone did not want me to poke my nose into this case. They asked me to surrender all my information and asked to leave the job. I did it. That night while I was returning to my house, some goons attacked me. I was seriously injured and was hospitalised for many months. Seeing me in this state, my wife's health deteriorated. Once I was back on my feet, we left this town. We went to our hometown and spent our remaining lives over there. Our son went to Delhi for further studies. We stayed in our town. I worked for a small newspaper in that town. My wife worked as a nurse in a private nursing home. We spent our lives peacefully until one day our son informed us he got a good job over here. But he was asked to leave for Auckland for some time for a project. Our son was not aware of the history. His company had given him the flat, and he had invited us to stay here. When we saw it, we were shocked, but seeing the happiness on our son's face, we said nothing. We continued to stay here. Slowly, my wife's mental state deteriorated. She started hallucinating, and her sleepwalk increased. I did not want to inform it to my son. He is far away from us and he won't be here for another three months. So, I wanted to inform you and if you can help us.' said Mr Sharma in a requesting tone.