KalRatra (काळरात्र) A Night With Horrors

Don't thank me!! Part 1

It was a cold morning. The chilly breeze entered through the window and touched Vishwaprit's cheek lightly. He felt the feathery touch on his face and opened his eyes slowly.

The new was sunny and fresh. The mist was nowhere to be seen. Vishwaprit stretched his body and looked for Setupati. He was remembering the bits of what happened last night. It was like sweet dream accompanied with a nightmare for him.

He felt the chill inside his body after realizing the presence of the enemy in front of last night. The shadow with thousand hands, was trying to grab him. Shastriji tried to save him, but if Setupati hadn't arrived on time, he would have lost himself into nothingness. He wanted to thank him, one more time, for one more thing!

He got up from the sofa he was sleeping on, and walked towards balcony. There he was! Setupati, Standing in the balcony, looking at the sunrise. His face was calm but his mind was restless. He had suddenly acquired so much power, that his mind wasn't able to process it properly. He was trying to organize it. He had to, else he could miss something important.

Setupati felt Vishwaprit's presence even before he reached him. He broke his stare at the morning sun and looked at Vishwaprit, giving him warmest smile. And he asked,

"How do you feel?"

"Never better!" Vishwaprit replied enthusiastically.

"You don't need to be over enthusiastic to show your gratitude! I know you're tired after all that happened. It was a close call yesterday. We shouldn't have had that drink, we could have lost you. We should know better, I should know better. My mind is my power and I lost it the moment I touched the alcohol. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. I'm really ashamed." Setupati expressed his disappoinment towards himself.

"Setu, I want to thank you. Not to save my life, but to be with me on this journey. There are plenty of people around who worship me, but you're the only one who understand me. Thank you for always being who you're! And I don't think you disappointed anybody. You saved me, remember. I wouldn't be talking to you if you hadn't reached me on time."

"Don't thank me. I didn't save you, Lord Shiva did!" Setupati's voice got spiritually emotional.

"I believe Lord Shiva just showed you the way, but you're the one who followed it. So you're the one who saved me. So stop making that face. I'm feeling much better than yesterday. The can of beer worked like magic, I guess!" Vishwaprit laughed while finishing the last sentence.

"I lost my magic yesterday itself. You're enjoying yourself nicely. Now I'm jealous of you." Setupati also smiled.

"But this is not the time to enjoy ourselves. We got to move. Shastriji should be waiting for us. Our beloved guest will welcome us with their screams. I got to bring them back to this boring reality of humanity! Where will I pay for these sins?"

Vishwaprit cracked a sarcastic comment towards their depressed life and walked towards the kitchen to drink some water.

"We have already paid for all of our sins, don't you think? These are happier times even though the enemy has reached the doorstep and we have already faced him twice."

Setupati tried to lighten the mood.

"Hmm!" Vishwaprit hummed.

"So, when shall we leave?" Setupati asked.

"Give me half an hour." He said and left the room to find Bhishu.

*******

Shastriji hadn't slept since the encounter of the dark shadow, sent to assassinate Vishwaprit last night. He was rolling in the chair, being in deep thoughts, trying to find a way to get out of all this. But his thoughts were broken by Meera's words,

"Baba, they're looking for you."

He opened his eyes slowly, looked at his daughter who was concerned about his well-being and said,

"I'll be there, ask them to wait for a moment."

Meera nodded her head with approval and started walking out. But her father's words interrupted her. He was asking,

"How are they? Did they cause any fuss?"

"They tried to, but I handled them well. Your police friends are quite impressed." She smiled.

"You're talented like your mother. I'm proud of you. But we have to take good care of them until he returns."

"When is he coming?" She asked with dying curiosity. She wanted see the promised one with her own eyes. They were waiting for Vishwaprit.

"He will be here soon." Shastriji assured her.

"Very well. Then I will go and arrange for today's rituals. They are quite too many of those creatures there. We have to maximize the impact, so that this nightmare will be over soon for those miserable creatures!" She said and left.

Shastriji sunk into his thoughts again.

********

Meera went to see Raghav and Ganesh's police team. They had stayed there for the night, to make sure everything was fine.

She reached to their room and knocked. Someone walked towards the door and opened it. Raghav! Her heart skipped a bit. She didn't understand why. She wasn't the type of girl who would fall for a guy only for his looks and she didn't know anything about Raghav except his good looking face. How can her mind get so mesmerized after looking into his eyes? She wondered.

Raghav was holding the door and kept looking at her calm face. His heartbeats started running a marathon. He tightened his grip on the door knob and asked with great efforts, trying to sound as normal as possible,

"Good morning Miss Meera. Is everything fine?"

"Yes. I checked on them just few minutes before. I came to inform you that father will see you after half an hour. You all get ready. He will be arriving soon. We have the rituals to perform." She said.

"Do you need any help in the preparation of rituals?"

The words came out of his mouth helplessly. He bit his tongue. He didn't want sound too concerned. He felt embarrassed.

"Yes. Why not? I am collecting the ingredients required for this unusual ritual. You can accompany me into the farm if you wish."

She replied positively. She didn't realise why she accepted his request, but it made her feel happy and excited.

He also felt too much happiness after talking to her.

"That's nice of you!" Ganesh commented from the corner after listening the conversation of Meera and Raghav.

Raghav looked at Ganesh and realized what happened and tried to behave casually saying,

"I am just being a nice person. They're doing so much, we have to do something. We're public servants you know!"

"I can see that!" Ganesh teased him.

Raghav blushed a little.

Ganesh noticed his embarassment and decided to spare him. He thought,

'At least someone was creating happy memories!'

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