About 250 years long waterways journey, it's not easy to keep the record, when you are floating underwater on a wooden submarine, such a long time, but now this putrefied prison could not stop me more, I AM COMING.
Completely unaware of their twisted fates and the crisis ahead, three friends were sitting on a small bridge's stairs built on a small river in a north Indian village called "BhagwanPur". The river was named on "Saraswati", the goddess of all kind of arts and knowledge.
The river was now being used for throwing all sorts of garbage in it. industrial waste, religious things, posters and idols of Indian deities. Some people used to do bone immersion in the river also. And the saying was, that the place was also being used for black magic at night.
So, No one usually likes to go there, except for some shepherds and fishermen. but for whom wanted a break from their seriously depressing lives to spend some time with their best friends, with no disturbance. So, they can just talk about everything except for important real-life stuff, in that case, it was a great place to visit.
Besides if one does not pay attention to rumours, there was nothing to be afraid of, a quiet and open place surrounded by farms. A pleasant breeze always blows there in summer days but was now about to end as a little cold could be felt, whenever the sun got covered with the clouds.
Today the topic of the conversation was ghosts. One of three leading the conversation that time was Aditya, who was an average guy, normal in body always dressed up and stylish. He was wearing a plain shirt and tattered jeans today. Shirt in and sleeves folded half. he said in a low voice ' ''Jinns'' are the deadliest form of spirits and There are two types of jinns, one is natural and other can only be created by black magic.'
The other two boys were Rajveer and Sidharth.
Sidharth was wearing an old faded, checked shirt over grey shorts. which surely wasn't a fashion statement. If asked he used to argue that he doesn't care about fashion but that was hardly true. However, His nose was like a parrot's beak and he had a serious problem of acne. Rajveer who was the big guy of the group always makes fun of Sidharth's nose while calling him an "angry bird". Rajveer himself had a long and lean athletic body. His hair was long enough to cover his ears and he had a little beard on his face. He was wearing a baby pink t-shirt, sports lower and shoes. His beady eyes were focused on Aditya while nodding continuously. Sidharth and Aditya were same in height which makes Rajveer look a bit weird in the group as he was about 5 inches taller than both of them.
'And the thing makes them more dangerous' Aditya continued 'is their presence couldn't be noticed. Even the possessed person wouldn't feel it. They use a person's body to complete their desires. such little ones like eating and drinking. And you know what? they are extremely lucky too to the person they possess. well sort of actually' he corrected 'For example, if a businessman gets possessed by a jinn, his business never goes down. His rivals in business will automatically gets out of his way and the person become rich in no time but..' Aditya stopped dramatically glancing at his friends 'but if the person somehow gets to know that he is possessed. Then they disarmament everything thing, give the person a deadly disease and kill him'
Aditya had very good knowledge about ghosts. Three friends spend the entire day talking on this topic, now the day was about to end. Sun was half drowned out. They decided to go to their homes now. Aditya and Rajveer got up and started to move. After walking some steps, they noticed that Sidharth was not with them. They turned to see Sidharth and they found him still sitting on the stairs.
'Sidharth' Rajveer yelled, from about five steps away. But he was like a stone, his body was motionless and eyes were wide open and staring in one direction.
'What happened to him' Aditya asked.
Rajveer shrugged 'I don't know'. They went close to him and when they shook him, he came back in consciousness. 'What happened' Sidharth asked astonished.
Rajveer snorted
'What happened to us? You tell me what happened to you?'
But Sidharth was totally blank he himself was in a dilemma when his friends got up and what Rajveer was asking him about.
'guys, we should talk about it later' Aditya said grimly 'it's getting late. And I don't know what but.. there is something.'
they glanced at each other. Everyone went quiet for a minute, it was almost dark now and the otherwise not so creepy place, suddenly was giving them creeps. the humming sound of insects was now echoing more than ever. They did a silent discussion and the race begins. Without waiting for another second, they scuttled away from there. Half scared half enjoying, while trying to get ahead they managed to get out of the place at the same time. This place was several feet down on one side of the highway. So, when they were out, they were crouched and breathing hard. After taking the breath, when they saw one another's faces, Rajveer was the first to laugh. Other two joined and then there was a burst of laughter. They banter each other for a while for their cowardly behaviour. On the one hand, all three used to maintain themselves brave, just as everyone does. But the truth was they were pretty much scared to death when Aditya said there is something.
Finally, they controlled themselves and started to move towards their homes on the highway. 'So, what were you saying down there' Rajveer asked Aditya.
Aditya hesitated
'I.. don't know.. I.. I felt as if someone was watching us but' he waved dismissively 'surely I was just freaking out, there is nothing' But his instincts was saying the opposite. Somehow, he was sure he felt something. A kind of cold presence. he had sensed something dangerous. But he didn't say that to his friends. A sensible thing Aditya would do. He simply doesn't want to be mocked by his friends for rest of his life.
they parted and advanced towards their homes.
But not home sweet home for everyone. Especially Rajveer.
When he was in his way home, he was thinking about his mother, who thought him worthless. For her, Rajveer was thickheaded who always stay lost in himself and never cares about anything happening around but Rajveer, he had some high expectations from his life, no matter how bitter the circumstances were for him. Just like every teenager he wanted to make his mark.
she wants me to work Rajveer thought but I can't. I can't be a petrol pump assistant or a shopkeeper of someone else's shop for my whole life. No, definitely not. I am born to do something big, something great and I know that. Whatever she thinks about me, but one day she will proud of me.
By the time he reached his home, his mother was cooking. Rajveer sat on his bed, soon his mother came with food and served to him. A beautiful woman with black hairs and eyes. She was a little chubby too which makes her look cute, but if you are going on her looks you have probably mistaken her. She was a really tough lady. Kind of person anyone would think twice before crossing. 'please sir, eat' she said and it is clear from her accent, that it was a taunt. Although Rajveer was habitual of all that but yet this hurt him. He glanced at his mother for a second and then started to eat. Normally, he used to avoid argumentation with his mother because he knows that his mother was not wrong. It was just a bad time and it will pass soon. She wanted him to work because she was the only working person in his house and she used to run a beauty parlour.
Rajveer's parents had separated years ago. When he was about seven years old and his brother was only four years old. His dad kept Rajveer and his mother kept Ajay, Rajveer's younger brother with her. After that, his dad went to Greece for work and Rajveer got raised by his grandparents. then after his grandma died six years ago Rajveer moved to his mother's house. Yet his dad sends money for his expenses but it was not enough for the full household as his dad was now working as a taxi driver in India, after his huge failure in trying to set up a business in Greece, he himself didn't earn much.
♦♦♦
On the other side, Aditya slept well in his home but the night proved very horrifying for Sidharth. after coming home Sidharth did his dinner and headed to bed. He didn't even bother to change and as soon he put his head on the pillow, he fell asleep instantly.
His sweet sleep broke when he felt a drop in the temperature. Then dreamingly he realized that the surface he was sleeping on was no longer cosy and warm. His eyes flew open and he woke up on a hard mud floor, one side of his face tied to the ground. He got up clambering. He made a full circle while extending his arms in the search of his bed, thinking perhaps he fell from the bed. But it made him swallow when he realized that he was no longer in his home. His heart started pounding, He was standing in the pure dark, only a little light coming from upside, moon's light which was on one side of the curved chamber he was in. He quickly made a view all around. A well, he figured. But how? He ran toward the wall and yelled 'Help…,help..' many times but there was no response, besides his own voice resonance. He was in deep thought now 'what am I doing here, how I reached in here' thousands of questions roaming in his mind. He thought for first 'maybe I fell in here and my head collided somewhere, and I forget about the last few hours or day' but it's didn't seem to be possible. He did not have any headache. He even checked his head to be sure, but there was no sign of blood or swelling. It was hard to understand, he tried to convince himself 'it is a dream, it is a dream.' But that's also didn't seem to be possible. He could feel everything there, the cold, the soil under his shoes, moon's light and the sound of insects, everything was so clear.
But nothing was visible there. Suddenly, he realized that his mobile phone was in his pocket and he was wearing a lower, but he was sure that he was slept in shorts.
Whatever he thought at least I have my phone.
He pulled it out in clutter so could call someone for help. but His heart which was filled with relief a moment ago didn't stay like that forever. There was no signal and how would it be. He was about two floors underground. He snorted and slammed his mobile on his hand.
Now only a single way was left for Sidharth. He decided to get out of the place as soon as possible even if he had to climb 20 feet. He turned on his mobile's flashlight to find the safest way to climb up. But as he turned on the light, his eyes widened. just in front of him, there was a narrow staircase, going downward. Hesitatingly, he stepped toward, there was even darker in there. Sidharth thought for a second before stepping in. Then he started to follow the stairs, hoping a safe way to get out of there. Stairs were made of clay bricks, yellow in colour like sand. Gingerly Sidharth was making his way down. He had already landed about 20 steps but still, the end of the stairs was nowhere to be seen. Somehow, he had the courage to keep going down. Although he knows it could be the worst decision of his life but he didn't stop.
After landing almost a hundred steps Sidharth found a large hall at the end of the stairs, Sized of 400 meters athletics track, same in shape, just without curved edges. Sidharth kept on moving without any idea where this path will lead him. As he reached in the middle, in the dim light of his mobile he saw a giant shape on another end of the hall. He stopped with a shock and pressed his mobile with his chest so it stops casting light. While his hand on his heart he got to know how fast his heart was running. It could easily give him a heart attack if he were 30 years older. He stayed still, hoping the giant won't notice him but he was not sure. A minute passed and nothing happened. Somehow, he picked up the courage and turned the light toward the giant figure and it turned out to be a great relief. The figure he saw was a metal statue of a man sitting cross-legged. He moved closer and found himself in a temple, the temple of "Lord Buddha". The front wall of the temple was filled with man-sized metal statues of Lord Buddha except for one, was double in size. It was placed on a small staircase which was providing it more length.
So far, all of his dread was gone. Now he was more eager than scared, he wanted to know how a temple had been established in a well and who did it. meanwhile, Sidharth started climbing up the stairs. After reaching on top, He puts his hands together and bowed in respect. On the same moment, the light fell in the lap of lord buddha where his hands were resting and Sidharth's eyes got fixed on a book, placed in the hands of Buddha.
All of it was getting more and more fascinating for Sidharth. first, a secret underground temple and now this book. he hesitated for a moment, then he caught his mobile in his mouth and picked up the book.
A layer of dust had been solidified in decades. Sidharth cleaned the dust with his hand. The book was looking ancient, and something was written on it in "Sanskrit", which Sidharth was not able to understand. He opened the book and in it, he found a gold-plated rectangular green stone in a gold chain. It was looking like an amulet.
'Wow..' he said mesmerized. It surely had something magical in it and not only because it was lit with a faint glow but also because it was forcing Sidharth to get hold of it, invoking him to wear it. Sidharth picked the amulet, put the book back. Now when the amulet was in his hands He doesn't even come to know when he wore it and when he realized. He was being strangulated by an old man. Sidharth's mobile was resting on the floor and casting light to both of them. The old man choking Sidharth was as old that one could ever imagine. He was nearly mummified. His white rags were hanging loosely on his frame, his skin was like a snake's slough and every vain was in his body was popped out. But still, all of it was not making him any less powerful than a wrestler. Sidharth tried to get rid of him but the grip of the old madman was strong enough. The old man wrestled Sidharth to the ground and He waa not able to breathe. Soon everything went blurry.
And Sidharth jumped awake on his bed, breathing hard and sweating. 'It was a dream' Sidharth relaxed, but he was feeling like someone actually tried to choke him to death. He sat in a malaise for some time then He drank some water and tried to sleep again. He checked the time on his mobile it was 4 o'clock.
And it said that the dream comes around 4 am, always become true.