A Horrible Night

Arijit goes to his work everyday. He works in an office at Kolkata. He loves to read story books of all sorts. Among them ghost stories attracts him the most. He has read all the books of Edgar Allen Poe. He has recently bought a pet dog. He calls him Beethoven. He is a lover of Western classical music. He also likes to listen to Indian songs from Bollywood movies. He is a medical transcriptionist at a reputed company in Kolkata. He works in 3 shifts, morning, afternoon, and night shifts.

Recently he brought a film of Dracula and saw it one night. He prefers to surf the internet and also chat with his friends abroad. Life seems somewhat dull and drab for him. He has few number of holidays. He got married last year with a girl named Sulekha. She also works in a BPO in Kolkata as a medical transcriptionist. When he wakes up, he finds her to go out for office. Their off days do not meet. Sometimes they become absent together and go to see a movie or to the house of some near relative. He often watches horror movies whenever he gets time. He has watched Dracula, Friday the 13th, Exorcist. One night after watching a horror film, he went to bed around 12. Suddenly he heard a noise from the balcony. He heard someone singing sweetly. He shouted, Who is there? Suddenly the noise stopped. Then he went to the balcony and was surprised to see his wife standing there!! He said, When did you come here? You went to office today. But unusually no answer came from his wife. Her wife was looking pale and she was wearing a sleeveless red night garment. Then he went to sleep.

He woke up the next morning. He was preparing to leave and his wife entered the house after her night shift. When he told her about the last night incident, she was surprised. She said, No last night, I did not come out of the office. Rather the door in the office is closed in the night shift. Nobody can get out. Only after 6 in the morning, the supervisors allow people to leave. Then he went out. He comes around 6:30 in the evening. He takes small tiffin and goes to his gym. He loves to workout as it helps him to keep himself fit. In the night shift also, he goes to gym at 6 in the evening and then goes to work around 7:30 p.m. After returning from gym, he was reading the newspapers. Then he was surfing the net. He has a knack in creative writing and so he loves to post short stories, poetries and some articles on different blogs available on the internet. He went to take some rest in his bed. Suddenly he heard the calling bell. He went to open the door and found a young girl standing. He did not know her. The girl was wearing a blue jeans and a tight yellow T-shirt. She is fair complexioned, has a long hair. She has a mobile in her hand. She is quite afraid and her fear is very much reflected in her pale face. She has big bag with her. He asked, What do you want? The girl said, My name is Priyanka. I work in the same office of your wife. I need help. Then he took her inside and they both sat in the sofa. She said, For a few days, I am having trouble in sleeping. Last night, I am hearing some noise in the kitchen. I saw the time and it was midnight. I was sleeping with my husband and then when I woke up, I found that he is not there. I found my husband lying dead in the kitchen and his throat slit and blood was flowing from his throat. His stomach was also punctured. Blood was also coming out from it. Suddenly I heard some footsteps. I found your wife hurriedly going down the staircase and all over the staircase, blood was found. The next morning his body was cremated in the usual manner and I do not know what to do. I am really very much afraid!!! I fear that your wife will come and kill me also. He consoled her. He gave her some food and told her to stay in the house this night. He went to sleep in bed and in another bed, he told her to sleep. She went to change her clothes. He was surprised to see that she was very much prepared to sleep here. She was wearing a sleeveless blue night garment. In her slim figure, she was looking quite beautiful in that night dress. They gossiped quite late that night. She talked how her husband used to love her. Last week he gifted her a diamond necklace. She cried a lot for her dead husband. Then he came to her bed and consoled her. The horrible experience of her last night cannot be erased. She told him how her family life used to be quite happy. She said, Last year I went to Darjeeling. The previous year I went to Madras. Every year we used to go out to a trip.

It was a hot summer night. She went to bathe in the bathroom. He went to sleep. Suddenly he heard her sing. He went near the bathroom and found the door open. He saw her applying soap to her body. Her body is quite beautiful. She told him to apply soap to her back. When he was applying soap, he felt a lot of excitement. Then he returned to bed and was trying to sleep. Priyanka came from her bathroom. Suddenly she felt a pain in her leg. She groaned in pain. Arijit woke up. He asked, What happened? She said, I am having a pain here. She pointed to her upper part of her thigh. He said, Okay. I am a pain balm. I am giving you. When he brought the balm and gave her, she smiled and said, You apply it here. She lifted her nightdress above her thigh. He asked, How did this pain develop? She said, Last night when I woke up, I groped around my dark bed room. A heavy book from the shelf fell directly on my thigh. My husband was a lawyer. So he had a large collection of books. He applied balm to her thigh and she felt warm and some more balm to be applied on her thigh. Then he went to sleep in the bed beside her.

Early morning she woke him up and said, I am leaving now!! Arijit said, Okay! It was a wonderful night! If you have any trouble, call me in this number. She went away and he took some tiffin and got ready to leave. His wife did not return home this morning. He called in her mobile and got an unusual response. There was a screeching noise followed by all the sounds we hear in a ghost movie and then he heard his wifes voice telling her about her past. The newspaper came and he was stunned to see the news headline. In the second page of The Daily News, he got the news that in an accident her wife died. While crossing a road, his wife was struck by a lorry and she died on the spot.

Forgetting his office, he went to see his wife lying dead in the stretcher at a local police station. He identified her and claimed her body for cremation. Then the rituals were done as usual. He felt very sad of the sudden demise of his wife. The next day he went to his job but he could not do it as he was very upset. The pictures of his past came quite often in his mind.

One day after office he returned home. He thought to forget this grief he sat in his synthesizer. He played old Hindi movies tunes. He also played some of his favorite western classical pieces. Suddenly the door bell rang. It was around 7 p.m. When he opened the door, he found Priyanka dressed as a college girl with a tight red T-shirt and a jeans. He found that she forgot her husbands horrible death. He said, Come in. Yesterday my wife died. She was surprised. She hugged him consoled him. She told him that she wants to stay with him this night. She was panting as she came up the stairs fast. He said, Have a glass of water. He went to the kitchen. Then when he entered the room, he was surprised to see that she was lying in the bedroom. She took the water. They talked quite a long time. He told her how happy his married life was. She asked, Do you have a night garment of your wife? I want to change. Then he gave her the sleeveless, white, thin night dress. She went to another room. When she was changing clothes, he saw her through the half open door. He was very excited to see her body. He gave her the dinner he had already cooked. They both took the dinner and went to sleep.

Suddenly around 11 in the night, he was reading a book and found something walking in the corridor. He immediately sprang up and went there. He found no one. Then he went to the room where Priyanka is sleeping. He saw her lying in the bed. Her night dress has moved up over her buttocks. He cannot resist touching her. When he touched her, he was surprised to see she never objected. He satisfied his desire. Then they slept together.

In the next morning, he thought it would be better to leave this house. He went to his grandfathers house in Howrah. He asked her whether she wanted to go with him or not. She also said, Yes! I dont want to leave you alone. They boarded the next days train around 8 a.m. They went to Dasnagar. They stayed in the house of his grandfather. Life was passing as usual. He was going to his office every day. He married Priyanka as she also loved her very much. Now he can never see any ghost in his house. His life became as normal as before.