This is from another writer in the family, my niece Chinnu. She is just 13 years old but I should admit that she is way better than me as a writer. Chinnu da, my promise to you, I will publish your book. Go ahead girl. Add more power to you.
I pushed my shrug down and got down from my bed, as the doorbell rang. “Your milk and newspaper for the day, mam!” The milkman yelled from the corridor. “Lazy Sunday, huh?” He asked crisply. “Yeah. I had a lot of work to do yesterday and as you know, I’ve just moved in, so had a couple of them at home too.” I said, long way short. “50 rupees for the milk and the daily.” I handed him the money, smiling. He smiled back and vanished to the next door, ringing the doorbell. I have another dose of work waiting, as my parents and my sister, Sarah are coming all the way from Singapore to visit me. Eventhough their visit is a month or two away, I was in a hustle to welcome them to my new dream house, which I had bought with a great deal of effort and money. My father was totally against my idea of buying a new apartment. My mother’s support throughout kept me motivated to pursue my dream. My younger sister, Sarah was quite young to make decisions but my older sister, Sindhu, was a bit reluctant about my decision. But later, I could persuade my sister, but never did my explanations satisfy my father, who was strictly restricting.
It was quite an unusual Sunday. Suddenly, I heard a blast in the next house. Even if it was none of my business, it sounded more like a thunder, which proved a sign for me to rush to the next door to see what was wrong. And as the young lady has been a bit known to my soul, I decided to sprint my way to her door. I stood.. Frozen. I realized that my conclusion to sprint to her place was quite a right decision. The telephone rang.. The vessel in the kitchen whistled. But there was not a single respond and as a result of some good luck, the door was open. “Tanya!!....” screamed someone as they made their entrance inside. I decided to peep in. The middle-aged lady who let out the squeal was Tanya’s aunt, Mrs. Janya. “Aunty, what’s wrong?” I asked in bitter agony. When my dark-brown eyes zoomed inside to see the reason for her tears, my eyes leaked a lot of salt water too. We were speechless, when another neighbor came to the scene to question us, “My god! Is everything okay?”An hour passed after the ambulance left to Isabel hospital, taking the young lady. I cleaned the ‘puddle’ and waited there till their return, upon Mrs. Janya’s request. The telephone rang abruptly. I decided to talk, and Tanya’s aunt spoke up in tears which I sensibly sensed. “Yamuna.. For your information, the coffin will arrive shortly.”She said. I hung up the phone and her phrase left me speechless.
Ever since this incident occurred, I decided to be careful while cleaning the fan. It left me cautious about turning off the fan while cleaning it, even when the power is off. When I was in deep thoughts, I got a phone call. It was from my sister Sindhu, from Bangalore. I was really excited to talk to her, as it was almost a month since we buzzed. I started..”Hi Sindhu! How are you? You’ve called up after a full month, you dog! Everything okay?” It was her turn now,”Hello Yamuna! I’m fine. Good that you have moved in to your new house. I’m updated. I checked it in facebook.”She said, and continued “Things are going well here. Mother, father and Sarah are coming here to visit me. Did you hear? Sarah has got an A+ in her 12th grade.”She said. “Yeah, I know. “I said. “When are YOU coming here to visit me?” I asked. “Shortly”, she said. “That’s why I called up. I’ll come with mother, father and Sarah.”She said. I was really glad to hear what she said and expressed my emotions out, when all of a sudden.. My mind went to my neighbor, who was covered in white shroud. I narrated the whole incident to her, wept, and expressed my anxiety to my beloved sister. She comforted me for a while, and then cut off. For some reason, Sindhu has always been my favourite of two sisters, and friends. I’ve always liked her the most.
A week literally flew at the blink of an eye, and soon it was Sunday again. I decided to rest the whole day, for the amount of work I did the previous day. After a short nap, I watched my favourite tv show, malgudi, which would be telecasted every Sunday. I laughed my throat off and ended up coughing. I displayed different emotions at different scenes, when suddenly, I heard a knock on my door. Before I opened my lip to enquire why Mr. Ramanatan’s wife and children were before my door, I saw their cheeks filled with liters of tears. “Kanna? And why are you crying, Varsha? Mrs. Amutha…. Even you? Wh..” The lady cut my speech. “I’m no more ‘Mrs. Amutha’, Yamuna.”She said. “What do you mean?”I questioned, welcoming them in and getting a refusal returned. “ Natan is no more..”She said. “What? Wasn’t everything going well? What is wrong with Natan? Where is he?” I asked. “In the ambulance as of now, and in the ice-box, after an half of the hour.”She said. I thought, ‘I have another funeral to visit.’ I didn’t want to bother her asking her too many questions. So I just asked her about the cause for his death and his son that if he is going to assassinate. I literally wept for the little children and his innocent wife. I offered to support her with some money and also accepted the burden of paying her children’s school fee till she finds a job for herself and a nanny to take care of the kids. I would be glad to take care of them, but since I worked too, there was absolutely not a question that I had to answer my conscience. But yet, another funeral, at home, on a Sunday again! Is this a coincidence or is this something to worry about?
My mother, Sassy had suggested some recipes for me to try at home. My father, tempered as the Sea, but sweet as honey, Mr. Naturam, spoke too. My father was a hindu, who was married to a Christian, my mother, Sassy. My paternal grandparents did not wait for his acceptance. My father was already old, when he was married. So they decided to hurry the process, irrespective of my father’s opinion. Sassy was an orphan. But my grandparents knew her very well and they also took charge of paying for her school. So they reserved this girl for my father, knowing her kind heart, cleverness and intelligence, all while facing several problems and sorrow. She was optimistic at all circumstances and her sanguine attitude towards things filled them more with thirst. Two years later, my sister, Sindhu was born. Just an year after that, I was born. Sarah’s soul joined after 4 years of my birth, and 5 years of Sindhu’s. I’ve been with Sindhu for a longer time and we are probably the closest of all sisters. Sarah is 17 years old now, and she was always with mother, and me and Sindhu, with each other all the time. I didn’t know why, but something kept bothering me and I wanted to seek my sister’s advice, and I so desperately wanted to be with them. A week flowed like water, me thinking of and wanting to be with them. I was fed up of being alone, and I wanted to meet my neighbor, Alley. She is an Indian-American, married to an American-Indian. They have a girl, about 9. Ever since I came here a month ago, I would visit their place whenever I felt like it. So, I decided to take my 5- foot tall body to their place for some time on Sunday.
Soon, I got out of the house to get to my neighbour’s door, which was to the left of mine. I knocked once. Then twice. Then thrice. Alley was not the sort of person who kept people waiting on the door. So I rang. The door was not locked. But there was a piece of paper with something written on it. It said something strange,’Out of this haunted place.’ I kept scratching my head for some time when suddenly, a huge-sized head popped out in tears again. “What’s wrong, Julie? Why are you crying??” Julie pulled me in without talking a word, and pointed to the coffin. I went closer, and I saw my dear friend’s photo near it.”Julie, you mean..?” I started.. “Mom is dead…!!” Julie completed for me, crying so hard. Mr. Wils popped to see my eyes shining. I couldn’t stand this anymore. I burst out right there! Tanya was the first attack, Mr. Ramanathan next, leaving his children and wife as orphans and now it was Alley’s turn to collapse. I cried so much that my eyes turned chilly-red and to such an extent that my nose, which never turned red, was blood-red!! I asked them to excuse me. After the funeral, I ran to my phone and ringed Sindhu. She was shocked to hear what I said. To fire the lamp more, she said some other thing which shocked me as much as an electric shock did. “Yamu.. I’ll try to get a flight ticket at the nearest timing and come to your place. I’ll be there toninght! And that thing which was written in your friend Alley’s house is making me more suspicious. Did they tell you how Alley passed away?” She asked.”Yeah. They said something, but that did not sound actual. I don’t think a swam of bees are potent enough to kill an immune girl like Alley, because there was a hive in the park, and she said she’s had thousands of bee attacks and that the hive wouldn’t scare her to death as much as it did to me.”I tried to change my mind. Sindhu couldn’t find a flight so she called me on facetime. “Hey sis! Don’t you realize this? There are 4 houses in your colony. And all the owners in your colony have faced death now, on Sundays. It may sound like a coincidence, but every collapse has happened on a Sunday.”She explained. I got scared now, “What do you mean, Sindhu?”I asked, drenched with fear, as some deluged from my eyes. “This is a sign for you to be warned, coz you may be the next attack.”
Her words kept beating over my small-sized ears, so I took an auto to the temple, to get relaxed. I saw old people sitting there, in the temple. They looked like saints or astronomers. I wanted to go to one of them to talk this out. I went to an old man, whose face was red with vermilion and white with marks of ashes. I narrated everything that happened and also the phone call I had with my sister. “Do you trust your sister?”He asked, and paused. “Your sister is always right, isn’t she? Just like she was now?” I was stunned to hear his words. “Grandpa..? Is this a coincidence?” I asked. “It is not a coincidence.”He said. “You have to know this. Your sister was right! You ARE the next attack.”He said, making me shiver my skin out. “The land was cursed by a girl, who was killed in that very spot where your land is built. There were many houses there before your apartment was built, but each of them ended up with no person living in it.”He said. “What am I supposed to do now? Please guide me, uncle. I want to come out of this problem.”I said, expecting a good reply. “The last person who died, your friend, was not attacked by bees, but by evil spirits.”He said. “Are you sure, master? I don’t believe in spirits..”I said. “Yes. You still have a week left. I don’t think there is any help that I can do. But if you use your wits, you will save. If you keep them in, you will perish.”He said. What does that me? I wanted to talk about this to Mr. Wils. By the time I reached, Wils’ furniture were kept packed and were taken down. “What’s wrong, Mr.Wils?” I asked. “I’m not staying here anymore. Did you even see what Alley had written on that piece of paper on the door? I’m sorry, Yamu. But I had to hide the truth from my relatives. So I didn’t reveal the factual thing in front of them.”He said. “Alley was not attacked by bees, as I said. She was attacked by a spirit.”He said. I’m not going to linger a minute longer in here, and I wanna warn you too, buddy! Please move as fast as you can.” But Ramanatan, too was not at home during his death, but he owned this house. Getting out literally doesn’t work. I slept, swallowed hard. It was 2 o’clock at night. The power was off. It took 2 hours for the power to flow over my area again. When my fan turned on, it made weir sounds, and it probably SAID something. I was all scared. Even if the fan could not talk, the squealy, scary sound sounded something like “You’re next.”I was every bit shivering and I started crying. Was it my assumption?
I wanted to ask Wils about Alley’s death. I opened my diary and checked for Wil’s number. I saved the number in my phone and woke up the next day to talk to him. “Alley was cursed to death. She probably had the worst death of all. You still have 6 days left to get to a safer place and solve this quest. The last of the talk I had with Alley was when she said, ‘I’m dying, Wil. Keep Julie safe and happy.. Run before you get cursed. And whatever you may do, don’t go to the store room in our house; the living room in Tanya’s and anywhere in Ramanathan’s house. Warn Yamuna. She’s the only one who is yet to get the attack.’” I was shocked. I thanked Wil for the information. I decided to go to the temple again, but when I passed out, I saw a piece of paper in front of Alley’s house. It had some strange symbols. It looked something like a mithila painting. It said, “Death code..” There was a picture of a fan, a heart, a balcony and a dark bedroom. I linked the three images with the first three people’s death. The first one was Tanya, who died while cleaning the fan when the power was off, Ramanatan next, who was meditating to activate the heart chakra, hence, a heart, the third was my friend who was cursed for having stood in the spot which was cursed the most and the next one was.. I realized something. Am I to die in the bedroom? It was already Monday. To fix a deadline, I want to move to Bangalore by Wednesday. No one should go to my bedroom on Sunday. So, my things ought to be taken to Bangalore before Sunday. I will ring Sindhu immediately and tell her to make space for my things. Sindhu did not pick the phone, but it was already Friday and there was no response from either the packers or my sister. I ran to the temple to disclose this thing to the saint. “Your move is wrong, my dear. Where ever you are going to go, you are not going to be safe on that day. I will have to come to the rescue then.”He said.
It was Saturday. And upon the saint’s request, I took him home on this day. “Get away, child. I’ll have to go to your bedroom at 12 in the night.”He said.”Lord, that’s very dangerous!”I cribbed. “I will take care.”He whispered confidentely.”Take shelter at some other place tonight.”He said. I waited for my heart to beat the right thing to do at this complex situation. I agreed. I stayed in a nearby lodge and paid them the sum for a night’s stay. At 1 o’ clock, I went to my house to talk to the saint. “You can stay here.. The ghost is out of your land now.”He said.”Are you sure, grandpa? If you don’t mind, can you tell me what you did to chase away the spirit?”I asked inquisitively. “Believe me. You can stay. If you think you’re going to risk your life doing what I said, you can continue your day at the lodge which sheltered you for the night. Go to the lodge and stretch you quilt. Don’t fear.”He said. “But how did you manage to chase away the..”He broke my speech and said,”That’s simple. Have you even heard of ouja board?”He asked. “I did something similar to that to chase it away.”He said. I was still in fear. So I took the nearest possible train to Bangalore. Sindhu took me to her house from the station and by that time, it was early morning. “What did he say?”She asked.”I don’t know. I think he glitched me.”I said.”How can he glitch you? He did not take any money from you. Did he?”She asked. Suddenly, I felt as if something sharp was pointed at me. Was it a knife? I saw blood oozing out of my skin and I was.. dead..
‘”So, this is how I died.”I told a 73-year-old lady, who came recently to heaven.”How did you d..” I went. “Time for dinner, everyone!”Said god. Then suddenly, I felt as if it was raining only for me in the whole wide heaven. “Yamu, wake up! Surprise!! Happy 17th birthday, Yamu!”Said Sindhu, giving me a bear hug, leaving the water aside on the table. What was happening? “Sindhu, when did you die?”I asked her.”WHAT??”She asked. “What’s wrong with you, Yamu?”She asked. I stood, guilty and perplexed. Then, my smart sister probably sensed what it could have been. Suddenly, we burst out into a thundering laughter, which woke up my 13-year old sister who was sleeping on the bed, behind us.
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