Trembling Shadows
A romantic, psychological thriller
Kotra Siva Rama Krishna
The climate there stilled at once. The expressions on all their faces turned into fear. They looked into each other’s faces and then turned their gaze again onto the face of Ratnakar.
“Why it is dangerous so? What is here that would do damage to us? Why it would not do any damage to my grandmother?” knitting his brows together Rajesh asked.
“I cannot explain all that to you. What all I can say is it is better as soon you people leave this place as possible”
“No, I must know the truth. I know that you know about it. You must let me know it. Tell, what is that evil power in this house that do harm to us?”
Ratnakar did not say anything. He closed his eyes and it seemed that he was struggling a lot in himself. Rajesh stood up from his chair still looking into his face.
“Is it is the soul of Nagaraju that would do harm to us?” Rajesh asked him straight.
The fearful expression on Ratnakar’s face was even more intensified. There were more frowns gathered on his forehead.
“Or is it is Semanthakam her husband do harm to us?” without diverting his gaze from the face of Ratnakar, Rajesh asked again.
“I cannot say. I don’t know. Grandma always says it is dangerous to stay with her. So I am saying the same to you people and it is true as well” he paused for a moment and breaking the painful silence he said again “Just because of their coming here your parents were dead”
“Stop this nonsense. It was an accident. Just an accident. You don’t know the evil power that do harm to us but you can say that my parents were died only because they had come here. I am not ready to hear this type of trash” with anger Rajesh almost yelling. “You always with grandma. Your son is with grandma. If it is not dangerous to you both, how it is dangerous to us either.”
“Our matter is different and your matter is different. That evil power in this house does not like Rajeswari’s son and his relatives. It particularly wants to do harm to them. We are not relatives to her so it would not do harm to us.” Ratnakar said.
“Then why it is not doing anything to grandma? How grandma can escape from it?”
“It wants to make grandma suffer while she is alive. Only on that day he wanted to kill her. But after that day that Nagaraju wanted to keep her alive and make her suffer. He knows very well what makes her suffer a lot. She cannot bear if anything happens to you or to your wife and to your only child. So he surely would do some harm to you people if you stay here.” looking with gathered frowns, Ratnakar said.
“So it is Nagaraju. That evil power Nagaraju.” Once again slumping himself in the chair there, Rajesh said.
“Yes, please go away. Don’t stay here.” looking pleadingly into the face of Rajesh, Ratnakar said.
“I just don’t want to go away. Until my grandma becomes usual I would not go away from here.” Rajesh angrily said.
“Your grandma is in soul journey. It takes time to her to return into her body.” Ratnakar said.
“Would not you stop that nonsense at all? I don’t believe it even a little bit.” Rajesh became even more angry.
“Rajesh please, cool yourself” placing his hand firmly on the shoulder of Rajesh, Vinod said. “His mental condition is not good. His own son said to us so”
“He is not appearing as a mad man at all to me.” looking into the eyes of Ratnakar, Rajesh said “Your son said that you have become mad. But you are appearing quite sane.”
“Only to prevent me from coming to this house, he started saying like that. I have never been mad.” Ratnakar said. “But people are believing whatever he says.”
“Your son is quite better comparing with you. He said lot many things about grandmother and this house” Tanuja intervening in between said.
“He certainly made up false stories and told you. No one knows the real story of grandmother, including me. She is an enigma to one and all”
He got off from the chair and went away from it.
“First please be seated in the chair again. Make yourself comfortable. Then we can talk” making him seated in another chair nearby Vinod said. All the time he was observing Ratnakar to know whether he was mad or not.
Rajesh and Vinod also dragged chairs near to Ratnakr and sat in them. All the others there also settled themselves to more comfort in the chairs they sat.
“Why did not you too know about the real story of grandmother? We all know that you were quite intimate with grandmother from your very young age and used to call her as sister.” Rajesh said again leaning forward in the chair.
“Of course, I was intimate with my sister. But….” There was some seconds’ painful silence before he talked again “She is so secretive all the time. I could not learn much”
“Was grandmother never told you about her life and other things?” this time Vinod asked.
“No, she did not” it had become difficult to know whether he was telling the truth or not. “Not just to me. She did not say about her matters to anyone else either.”
“You were a direct witness to the murders carried out in this very house, were not you?” Rajesh asked.
He startled at once as he was struck with a whip. They could see his body was shivering lightly. “It happened a long time back. A very long time back. I cannot remember much about that now.”
“But it happened. At the same time it was not an ordinary thing to be forgotten with the passage of time. It was such a ghastly and terrifying incident that one would remember even after a very long time. I would not believe at all if you say you have forgotten about that.” Still looking into his face, Rajesh said.
Ratnakar did not say anything but leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.
“As per the people saying around, the ghosts of that Nagaraju and Semanthakam are still in this house, is it is not?” Rajesh asked him again.
Ratnakar stood up at once from the chair and said “I have to go. I cannot answer any of your questions.”
Rajesh too stood up and placed his hand firmly on the shoulder of Ratnakar and said “I am not going to let you go from this place that easily. You are the only person knows about our grandmother and this place more. Please be seated and tell us. I will do whatever you want”
“You do whatever I want! Really?” looking into the eyes of Rajesh hopefully, Ratnakar asked.
“Absolutely. You need no doubt in that at all. First answer whatever we ask and then I will do whatever you want.” Looking into his face keenly, Rajesh said.
“Then please leave this place and never come here again. That is the only thing I want.” He said firmly.
All of them were looked into each other’s faces again. Why he was asking the samething again and again? Was this place really that much dangerous? The very thought itself was creating unknown fear in them.
“Alright we shall go away from this place. But you have to answer our questions first”
“I don’t know much.” Looking at his hands Ratnakar said. “I already said that there is evil power of that Nagaraju here and it would do harm to you.”
“What else you know? You must not withheld any information you know” Rajesh said sternly. “I ask questions and you answer them. Then only I do in the way you asked me to do.”
Ratnakar breathed deeply and looked at Rajesh as if saying him to ask whatever he wanted.
“How much you were aged by the time the murders were carried out in this place?”
“Nine years I think” Ratnakar closed his eyes. It seemed that he was trying to bring back long forgotten incidents.
“Had you seen with your own eyes while Nagaraju was killing the people here?”
“Yes, I had seen while he was mercilessly killing the people here.” His voice shivered with fear.
“Had not he saw you then?”
“I stood in a corner. At the same time I did not go across or tried to stop him from killing. He killed others only because they tried to stop him from going to grandma and her husband. Otherwise he was intended to kill only grandma and her husband.”
“How did you know about this then? You said that you don’t know anything but it seems you know a lot” Rajesh angrily said.
“No, it is not so.” Ratnakar said with a fearful tone. “I have just thought it so. I really did not know much”
“Then do some more guess work and say. Why Nagaraju wanted to kill grandmother and her husband?” Rajesh asked him again.
Everyone around was listening carefully. As it was so much interesting to them to hear they did not intend to interfere at all.
“He whished so much to marry grandmother. When grandmother married Semanthakam in his absence, he had got angry with her”
“No surprise in his getting angry. But did he love her or just wanted to marry her?” reclining in the chair and relaxing himself a little Rajesh asked.
“Many people say Nagaraju loved grandmother a lot.” Ratnakar said.
“Is grandmother as well loved Nagaraju that much” everyone there was eagerly waiting to hear the answer to that question.
“Of course, grandmother as well loved Nagaraju. They both in fact intended to be got married” Ratnakar blurted out.
All of them once again looked into each other’s faces. “Then why grandmother preferred to marry Semanthakam instead of Nagaraju.”
There was no answer from Ratnakar. It seemed that he was not much interested in giving answers to the questions anymore.
“You must answer my question. If it is so, why grandmother married Semanthakam instead of Nagaraju” putting his hand on the shoulder of Ratnakar and squeezing it Rajesh asked.
“Her parents did not like Nagaraju. They compelled her to leave Nagaraju and marry Semanthakam”
“Why did they suggest so to our grandmother? Is that Nagaraju was not a good person?”
“That was the reason. That Nagaraju was not a good person at all. So they wanted her forget about Nagaraju and marry Semanthakam”
“How did it happen that our grandmother did not know that Nagaraju was not a good man? First thing what type of person this Nagaraju is?” Rajesh asked.
“He is not particularly bad. He did not do any harm to anyone until that day either. But he was a warlock. He adored bad angels. Grandmother’s parents did not like that at all.” On hearing that Sameera automatically looked at Aravind. Aravind turned his face to some other direction to escape from her look.
“Did grandmother not know that Nagaraju was a warlock?” Vinod asked Ratnakar.
“She knows of course. She had tried very hard to make him change his interests and behavior, but he did not listen to her.”
“As she had realized that she never could change Nagaraju, grandmother decided to forget about him and to marry Semanthakam who was her parents’ choice. Was it not so?” Vinod asked.
Ratnakar nodded his head. “You guessed it right. It all happened just in that way” he paused for a moment and then said “Will you go away from here now? I have answered all the questions you have asked. I did not withhold any information I know.”
“There is some more we want to know from you” Rajesh said. “Why our grandmother is bedridden in the room so?” he asked looking at the direction of his grandmother’s room.
(I hope that you enjoyed upto here. I shall publish the next chapter as soon as possible. Please don’t forget to rate and review.)
