Trembling Shadows
A romantic, psychological thriller
Kotra Siva Rama Krishna
Malathi sat up and looked at all of them with surprise, shame and fear. She hung her head.
“Mom, you need not feel like that at all. In all our opinion what you both did was not a very big wrong. It is excusable.” Sunanda said.
Temporarily forgetting what she had seen in the grandmother’s room just before, Tanuja came near to Malathi and put her hand on her shoulder. “Yes Malathi. Everyone do wrongs. I too did wrongs. If we cover them not to be known to others we are good people. If they have been known to others we become bad. No one is hundred percent perfect”
Malathi looked into the eyes of Tanuja. “You are not feeling any anger on me?”
“Why should I?” Tanuja asked her. “You are the very reason for my marriage to be performed with Rajesh. If my marriage had not been performed with Rajesh I can guess how my life would be in that village. I would have been ended as a whore there.”
“Don’t talk like that.” Malathi said. “But I am feeling a lot guilty once the truth came out before our children as well in this way.”
“No one is an exception. No one is perfect hundred percent. My family is even more rotten to be frank. I myself too not a very good man. We are all sinners from beginning. You need not feel shy before us at all” Anand said.
“What Anand said is true. We all have forgotten what happened. You too may do the same. Please” Sunanda said.
But Malathi could not see into any of their faces then.
There was silence for some time. “Why you all have come at once into my room?” after few seconds Malathi dared to look into their faces and asked.
Vinod explained to her what happened. “My God, is it is true?” knitting her brows together Malathi asked.
“I am not a child to imagine things” Tanuja said.
“But sometimes elders too subject to imaginations” Aravind said.
“It is a sheer reality. Why you people don’t believe me?” Tanuja became irritated.
“If it is so, why she is in her usual way by the time we came into there?” Rajesh asked. “Did the situation change that suddenly?”
“I cannot explain that at all. But it happened so in that room. I had seen grandmother sat up straight in the bed and looked into my eyes.” Tanuja said.
There was silence for some time once again. “There are so many surprising things happening in this house. No surprise if what Tanuja said as well is true” Malathi thoughtfully said.
“You are right. First Sameera felt cold touch. Then Sunanda has the cold touch feeling in the kitchen. Tanuja had seen Sasank in this house. There are other incidents as well” Rajesh said.
“Who is Sasank?” Anand asked him.
Rajesh looked into the face of Tanuja. She did not feel any embarrassment. “He was the person I was engaged to be married before I marry Dr.Rajesh. But he died with heart attack”
“I am sorry” Aravind said. “But how you have seen him in this house?”
“He has come here as a ghost.” Tanuja said.
“Still why he has come into this house? Is there any relationship to him with this place?”
“People sometimes see dead people in such a way. It is just an imagination. Nothing more” Vinod said.
“For you everything is an imagination. However real we may feel it is just an imagination to you. It is very difficult to convince you” Malathi said.
“You are a doctor and a matured person. You should not say like that at all” Vinod said. Sometimes his wife appears to him just like a child and this was one of such times.
“If it is only me I shall agree. How and why most of us are having peculiar experiences in this house?” Tanuja asked him
“All people can subject to different types of imaginations depending on their experiences before and mental attitudes. You have led some of your life with Sasank. You have developed so much of love and affection on him at that time. But unfortunately he died. So you have just suppressed him strongly in your heart but could not eliminate him completely. When you were in a weak mental condition he appeared so to you. No, he did not appear before you. Your mind produced a form like him before you.” Vinod explained.
“Now I remembered a very important thing” Anand said. “I have almost forgotten about that”
Everyone around looked enquiringly at him. “While Aravind, Sunanda and I on the upstairs room, Sunanda behaved very differently and strangely. You all have come there too.” He reminded it to them.
“Yes of course. But Sunanda said nothing has happened. That is why we stopped worrying about that.”
“You have not heard everything in detail. Aravind asked her some questions while she was in that condition. Aravind, tell these people” Anand said.
“Don’t give that much of importance to it Anand. It was a simple psychological disorder and there is no necessity to feel fear to it.” Aravind said.
“Anyhow tell these people what she has said.” Anand said.
“She asked all of us to leave this house and go away.” Aravind said.
“Did she ask so? But why?” there came a fearful expression in Tanuja’s face..
“Mom, don’t worry about it at all. As Aravind said it is just simple psychological disturbance in her. He said the same thing at that time also.” Sameera said.
“Yes, none of us need to worry about it. A small psychological disturbance in Sunanda” Vinod said.
“What we are supposed to do now?” Sammera asked
“Better we leave this place early in the morning” Tanuja said. “Whether there is something paranormal here or not, that is what I am thinking better to do.”
“But what about the grandmother? Can we leave her like that in this house?” Sameera asked her.
“It is not new to grandmother to lie like that. She went on some soul journey and will return to her body when it is finished. We cannot wait longer here.” Tanuja said again.
“I agree with you. We may better left this house early in the morning” Rajesh nodded his head and given his approval. But he could not mentally adjust himself to that idea. He just could not think to leave the old woman lying like that on the bed there. She was his own grandmother and did a lot for his welfare.
“I am so sorry Malathi” Tanuja suddenly said.
“Why are you feeling sorry?” looking at her with surprise Malathi asked.
“We made you all people come to this place. Otherwise you would not have faced with these types of incidents”
“We all have come here on our own volition. You people did not force us to come here at all. Don’t worry like that.” Malathi put her right hand on the left shoulder of Tanuja. Tanuja took it into her hands and squeezed it.
“No, if we did not press you people to come here you would not have come at all.” Rajesh said. “What Tanuja said is right. I am also feeling sorry as we have subjected all you people to this type of hardship and disturbing experiences”
“Rajesh will you please shut up” Malathi said with the same closeness with which she occasionally move with him. “In fact your family problem is our family problem. Your grandmother is our grandmother. We are all one. Don’t try to separate us. Moreover….” She paused for a moment and said again “in my opinion we were all just subject ourselves to some hallucinations. No damage happened to us or going to happen in the little time we are going to stay here. Don’t worry at all.”
“My wife said it quite nicely. She is absolultey right.” Vinod said.
“All right then. The problem solved” Rajesh laughed. Then he said “Tanuja suggesting that it would be better to leave this house early in the morning itself.”
“We heard it. But what we are going to do with grandmother?” Malathi asked.
“Leave her here as she is” Tanuja said. “It has become quite evident to all of us that she is not suffering from any illness. We came to know that she is in the habit of making soul journeys in this way. Then why we should hang on here unnecessarily feeling lot of fear like this?”
“I want to hear what Rajesh is going to say for this.” Malathi looked into the face of Rajesh.
“I don’t believe in these soul journeys. I am thinking that she is in some coma like state. I am thinking how it is to take her with us.” Rajesh said.
“What you are going to say to this Tanuja?” Malathi turned her head towards Tanuja.
“She is my husband’s own grandmother. She looked after his education and did a lot for him. She should not be left like that here. Yes, I agree hundred percent to take her with us. But better we do go away from here with her on tomorrow itself.” Tanuja said.
There was silence again. After half a minute or so it was broken by Rajesh himself. “It is not good. She would never like our doing so. She is so adamant and clinged to this house all her life. And what other problems would come by moving her so as well we don’t know. At the same time she is not suffering with any illness.”
“Hundred percent right” Malathi said. “I too cannot recommend to move her from here.”
“Then what is the plan?” Vinod asked them.
“We think about it on tomorrow again. For the present we may better leave it like that.” Hissing out heavily Rajesh said.
&&&
“Mom, hear, someone is laughing” Sameera said slowly with her mother after waking her up.
They were all trying to sleep in Vinod’s room. Even the room was enough big they preferred to sleep as near as possible touching one another on the floor there to get rid of their fear. Still fear did not leave them fully.
Tanuja was slipping into sleep just then and she awakened by the touch of her daughter. She could not understand what her daughter was saying to her.
“What dear, what you are trying to say to me?” she asked irritatingly. The small electric bulb in that room was not providing enough light to see around everything clearly.
“Hear carefully. Someone is laughing” Sameera said with a fear filled voice.
Tanuja strained her ears to hear carefully. But they could not catch any laughing sound. There was only the roaring sound of the rain.
“There is no sound of laughter. You are just imagining things. Close your eyes and try to sleep” closing her eyes again and turning to her left side Tanuja said.
Sameera could not know how to make her mother to believe and remained silent. But she was still hearing the laughing sound.
As she was slowly slipping into sleep again Tanuja started hearing that sound. She sat at once bolt upright and looked direct into the emptiness before her. Yes her daughter was right. Someone was laughing.
As her mother sat so, Sameera too sat up. “What mom, are you hearing that sound now?” she asked.
“Yes dear. You are right. Someone is laughing. It is female laughter. Who it is then?” Tanuja said. Her voice was with full of fear.
“That is what we need to be known. Who is laughing?” Sameera said.
“My God why incidents like these are happening? I am becoming mad.” Holding her head in both of her hands Tanuja said.
As the mother and daughter were talking like that the other people in that place as well woke up and sat.
“What you both are doing now?” Anand asked them.
“We are hearing someone’s laughter.” Tanuja said.
“Moreover it is a female laughter” Sameera said.
“You both are imagining things. Nothing more than that” Rajesh said
“Imagination, imagination. I have got vexed hearing that word again and again. Why don’t you people believe our words?” Tanuja got angry.
“None of us are hearing that laughter now. If what you have said is true why none of us hearing it now?” Rajesh asked them.
(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.)
