The Haunted House

Amit sprinted through the office door to the reception, panting heavily. He looked at the clock on the wall and then at the receptionist sitting below it, he smiled. 'Just in time', she smiled back. 

'Mr Grover here yet?', he asked, still gasping for breath.

'Well, here he comes', she whispered and stood up quickly to greet the boss.

'Good morning, sir.' echoed both of them.

'Good morning, Richa and Amit. Amit, good that I met you here itself. Come to my cabin in 15 minutes. I want to talk to you about an interesting story and I want you to cover it.'

'Sure, sir.'

After some time...

'Can I come in, sir?' Amit enquired as he peeped in Grover's cabin.

'Yes, come in. Have a seat', offered Mr Grover and once Amit sat down, he began in earnest. 'So Amit, here's the deal. As you know our magazine is all about exploring interesting people and places that are in this city and yet unknown to many...'

'Yes, sir. That is true.'

'Well, a few days ago, I came across this... ' and he kept a picture of a house in front of Amit. As Amit picked it to scan, Mr Grover continued, 'People say that this house is haunted...' But before he could finish, Amit blurted out unable to control his laughter, 'What? Seriously?'

'First, I haven't finished yet and second, I do not joke at work,' Mr Grover retorted with a stern look.

'Sorry, sir', mumbled Amit in a hurried apology.

'So, it turns out that a couple lived in that house about 20 years ago but ever since their death, nobody has ever lived in that house again. People say that the souls of the couple still live on in that house and they never let anyone else stay there. That's all the people have had to say about it. But last night, I was discussing this with one of my friends and to my surprise I find that coincidentally, the driver that used to serve that deceased couple now works for this friend of mine. I didn't get much time with the driver as my friend had to leave for some important work. But, I got his contact number and also that of the maid who used to work in that very house. Here are both the numbers', and he gave Amit a paper with two phone numbers written on them.

Mr Grover continued in the same vein, 'Now, I think you should meet both the driver and the maid first. Gather all that they know about the house, back story, etc. and only then enter the premises so that then you are well aware of what each and everything in the house signifies. So that once you are inside the house, you know exactly which pictures to click.'

'Sure, sir. It really sounds like an interesting story.' Amit finally volunteered.

'Now, I know entering a spooky place all alone is a bit risky. So, you can team up with anybody you like for this story.'

'No, sir. I don't see any risk involved here. I won't need anyone.'

'See, I don't want to force this on you because I know all of you like working independently. And personally, I do not believe in interfering how my employees work. So, I'll just advise that you don't go alone in there. However, I'll support your decision.'

'Thanks, sir. But, I think I can manage this and also I would love to cover this story all by myself', Amit assured his boss. 

'Okay. But remember, get as many details as you can and make this story very intriguing. I have a lot of hopes from you', outlined Mr Grover and indicated that the discussion was now over.

'Don't worry sir, I won't disappoint you', smiled Amit and left the cabin.

Amit at the driver, Rajesh's house...

'I was 25 when I became Mr Sethi's driver and served him for around ten years. I used to accompany him everywhere', said Rajesh.

Rajesh was a middle-aged, feeble guy. His hair was all covered in grey while there remained still a few black patches in his beard. His eyes looked somber, but Amit had no interest in knowing about his personal life. He had to stick to his story. He continued his interview, 'Ten years is a long time. You must have known Mr Sethi very well then, right? Tell me more about him.'

'He was only a few years older than me, but he had already accomplished a lot in his life. He was a very ambitious and hard-working person. He had worked hard in his twenties and had earned enough to cut down his working hours so as to spend more time with his wife and friends. But, even after achieving all this there was one thing he couldn't get, and it was probably the thing that mattered the most to him, a child. After trying for a lot of years, they had finally found out that Mrs Sethi was infertile and the news had shattered both of them to pieces.' Rajesh got very emotional. He went on to tell Amit how he had never seen Mr Sethi so depressed.

'Oh,so that's why only the two of them lived in such a big house,' Amit wondered to himself. 'Anyway, coming to the point, how did both of them die?' he went back to his queries from Rajesh, the driver. 'And are there really souls of Mr & Mrs Sethi's, wandering about the house?'Amit laughed.

'Mr Sethi killed his wife and died a few months later of severe illness,' Rajesh replied in a dead pan tone and the smile on Amit's face vanished promptly.

'What? Why? Why would he do that?' Amit faltered.

'Because Mrs Sethi had broken his heart and he couldn't bear that pain', offered Rajesh as if it was the most logical conclusion.

'Broke his heart? How? And why?' Amit's interest was piqued now.

'I will answer all your questions. But first, you have to promise me one thing. You will not go to that house', Rajesh said, with concern in his voice.

'Rajesh, I know you are older than me, but with all due respect, you cannot tell me what to do or what not to do.'

'But one thing I can surely do is not give you any more details about what exactly happened at that house.'

'Man, why are you making this difficult? How does it matter to you if I go into that house?'

'Because if you go in there, you will die. And I don't want you to die because of me.'

Rajesh was acting a bit suspicious now. He was being stubborn for a stupid reason; he had suddenly begun to chew his nails and also there were a few drops of sweat beading his forehead. There was surely something more to the story, something Rajesh was hiding from Amit.

'For God's sake Rajesh, no souls live in that house.'

'Listen, son; I'm not telling you anything unless you promise me that you won't go there.'

Amit now realized that Rajesh was serious about not wanting him to enter that house at all costs. He thought that there must be something in that house that Rajesh didn't want him to see. Now, Amit wanted to go inside that house desperately, but, at the same time, he also knew that there was no point in going inside the house without knowing more about it or about the couple that used to live there. So, after giving it a thought, he finally gave in.

'Okay. I won't go inside that house if that is the only way to get this information. Our magazine, anyway, focuses more on the story so pictures of the house from outside can also work. Is that fine with you?' Amit lied with ease, a promise to a driver who was almost a stranger didn't bother him much.

It did the trick; Rajesh seemed mollified and began, 'That works for me. So, how did Mrs Sethi break her husband's heart, right? Mr Sethi had secretly married another woman named Geeta in his desperation to father a child. Only I knew about this secret. Every weekend, we travelled to a nearby city where Geeta lived with their child, his son. Mr Sethi had told Mrs Sethi that he had started a new business in this other city and had to go there every weekend to make sure all was going well. He used to be the happiest when he would spend time with his son. All was going well until one day when Geeta died in a car accident. Mr Sethi's son was only 5 years old then and he couldn't keep him away, alone. It was time to tell Mrs Sethi about this secret.

'I still remember that day. Mr Sethi was really scared of how Mrs Sethi would react. He sat down with his wife in the living room and told her that he had something to confess. And then I was asked to bring in his son who was sitting in the car outside. Mr Sethi had, of course, expected some protests or backlash from Mrs Sethi but what actually happened was the worst. She couldn't believe that her husband had been cheating on her for such a long time. Crying, she left the room while Mr Sethi followed her. After a lot of convincing, she finally calmed down a bit and said that she wanted to meet his son. Mr Sethi, finally relieved, came out and sent his son inside. A few moments later, he heard his son scream "Dad! Dad!" He ran inside only to find his son on the floor with an enlarging pool of blood around his head. Mrs Sethi had pushed the child who banged his head on the floor in her rage. And now, she was standing with a kitchen knife in her hand and still crying. The kid was partly conscious. His eyes were barely open. "Da...daa...dad...", he mumbled. Mr Sethi was shocked. He quickly went to his son, placed his head on his lap and started crying.

'"How dare you do that to my son?", he screamed at Mrs Sethi. This enraged Mrs Sethi even more. The expression on her face changed, she stopped crying, and moved ahead to stab the boy with the knife when Mr Sethi quickly pushed her away, and in the heat of the moment grabbed the knife from her hand and stabbed her in the stomach. Her eyes widened as she stared straight into the blood-red eyes of her husband. "I will kill him one day. In this house itself", Mrs Sethi said with her finger pointing at the kid. This made Mr Sethi livid. He pulled the knife out of her stomach and stabbed her again, and again, until all his anger and energy were spent. With each stab, Mrs Sethi's eyes widened and in them strengthened her determination to kill that boy one day.

'The boy was unconscious by then. Mr Sethi quickly rushed him to the hospital. Later that night, he returned home and buried Mrs Sethi's body in the backyard with my help and asked me to never talk about this to anyone, another secret he burdened me with.

'The kid recovered in a few weeks, but Mr Sethi knew that the memories of that incident would haunt his son for the rest of his life and with him around, the kid would be reminded of that incident even more. Also, the guilt of killing his wife was now eating him up from inside, and he knew he couldn't live with it for much time. So, he took a brave decision to keep his son away from that house and away from him, too. He took his son to an orphanage in another city and left him there. He missed his son a lot. With nobody left in his family, he got very lonely. He started getting ill frequently and a few months later, died of heartache.'

Amit was both sad and shocked on hearing the entire story, but he reigned his emotions and penned down everything and finally, took Rajesh's leave.

Leena, the maid, didn't have much information to give as she knew nothing about the second wife, or the son, or the murder that happened on a Sunday when she was on leave. Mr Sethi had told her that Mrs Sethi had a fight with him and left the house. And for her, that was the end of it.

When asked about the haunted house, she assured Amit that no souls lived there and that they were all fake stories. She further told Amit that after Mrs Sethi had left, Mr Sethi hung a big picture of a kid she had never seen in that house before, on one of the living room walls. But she never dared ask him about it. Amit understood that the kid in the picture was Mr Sethi's son. She admitted that she had seen Mr Sethi stare endlessly at that poster many times. She also told Amit that he would get more information inside the house and that there was no harm in entering. So, now that Amit knew what he had to do he made up his mind to go to the house.

It was evening by the time he enterd the haunted premises. The house was filled with dust, dirt, and darkness. In the living room, he saw a picture on one of the walls. He cleared the dust off the faces in the photograph. It was of Mr & Mrs Sethi, both very young and beautiful. Somehow, those faces seemed very familiar, like he had seen them before. With this nagging thought he moved further into the house, explored rooms, took pictures and was finally back to square one, the living room. He saw another picture hanging in one of the dark corners. He remembered the maid telling him about the one Mr Sethi used to stare at endlessly. He turned his torch on, but there was dust covering the picture. He moved a step further to clear the dust off when someone called out his name.

'Amit... Don't.'

Amit was spooked and turned around in a rush. It was Rajesh. His fear turned to anger, 'You...You followed me here, didn't you? But at least now you're sure that no souls live in this house, right? I have been in every room here, and look at me; I'm totally fine, I'm still alive', he shouted.

Rajesh ignored his jab and went on in a pleading tone, 'Amit please, leave this house now. I warn you.' Amit sensed that something was wrong. But, right now, the poster was important to him. His curiosity was very, very strong now. 'Only after I take one last picture of this photograph', he promised.

'Amit, don't...please...'

But Amit didn't listen to him. He placed the torch on the floor to brush off the dust. Then he aimed the beam of light at the face. It was a photograph of... him, from his childhood. 'Wh...what...how is this...does that mean you are...but how am I...', Amit staggered back in shock.

'Amit, I will tell you everything. Just leave this house now', Rajesh was almost begging Amit now.

'No. First tell me, who are you? What does this mean?' Although he was scared and confused, Amit needed answers.

'Okay, you want to know who I am? I am Mr Sethi, your father. For God's sake, please, leave now', he literally shouted this time.

'Bu...But he died a long time back, right?', said a confused Amit who was trying hard to make sense out of it all.

'Yes. I did die. But only my body left. My soul is still here to protect you.'

'Protect me? From whom?'

'From your stepmother, my first wife's soul. Before dying, she had told me that she'd kill you one day in this house, where I killed her. We've both been keeping an eye on you and this house since our deaths. She, because she had to kill you once you enter this house and me, to protect you from her and to keep you away from this house.'

'So, you mean to say I... I'm going to... you mean Mrs Sethi... she is going to kill me? Now? Here? But where is Mrs Sethi?'

Just then someone tapped Amit's shoulder. He turned around to see Leena, the maid, standing with a knife in her hand. She was crying very bitterly. But suddenly, the expression on her face changed. Her eyes widened as rage slowly took control over her and with all the power within her, she stabbed the knife in Amit's stomach, and pulled it out back, and stabbed it again and again, until all the anger and energy were spent.