City of Screams

by Neil D'Silva

  He loves to give a fictional makeover to real life incidents as his Leo instincts of being diligently observant seldom fail him. He believes in perception rather than reality as one person’s truth might be a lie for someone else. When he is not writing, he is usually found in the kitchen trying out the latest recipe he saw on cooking channels.

  DAY ONE AT PAMPERIUM, THE SPA

  Sid Kapdi

  The smile that extended from Gujarat to Arunachal on the map of his face said it all. Gautam Pandey was beaming with pleasure and a sense of achievement at the inauguration of his dream project: Pamperium – the Spa. Amid selfies and shutter clicks, friends and relatives marveled at the rich décor and kept complimenting him and his wife Prerna.

  The spa was located on the second floor, adjacent to some of the biggest brand stores in the Shoppers City Mall in Mumbai. It boasted of offering multiple treatments for the mind and the body. The salon room had five seats for facial beauty treatments as well as pedicure and manicure, and an enclosure that housed a tub for a more luxurious therapy. The massage room had four table-beds and was adorned with Himalayan rock-salt tealights which brought a positive feel.

  By afternoon, the guests had left and Gautam had settled down on his executive chair at the front desk. There was only one question in his mind — would he be able to break-even in six months? He and Prerna, both 38, had been in the beauty and salon industry for over ten years. Their primary venture, the Thane-based Prakrooty Salon had been doing extremely well. They had decided to add more niche services and move up the chain, at their new establishment.

  The past three months had been crazy, the most difficult part being getting the right staff. They had managed to recruit six youngsters with one to three years of experience. Meenakshi, who had worked for five years at a reputed spa chain, was hand-picked as the manager. In front of his desk, there were two sofas that could accommodate six waiting customers on a good day and he was wondering as to when he could see them fully occupied. To his left, there were four compact chairs which his staff-members could use if needed and, of course, they could also use similar chairs which were in the other two rooms.

  ‘Everything seems to be in place, my staff too looks impressive in the newly designed uniforms. The color combo and fitting also seems right. Prerna, you are amazing!’ he thought to himself with a smile.

  ***

  It was a Saturday afternoon and hence there was good footfall at the mall, especially on the top floor, which had the multiplex, play-zone, and food court. Gautam had placed a large display screen touching the glass wall which flashed high-resolution pictures of spa treatments and the 50% inaugural discount offer. A few people stopped by momentarily to look at the screen and even peeped in from the side, but no one really got in to show further interest.

  ‘Come on guys, step in, the spa is for you. You would never get such an experience at this price anywhere.’

  Gautam picked up the newspaper and as he flipped through the pages, the Horoscope section almost winked at him to attract attention. His eyeballs sought the Libra sign and he instinctively began to read. It read: Get ready for a rollercoaster ride as fate takes you through a series of unbelievable and sinister events. Be brave and alert, and enjoy the ride!

  ‘Crap as usual! Already on TV, the news anchors keep shouting and scaring people. Astrologers too seem to be following them!’

  Unfortunately, what he did not know then was that the prediction was going to be true. In fact, it was approaching him from just around the corner.

  ***

  Just as he folded the paper, an elegantly-dressed curvy woman with a large round face and sharp features, who seemed to be in her early forties, entered and smiled at everyone. Before Gautam could make a pitch, she introduced herself as Maya Lalwani, a wholesaler of spa products. She noticed that while her own smile got broader, the smiles of everyone else had gone narrower. “Just give me five minutes - I will not only bring your smiles back, but also change the destiny of your spa,” she announced. Like a magician about to perform a mysterious act, she had managed to create a bubble of intrigue and had mesmerized everyone. The first thing she did, to the amazement of everyone, was to pour a blue-colored liquid from a small bottle she was carrying in her purse into the aroma dispenser. Within a minute, the heavenly effect of the pure aromatic essential oil became evident. She even moved the dispenser closer to the gap near the opening of the door so that the aroma could escape outside the shop. She then sank into the sofa, challenging everyone to wait and watch what would happen next. There was complete silence and there was a thrill in the air.

  Indeed, the aroma was making its magical presence felt — a lot of those who inhaled the fumes seemed to step in with a smile. They appreciated the place and inquired about the packages. There was another aroma dispenser at the corner, next to the seats for the staff. Maya took out another bottle from her purse and poured red-colored oil in the dispenser cup. Just then, the CCTV technician came to fetch Gautam to see the installations he had done at a couple of shops on that floor. Instructing Meenakshi to take charge, Gautam began to step out, asking Maya to leave her catalog at the desk for future reference, which she promptly did and left.

  ***

  Soon a group of women passed by the spa, and one of them who liked the strong aroma stopped the others. All five watched the slideshow for a minute and then walked in. Gautam noticed the ladies and sprinted 30 yards from the opposite store to address them. After he explained the services available, three of them decided to go for the package with facial, manicure, and pedicure. The other two were adamant on continuing to the AceBaga store, where an unbelievable deal had been announced on their premium purses.

  Gautam handed over the three ladies to his staff with much joy, and that was when he saw the oddity in his staff. Their expressions looked weird and there was a suspicious faint reddish glow in their eyes.

  ‘Weren’t they all normal before the red oil in the dispenser started giving off fumes?’

  Meenakshi ushered the three ladies into the salon room, as Celina and Neha also joined her.

  Gautam waited for five minutes and then walked towards the salon to peep inside from the small glass window on the salon door. There was nothing unusual. The ladies appeared relaxed as they were seated on the reclined luxurious seats, the staff occupied in readying the creams and rosewater. Back on his seat, Gautam glanced at his staff of two boys and two girls who were seated on the chairs to his left. The fumes from the red oil kept travelling toward their faces and they seemed to be enjoying them; in fact, they appeared to be on a high as they inhaled the aromas in unison.

  Gautam felt a bit scared, as Ravi, who was seated about four feet away from him, tilted his head, looked at him and grinned without any reason.

  ‘Are these the same folks from the morning? They seem so different, so quiet, so alien. Good that I am seated away from those fumes, else who knows – I would have appeared to be one of them!’

  ***

  A young couple that was lazing around caught Gautam’s attention as they got closer to the spa entrance.

  ‘Come on, come on, walk in!’

  They seemed newly married; the mehendi on the lady’s hands was fresh. She seemed keen on checking out the spa, whereas the husband did not look as interested. But he followed her as she opened the door and closed her eyes while she took in the aroma.

  Gautam felt like treasuring that moment. The woman was stunning, with her radiant hair, beautiful smile, almond-shaped eyes and colorful designer earrings that suited her oval face perfectly. Gautam used all of his selling skills and in about three minutes, he managed to convince the lady for the couple massage package. Ravi and Sona got up and led the couple to the massage room.

  After controlling himself for six and a half minutes, Gautam felt the urge to check the proceedings in both the rooms. He looked inside the massage room through a very small window on its door. Although the thin white curtains blocked the full-view, he could capture th
e scene. The couple had been stripped almost bare, and they appeared to be enjoying the masseurs’ expert finger movements on their backs, even as they faced and looked in each other’s eyes.

  The scene took Gautam back by nine years, when his wife and he had first experienced such a massage and had decided then, that one day they would offer such services at their own spa.

  He then checked the salon room and saw the three ladies with their “whitewashed” faces now feeling pampered as the staff carried out their pedicure.

  ‘Everything seems to be going well. I think I am unnecessarily getting stressed. Maya’s perfume oil really saved the day; will have to check out her catalog later.’

  Gautam returned to his seat and continued going over the morning photos on his computer screen. The staff-members, Som and Neha, who were sitting idle on the chairs nearby, sniffing the fumes, got up and slowly walked to the salon room.

  ‘Enjoy your free time, people. Very soon we will implement our promotional strategies and hopefully you will stay occupied the whole time.’

  ***

  When he had browsed through about two hundred pictures, Gautam heard a loud shout from one of the rooms. It sounded like a combination of multiple voices. He got up and ran inside, first peeking in from the salon door. He blinked a couple of times to clear his vision and for his mind to really consume what he was seeing.

  The ladies had been tied to their chairs, it looked as if they had their seatbelts on. The feet of all the ladies had been severed and the bowls of rosewater were now filled with blood.

  The five staff-members who were in the room, looked at the door, having sensed the Peeping Tom. Their eyes had the creepy red glow and it appeared as if they would pounce on him if he tried to enter and confront them. The three ladies looked at the door too, but for help, and they shrieked again. Three girls from the staff slowly moved back and then behind the chairs. Holding the heads of their customers in position by pulling their hair from the top with one hand, they looked at each other and nodded. Sharp butcher knifes held in their other hands moved in tandem, horizontally across the throats of the three terrified ladies, and within seconds, they lay motionless.

  Gautam had not yet recovered when he heard the outer glass door being opened and saw Maya barging in, coming directly at him. He heard the shop’s shutter being pulled down and closed by someone behind her. He realized that following her was perhaps an assistant, who appeared more like a bouncer. He was dragging behind himself a large black box, resembling a music speaker, which seemed heavy and looked scary.

  Before Gautam could question her, Maya pushed him with such force that the door behind him opened fully and he fell inside the salon room on his back. The entire staff nodded at Maya and laughed loudly as if she were controlling them. The bouncer, as Gautam called him in his mind, pulled him by his collar, and thrust him on a chair next to that of one of the dead ladies.

  Gautam tried to make a phone call to the police, but Som slapped him and tied his hands, while Meenakshi brought a thick cello-tape which she wrapped angrily around his mouth. Gautam not only felt horrified but also insulted, as his own staff attacked him.

  ‘What the hell! Have they gone crazy? Will they kill me next?’

  Gautam did not know what would happen. He simply prayed. But he was distracted; the chairs and the floor were full of blood and it made him nauseous. What happened next was unlike anything that Gautam had seen in the thirty-odd horror movies he had watched. The bouncer opened the box to reveal what it actually was.

  It was a machine of some sort, and it was plugged into one of the electric points behind a chair. Maya opened a side-door of the box and pulled out a few raincoats and a large plastic sheet, which she spread in front of the chairs. Meanwhile a couple of staff-members untied the dupatta of the first lady from the chair and laid her flat on the sheet. The three staff-members who had slit the throats, wore the raincoats, brought their knives, and started chopping the body into pieces of about two feet length each. Once they were done, the bouncer started the machine and one by one the pieces were fed from the top partition into the machine. The machine did not make much noise but it was clear that some churning and crushing was in progress.

  Finally, after a minute, the machine stopped. The next two bodies too met with the same fate. Meenakshi took the plastic sheet and the raincoats near the tub and washed them off.

  The bouncer brought the machine closer to the tub and placed an end of a hose in the tub. Soon the blood that had collected in a chamber of the machine gushed out into the tub.

  The rest of the staff picked up the sponges that Maya passed on to them and over the next twenty minutes, the place was decently clean. A few stains remained, over which Maya sprayed some kind of a white foam and allowed it to stay for a few seconds. The staff then cleaned it up and, very soon, the place appeared even tidier than the way it was in the morning. Having completed the task, Maya and the staff raised their thumbs and began rejoicing.

  ‘Are these humans? They butchered three people and are now celebrating! I am surely going to get them arrested. Even if it means bad publicity for the spa.’

  Meanwhile, Som and Neha left and entered the massage room.

  ***

  The sound of laughter was broken by a loud shriek from the other room. ‘Damn no! I hope they don’t mess around with the lovely couple.’ Maya’s bulging eyeballs and mocking smile revealed her intentions. She opened the door and gestured at the bouncer to get Gautam too. She first peeped into the massage room, and then smiled. Gautam’s face was then forced on to the glass window and what he saw almost brought tears in his scared eyes.

  The staff had tied the hands and legs of the couple to the four corners of the massage beds. Ravi and Sona were still massaging the backs of their customers, only this time the fingers dug deep into their flesh. Som and Neha were gagging the couple, while Ravi and Sona continued the wild pounding with their fingers. The couple shouted silently, and their heads turned vigorously as the agony continued. The backs soon resembled a honeycomb with closely punched cavities but containing blood instead of honey.

  Meenakshi pushed Gautam aside and entered the massage room, and handed over the raincoats and butcher knives to Som and Ravi. Maya and the bouncer also entered the room, dragging the black box along. While Gautam cried and protested, his staff surrounded him and the look in their eyes, especially with the red glow, prevented him from trying out anything insensible. At that point, he just wanted his life to be spared.

  Soon the treatment that had been meted out to the three ladies earlier was repeated on the couple. In the end, the room was left more shining than before.

  Having accomplished their mission, Maya and the bouncer put the box together, flashed a thumbs-up to the spa staff, and began to leave. The staff occupied their chairs in the front office and the standing spots next to them. Maya poured blue oil from her bottle into the dispenser next to the chairs. Meanwhile the bouncer opened the shutter and they walked out as if they had just paid a normal visit to the spa.

  Gautam was about to call the police and report the incident but was still scared of his staff. They were all looking at him with bizarre expressions. He decided to stay put for some time, as the aroma from the blue oil created a pleasant and relaxing environment.

  After closing his eyes for some time to help him think, he decided to step out of the spa for a few minutes to first talk to his wife.

  Just as he was about to get up, he saw the two ladies who had gone to AceBaga earlier standing in front of him, flaunting their loot on their shoulders. Their purses were identically colour-coordinated with their dresses, which made them look almost comical, but this was not the time to linger on that. He realized that the women might have come looking for their friends. And he had no answer for them. Despite the wonderful aroma in the room, he felt nauseated and short of breath.

  ‘I am sure they are here, looking for their friends. Will need to quickly think of some answer.’

 
He looked at his staff. They had lost the red glow and appeared normal now. But he was still scared of them and wanted to avoid looking them in the eye. He began to say “Hello” to the ladies, when Meenakshi chipped in and asked them as to what kind of treatment they were looking for, perhaps something similar to what their friends had taken?

  Gautam almost fell off the chair, imagining the plight of the ladies, being cut and fed into the machine. Beads of sweat began forming on his face. The ladies nodded at Meenakshi and chose the same package that their friends had enjoyed. Meenakshi smiled at Gautam, who knew the real intent behind that wicked smile. She led the way and escorted them to the salon room, as Celina and Asha got up from their chairs and followed them.

  ***

  Gautam’s plans for the day had gone haywire. He was hoping to gather good written feedback from the customers and use them in social media promotions. However, it was just a matter of time, before the killings would become public, and no one would dare to step into the spa. While his staff was busy, he gave his wife a call, dying to discuss the series of events. She picked up and without listening to him, replied that she was trying to sort out a serious GST issues and would call back.

  This added to his wounds, rather than healing them.

  He was about to call the police but decided to check the salon room first. From the peeping window, the scene looked very positive. The ladies were being treated like queens.

  ‘How I wish this scene continues for the next thirty minutes! But I know it won’t. The only difference between then and now is the absence of the red glow in the eyes of my staff. Is it possible that the event may not repeat? Should I wait, or will it be too late? Will I be able to forgive myself if something happened to these ladies too?’