by Neil D'Silva
Big mistake. A tremor ran through her body, seizing it up and warping it further. A pained moan escaped her lips and for one agonizing second, I thought I saw naked terror in her eyes. Suddenly, she flipped over, her knees hitting the floor hard. She heaved and panted, lowered on the ground on her fours, water dripping from her unkempt hair.
“Anushya?” I asked, my voice sounding squeaky to my own ears.
She looked up and I screamed. Then, blackness.
***
Anushya left the next morning, before I could wake up. From what I heard over breakfast she had paid off the entire month’s rent to aapi. I took the day off from office and decided to stay in bed all day long. Given my horrifying experience the night before, my exhaustion was to be expected.
A part of me was worried and sad for what the poor girl was going through, but not an insignificant part of me was relieved. With Anushya gone, I would no longer be woken up in the middle of the night, and bear witness to scenes that were fit to grace horror movies. I lay down on my bed and retrieved the book I had been reading, determined to spend my day lazing and put everything behind me. However, as I opened the book, a folded piece of paper fell out of it. Surprised and curious, I opened it to find a letter written in neat, but hurried script.
Dear Kajal,
I’m so sorry to be telling you everything like this, but I don’t have the courage to face you. Not after all that happened. You see, I wasn’t here for any treatment. I was here to find peace. And I think I have found it, thanks to you. I know you will hate me for it, but as you will come to understand soon, I had no choice.
It all began a couple of months ago when I was living in a different hostel. I had a new roommate. She had been an exchange student in Germany for a while and had just returned. Little did I know that besides souvenirs, she had brought something else with her.
She would make strange noises at night, the kind you heard me make. Like you, I too was overcome with the desire to help. I did exactly what you did. I woke her up one day. Since then, I have been the one experiencing her terror.
You see, it’s a curse. She told me that it’s the curse of a sleep-demon that the locals call Mara. The demon slowly feeds off the host’s vitality till they die, unless the host is somehow able to transfer the demon’s curse to someone else. I didn’t believe her at first, but now I do.
I was dying, Kajal. Slowly, but surely. It was a torture and I couldn’t bear it any more. I’m so sorry, but I hope you understand. I didn’t want to die. I hope you will have a better time of it and someday, you will learn to forgive me.
I’ll pray for you,
Anushya
***
To be honest, I didn’t lay much stock by the letter. Yes, I had seen Anushya suffer and it was terrible, but the entire idea that it was a demon causing it, and that now she had somehow switched it to me was absurd to say the least. Even if I entertained this nonsensical notion for a moment, this would be a despicable act, surely something that a gentle, soft-spoken girl like Anushya would be incapable of doing. I surmised that her torment and lack of sleep had taken their toll on her mind. I kept the letter in a box and decided to put the entire chapter behind me and continue with my life.
For the next four days, my life was as it had been before Anushya came in. I was alone in my room, shuttling between office and PG. Truth be told, I was enjoying myself. My happy days didn’t last long, though. On the fourth night, it happened.
That night, I woke up gasping for breath. It felt as though something, or someone, was on my chest. It took me a few precious moments to gather my bearings, which was harder than normal, given my inability to breathe. As my eyes adjusted to the yellow light from the lamppost, I found myself staring at a terrible, gruesome face.
Looking back at me were a pair of luminous red eyes housed in a face that was covered in coarse brown hair. Sharp horns adorned his head, encircled by a pair of pointy ears. The rest of the face ended in a long snout, with a black nose at the end and a pair of tusks jutting out from the lower jaw. The hideous face sat atop a disproportionately small body that ended in a tail.
Fear unlike anything I’ve ever experienced engulfed me and I screamed. Only, it wasn’t a screech that left my mouth. Instead I heard an eerily familiar sound.
“Keeeeee.”
I distinctly remember thinking, ‘No, no, no, no, no, this isn’t happening.’
I had to get that thing off my chest. I tried to swat at it, but my hands wouldn’t move. Panic and desperation were fast consuming me, and I was running out of options. I tried to buck my body, trying to throw it off me but it wouldn’t move.
The beast’s body shook, as though it were laughing. It drew back its lips, revealing a set of sharp, jagged dentition. The thing lowered its head near my ears while its foul breath nauseated me. In a low, guttural and animalistic whisper it said, “Mine!”
***
If I were given a chance to do things over, I would have done them differently. Maybe then I wouldn’t have suffered as I am now. Maybe then, I wouldn’t have seen the demon at irregular intervals, and have it feast on me. That cruel, capricious monster that drains me and then waits for me to recuperate before visiting me again.
Since I don’t have a roommate, I’m alone in my nightmare. I’m watching myself wither away but there’s nothing I can do. I refuse to pass the curse on to another unsuspecting person, like it was passed on to me, but I cannot withstand it much longer either. I don’t know what to do.
If only I had paid heed to my own advice. If only…
ABOUT AINDRILA ROY
The writing bug bit Aindrila at the tender age of eleven and she has been scratching that itch ever since.
She likes to mix fantasy and horror and create a blend of dark fantasy with complicated, twisted characters. She is also a fairly adept romance writer and enjoys writing children's books as well.
When not writing, she can be seen feeding, fighting, running, building Lego tunnels and hospitals, and driving toy school busses- all for her two little boys.
And in the odd chance that she finds a moment free, she likes to read. An erstwhile voracious reader, she is now perpetually yearning to read more.
She is also a paleontology lover and can be seen going on long monologues about prehistoric creatures that have been extinct for millions of years.
I See You is her first book and is now available on Amazon and the Readify App. She has published several articles in the Monster magazine.
DEEP IN THE DARK
Komal Ambardekar
There was something about that day. It came like a new world for me before the dawn. I didn’t know what I was thinking. Curious, maybe or even fascinated by doing something unthinkable. A thought could be a fiction but that same thought carried a guilt and panic in my mind. A friend of mine suggested we check out the Dark Web. I succumbed to his plot and did the unthinkable. I logged into my computer and inserted the URL. Click! Some French website popped up. The concept was simple — you could earn by placing bets. I know what you are thinking, and I thought the same. This plan was definitely kickass.
A French gambling website? Sure! Sounds trustworthy!
However, Vinay swore to me that the site was legitimate; it used Zigpay as its only payment method. That put my mind somewhat at ease.
So, on a Sunday, when I was bored out of my skull, I finally decided to give it a shot. The grammatically inaccurate English on the home page itself put me off initially, but by then I was too curious to withdraw. Registration was painless and it took me only a few minutes before I was in the roulette lobby.
I had around INR 100 in my Zigpay account which I had earned online, so I bought INR 100 worth of virtual chips.
The site offered three rooms where I could play, but they were all full. I kept on refreshing the page but in vain. I was on the verge of giving up, when I decided I’d refresh one more time and if it did not work, I would call it a night. Fine if they don’t want my money, someone e
lse would gladly take it.
I hit the refresh button and something changed.
The whole layout of the page was suddenly completely different. The original, unappealing brownish page was now all black, but more notably, there was only one website link on it.
A link to a virtual room named Erreur.
I found this really strange. I thought I might have clicked on one of those annoying ads, so I clicked the Back button, but nothing changed. I had already said goodbye to the INR 100, so I went ahead with the process. I got inside the damn thing finally.
I am not sure if you’ve ever played online roulette, but this is how it has always worked in my case. You are connected through a live webcam to some shady looking casino. You choose your numbers and place your bets and then watch the dealer spin the wheel in real time and see what you won (or lost, more likely). It’s almost like being there.
So, the webcam loads and the first thing I notice is this girl, who couldn’t have been older than 16. She was short, skinny, and blonde.
I immediately noticed that she looked tired. She looked overworked. It seemed like her table was on some sort of a platform because I could see the rest of the room behind her. There were five card tables, all of which were full. The place seemed awfully quiet. Then, my desire to lose money kicked in and I decided to place my first bet.
“INR 5 on odd numbers.”
“All bets are in!” the girl said quietly as she spun the wheel. Usually, dealers yell out that line as a part of the show. I guess these guys were all business.
16.
Shit! INR 95 left.
I wrote down the number in my notebook because that was part of my system. Writing all the numbers down so that I could predict an upcoming number.
“INR 10 on odd numbers.”
“All bets are in!”
The little ball stopped at 12. Well, I still had INR 85 left.
“INR 20 on odd numbers.”
As she spun the wheel, I started noticing something strange about the room. It almost seemed like nobody—
5.
Hell yeah! I won 40 and had 125 in total. Maybe this place wasn’t so bad after all. I bet 10 on odd numbers again.
“All bets are in!”
As the ball was slowing down, I looked at the back of the room. I was right a minute ago when I felt strange. Nobody in the room was moving.
While I was excited about my winnings going up, I couldn’t help but feel weird about this situation. Nobody even as much as moved a finger. 5 tables, 6 people, and a dealer sitting at each of the tables. Even the waitress in the back, who apparently held a tray with glasses on it, was not moving at all. They all stood or sat still. I tried to rationalize it by assuming that the website had added a still picture background behind the dealer in order to get the effect of a real casino, but this place seemed way too realistic to only be a picture. My timer started beeping and I had to make another bet.
“20 on odd.”
As the girl spun the wheel, I studied the background. I became intrigued by the strange situation that I was in. I mean, there was no way this was a still picture. They were looking like a lifeless form. Fragile in life and stoic for death. There was no movement at first but then I looked at their eyes and I knew something was wrong.
19.
“Yes sir, won another 40.” As long as I was winning, these folks didn’t really need to move, as far as I was concerned.
“20 on odd.”
I decided to start paying more attention to the girl. After all, I had nothing else to do. It’s not like anyone else was moving. As said earlier, she was young. She seemed tired and perhaps a little worried. At times, it seemed like she was looking directly at me, but I was sure I was just imagining things.
Won another INR 40.
I placed four more such bets, winning two out of them. I was sitting on a profit of nearly INR 100 at that point. That was when the curiosity started kicking in. The people at the back were still not moving. Something wasn’t right. I decided to keep playing just so that I couldn’t watch those strange people.
“INR 40 on odd.”
I noticed a chat feature to the left of the webcam feed. I decided to type a quick ‘Hi’ to see if I’d get a response. As I started typing, I saw a man walk around the room. So, finally, it wasn’t a picture. He was dressed in a black coat with the collar popped up, so I couldn’t make much of him. He moved slowly between the tables. He stopped by one of them. Then he stooped and started looking at one of the men sitting at the table. When his face was just an inch away from the latter’s face, he stopped and then just stared at him. The seated fellow didn’t as much as flinch. I was on the edge of my seat.
13.
My balance was now nearly INR 230 but I couldn’t care less. I wanted to know what was going on. I zoomed in on the man. The webcam feed wasn’t exactly high definition, so I couldn’t see much of the man’s face, but I could tell one thing that disturbed me. The color of his skin was visibly different from the people around him. A shock registered my face and I stared at the screen with surprise. The timer had started beeping again.
“Chuck it, INR 20 on odd.”
I zoomed in again.
“Five!” she yelled.
I was startled and I zoomed out. I had won again, but I didn’t care anymore. I was more focused on a man who stood out—amidst the other people in color, he was the only one in black and white. And he was apparently angry with another man.
Imagine being in this weird situation. You’re sitting alone in your room, it’s 2:00 a.m., and you are casually gambling when you realize that nobody besides your dealer is moving in the casino. Then, a man who appears to be devoid of color starts walking across the place, staring at people.
I had to keep placing bets to stay in the lobby.
“INR 100 on odd.”
The man had started moving again. He walked over to a dealer at another table. He placed his arm on the dealer’s shoulder. Then I heard him say something. It sounded like “Sey twa.” That made no sense to me. But, the dealer turned around. That was the first time someone had moved other than the dealer girl and the black-and-white guy.
“One!” yelled the girl. It was almost as if she knew I wasn’t paying attention and she wanted me to. I won again, but at that point, I was awfully short of any fucks to give.
The other dealer stared at the man with sheer horror on his face. He just kept staring at him without saying a word more.
“INR 200 on odd.”
They kept staring for around half a minute. I started typing a message in the chat box to the right. I wrote, “Hey, what’s happening there?”
The dealer girl didn’t seem to react when I hit Send.
Perhaps the chat option was there just for esthetics.
“Eleven!”
Somehow, I kept winning. But money had become irrelevant by this time. I needed to know what was going on.
“INR 200 on even.”
The dealer next to the man started shaking uncontrollably. Then he muttered something to the man that sounded like “Non” and collapsed. The man didn’t move. He just looked down at the motionless body of the dealer. Nobody else in the room moved, not even my girl.
I yelled “What the fuck!” at the computer and that’s when it all changed.
Every man and woman in the room turned and looked at me. Every single person looked right back at me. They hadn’t still moved, they just looked toward me. The dealer girl looked terrified beyond belief. She quickly pressed some button next to her table. The black-and-white guy slowly turned toward me. He started walking toward my table. I got a message in the chat box.
“Run!”
I felt shivers go down my body. I knew they couldn’t get to me through the screen, but the intimidating creepiness of the entire situation got the better of me.
The man walked up to the webcam and stared at me. There was no doubt now that he was indeed black-and-white. I don’t know how to rationalize that
.
A glitch? Poor camera? Video editing?
The rest of the people were still looking toward me.
The man’s eyes were open as wide as humanly possible. He seemed to be studying me. I was scared, but I was mesmerized, unable to quit the game. He got closer to the camera and all I could see now were his eyes, looking into mine and somehow reading me.
Could he see me? I didn’t think so.
I hoped not. But those eyes. They seemed absolutely cruel and terrifyingly cold. They were also black-and-white like the rest of him. When he moved away from the webcam, I nearly fell out of my chair. All of the people in the casino were now standing right behind him.
About thirty people were staring at me, their eyes wide open. They weren’t moving. I have no idea how they got there so fast.
The man had taken up the screen for only a few seconds.
The one person who didn’t look like she belonged there was the dealer girl. She looked absolutely petrified. The man turned to her, and then looked back at me. It was almost as if he noticed that she was out of place in that twilight room. He walked over and stopped behind her.
She was shivering. “O-o-one!” she muttered, obviously terrified by the man behind her.
He put his arms around her shoulders. I yelled. I screamed at the screen.
“What in god’s name are you people up to!” I yelled.
The man smiled. I can’t even begin to explain how strange and surreal this experience was. A colorless man was looking at me, smiling, with his arms wrapped around a girl.
She looked at me. I could tell she knew I was still watching. She seemed to be at peace. Like she knew that this is going to end soon.
She finally said, with little energy in her voice:
“Thank… thank you for playing with us today… And don’t forget your numbers!”
As she said that, the man’s arms went up to her neck with unnatural and inhuman speed. At that moment, the lobby closed.
