Ashok quickly wrote down in his notepad. Mehta had a desire to stay away from home. It wasn’t surprising since he had lost both his parents and lived in semi-poverty but still, something about it sounded ominous. Suddenly, he felt his mobile phone vibrate against his waist. Picking it up, he noticed it was a call from home.
“Rakesh, I do apologize, it’s my wife.”
“Please, by all means,” Rakesh insisted.
“Hello?”
“PAPA!” Jai screamed. Ashok wrenched the phone away from his ear, grimacing in pain. The loud blood curdling scream startled Rakesh. “PAPA!!!” he screamed louder and longer.
“Jai? What happened?”
“PAPA, HELP ME!!!” he screamed again, “I’m begging you, HELP ME!”
“Jai, what’s the matter? JAI?”
It was no use, the line had gone dead. Immediately, he called the house, and Sonia answered.
“What happened? Jai just called me screaming!”
“I know, I just heard. I’m heading upstairs. Let me see, and I’ll call you.”
Ashok replaced the phone on to his belt and looked at Rakesh who had a concerned expression on his face.
“Is everything ok? Perhaps we should end the session?”
“No, I’m sure my wife will take care of it. It’s ok. Please continue.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure it’s nothing. My wife will call momentarily telling me it’s ok. Please continue.”
Ashok ruffled through his notes and began.
“You mentioned your work allowed you to stay out of your home and gave you an opportunity for a brighter future. What were you running from?”
“It wasn’t what I was running from but rather, whom?”
“Excuse me?” Ashok asked
“You see Dr., there is something I haven’t mentioned to you about my childhood. It is, in fact, the reason I am here today. It all started near the time my father passed away.
“When I was seven, Lata used to creep into my bed with me.”
Pausing briefly, Rakesh unbuttoned his top button and loosened his designer tie. Taking a deep breath, he cleared his throat and continued.
“She threatened that if I told anyone what she was doing, she would kill me. Then again, who could I tell? Even if I wanted to, she was the only parent I had. I both loved and hated her. At first, she convinced me this was how a sister loves her brother, but I knew it was wrong.
“There were times I cried through the whole experience, begging her to stop, but it didn’t matter. She used to take me to school and back, made my meals for me, just as a loving parent would. Then at night she had her way with me, in ways I can't even bring myself to remember without becoming nauseated.”
Mehta reached for the tumbler of water and took a sip to moisten his parched throat.
“The abuse continued for years. When our mother died, I hoped it would end, but it didn’t. Since Lata was my guardian, I couldn’t leave her. I had no place to go. So, I began to spend as much time away from home as possible, hoping it would stop. It didn’t.
When Lata started having boyfriends, I hoped it would stop. It didn’t.
Every night, I feared entering my bedroom. I wanted to sleep, hoping that she wouldn’t wake me, but I couldn’t even close my eyes because of the fear, the anticipation. I was haunted every night until my nightmares became my reality, a reality that took place almost every night.”
Mehta paused once more and ran his fingers through his thick, grey-stained hair as he leaned back in the chair.
“She said she’d never leave me. That she loved me. That we were meant to be together forever.”
They sat silently. Ashok waited for him to continue. Mehta, stone-faced stared into Ashok’s eyes.
“When I turned 15, Lata was still abusing me. I knew then it was true, she was honestly never going to stop creeping into my bed. For as long as I could remember, I had lived in fear and cried myself to sleep. She tortured me and found pleasure in doing so.
“I realize if I wanted it to stop, and I had to be the one to stop it.”
Sitting back in his chair, Ashok tilted his head ever so slightly and gazed at the ceiling trying to digest everything he was hearing.
“She had a party in our house for her 21st birthday. It was a Saturday. I was put in charge of the bar, so I made sure the alcohol kept flowing throughout the night. More importantly, I made sure Lata’s glass was never empty.
“Finally, in the early hours of the morning, the last of her drunken friends left. Lata had passed out on the sofa. I picked her up over my shoulder and brought her into my room and lay her on my bed.”
Rakesh leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and intertwined his fingers. His voice softened.
“I opened up my cupboard and removed all the clothes. There was a large hole in the back I had dug over the past few days, as I had prepared for my freedom.
I bound and gagged Lata before placing her into the cavity. I lit a large candle, carefully placing it next to her. I wanted her to watch the light die with every second that passed, until she was immersed in absolute darkness. I wanted her to suffer the torment of waiting for the inevitable.
I watched her for a moment in her unconscious state. She seemed so peaceful. After the moment passed, I sealed her in, alive.”
Ashok’s phone vibrated once more, and he picked it up without hesitating or asking for permission.
“WHAT!?”
“Ashok you need to come home now!”
“Why?”
“It’s Jai! Ashok, he won’t stop crying. He’s so cold. He keeps rocking back and forth shivering and murmuring. He keeps saying, ‘help me, help me.’ He won’t even look at me. He just looks straight ahead and rocks. I slapped him but I can’t snap him out of it. I’m really scared. Please come home we need to take him to a doctor. Ashok, please, hurry!”
“I’m coming. Give him half a valium and put him to bed. That should calm him down.”
Ashok looked up to find Rakesh standing by the door.
“I’m sorry, Rakesh, it’s an emergency. My son needs me.”
“I understand, Dr., don’t worry about it.”
“Perhaps we can reschedule, I’d like to help you.”
“Help me?” Rakesh smiled, “I’ve made peace with my demons Dr., I am here to help you.”
“Help me? What do you mean?”
The statement didn’t make any sense.
Rakesh was half way out the door, then he paused and turned.
“Dr. Virani,” he sighed as his grip on the handle tightened. “You’re living in my house.” Rakesh turned towards him, “Your son, Jai, he sleeps in my room.” He paused, “I’m sorry, Ashok,” whispered Rakesh before he gently pulled the door closed behind him.
Overcome by a numbing sensation, Ashok tried desperately to process all that had just transpired. Like a man running against a typhoon, his mind fought to understand and confirm what his gut already knew. Seconds that felt like hours passed, and when he looked back at the door, Rakesh was long gone.
Lunging towards the phone, Ashok’s fingers, now trembling with adrenaline, dialed his home. Frustrated by the busy tone, he threw the receiver on to the desk and ran out the door.
“Dr. Virani, what’s the….” The secretary tried to ask, only to be ignored by the sprinting psychiatrist.
Jamming the accelerator to the floor, Ashok snaked through the cars that littered the road on this dark night. His mind struggled to remain focused as he replayed the events of the night. The client that was his meal ticket, the savior of his practice, turned out to be anything but. His screaming little boy just needed his father to protect him from his nightmares - they had to be nightmares.
“It’s not possible….,” he whispered as he ran another red light.
Throwing the car door open before he even came to a complete stop, Ashok left the car running as he ran up the driveway to his house. Beating on the door with his one hand, he
furiously rang the doorbell with the other.
“Open the bloody door!” he screamed.
Frustrated, Ashok leaned back and kicked the door open, causing it to swing forward with such force that it rebounded off the inside wall and flew back towards him. In that split second, he saw his wife standing in front of him with tear-stained mascara streaming down the front of her face. Catching the door, he pushed it back and grabbed his wife by her shoulders and asked.
“What happened? Where is Jai?”
Sonia stood still, unresponsive.
“Sonia?” Ashok raised his voice. “SONIA? Where is JAI?”
He shook his wife vigorously, trying to snap her out of her catatonic state to no avail.
“Crap!” he snapped, before side-stepping her and running up the stairs to his son’s room. “Jai? JAI?” he yelled as he threw open the bedroom door.
His son’s room lay in utter disarray. The blanket, chair and lamp were all on the floor, and the single bed had been moved to an odd angle.
“Jai?” Ashok yearned for a response, a clue, anything as to where his son was hiding.
He flipped the light switch but remained bathed in darkness when it failed. Using the glow from the hallway, Ashok frantically turned the room upside down while screaming for his son. Unsuccessful, he searched the rest of the house, the bathrooms and even searched the kitchen where he noticed his wife, standing silently still, like a broken, vacant, lifeless shell. She just stood there, staring at the front door, immobile and unresponsive.
“Sonia. I need you to tell me where our son is? Please. Snap out of it, and tell me where Jai is?” he pleaded.
The black, salt-stained mascara had turned hard and crusty on her skin. Her pupils, now dilated, stared into nothingness. Ashok noticed she wasn’t even blinking. Raising his hand he brought it thundering down and slapped her across the face. The noise echoed through the silence in the house as Ashok waited for a reaction. Moments passed, but Sonia gave no indication she was even alive as her hair fell in tangled clumps, strewn about her face.
“Sonia, WHERE IS OUR SON!” he screamed, sending globules of spit flying in all directions.
Nothing but silence fell upon both of them, and all he could hear was his heavy breathing. His heart pounded viciously, and his body throbbed with each beat. His gut told him where he needed to look but his mind struggled to accept it. Pushing Sonia to the side, Ashok grabbed a flashlight from the chest of drawers at the bottom of the stairs and ran up once more to his son’s room.
Pulling open the doors to the cupboard he was greeted by a row of neatly hung clothes, perfectly aligned as always. Grabbing them with both hands, Ashok pulled them off the rail, sending hangers flying into the air. He shined the light on the back wall and noticed the amateur workmanship. Ashok’s chest heaved heavily as unfathomable fears began to creep into his soul. His scientific mind was bending to the illogical will of the paranormal.
“It’s not possible!” he whispered.
Placing the flashlight on the bedside table, he aimed the beam towards the back wall before picking up the standing lamp. As he gauged the weight of the heavy-based fixture, his eyes remained fixed on the bricks in front of him. Amidst the dark stillness, Mehta’s last words echoed in his mind.
“Your son…sleeps in my room.”
Letting out a scream, Ashok lifted the lamp over his shoulder and ran to the wall. Chips of brick and mortar ricocheted off the sides of the cupboard as the psychiatrist violently bashed the base into the back of the structure. Cracks began to form on the bleak, grey surface and with each blow, his scientific mind came to terms with what he once perceived as illogical.
“JAI!” He screamed, praying to hear his son’s angelic voice respond. “JAI!!!”
Painful tears streaked down his dirt-stained cheeks. Finally, a solitary brick flew back and after a momentary pause, he jumped forward and tried to look through.
Darkness was all he could see.
“Jai? Beta? Can you hear me? Speak to Papa, beta? Don’t worry,” he gulped, “Papa will get you out.”
Fueled by fear and adrenaline, his swings got mightier as the wall started to give way to his will and might.
“Don’t worry, beta, Papa’s coming!” Ashok repeated reassuringly. “Papa’s here. Almost there, Jai, almost there.”
Knocking through a few more bricks, Ashok dropped the lamp and started to pull at the remaining structure with his torn, bloodied hands. Finally, he stuck his head through the void into the darkness on the other side.
“Jai?’ Are you there, beta?”
Stepping back, he grabbed the flashlight and leapt back through the cavity, into the darkness, and shone the light around. The circular beam travelled along the walls of the long, narrow channel as Ashok continued to walk forward, detecting a blinding stench. Covering his nose with his dirt-covered shirt, he moved on.
“Jai? Jai? It’s Papa. Jai?” Ashok called out.
The secret passageway ran the length of the house and even with the flashlight, Ashok struggled to see clearly. Suddenly, catching his foot on a protrusion in the floor, Ashok tripped and fell forward onto the ground. Moaning in agony, he reached out to the flicking beam of light and brought the flashlight to himself. As he got up on one knee, he slapped the base of the light until the beam remained steady. Covering his nose again, he turned the flashlight to the floor and noticed a large black clump that had caused him to lose his footing.
Lifting his head, he turned the beam, and his gaze followed. As he gasped, the air escaped his lungs, and his body suddenly turned cold. There she lay, balled up in a semi-fetal position, nothing but bones and rags covering her. Realizing he was no longer breathing, Ashok inhaled deeply, only to cough brutally as the dust contaminated his lungs. Returning the light to the corpse, he followed the torso and uncovered the rag around her mouth, firmly attached, just as Rakesh had described. The beam continued down the limbs and Ashok noticed the worn ropes hanging off her hands. As he inspected the body, the light began to flicker once again. Ashok caught a glimpse of another shape in her arms, and anxiously turned the light before it went out completely. Recognizing the vibrant colored garment, Ashok jumped forward.
“Jai? Jai?” He shook his son by the shoulder before picking him up and pulling him to his chest. “Jai, it’s Papa. I’m here, Jai. Wake up.”
Ashok patted his son on the back as Jai’s limp head rested on his father shoulder. Concerned by the lack of response by his son, Ashok felt for the light on the gritty ground. Struggling, he laid his son on the floor and crawled on all fours in search of the comforting luminous glow. Finding it had rolled behind him, Ashok picked it up and smacked it to life.
“Jai,” he called out as he turned and shone the light on his son.
Lata’s dead arms were once again draped over his son as she held him close to her bosom. Scrambling towards his son the flashlight fell out of his hands, and the beam landed on Jai’s face.
“JAI!!!!”Ashok shrieked as he fell backwards and continued to kick away from this thing that used to be his flesh and blood.
Jai’s face had withered and aged as though he had been there for decades. His once innocent eyes were now wide open and fear-stricken. Sunken cheeks revealed his cheek bones, and his skin was pale and rotting. The light from the torch flickered on Jai’s lifeless face before dying out again.
* * *
The ambulance ushered the catatonic Sonia away while the police tried to question Ashok with little success. The burly cop looked at his partner before calling out to the paramedics waiting in the second ambulance.
“Take him to the hospital, we’ll have to question him there. We aren’t going to get anything from him here.”
Wrapping him in a blanket, the paramedics helped Ashok up and guided him to the white van with the flashing lights at the end of the drive. Turning his head ever so slightly, Ashok peered over his shoulder and saw the yellow tape that had barricaded his house. He noticed the front door was still aj
ar but couldn’t muster the strength to say anything.
The two men in bright yellow jackets helped Ashok up the steps and placed him on the stretcher before shutting the van doors. As they strapped him in, Ashok sat up and looked through the glass panes at his home once more. The van wobbled gently as it maneuvered its way over the gravel path and around the remainder of the driveway out of the gates. Overhanging trees and unkempt bushes started to obstruct Ashok’s view as the distance between him and the house grew. A sudden gust of wind caused the van to sway and startled everyone in the vehicle except Ashok.
“PAPA!!!!! PAPA!!!!!” The wind carried his son’s loud cries.
Suddenly, the partly open door slammed ferociously shut, from the inside. Ashok watched and remained silent as the van left the premises.
In the Hindi language, “Saya” means both “Shadow” or “Spirit.”
The Boyfriend
By Annastaysia Savage
“Mom, thanks again for letting me move back in with you. I promise I won’t be a burden. It’s only until I find a job and get my feet on the ground … and then I’m outta here, promise,” Nadia said to me as she held her hand up like she was taking an oath. Her smile beaming, she turned to go upstairs to her room.
I smiled to myself and picked at the hangnail I just couldn’t stop messing with. Of course, I’d help her out. She’s my daughter, all I had left from my wrecked marriage. And she had just graduated from college and really, had nowhere to go – yet. She was at the top of her class, so the job offers were bound to come rolling in sooner or later. I was hoping it was later, rather than sooner, as I could really use her company right now. I wouldn’t dare tell her that though. I didn’t want her to think I was needy or trying to smother her. I looked up at Nadia again, as the hangnail began to bleed and put my finger in my mouth.
Journalstone's 2010 Warped Words for Twisted Minds Page 6
