The Doll That Talks

The Doll That Talks

#Episode 11

#RhituparnaChakraborty

#thedollthattalks

#thedollthattalksepisode11

Link to previous episodes: #thedollthattalksepisode1, #thedollthattalksepisode2, #thedollthattalksepisode3, #thedollthattalksepisode4, #thedollthattalksepisode5, #thedollthattalksepisode6, #thedollthattalksepisode7, #thedollthattalksepisode8, #thedollthattalksepisode9, #thedollthattalksepisode10

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#Disclaimer: This is an original work of fiction with no relation to any person/organism living or dead. Every episode, every character is a work of imagination. Any resemblance to any person, organism, place, character or situation is purely coincidental. There is no intention to hurt or rebuke anyone or any profession through this work. This story/episode cannot be copied, published or reproduced without the permission of the author RhituparnaChakraborty.

Mushtaque reached the place where he had also asked his team to come. It was the institute pertaining to courses of paranormal psychology. In the website, the campus looked colossal. However, in reality, it was not a ‘campus’ per se. It was more of a bungalow. There were trees and shrubs engulfing the bungalow. Although the sun was shining bright, because of the huge number of trees, the place was considerably dark. As Mushtaque opened the gate and entered, he heard some eerie sounds. They sounded like owls. He could also see some bats hanging upside down on the trees. He walked up to the entrance. There were numerous things on the verandah. Most of them looked like antiques. There were old lamp shades, bronze statues, queer pictures and there were dolls and threads and ash. Yes, there were dolls and threads and ash…………. Mushtaque was at the right place.

He knocked at the entrance door and waited. After some time an old lady answered the door. She was wearing a crisp cotton saree. Her hair was entirely grey. She had wrinkles all over her face. Her gold rimmed, round framed, thick glasses, made her eyes look all the more preponderant.

Seeing Mushtaque, she said, ‘Yes?’

Mushtaque: Hi, I had sent a mail the other day enquiring about courses here and I received a reply. So, thought of coming here in person to know more about the details.

The lady: Oh yes. You must be Dr. Satish. I did receive your mail. I was the one who had replied to it.

Saying that, the lady extended her hand to shake hands with Mushtaque.

She then said, ‘I am Sarla. I had done a lot of research on Paranormal science and psychology and came up with the idea of establishing an institution here. And you are Dr. Satish, right?

Mushtaque(promptly): Yes. I am Dr. Satish.

Sarla: Yes, I remember. You are a Ph.D. in psychology, aren’t you?

Mushtaque: Yes.

Sarla: Okay! Please come in. We can talk.

Sarla led Mushtaque to a room. The room looked like a museum. There were quaint pictures, artefacts and books all around. Mushtaque observed everything closely. He walked around, looked minutely at all the things around.

Sarla went to a wooden round table with chairs around and told Mushtaque, ‘Please come and sit here and let me know what made you interested in this science and what are you looking to learn if you join us?’

Mushtaque replied, ‘Well, Ma’am, paranormal science itself is a huge sphere and there are innumerable things to learn here. Since you are way more experienced in this field, I will be happy if you guide me.’

Sarla smiled and said, ‘Sure! Well, although people don’t believe much, but I have come across cases of people and things being possessed. I had rescued some people from spirits. After rescuing them, I have caged those spirits in things like dolls, statues, artifacts and the like. Now, I want this legacy to continue because eerie incidents do happen. But, the catch here is, one mistake on my part, I may end up putting someone’s life in jeopardy. Hence I always instruct my students to be careful.’

Mushtaque asked, ‘What kind of risks?’

Sarla: Well, sometimes while conducting experiments, if any of the methods go wrong, the spirits might end up killing someone.

Mushtaque: And how can that threat be averted?

Sarla: It’s hard. If the spirits are unhappy with something, they may end up hurting someone close to the person conducting the experiment. To thwart that, the person will have to find another person to satiate that spirit

Mushtaque: And has such a thing happened in your institute, so far?

Sarla: Well, not that I know of. Actually we have very few students as of now and the ones working on such research are experienced. They wouldn’t do such mistakes.

Mushtaque: What if they messed up something?

Sarla: No! That can’t happen and if that happened, I would know. I wouldn’t let anyone get into any risk. If they messed up something, their family could be at risk.

Mushtaque: And to save their family, they will have to put someone else’s life at risk, right?

Sarla(c0ncerned): Yes. But, why are you asking such questions?

Mushtaque: Because your students have already messed up things.

Sarla(confused): What are you saying! I don’t understand.

Mushtaque: You will understand everything now. Can you please call your students here, right now? Please don’t let them know that I am here.

Sarla(sternly): I won’t do that. And you please get out or else I will call the police.

Mushtaque(flashing his id card): I am the ‘police’ ma’am. And whatever you are doing is illegal. I have search warrant as well. My team is waiting outside. Call your students, right now.

Sarla(petrified): Illegal! No! I do have paper work. Well….…. but what did my students do?

Mushtaque: You will know it all. Call them please.

Sarla dialed a number and said, ‘Please come soon. We need to talk.’

After half an hour, Mushtaque heard footsteps. Sarla looked at the door. The students were there. They did not see Mushtaque. They asked Sarla baffled, ‘Ma’am, what’s the matter? Is something wrong?’ Before Sarla could answer, Mushtaque answered, ‘Well, everything is wrong, isn’t it Mr. and Mrs. Trivedi?’

Ananya Trivedi and Amit Trivedi looked at Mushtaque shocked. Amit Trivedi tried to reply casually, ‘Uh huh….ACP Mushtaque…..how come you are here?’ Mushtaque went near Amit Trivedi and said, ‘Well, you should have known that kidnapping and harming my daughter and then trying to harm more children including Ishaani will lead me to you.’ Stammering, Ananya said, ‘We…we did not do anything. You cannot accuse us without any evidence.’

Mushtaque replied, ‘Mrs. Trivedi, you and your husband have been travelling frequently for research. We did find your travel details. In the name of travel, you guys were here working on a research. You and your husband are professors of psychology and now you wanted to work on paranormal psychology. My team has found your names registered in this institute and there are records of the experiments you have been working on. Why on earth did you try to harm my daughter and Ishaani?’

Ananya Trivedi replied, ‘Enrolling for a course and working on any research does not prove anything.’

Mushtaque smiled and said, ‘Well. Okay! Fine then. Just to let you know that your daughter Ruhi is now playing with the doll which Mehek used to play with.’

Ananya screamed, ‘You are lying. That doll is in the forensic lab now…’ Ananya instantly realized, she shouldn’t have said that.

Mushtaque smiled and said, ‘How did you know the whereabouts of the doll?’

Just then Sofia and Abhay came. Sofia went ahead and stood near Ananya while Abhay positioned himself near Amit.

Mushtaque told Ananya and Amit, ‘You guys better speak up or the consequences will be disastrous.’

Amit knew the game was up.

He said remorsefully, ‘We had no intention to harm anyone. We wanted to learn paranormal psychology just to know what it was all about. It was during one of such experiments that we came across that doll. Apparently it was possessed. Ms. Sarla had told us not to fiddle with that. However without her knowledge we took it home and replaced it with a similar doll here.

Ms. Sarla listened to Amit stunned. She said shocked, ‘What! Good Gracious! Didn’t I warn you not to take any of these things away from here!’

Ananya replied sorrowful, ‘Ma’am, we were curious about the doll. And because we took it home, the spirit inside got agitated. It tried to harm Ruhi but we ensured that Ruhi never touched the doll. That’s when I and Amit recalled that we had read in one of the books to give the spirit another soul or else it would kill Ruhi. We planned accordingly. A kid had to touch the doll at least once. That’s when the doll could befriend the kid and talk to the kid. That’s why Mehek and Ishaani could talk to the doll. We sought help of Shaanti for this. Shaanti was greedy for money and we paid her well to give the doll to Mehek. Ishaani had touched the doll once and hence the doll talked to her as well. Since the doll had threads, we presumed, the Singhanias will be considered suspects because of Raina Singhania’s love for embroidery works and creation of handicrafts and not to forget, dolls.

Well, since the experiment was going well with Mehek, we thought, we should complete this project. However, the spirit in the doll would need a body to reside. Hence we got Mehek and Neeti abducted. We did not want to abduct Neeti but she was always with Mehek and if she saw our men it would be easy for the police to find Mehek. Hence, we took the risk of abducting Neeti as well. But then, she was too smart and you found Mehek and Neeti. At that point, our only hope was Ishaani. If the spirit got Ishaani’s body, our Ruhi would be spared. Hence we decided to use Ishaani’s body as a place for the spirit inside the doll to reside. Amidst all these, we were scared that if we get caught, we will land in jail and our Ruhi will be harmed. Hence we had to use the doll to get Shaanti killed. The spirit is still inside the doll and it must be moved to another body or else it will not spare us.’

The entire conversation was recorded. Everyone in the room was aghast.

Mushtaque went near Amit Trivedi and Thwakkkk!, slapped him tight. Mushtaque looked at Amit with angry eyes and said, ‘Look! I don’t know anything about Paranormal science or psychology. All I know is that you hurt my daughter, you are hurting Ishaani and you killed Shaanti. I don’t know how you are going to solve this. All I know is, now you will ensure that Ishaani is safe. How you do it, I don’t know. But, till you fix it, I won’t let you be at peace.’

Ananya cried and said, ‘Please, if….if we save Ishaani, the spirit will kill Ruhi…….’

Mushtaque said with rage, ‘So, you will let one child die to protect another child? Wouldn’t it be better, if I kill both of you now….’

Ms. Sarla interrupted, ‘The Trivedis indeed did a heinous crime. Without my knowledge, the Trivedis should not have fiddled with the doll. But now the situation is indeed bad. That doll is possessed and if its needs are not taken care of, no one can imagine even in their wildest dream what the consequences will be.’

To be continued…………