The Malhotras
Episode 5
Rasika stood there. Maya yelled, ‘Rasika aunty, Rasika Aunty, are you okay?’. Rasika replied, ‘I I I am fine.’ Rasika did not have any emotional connect with Ishita but Ishita was the ladder to the Malhotra property. Hearing Maya’s scream, Suyash, Rasika’s husband came. Suyash asked, ‘What happened Rasika?’. Rasika replied, still shocked, ‘Ishita is no more. I talked with her some time ago. She was fine. And now she is no more.’ Suyash was shocked. He dialled Ishita’s dad’s number. Some neighbour received it and said, ‘Ishita was fine. She said something bit her and after some time she collapsed.’ The phone was on speaker mode.
Rasika said, ‘That’s it. Something is seriously wrong. We need to meet our Guru Ji. We will have to call him here.’ Suyash said, ‘Guruji? What will Guruji do? Come let me take you to our room. You are tired.’ Saying that, Suyash held Rasika’s shoulders with both his hands and took her away to their room. With Suyash in the kitchen, Maya bowed her head down and fixed her veil on her head.
At around 3 pm Supriya came to the Malhotra mansion. The entire Malhotra household was tense. Arun was out of town. Rasika’s blood pressure had shot up. Sukumar had called Supriya to check on Rasika. Rasika was still worried. Supriya checked her and said, ‘Aunty continue your blood pressure medicines. The old ones are okay. I won’t prescribe new ones.’
Sukumar came to Rasika’s room and told Supriya, ‘Supriya, can you stay back at our home today? Please. Arun is not here and with the spate of happenings, we are all disturbed.’
Supriya nodded and said, ‘Yes uncle. I will be there.’
Night seeped in. Rasika tried sleeping but she was unable to sleep. She got up to get some water. Suyash had gone to another city in the evening for a conference. Arun was already there in that city. After the conference Arun and Suyash were to return together. Rasika went to the kitchen. While coming out she heard some weird noises in the adjacent guest room. She quietly went and peeped into the room. She stood there shocked in horror. She couldn’t move. Her eyes were bewildered. Clad in a black dress, Maya was hanging upside down at the ceiling above. And someone was kissing her passionately. Rasika stared at the entire happening. The person standing beneath her then started taking off his clothes, stripped off Maya’s clothes and went ahead to make love with Maya.
Rasika gasped. She covered her mouth tightly. She started sweating. She knew if they saw her, she will not be alive. She tiptoed to her room. Quietly she got up on her bed and covered herself with the blanket. She was shivering. She did not know what to do, what to say, whom to say. Even if she said, would anyone believe her? She did not know what to do. The entire scenario came in front of her eyes again and again. She quietly waited for morning to dawn.
Come morning, she called up Guruji and requested him to come to the Malhotra mansion.
Guruji arrived. Maya stood there as a dutiful daughter in law. Sukumar and Sujay sat on a sofa near Guruji. Supriya sat near Rasika. Rasika was trembling. Guruji said, ‘This house has a negative entity.’ Everyone gasped. Maya looked at Rasika. Rasika tried her best not to make eye contact with Maya. Maya was worried by Guruji’s revelation. Sukumar asked, ‘What are you saying Guruji????’. Guruji said calmly, ‘I can feel its presence. You have to believe me. It has come here for a purpose. If you don’t get rid of it, it will devour one more soul. However, I am helpless here. You will have to find someone who deals with such negative spirits.’ Supriya and Sujay listened bewildered. Sujay then looked at Rasika and asked, ‘Did Suyash call? Has he reached? When is he coming back?’. Maya stood there worried and confused, wondering why Rasika had asked Guruji to come over. With haggard and worn out look and dark eye circles, still shivering, Rasika replied ‘Suyash must have reached. Nnno, he has not called as yet. I…I…I..I was hell tired yesterday, so I slept well.’ Supriya then said, ‘In this era of science, do we still have to believe in negative spirits?’. The Guruji snapped at Supriya and said, ‘For some things doctors have no cure. Find someone to get this negative spirit out of the house or else someone will die soon.’
Rasika shivered. Everyone kept quiet.
Rasika went to her room. She quickly texted Supriya and Sukumar. She had texted, ‘I want to tell you something about Maya.’ Rasika had just sent the message when Maya came to her room. Smiling at Rasika, Maya said, ‘It was you who called Guruji, right?’ Maya curled up on her bed, scared to the spine. With her trembling voice, she said, ‘ Whhho are you?’ Maya laughed mysteriously and said, ‘ Oh, so you saw a lot of things just like Kasturi and Sulochana. Aha.’ Rasika tried to go at the further end of the bed. She wanted to scream for help. The door of Rasika’s room, right behind where Maya was standing, slammed and closed. Maya came closer to Rasika. Rasika cried for mercy, ‘Don’t kill me please. Don’t kill me …….’ . Maya smiled and said, ‘I will just kiss you sweetheart.’ Saying that Maya became a tiny vampire bat and sat on Rasika’s neck.
Meanwhile Supriya just checked the message which Rasika had sent. She was confused. She walked up to Rasika’s room. The door was closed. She knocked on the door and said, ‘Rasika Aunty, it’s me Supriya. Can I come in?’ The door squeaked and opened on its own. Supriya came in. The moment Supriya came in, she saw something fly out of the window. Rasika seemed fast asleep. Supriya went closer to Raskia and touched her forehead. Supriya screamed, ‘NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO’. Everyone came running. Rasika was no more.
Rasika had seen her husband Suyash making love with Maya.
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