Chapter 13: The Uncertainty

The night had begun now and Raghav was at his home in his room and was finishing up his studies.

He closes all the books and keeps them aside. Then he opens the drawer of his study table to keep his things and sees his medals and price money. These were the ones that he won in the wrestling competitions held in the nearby towns. He participated those competitions secretly, without letting his family know, otherwise they wouldn't have allowed him to.

He looked at those medals and price money. He wished to show them to his parents but he didn't knew how his parents would react after knowing the truth. He wished that he could tell them that he wanted to be a wrestler.

" Raghav!, come down, dinner is ready," his mom called him.

That voice drew him out of his thoughts and he shook his head and put his things inside the drawer.

" Yes coming!," he replied.

The Rao family sat on the dining table. It was a small family of a father, mother and there only son.

Raghav's father and mother sat facing each other and Raghav at the other side, in the middle. He had decided to tell his parents about his dream to make a career in wrestling.

" I hope the things will get normal soon," said his mother.

" Yeah, everyone's been praying that," said Mr. Ranjeet.

" What about the Pandit?, when he's going to do seize the spirit?,"

" Don't know, he said that it's not the right time for the ritual,"

" I hope he does quickly,"

" That Pandit seems suspicious to me,"

Raghav looked at his father.

" Why so?," his mother asked.

" Maybe he's just a fraudulent and he might be just fooling us all,"

" But you know that he seized the spirit twenty years ago, right?,"

" Yeah, I know but it could be just that he got lucky at that time and the spirit went away and he took all the credit,"

" Maybe, if you look at it that way,"

" Abd after that incident the villagers thanked him by giving him a house to stay here and they pay him just for doing the puja and singing the prayers in front of the temple,"

" He said it was to keep the spirit calm,"

" He's just bluffing the villagers,"

" Don't know but he's only one we can look up to,"

" Okay let's stop talking about this spirit, the whole village has been discussing about it,"

" Yes, you're right,"

" Raghav," his father said. " How's your studies going on?, I hope they aren't disturbed by the incidents going on in the village,"

" No, not at all,"

" That's good,"

" Uh dad–," as he was going to speak he was shortly cut by his father.

" Well, son there's a good news,"

" Ah," Raghav took his words back. " What is that?,"

" The renovation work of our store will be completing in a week,"

" Oh, that's great,"

" And I wish you sit at the store with me, afterall you're the one who's gonna run our business after me," his father said that with a smile.

" Yes, I will," Raghav said with an effort.

He thought he would tell his parents about his dream but now that seemed very far.

******

The family sat doing their dinner.

" Hey Girish," said Ramkrushna.

" Yes?," asked Girish.

" I was just wondering that for how many days you are on leave?,"

" Leave?,"

" Yes..., leave," he said stretching the word a bit.

" You know where I work, right?,"

" Uhh..., in office, right?,"

Shiva, Mohan and Geeta let out a soft giggle.

" What?, am I wrong?," asked Ramkrushna looking towards Anjali.

" I work in school, in the management," Girish told.

" School!, Yes, now I got it,"

Girish rolled his eyes.

" Man I didn't knew that you have such a bad memory,"

" Hey!, isn't the management work similar to the office work?,"

" No, office and school are different things man,"

" I got it now," he said with a childish smile.

" And what about the situation of the village?, any news about the spirit?," asked Girish.

" No, the spirit haven't showed up again after that Policeman incident,"

" I heard some people talking about a Pandit who can calm the spirit and seize him back into the temple, is that true?,"

" Yeah, in fact he was the one who seized the spirit twenty years ago,"

" This spirit thing sounds like a made up story to me," said Geeta.

" You don't believe in spirit?," asked Vandana.

" Since from the childhood," Ramkrushna said. " She never believed the legend,"

" And now?, I mean the police constable has seen the spirit with his own eyes," said Girish.

" Perhaps he's lying and he's one of them," said Geeta.

" One of them?,"

" Yes, the one who are trying to cause unrest in the village,"

Shiva thought about it for a moment.

" Either you believe or don't but you cannot go out of the house during night, got it?," Ramkrushna spoke.

" Yes, I know,"

" And what about the Pandit ?, when he's going to do the ritual?," Girish asked.

" The Sarpanch said that the Pandit told it is not the right time for the ritual to seize the spirit,"

" Oh, I hope they seize it before the engagement program,"

Ramkrushna looked down than at Girish," I hope so,"

" I am still wondering what happened that night," said Anjali.

" What?," Ramkrushna let out.

" That night, when I saw someone standing in front of the window,"

" No doubt it was a theif, he must've thought that there's no light around this house so I'll sneak in easily, but his bad luck that the street light flickered at that time,"

" How can you be so sure about that?,"

" So what else could it be?,"

" Maybe it was the spirit,"

" Sweetheart, the spirit would not run away hearing you scream instead he would've used his power and posses you," Ramkrushna said in creepy tone.

" Are you trying to scare me?,"

" No," he chuckled.

Anjali slapped him on his wrist.

" Hey, don't worry it was just a theif trying to make a robbery,"

" Yes, he's right, you shouldn't think about it much," said Geeta.

" Maybe you're right ," said Anjali.

Everyone finished doing their dinner and went to their respective rooms to sleep.

Mohan was making his bed while Shiva laid on his reading a book.

" Shiva," said Mohan.

" Yes?,"

" After what those Policemen had said and according to your assumptions, what do you think is the truth behind the spirit?,"

" The villagers have a stern belief on the legend," Shiva said. " The police also now believes that is the spirit,"

" And what about you,"

" I think we should let the time pass and we'll get our answers,"

" What about you?, what do you think?,"

" I'm quite skeptical about this spirit,"

" Yeah, I know,"

" Any clues who could be the third person?,"

" I've got these names but these aren't all, tomorrow we'll again go to Library and search for more people who were close to both Mr Deshmukh and my dad,"

" I see, I wonder Mr. Gajanan would be, I mean he just can't vanish away, right?,"

" Yeah, the cops are searching him,"

" Searching him?,"

" Yeah,"

" Where?,"

" In the Forest near the Vasusthala Temple and in all the forests surrounding the village,"

" I see, and how did you know that?,"

" I heard the policemen talking,"

" Where?,"

" When we were talking with Mr. Kadam and Mr. Pandey,"

" Didn't knew that you are a rabbit,"

" There's much more inside me,"

" Yeah, even an ape and a donkey too,"

" Look who's talking,"

" Your brother's talking bro....,"

" I didn't knew that man," said Shiva stretching his cheeks.

" That hurts bro!,"

" Now sleep brother, tomorrow we've got some work,"

" Yeah,"

" Good night,"

" Yeah, good night,"

It was 12.30 in the night now. The village was ghostly silent but was not out of light as it was a full moon night so things were quite visible.

Geeta had took Varad's room after he departed to his job. She was sleeping soundly and then her phone rings. She picks her phone up to see it was Abhishek. She quietly made her way up the terrace and bent low and picked up the call.

" Hello," said Geeta.

" Hello sweetheart," Abhishek said.

" Seriously Abhishek?, at this time?,I thought you had some important work to discuss about our engagement,"

" Oh come on, why are you talking like I called you at this time for the first time, we were talking upto 3 o' clock you remember?,"

" Yeah I remember but we were in the city at that time and now we're in the village and here it's not allowed to go out at night,"

" Oh do you really believe in that story?,"

" I don't know, but everyone here believes in it and recently one of the Constable claimed that he saw the spirit,"

" What about you?, do you believe in the spirit?,"

" Like I said earlier, I don't know and now we must stop our conversation because if anyone saw me here then I'll be damned, Ok?,"

" Hey but–,"

" No but, bye bye bye," saying this she hangs up the call.

As she stood up to go downstairs something drew her attention. She again bent low and moved a little forward to get a better view. She saw a man holding a torch briskly walking towards the forest, looking around carefully as if he was doing some robbery. As it was a full moon night Geeta was able to see that man but the view was not so clear as the man was at some distance.

Geeta found that strange that who would go out at this time but she stayed quiet and went into her room.