THE THREE PHASES OF DEATH

“Reach home safe guys!!” said Ram Kumar bidding goodbye to his friends and went to sleep that night still feeling eerie from the events earlier.

Hardly 10 minutes into his disturbed sleep, Ram heard a loud noise. He then saw something fly from the window and hit the fan above. He heard a loud bang and the rumble on the wings. It fell down and bounced on him. He felt pained like being hit by a gravel. He woke up in an instant, sat up in his bed unsure if it was just a dream. Ram used the mobile light and frisked the bed. There was nothing. It must have been a nightmare thought Ram. He checked the time on his mobile and it read 00:00. This freaked him out a little.

He got up, drank some water and tried sleeping again. He was having a loud heartbeat being alone at home that night. He was convinced of actually having heard the sound and of being hit. Unable to sleep without settling it, he got up and started investigating. He turned on the lights and was carefully searching the bed. Something poked him a little away from the pillow. He removed the bed sheet and saw a small, bright yellow, crystal like object with broken pieces next to it. He had not seen anything like that before in his room. The room window was locked, the door was closed. He searched the entire room and it surely was not from anything in the room. Now he was genuinely scared.

Ram was trying to remain calm and thinking for a logical explanation. His mind reasoned that there must be an intruder in the house. He opened the door, tip-toed to the kitchen and took a knife in his hand. He switched on the entire lights, in the kitchen, dining, hall,rooms. He checked up on the balcony and the rooms one by one and there was no one. As he turned away from the master bedroom, it dawned upon him suddenly. He turned and looked up and yes, that was it. On top of the photo of a deity there was a decorative light with three, petal shaped branches. It was yellow in colour and crystal like in make. He brought the piece from his room and it matched. One full petal was broken and it was that piece which hit him. He shook in fear as there was about 30-40 feet distance between the master bedroom and his room, both separated by three walls, two doors and one huge hall in between. Petrified as he was already, standing and looking at the light, the power went off in a second and it became pitch dark.

EARLIER THAT DAY

Ram had three best friends in Aravind, Kannan and Azam. After their Sunday cricket match, they were chatting up with other team mates. Something seemed to interest a lot of people in the team. It was a video in the mobile of one of the team player, Azhar. “We were going for a drive last night and while crossing the besant avenue link road we recorded a ghost” said Azhar. The video played. The besant avenue link road now called blue cross road, has one side covered by the sprawling besant gardens and the other side being cordoned off only by a wire fence housing an alternative school within it.

“Watch it carefully now” said Azhar and within seconds a white sort of figure flashed. “There!!! There !! There!! That one.. did u notice?” exclaimed everyone.

Ram was a non-believer in such stuff. “It must be….” elongated Ram.

“No nothing, not the camera flash, no moving car in distance, we have thought about a lot of things” said Azhar.

Now, Kannan was the ghost enthusiast who even had a hunting kit at home. “Besent avenue link road, that place right there is documented to be haunted” said Kannan. Both of them argued like every time but today they wanted to end it.

It was around 11:30 PM. “Are you guys sure we should do this.?” queried Azam as all four of them were in a car waiting in the Besant Avenue Link Road. The arguments between Ram and Kannan led them here.

“How does this EMF thing work?” asked Aravind. “A professor at the University of Surrey gives the best explanation. Our mind consists of an Electro-Mag field. It doesnt disintegrate when we die. The firing of electrical impulses along nerves in the brain is sort of like an alternating current system, but with a lot more directions and cascade effects. Accordingly if there is a spirit here, we can pick it up. The red light indicates nothing. When the meter spikes and the green light comes on, we are in business” said Kannan.

Ram was quick to rubbish it by saying “its pseudo-science!! anyways we will know soon enough”.

They waited in their car with the EMF meters, EVF recorders and night cameras ready to flash.

 

NOW

Ram petrified with the crystal in hand said to himself “Ok!! There is nothing to it. Its just a coincidence. The power has been erratic since the monsoon”.

He decided to call the others hoping they haven’t left far after dropping him. Aravind answering the call said “What are you saying man? we are down near your flat by the corner shop only. We all felt a little freakish thing here too. There was a boy standing in the terrace of the opposite house ready to jump and then disappeared. I saw eyes man. we will come up now”.

Ram explained what happened and it sure appeared spooky to the others.

“Do u not have a candle.? We can sure use some light” said Azam.

Just when Ram turned to get the candle, all four of them heard a loud bang and shattering of glass pieces. It came from the room where Ram was earlier sleeping. They went there and the fan was running in full speed. “You said the power is off?” asked Azam as Ram nodded in affirmative. They switched the torch in the mobiles and found more glass pieces. They went to the master bedroom and Ram pointed to the light. Now, all the other petals were broken. Kannan turned on the EMF meter that he had along with him as others waited with bated breath. A couple of seconds later the meter spiked and the green light got lit up. All of them froze with fear.

“Okay try and be cool. Lets just get out of here” said Kannan.

All four of them slowly moved out of the room, and walked towards the main door. Ram had reached the main door first and started shouting “I cant open this door, its shut I cant open, its not locked but I cant open”.

Others joined him and tried to open the door but they could not. They ran amok and all the doors, windows everywhere in the house could not be opened. They banged the door and screamed for help from neighbours but in vain. Then when they were truly trapped they heard a booming voice from behind ” GOOOO AAWWAAYY”.

They turned around and there stood a girl with a flowing white gown who looked at them,smiled, waved them to go away and disappeared in the darkness.

EARLIER

“Even assuming all this is there, i dont understand why spirits would try to harm anyone, kill them or try to enter their body” queried Aravind. Kannan took some time off his meticulous ghost hunt session and explained.

“There are three parts of the Death Cycle. The Beginning, the Contact and the End. When a person dies before his spirit-span or lifespan is over, say by an accident or suicide or murder etc., his body decomposes but his spirit doesn’t and has to complete its span. Our mind is in shock and will try and recollect the last scene before death and then will slowly make us realize. This is called “The Beginning”. When we are aware of it our spirits would then try to find our body and latch on to it. This is the “Contact Phase”. The best guess is that we get 7 minutes. Our brain functions for 7 minutes after death. Once contact is successful its what science describes as Near Death Experience. When there is no successful contact, we are pulled into abyss and our being is neither human nor dead and our spirits will just wander till the end of life span which phase is called “The End”. It is here that when they see other persons they hope it will be their body and still try and latch on. That explains all the beating and thrown off bikes in the road etc.,It is in this stage that we can establish some form of transaction with them and even try to help them.

There was absolute silence in the car when Kannan was telling all his theories. “Have you had contact with spirits before?” asked Aravind.

“No, its not as easy as what you think, but you know what, we can get lucky today. This place has the potential.”

Others gave him the look. “There have been lot of sightings here and physical contacts too. There is a girls school nearby where a wall collapsed suddenly killing students. In the avenue road, a tree fell out of nowhere injuring motor cyclists. A college student driving alone suddenly lost control, rammed to the pavement and died. They have seen a young girl wandering here in a flowing white gown who committed suicide in one of the trees on the day of her marriage. There was a young kid killed in an accident and he has been seen just standing on the walls of the garden looking down at the road and trying to jump before he vanishes. There is even a temple built here, at the corner of the avenue road apparently to ward off evil spirits. You can check up with locals why the temple was built and try and read its history”.

Hearing to all the theories and stories of the road, Azam and Aravind decided to get out of there not wanting to risk anything for the fight between Ram and Kannan over existence of spirits. Aravind signalled Azam to move the car. Just then, Kannan asked everyone to quiet down and shushhhed them.

“What is it?” was the common query.

“I have got a reading” said Kannan pointing to the EMF. There was a fluctuation for a couple of seconds and then the needle was moving steadily. It spiked and the green light turned on. With a loud thunder a terrifying lightning struck and lit up the whole street.

“May be explains your meter” said Ram. Even after the lightning the green light was still on and all of them looked exasperated. A second lightning struck and they all screamed looking at the road. Outside the car, at a near distance they saw atleast ten people and some of them were running towards the car.

” Go !!! go!!! goooo!!!! start the car!!! lets gooo” screamed Aravind. Azam tried to start the car but in vain. “Oh Goood !! its not moving… come on ,, come on… “.

Kannan tried to collect himself and tried to record and take photos. “Floor it.. push it.. faster faster faster da!!!” screamed Aravind . “I am trying.. its almost like driving with the hand brake on.. im not able to speed.. feels like something is pulling us back.. ” They started hearing loud banging on the windows of the car and attempts to open the door handle from the outside. They heard screeches on the door and finally near the end of the road it stopped and there was a sudden spurge in their speed. All of them had a sense of relief.

NOW

All of them were on the floor and crying. “God, i hope this is over. Common!!! What is this” screamed Ram. Azam and Aravind were banging the walls, the doors, the windows in hope of some thing to happen. Kannan was sitting there and trying to think this whole problem out. Kannan looked at his mobile and it read 00:00 PM. Kannan was getting somewhere. “It was around 12 that Ram had called and asked to come and the time is still the same.” Kannan collected himself, gathered everyone and browsed the photos he clicked at the besant link road. One of it captured the entire 10 or odd people at the front of their car and they zoomed in. They were terrified when the picture at close up showed amidst the group, the faces of all four of them in a frightened screaming manner. “Oh gooood !!! what is this kannan ?? what is this ??? ” screamed Azam.

Kannan turned towards Ram and asked “Where did you throw the EMF meter.?” Ram was frozen like a statue. Kannan gave a loud scream ” I neeeed that meter nowwww”. Everyone became quiet and Ram showed the bottom of the dining table. Kannan walked towards the dining table whispering “Go away.. go away…go away..where does it want us to go” and his face turned white. He saw the meter and the red light was on. “Okay” said Kannan to himself “this is it”. He walked towards the meter and at one point when he got closer the green light turned on. Kannan fell down on his knees and started crying. Others gathered around him. There was silence for a moment. They all stood up in a line, threw the meter away and walked towards it one by one and when each of them got closer the green light turned up. They all fell down at that moment heart broken. “Noooooo” was the common scream.

THE BEGINNING

“What is the last thing you guys remember before coming here?” asked Kannan. No one could remember anything in between leaving the link road and being in Ram’s flat. “None of us remember actually driving from the link road to here?” asked Kannan. Everyone tried but agreed. Just then they heard the door bell and it shook them up. They went up together to the main door. This time the door opened up with ease and they were shocked. Out side two small girls stood in their uniform and smiled at them ” we heard your screams uncles… we were far away and took some time to come here..dont be here uncles. go away.”

Everyone were speechless. Kannan looked at everyone and said “they want us to go away, go away from here.. go away and not suffer like them here.. they want us to contact. i think we are still in the contact phase”.

Kannan looked at the time and it read 00:05. “Shit its real !! we have 2 minutes. we should find ourselves to contact”

THE CONTACT

“What ???? HOwwww? !!! screamed everyone. “Think.. think.. think..how could have we died!!” We left the place after sighting the ghosts in a hurry. Must be an accident. Kannan looked at the uniform kids and asked “Can you take me to your school???” The little girls chatted within themselves and pointed to the house behind them. Kannan said “No that is where we came from. Point to your school, to the main road.” The girls yet again pointed to the door. The glass pieces of the light were now at the door entrance. There was a small boy standing near it and he pointed to the room Ram was sleeping. “No time guys!!! lets do this” said Kannan and ran to the room and others followed him.

When they were running, the hall, the dining, the walls, furnitures all collapsed and disappeared. The room door was locked and all of them banged it hard and broke it open. There was no room inside. It was an open dark park, and there were other people standing in a huddle. Amongst them were the white gown girl, the school girls and the small boy they saw at the entrance. “This is the avenue link road” said Aravind. “How did we get here!!!” asked the others. “We never left from here” replied Kannan.

They moved them aside and saw their own dead bodies tangled in the car and bleeding.”Oh god, oh god!!!” screamed everyone and tried to touch, push, pull and latch on to their bodies. They tried everything. “Why cant we latch on!!!” screamed everyone at Kannan. “I dont know!! There has to be a way!!!”

Suddenly, a bright light shone from the far end and blinded them. They struggled and saw the light, it moved slowly, and came to a halt. All the other people in the room ran towards it asking them to come. All four joined them and ran there. The lights dimmed and they were sort of able to see the source of the light. “Is that???” Azam queried in shock. “Yes, it is. That is our car” said Kannan as a heavy lightning struck down. Kannan turned towards everyone and then a second lightning struck. All of them ran towards the car. The engine started. “Nooooo…noooo… hold the car… noooo…latch on to it guys” screamed Kannan. They were able to see themselves inside the car and the car started moving. They were crying and banging the doors ” open up!!!! open up !!! open up!!!”.

They were pulling the door handles. The car had started to speed and they were chasing it. They were screeching the door in a desperate attempt to pull it. Beyond a point they could not move and the car vanished. They stood there panting. Then they heard a loud bang!!! “Why are we not able to run!! why cant we go there.?? common we can get to ourselves” said Aravind. Kannan looked at the time and it read 00:08. “Time is up i think” replied Kannan kneeling down on the road. All of them started feeling weak and dizzy. The entire world in front of them was starting to zoom out and they could not even move their hands. In a very slow motion every one wondered “What happens now ??”

–END–