Unusual Short Story – The Shady People
Unusual Short Story – The Shady People
Nirupa was shaken by the movie. She was returning to the hostel room with three of her friends after watching a horror movie. Her friends were discussing the gory scenes – they all loved watching such movies, not definitely for the thrill offered by them. They were studying to be movie makers. Yes, all of them! They observed the fine details in the making. Nirupa too was interested in her subject. But this particular movie had affected her in way she had never expected.
The storyline of the movie was not very different from the others of the same genre. Yet the uniqueness of the camera angles and the nuances of direction brought her to the edge of her seat. Amazing direction, said her friends. It was something more than that. It made Nirupa look back with palpitating heart long after they had left the theatre.
‘They say this happened and happened in this place,”at last Nirupa found her tongue.
“This is a true story and a recent one, I heard.” Her friends laughed, but sympathetically.
“Do you believe that trash?” they countered.
“Yes,” she said after a pause.
Well, the story went thus. A family of four gets killed. Someone poisons them all. They turn into ghosts and go on a killing spree. The house they haunt is the usual far away mansion with very few neighbours. People do not know or care to know who lives next doors or what happens to them. If one could digest such oddities, the fear the movie created was real. All the friends agreed on this.
“Niru, you want one of us to share your room?” Anne offered.
“You look pale and shaken,” Dolly observed.
Indeed in twilight Nirupama looked like a marble statue.
“I fear as much for you as for myself,” she said, studying them with her dark eyes.
“C’mon, lady,” laughed Akhansha, “It’s for our safety that we want to give you company.”
So she gave company to Nirupa that night. The movie was soon forgotton by the friends, or at least by Dolly, Akhansha and Anne.
But the three of them were very soon disturbed by Nirupa’s strange illness. A brilliant student, she never missed classes. But now she did not seem to have the inclination to get up from her bed. She said that she was not well enough to attend classes. As this continued for a week, they consulted the college physician. The physician told them that Nirupa had confessed to her the it was psychological and she advised them to call for her parents or she could go to them for a change. Nirupa’s parents lived in the outskirts of the city. She had preferred to stay in the hostel as it took her more than an hour to travel from home. Frantic phone calls were received from her worried parents. They informed them that Nirupa’s brother was very ill and had been hospitalised, requested her friends to bring her over. They could not understand why both their children were ill.
“Niru! We are here to help you. ” the friends reassured her. They packed a few of her clothes and hired a taxi to take her home. Nirupa was moved.
“Why do you care so much for me?” she sobbed.
They hugged her and said they all loved her so. Unexpectedly, on the way the taxi developed an engine fault. They were stranded in a place just outside the city limits where they could not find another taxi to hire. After searching for a couple of hours for a taxi, they got into one of the buses which dropped them near Nirupa’s place, Kamala Nagar. A few minutes of walk took them to her house. Her father was waiting outside. Her mother was sitting near her brother who had been discharged just then. He looked pale and weak. As it was late already, Nirupa’s parents asked her friends to stay there with them. The friends said that they could take their help anytime they wanted.
The three of them, Dolly, Anne and Akhansh had to leave early the next morning as they had to attend college that day. They had just then reached the bus stand when a stranger approached them. “Just out of curiosity I want to know. What were you doing in that corner house from last evening?” he asked.
“Of course it is none of your business.” they replied.
“Yes, you are right.” said the man.
“But no one lives in the house in which you stayed last night. A month back the inmates were all poisoned by someone and the parents and the daughter died immediately. The boy was fighting hard and he too died yesterday in the hospital. If you suspect my words, you can go and ask for their bodies which are still in the morgue. That’s why I wondered what you people were doing in that house.”
“Who are you?” asked the frieds as they looked at each other, fear clearly visible on their faces.
” I am Nirupa’s uncle.” And just as he was saying this they could clearly see Nirupa’s father behind him, pushing him from behind.
“There was a freak accident, in the bus stand near Kamala Nagar. The city bus ran over a middlenaged man, killing him instantly.” the newspapers reported the next day.
The three friends left it for the college to find out why Nirupa never came back.
__END__
