CURSE (WINNER Indian Bloggers Festival 2016)

PRESENT

“What is this place?” Raina looks around but finds nothing except tall, pointy trees.

She calculates it’s a forest as it was dark everywhere, the only thing that enlightened the path was the moon light.

Raina looks at her clothes, both her shirt and her shorts are torn and rugged, the buttons of her shirt were open and her underclothes are visible. She quickly buttons up her shirt and tries to remember what exactly happened to her.

Raina suddenly feels a severe headache and falls on her knees with her head in her hands. Raina notices a shadow peeping at her from behind a tree.

She tilts her head to look but fails. Raina stands up and walks toward the tree, the man stands straight facing her.

“Viktor?” Raina is confused about how she recognizes this man and how does she know his name and face when she haven’t met him even once, in her entire life.

Raina turns her face towards Viktor to ask him about the same. “Who the hell are you? What are you doing?”

Viktor’s gun is pointed towards her head, “YOU DESERVE TO DIE!” Viktor says.

“What do you mean? Why do I deserve to die? And who are you? Wh-what is happening?” Raina asks in fear.

“YOU DESERVE TO DIE.” Viktor keeps repeating and puts his finger on the trigger.

“No….” Raina screams and starts running as fast as she can.

Raina is running in a forest which seems to have no end. Finally after running for a mile, Raina finds a group of men.

"Help! Help! Please save me, please. That man… that man is trying to kill me.” She points toward the woods and looking at the haunted darkness of the forest, no one was there. She checks again, there was no one running behind her. Raina finally sighs with relief thinking the man must have left in disappointment. “Thank you!" Raina says to the man she asked help for but he didn’t respond. Raina looks straight at his face and stands shell shocked, her face is pale. “Viktor?” she murmurs in fear and runs to the other man “How do you? How do you all look same? Is this a nightmare? What is happening? Where am I?” Raina looks at them all, they all have the same face.

All the men points their guns at Raina, “YOU HAVE TO DIE! YOU DESERVE TO DIE!” Raina tries to run but feels paralyzed, she can feel her body getting frozen part by part. She is wriggling trying to save herself but all her struggle seems to reach no success. Raina closed her eyes as soon as she hear the men chant "YOU DESERVE TO DIE!", she is prepared for her death when she finally manages to move her arm but it’s too late now.

2 months ago…

“I had another dream.” Raina told Anuradha.

Anuradha was Raina’s only friend in the town. After Anuradha found out about Raina’s nightmares, she insisted on helping her as she was a psychiatrist herself. 

Raina was living all alone in Delhi. Ever since she stepped in the metro city first time, she started having nightmares, suspiciously, of the same kind.

Even though, Raina had a liking for isolation, she still made an exception with Anuradha. They met when Raina was trying to find a PG in Delhi. Both Anuradha and Raina used to share the room till Anuradha had to move in another locality because of her work. When Raina told Anuradha about her dreams, she also told her that she always wakes up with a bad headache and is hardly able to remember her dream. Anuradha suggested her hypnosis to remember the dream and find a pattern to help Raina. But what felt like help to Anuradha, was about to turn Raina’s real life into a living nightmare.

“Please lie down. Take a deep breath and then slowly, release it.” Anuradha told Raina.

Raina rested on the bed kept in Anuradha’s therapy room.

“Now, I want you to focus on the small blue light on the ceiling.” Anuradha said and continued, “Relax your body parts one by one, starting from your brain, feel this relaxation slowly travelling down to your feet, releasing outside your body. Feel the muscles lighten and loosen, they don’t need any pressure or any efforts now.”

“You can feel your eyelids getting heavier, let them calm down. Your body is relaxing now and as I continue to speak, I want you to concentrate on my voice.”

“Raina, I want you to think about the dream that you saw this morning. What are you seeing?” Anuradha's voice was slow and soothing.

“There is a man, that same man, he is on this road.”

“How does this man look?” Anuradha asked.

“He is old. Somewhere around 60, tall and thin. Some of his hairs are white but his beard is completely white. His eyes are red and his complexion is too fair.”

“What is he doing Raina?”

“There are graves. He is putting flowers on those graves.”

“How many graves?”

“I can’t count.”

“Whose graves are they? Can you ask him?”

“He is gone. I can’t find him.”

"Okay. Walk to those graves and tell me the names written on them.”

Just when Anuradha asked her to check the names, Raina started breathing heavily. She started screaming. Anuradha, panicked by her situation, woke her up.

“Are you alright?” Anuradha asked Raina.

“Viktor! Viktor! His name is Viktor! Anuradha, he will kill me. He will kill me. He said he will kill me. He said nothing like that when I was there last night. I woke up when he left. But today… today he threatened me. He said he will kill me.” Suddenly, Raina’s heart beats slowed down, she was sweating and her body was ice cold. She soon, lost her consciousness and fainted due to low blood pressure.

2 hours later, when she finally gained consciousness, Raina realized she was already late for her work.

Raina belonged to a well settled business family. There was no need for her to work and she was well aware of the fact. And so, she was working in a BPO as a customer care executive, when she actually was a Software engineer. The only reason she wanted to work, was her parents. Raina’s parents forced her to leave Mumbai and settle in some other city and work on her own, so she could understand the value of money.

“Jai. Hi. I can’t come today I’m sorry. I have health issues, is in hospital right now.” Raina’s voice wasn’t clear which was the after effect of her hypnosis therapy.

“Oh! are you alright? It’s okay, you just rest and take care of yourself.” Her team leader Jai replied.

Later that day, when Raina reached her home, she planned to manage her home properly as she was a cleanliness freak. Raina cleaned every single wall of her house, cleaned all the racks, carefully kept all the photo frames and show pieces at their respective places and then, she finally marched inside her bedroom.

She opened her closet and started throwing all her clothes out. While emptying her closet, Raina found a ring with an antique design and a big diamond in the center. At first, she was both scared and amazed to see it as she had no idea about whose ring it was. But later, she took the ring in her hands to examine it better. She looked at it closely and tried to recognize the ring, just then she encountered a headache.

She tightly closed her eyes, the same man who threatened to kill her was right in front of her “That man. That man.” Raina started mumbling.

There were continuous flashes of a couple in front of Raina’s eyes. There was a boy, who was touching the girl in a vulgar way, while, the girl’s clothes were torn. Both, the boy and girl were drunk and were kissing obscenely in the middle of the road.

After one complete minute, the flashes suddenly stopped. Raina opened her eyes and then suddenly, she heard a woman say “Viktor…” and then the woman started screaming in a shreiking voice.

Raina felt helpless. Those screams were so loud in Raina’s mind that they left her shaken, she felt her knees getting weak.

2 minutes later, when the flashes and voices left, leaving Raina with a void, she collapsed on the floor without saying anything.

There were voices of multiple thuds on Raina’s door. Her mobile phone was continuously ringing. She could hear the sound of someone calling her name. Raina tried to open her eyes, but couldn’t. She tried again and managed to open them a little, she tried to stand but realized she was too weak to stand on her own. A few more tries and Raina was completely in her senses, she recognized that it was Anuradha who was calling her name from outside the flat’s door.

Raina tried to answer Anuradha, she called her name but no voice made its way out from her throat. Raina felt helpless and weak but she knew she had to stand and do something if she wants to be alive.

Raina prayed to God and collected all her strength but nothing happened. She tried again and somehow managed to crawl some distance. Though, Raina was only a few steps away from the door, to her, it felt like she had to cross a million miles.

After struggling for some time, Raina finally managed to reach the door. On the other side, Anuradha was just about to leave.

Raina tried to stand with the help of the side table which was kept near her door but just when she was about to stand, the table fell along with her hopes, Raina felt her death coming closer with that,  her last chance to save herself was slowly drifting away from her.

But fortunately, the voice of the side table made Anuradha aware that Raina was inside and somewhere near the door. Anuradha smelled something wrong and thudded the door again “Raina, are you fine?” Raina wanted to speak but she was unable to do anything.

Raina knew she had to make Anuradha aware of her presence, else, she won’t be able to survive. Raina tapped the door.

“Raina? Raina is it you? Tap it again.” Anuradha said.

Raina was jubilant to hear Anuradha talking to her, she could finally see the rays of hope taking over her room, which a minute ago, felt dark because she thought, she will die in their and no one will know.

Raina tapped the door again and tried to talk.

“Why can’t you speak Raina? Are you in some danger? Is someone inside your room?”

Raina tapped again.

“Raina are you alright? Look please stay cautious and don’t worry I’ll call the security guard, he’ll open up the door. Stay strong, nothing can happen to you. It will be alright.”

Anuradha ran to the security guard and told him about the situation. The security guard, Rama, tried to open the lock but it was jammed. He tried several times but failed and finally, decided to break the door to save Raina.

“Raina, we will break the door. Can you manage to move away from the door? Double if you can, single if you can’t.”

Raina breathed heavily, she was tired but she wanted to live. Raina quickly tapped the door twice and tried to crawl herself away from the door..

The security guard along with some other neighbors broke flat’s door, Anuradha quickly ran to Raina.

Raina hugged her and cried her heart out. Anuradha realized that she had done a mistake. She was aware that this hypnosis can put Raina in danger.
To rectify her mistake, Anuradha decided to take Raina to her house. But little did it made any difference in her situation. Raina started fearing from sleep, she stayed awake as long as possible trying to escape from her nightmares. But how long can a person avoid sleeping? 1 day? 2 days? 4 may be? But forever? The answer is no.

Tired from her situation, one day, Raina asked Anuradha to use hyonotism on her to find out what her nightmares mean and how is she connected to this man named 'Viktor'.

Anuradha disagreed and told her that it’ll only be dangerous for her. She explained Raina about the dangers of it and how hypnotism was the reason why her situation worsened.

“You’ve done it before, you can do it again too. Please Anuradha. I want this to be over. Please, just one last time.”

Anuradha couldn't argue much seeing Raina's situation and agreed to help Raina.

“This can be dangerous for you.” Anuradha said grasping Raina’s hand.

“I want this to be over.” Raina’s eyes were filled with tears.

Anuradha started her process.

“What is happening Raina?”

“I am having a party with Aryan, he is giving me a box.”

“What is inside the box?”

“I don’t know. He said that I can only open it when he’ll call me in the morning. We are going home now. ”

“Who is this Aryan? And whose home are you both going to?” Anuradha felt that this Aryan was a clue. ‘He may know something about Raina’s situation’ she thought in her mind.

“Aryan, Aryan is my boyfriend, we are going to get married next month. He is coming to drop me to my house.”

Anuradha was startled listening to Raina, she was never engaged or ever mentioned about her getting married. Anuradha started recalling Aryan's name in her memory but inside, she knew that there never existed one. “What happened next?”

“I am unlocking the door, Aryan is behind me. He is wishing me a good night, I am only smiling. He doesn't want to leave, he is saying. He started kissing me. So, I am again asking him to go. He is gone. Now, I am entering my house. I have kept the gift box on my living room’s table. Now, I am in my bedroom to sleep.” Raina replied as a smile appeared on her face.

“What happened the next day?” Anuradha was confused. If Raina saw a good dream, why did she woke up crying?

“After an unforgettable night, the morning buzz on the street wakes me up. There were already two missed calls on the phone. It was 9:30 and I hurried out of the blanket to see it once before leaving.

As soon as I opened the door to peak in, my living room wasn’t there anymore. I stepped in and all of a sudden, I was in a forest. I had no clue how I reached there, I saw a man peeking at me from behind the tree. He was Viktor, he pointed his gun on me. I was trying to escape. I ran for almost a mile, I saw some men and asked them to help. When I pointed towards the wood there was no one, when I looked up, that man himself was Viktor. I ran to the other men but they all were Viktor. They are telling me that I deserve to die. They will kill me. They are all pointing their guns on me, they will kill me.”

“Wake up.” Anuradha woke Raina.

Raina was breathing heavily, Anuradha gave her a glass of water and asked “Who is Aryan?”

“Aryan? I don’t know any Aryan.” Raina seemed clueless. It seemed as if she had never heard of this name before.

“You said he is your fiancé and you both are about to marry in few months.” Anuradha asked, confused by Raina’s answer.

“No. I’m not engaged to anyone. I don’t know any Aryan.”

Anuradha concluded by Raina’s confidence that Aryan was nothing, but a person that she has imagined, like every other thing in her nightmares. But was he really an imagination? Who knows.

For the next two days, Raina’s nightmares, somehow stopped. She was having bad dreams about Viktor but her headaches, just vanished.

Raina was sitting in her room at Anuradha’s house. Pacing at the sun rays, peeking inside the room through the tiny distance between the curtains, Raina realized that it was time, she face the sun.

She went to the balcony, looked up to the sky, “Kya boss? I’m facing you. Look, I’m not scared anymore.”

She decided to go out and buy groceries herself. Raina picked up her wallet, locked the apartment’s door and walked down the stairs as she felt that will make her feel more alive than staircase.

Raina, out of her happiness hurried down the stairs with big wide smile on her face. She was finally happy, and after such a long time, she finally wasn’t feeling alone, she was with herself again.

Raina went to the grocery store, pulled a basket from the bunch and started putting things she and Anuradha like. She was so happy that she even decided to cook, in fact, she had the whole menu in her mind.

Raina paid the bill, collected her shopping bags and walked out of the super market.

She was walking with her bags, just when she felt someone following her. Raina looked back, there was no one. She walked for another 15 minutes and realized it wasn’t just in her mind, somebody really was following her.

Raina looked back again and what she saw, froze her to death, it was Viktor. Raina pinched herself to check if she was dreaming, she wasn’t. It was reality. Viktor was right in front of her in the same old, shabby clothes of his.

Raina kept staring him in fear, she tried to move but her fear paralyzed her. Viktor pulled his gun out, pointed it at Raina and Raina started running, she ran not caring about who was in front of her she kept running. Raina looked back at Viktor, he was chasing her but then, he suddenly stopped. Looking at Viktor stooping, Raina got confused and stopped right where she was at that moment.

She turned towards Viktor. He was smiling, Raina was unable to understand whatever that was happening. First, after having almost no nightmare for 2 days, she saw Viktor in her real life. Then Viktor pulled his gun and when she tried to escape him, he tried to chase her and now, he just stopped in the middle of the walking path and is smiling at me from a distance.

Suddenly Raina heard something, she noticed Viktor’s lips moving. “YOU DESERVE TO DIE!” Even though, Viktor was 30 something steps away from her, his voice was clear in her ears.

“What does he…” before Raina could complete, A car hit her. She wasn’t aware that when Viktor stopped, he was on the walking path, not her.

Anuradha got a call from someone informing her about Raina’s accident. Listening to the news, Anuradha knew what was the reason behind the accident. She quickly collected her bag and her car keys, and reached the hospital within the next 30 minutes.

Raina asked the receptionist about Raina’s room number and found out that Raina’s condition was very serious, in fact, she was in the Operation Theatre.

Anuradha called Raina’s parents and told them about the accident, she left the part about her dreams and her mental condition and thought, that it was better to tell them everything personally.

Anuradha went to the reception to fill all the necessary forms, but when she reached there, she was welcomed by a shock. Anuradha checked the papers again and again as if checking would change what was written on the document.

         
                                                Name  :      Aryan Khandelwal.

Relation with the patient :      Fiancé.

Anuradha asked the receptionist about Aryan’s description, but found herself unable to recognize him. Through the documents, she tried to contact Aryan. She decided that she won’t close her identity in front of her till she gets sure, that he really was the guy, she thought he was.

Anuradha called his number, but there was no response. She called again but it said that the number she was calling, never existed.

Anuradha was desperate to know disclose this mystery and so, she penned down Aryan’s address and later found out, the address written on the sheet was a false address too. Anuradha got frustrated and finally came up with the idea of finding him by his bank details. Anuradha asked receptionist to show her the car details but the receptionist refused. After a lot of pleading she finally saw the details and when she saw them, she was left speechless with goosebumps. The account through which the payment was made, belonged to Raina.

Anuradha was lost in her thoughts when she realized Raina was now, out from the ICU and was shifted to her room. Anuradha went to Raina’s room to check on her, she sat beside Raina, holding her hand. Anuradha felt Raina’s hand moving, and found her murmuring something in a low voice.

“I killed him Maa, I killed them all. They were begging me to leave them, mumma I killed them. I was there, I was drunk they asked me to stop but… but I killed them. I’m a killer.” Raina fell asleep after saying those words. But her words clarified everything to Anuradha.

Within the next hour, Raina’s parents reached the hospital. Anuradha introduced herself to them and later described everything about Raina’s situation. About her nightmares, about her hypnosis therapy and it’s after effects. Raina’s mother was in tears.

Both, Raina’s father and her mother were extremely concerned about her. Seeing their concern, Anuradha first thought of retrieving herself from asking them about Raina’s past, but later decided to end the chapter, as she knew it was important for Raina.

“Raina killed him, didn’t she? She killed Viktor.” Anuradha asked them directly.

Both her parents looked at each other awkwardly, within her eyes, it was purely visible that they were trying to hide something.

“Look, if you want to save your daughter, you have to tell me everything. Can’t you see what has this done to her? She is dying every day.”

Raina’s parents were guilty, and so, to save her daughter they decided to tell everything.

“Raina and Aryan were about to get married, but Aryan wanted to propose her once before getting married. He told us about his plan, but we weren’t aware they’ll do this.” Raina’s mother’s eyes were full of tears.

“When they came home, she had a gun in her hand. She entered the house, I asked her about what happened. But no, she didn’t said a single word. She said nothing, she never spoke. Ever since that day, she used to sit in her room all alone. We had contacts so we twisted the case in a way that it never got solved.”

“How come she doesn’t remember anything? She doesn’t even know Aryan.” Anuradha asked.

“Ever since that day, she got into depression. She used to stay in her room, she was guilty of what she did. We, Aryan, her friends, everybody tried to tell her that it was over and that things happens, but she listened to no one. One day, she took the car keys from us, we thought she is finally trying to go out and is trying to be normal. But she…”

“She what?”

“She tried to kill herself. She had an accident at the same place, she killed that family. But we were fortunate, doctor told us that she had lost a part of her memory, coincidently, the part she forgot included the one with the murder. After the operation, we were so happy to get our daughter back.” Raina’s mother started crying, her words were broken, but they made complete sense. How could a parent return their daughter to pain when they know there is an escape. “We thought, she was granted a second life. We never knew that memory is still haunting her. We gave our best to save her from it. We sent her here to work away from us, we asked Aryan to leave her life.”

Days passed, Raina recovered. Her physical wounds were cured but her inner wounds, ever since the operation, somehow, she had an idea that she has done something wrong.

She used to cry in front of Anuradha for hours, asking why she can’t remember anything.

But one day, Anuradha decided that Raina deserved to know what was wrong with her.

“Raina?” Anuradha said looking deep into her eyes, her hands were holding Raina’s hands.

“Yeah?”

“Raina, your nightmares were a result of PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In your case, it happened in a different way, because after the event, you had an accident yourself, due to which you forgot everything. But deep within, you were aware of what you had done and hence, you were having nightmares. It was the reason why you never had any friend.”

“What event are you talking about? I haven’t forgotten anything Anuradha.” Raina’s face turned blue in fear. She was unable to understand if what Anuradha was saying, was reality or a joke.

“Viktor. You killed him and his family.”

Suddenly, everything was in front of Raina’s eyes. Her and Aryan were at his house, he sat on his knees and proposed her. The ring in the closet was the same ring Aryan proposed her with. They both drank a lot of alcohol, Raina was so high, that she couldn’t even walk properly. She asked Aryan to take her on a drive. Aryan said no because of his drunk state but later agreed after Raina begged him too. Aryan was driving the car with focus, but Raina wasn’t letting him. She tried to seduce Aryan by trying to strip her clothes in the moving car. Aryan was looking at her with a smile and was asking her to stop but Raina, she wasn’t ready to stop. Raina unbuttoned her shirt after stripping and ragging it from places. Raina was touching herself in a way to tempt Aryan, and she was very well aware that it was working. She kept Aryan’s hand on her waist and sat on his lap, making him look at her cleavage, intentionally. Aryan asked her to stop but how long could he hold his lust when she wasn’t ready to control hers. They started kissing obscenely, touching each other’s body. In a moving car. “Raina leave my hand baby, please. Let me drive, let’s just go home. Even I can’t wait.” Aryan’s word were now, loud and clear in Raina’s ears. “This is an isolated road, nobody comes here. Babe, I wanna do it now, here.” She said.

The two started kissing again and then, Aryan realized they drove on someone.

Aryan rushed out of the car, Raina was so high that she didn’t even realized what they had done. She put her shirt on without unbuttoning her and rushed out of the car after hearing the noise of people crying and fighting.

Raina pulled Aryan’s gun out of the wooden cabinet in the car. She marched towards the group of people but took a step back when she saw a kid lying on the floor. His face was smeared with blood. Raina felt disgusted by it and puked in a corner. Soon after she heard a man's voice. The man slapped Aryan. Raina ran towards them and saw a woman was screaming in pain. “Viktor…” she said looking at the boy’s dead body.

She could hear the man telling Aryan that he will put them in jail. Raina could see herself pointing the gun at a tall, thin man. Raina was about to shoot that man’s hand, when the woman screamed. Panicking by the situation, Raina shot the women in fear.

The man rushed towards his wife and looking at Raina, he said “You are a demon, YOU DESERVE TO DIE.” His words scared Raina so much that without thinking a single thing, she shot the man.

And realized, “I killed them.” Raina said to Anuradha. “I remember everything. They saved me from prison. That woman’s voice was haunting me.”

“Raina. It's alright, you have paid for what you have done. If you were bad, you wouldn’t have gotten a second chance right?”

“I got a second chance, yes, I deserve to live.”

“Yes. You deserve to live. And you will live. You did a mistake, it’s okay. Mistakes happens, you have paid for it all this time. We will correct it now.”

“I will. I will corre... correct everything.”

Anuradha’s phone started ringing, “Please stay here. Don’t leave this place. I’m coming in a second, I have to attend this call. Do you want me to bring you something?”

“Water.”

Anuradha left the room. Raina was sitting alone on the floor, repeating the words “I deserve to live, I will correct my mistakes.”

Anuradha filled the glass with cold water and reached the room. The glass in her hand fell on the ground as soon as she looked at Raina’s dead body hanging from the ceiling fan.

When Raina was repeating everything, her past memories again, began to haunt her. Slowly, those memories, turned to shapes, Raina’s hallucination made them real, and they, they forced her to kill herself.