Haunted Vision

Srikar Chitta posted under Dated Short Stories on 2021-12-30



I was getting visions of person’s assassination. It all started one night when I read a book in the candlelight. It was about ancient Rome; each line of the text made me dwell on the life of people back then. Without knowing, I fell asleep. From then on, I started to get visions of a person’s assassination. I didn’t know who he was and why he was coming in my dreams. I am a factory worker in London; I work so hard from morning to evening with no breaks; for my living. So, as soon as I get on the bed, I fall to sleep, but no matter how much hard work I did, these visions of a person’s assassination were constantly haunting me. I often questioned myself if I had a dream. But it wasn’t a single day; every single night in June 1888, the same person used to come into my dreams. I didn’t remember much about my dream for a few days, but later the visions were so impactful that I could remember in the daytime. An exact image of a tall man waving. He was in a toga and was about to set off on a military mission when a few men jumped and stabbed him 23 times.   Initially I thought the book that I read influenced me greatly, that’s why I was getting these visions and I tried to distract myself by doing extra work in the factory. I was relieved from the book’s illusions on me for a few days. I concentrated solely on my work for a month. All of July 1888 went smooth with a peaceful sleep until August 1st, 1888. That day, I casually walked into my factory and saw everyone gathered around the factory owner. I felt that he was increasing our wages, and I ran enthusiastically towards the crowd. But all my co-worker’s faces made my excitement wane. I thought it would be a severe warning for everyone, or might the owner was trying to put extra workload on us. The discussion was opposite to my expectations. Someone had been murdered in the factory. And the dead man was stabbed precisely 23 times; no other clue was left. The boss was saying, “Whoever did it would not be spared under the law; he will be executed.” That warning made me to wake up from my sleep and feel confused for a second. I realized that the entire murder scene was my dream and again the person was started to haunt me.  After this dream, the next day I continued my routine work in the factory, and I went back home normally. But the dream I got in the previous night was making me restless. I scolded myself for reading that book and I didn’t take it very seriously and went back to sleep. But this night my visions came back again with a different scene of the same person stabbed to death in a toga. This time, after the assassins had left the place, the dead person stood up and tried to communicate to me, “Vindicta, Vos ulciscimini super eos.” Of course, I didn’t understand a word of what he said. The only thing I understood was, it was the Latin language. For a few days again, the same scene appeared in my dream. The person in my vision tried to communicate to me, “Vindicta, Vos ulciscimini super eoVos.” I tried to ask some of my friends who knew Latin, but none understood what that sentence was. I went to the library to get a Latin to English dictionary, but I couldn’t get any information regarding the sentence. I felt agitated. Did I need to listen to the same sentence this night too? Thinking of my vision, I returned home from the library, and I slept. This time, in my dream, he said a different sentence with which I was familiar. He said, “The Revenge.” Before I asked the person in my vision, he left. I woke up thinking, “What revenge? On whom and who will take the revenge?” All these questions made me dizzy and collapse. Also, because of lack of proper sleep, I felt sick the following day. I plucked the last remaining energy I had and went to work. Again, a crowd gathered in front of the factory owner in the same scene. I felt that there was another murder. Yes, there was another murder, in the same way, stabbed precisely 23 times; no other clue was left. This time, everyone in the factory was tensed; they usually go to work but this time everyone murmured about who the serial killer was. I had no clue either.  Saying it out loud, “Yes yes, I have no clue either”, and I opened my eyes. Not again, this is another dream. But somewhere in my head, I correlated with the word, ‘The Revenge’ the person said to me in my vision. Were these murder dreams related to the person in my dream? I was banging my head with too many questions. So, I decided to question the person who was coming in my dream the next night.  I was eagerly waiting for the dream for the first time; I was looking forward to it so I couldn’t sleep as if I am waiting for a full moon. Instead of sleeping and dreaming, I heard an agonized cry outside my house. I ran towards the window and saw a grotesque scene unfolding in front of my eyes. The same person in my vision was stabbing a poor worker 23 times before me. I went outside and started to argue with this person. I asked him, “Who are you? What are all these murders? What’s the revenge, and on whom? Why are you killing innocent people? Am I seeing it for real, or it’s my vision only?”  HE VANISHED AND TURNED INTO DUST before I continued to say a single word. I woke up with sweat on my face. I then got worried as it was an actual murder, and I opened my curtains to see any dead body. But to my shock, there was nothing. I got infuriated and yelled at myself what the hell is going on to me. I am not able to differentiate between real and fake. Dream or not dream. I checked the time on my clock, which was beside my bed, it showed 3.00 AM. I sipped some water and tried to get a little sleep to work in the morning. As soon as I slept, I got another vision: the person was trying to kill Queen Victoria; he was trying to stab her while she was asleep, along with the royal guard members. I didn’t understand why he was killing our present Queen, but this time I took my courage and tried to stop him and ask why he was doing all these murders and if they were real or not. But for the second time, before I approached him, he turned into dust. I woke up from my sleep, and the severity of the vision of the Queen’s death made me worried. I immediately to the nearby story to read the newspapers. I checked almost all the newspapers to see any headlines over the mysterious murder of Queen Victoria, but there were none. I sat nearby on the footpath and wondered why I had all these kinds of visions or hallucinations of murdering someone. I thought, “is the person coming in my vision is trying to convey to me something? But why would he kill a Queen?” A hand touched my shoulder to bring me out of my thoughts. I looked up towards the hand to know who it was. As a shock, I recognized him as the person coming into my vision every night. I got up immediately and tried to catch hold of him. But he immediately turned into ashes in front of my eyes and appeared on the other side of the street. I ran towards him, yelling “STOP, STOP, STOP!” at him. He smiled at me and disappeared into a sewer. “Oh! Come on, why is this happening to me? Is this again my vision or for real!” I yelled and collapsed in the middle of the street. “Golly, Gosh!” Came a posh voice. “This man must be sent to a lunatic asylum!” There then came a wicked chuckle. I turned around to see who it was and saw the very same man who appeared in my visions. I chased him, but he suddenly vanished and appeared behind me. Then, he smiled at me and turned to ash again. “Night visions turned into day visions now… I need to see a doctor!” I thought. I moved on to my work and changed my sleeping location from home to the factory itself. Thinking that my visions will stop if I change the place. But nothing worked; the moment I went into sleep, the same person appeared, killing someone in the same manner of 23 stabs. This time it was the factory owner. I screamed out of fear and woke up from my sleep; it was 6.00 AM. Luckily, there was no murder or bloodshed.   The factory owner appeared perfectly usual, doing his regular factory checkups. He even smiled at me and said, “Gosh, you slept last night in the factory; I hope you had a nice, wonderful sleep, didn’t you?” “Yes! To..tally wonderful sir!” I replied sarcastically. Nobody knew how dreadful dreams I was getting every night and I couldn’t even share them to anyone. Even if I share, who was going to believe me.  I started my work, murmuring to myself, “What in the world is my mind telling me? Is it trying to tell me to murder someone? After seeing these many murder visions, I may kill someone. Gosh, please, someone in the world help me to get rid of these visions.” “What murder are you trying to kill me? Helloooo I am your friend; don’t kill me, please”, said the factory worker next to me. That was when I realized I was not murmuring, but I was screaming out loud. Another factory worker said, “By the way, when you started the new job of killing someone? Will you be paid a high salary?”  Both factory workers laughed their heads off (figuratively), making me ashamed. I just took a day off and walked back to my room. When I opened my room door, to my shock, I saw the same person sitting on my bed, as if he was waiting for me. I asked grumpily, “How dare you to trouble me like this, and what’s your intentions? Tell me the truth! Or I am not going to allow you to vanish anymore or run away like this” “Oh! Is it, you have the power to stop me? I don’t know that. I won’t trouble you anymore; I came here, to tell the truth about ‘The Revenge.’ First things first, let me tell, Who Am I…..I am Julius Caesar.” I froze for a minute, a former Roman dictator coming to visit me. I pinched myself, but it was real. He also said, “No, you are seeing me for real and I am telling you, my story. It was March 44 BCE. I was getting ready for my next military campaign, and I was waving goodbye to the senate. Suddenly a group of senators and men were pulling out daggers from their toga’s. Before I understood for what reason they were pulling the daggers out, one after the other, they pounced on me and stabbed me consecutively 23 times.” “Ok, I read about all of this in the book that I got from the library, but why are you coming into my dream and telling it again?” I said. “Wa..ait a minute, why are you in a hurry? Let me finish. Be ready to know the truth. Hold your horses. You are my reincarnation, and I am willing to take revenge on the people who stabbed me to death with your help. And that’s the reason I am trying to convey you all these days.” “But Why can’t you tell me all these in one dream” I interrupted angrily. “See, this is the problem with you; you are always impatient and gets up so fast from sleep. When did you allowed me to tell you the whole story, darr…ling” I frowned and said, “Ok, now just continue and tell me what you want me to do?” “If you stop interrupting, I will finish explaining my plan, and you can execute it. Got it. Now zip-zip-zip-zippperrrr your mouth and listen to me. I want to take revenge on everyone who killed me, and I also know their exact names and where they live. Now, will you help me?” I exclaimed out of fear, “What do you mean? you want me to murder each and every person who stabbed you and, you are showing me all these days how to murder.” “Yes, of course, you, dambby, after all discussions and now you are asking me the same question. Come on, you knucklehead; you execute my plan. Just follow me what I say! You remember I am the Roman Dictator. You just need to do what I say.” “Rome doesn’t exist anymore”, I said. “And listen to me, Julius; I understand that your own senate members, unfortunately, stabbed you, but do you feel killing people after all these years is right? What are you benefiting from these innocent people’s murders? They don’t even know that they are senate members in their previous lives. Do you feel this type of thinking is ethical? And now after all these years of rebirth is it worth killing?”  “Oh, come on, I am Julius Cesar, and I took life as a filthy, timid, and coward like sage. I am a dictator in my previous life, and I wasted all my time conveying my revenge to this person who was trying to convince me. And moreover, he was trying to stop a dictator. If you are not going to do what I say, remember I am not only Julius Caesar, but I am Ghost now.” “That’s the reason after all these years you are still a ghost, and even you took a new birth like me, but still, you are having the feeling of revenge. Remember you took the life of a human, not an animal like a lion always looking for pray. How many lives will you be reborn keeping the same hatred in your heart, and when can you get peace.” I said, “Remember a saying said by God, Julius Caesar; the saying goes like Vengeance is mine, I will repay. Leave it to God and start forgiving. You have already taken rebirths in believing of one thing; ‘Revenge’. For now, try to start forgiving and see.” Julius Caesar sat on my bed and started weeping, listening to my words.  “What you said is right, I was not learning anything from my rebirths, and I am not peaceful at my heart either.”, Julius Caesar said in a weeping voice.  I continued to convince Julius Caesar, “Practice being in a righteous way, do what is good for the future generation. Learn how to forgive people. Taking revenge is easy, but can you get the peace back. Leave the hatred to God, and God will take care of the rest. For those who believe in God, all things work together for good. As you said, I took your incarnation, so, at least in this life, let me be free from hatred, revenge and let me learn to forgive. Let nature take action; God will punish the ones who killed you in one way or the other. God has seen the real person in you; that’s the reason he is giving you many rebirths, so try to learn. Don’t fall in the cycle of hatred and revenge and let me be in the righteous path.” “What you are saying is cent percent right!” Julius Caesar Wept, “I should forgive and forget revenge, and then only I will be happy! I feel so mournful for my thoughts and the dreams I gave you. Can you forgive me?” “Of course, that was what I was saying all this time- FORGIVE!” Julius Caesar turned into ash just then, and a blue, glowing sphere came out from him. It floated and went into the clouds. Then only I understood, Julius Caesar’s soul had gained peace.  I woke up from my sleep with a peaceful heart and understood the reason behind all my murder dreams which haunted me. I now also understood the purpose of my life and how to forgive. The biggest lesson I learnt from all these visions was that forgiveness is golden. Forgiveness is the path to peace. If we carry a grudge for long, we will stay as a ghost, like Julius Caesar. But if we forgive, we can gain peace.    Penmancy gets a small share of every purchase you make through these links, and every little helps us continue bringing you the reads you love!