The Clamor of the Nights

Savitha Lakshmi posted under Flash Fiction QuinTale-19 on 2020-05-28



The night slowly set in, and "Tinnng, chrrrr, eeeehhhhh, eeeehhhhh, eeeehhhhh”, noises occurred in the house. They got louder by the middle of the night and died down gradually. That morning Amrita arrived home to spend her college vacation for a whole good month. The house was decked up with flowers and rangolis at the doorstep. Amrita wondered what the occasion was at home. “There were some strange noises in the home last night. I called upon Babaji, he said that an evil spirit is lurking over this house, hence a puja to thwart that”, said Madhav, her father. After a while Babaji arrived and began with the pooja rituals. Madhav asked Anita, Amrita's younger sister, to fetch the brass urn from the room upstairs. Anita went up obeying her father’s orders. "Thadad, dhaang", came a noise, everyone looked around and Anita was lying unconscious at the steps with the urn beside her.  "Ghor Anarth", cried the Babaji. "The spirit is seeking its prey. Remain in your rooms chant the mantra. Do not venture out at night", he said uttering some mantras and sprinkling holy water on Anita's head. Mahadev was anxious and appealed to everybody to get to sleep by nine o'clock in the night. Following Mahadev's instructions, the dinner was served by half-past eight and everyone retired into their rooms. “Tinnng, chrrrr,eeeehhhhh, eeeehhhhh, eeeehhhhh", noises emerged again. Amrita got alarmed and knocked at her parents' door. Her mother opened, Mahadev reprimanded her for the blasphemy and ordered her to get inside immediately. Amrita went back to her room unconvinced with questions hovering in her mind. She was determined to resolve this ordeal at her home. The next night the strange noises occurred again. This time Amrita took matters into her hands and sneaked out of her room. She followed the noises to reach the room upstairs. She knocked at the door, the noises continued and there was no response. She stayed up there and as the sounds dimmed down, she fell asleep.   The next morning someone was waking her up, she opened her eyes and it was Anita. "Amu what are you doing here?" asked Anita. Amrita narrated to her all that she witnessed during the night. "I slept in this room and did not hear anything of that sort, how come?" said Anita hearing which Amrita was bewildered.  Mahadev's worries were increasing with the repeating episodes of the strange noises each day. That night Amrita accompanied Anita to sleep in the room upstairs. Late in the night, the "Tinnng", noise occurred and Amrita woke up. A glass was knocked down and Anita was acting weirdly. Her limbs got twisted, eyes went up and froth oozed out of her mouth. Amrita witnessed the horror of her life gathering from her paramedic background that her sister had been getting seizures! Glossary:  Ghor - Sheer Anarth – Hindi term for disaster Babaji –spiritual Guru Rangolis – decorative designs at the doorstep Pooja- offering worship to God Mantras- incantations

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