Next
morning was the morning of nuisances, hangover and headaches. Pratham was the
first one to wake up, the sunlight from the window was coming directly to him,
so he tried to get up but he failed. He thought it was because of the hangover
but as his all senses came to him, the reason was a little bit to worry about. Rashi’s been grabbing him like she
does with her teddy bear, or for this instance he was the teddy bear for last
night. Anyhow he got up with making any noise and went out seeking Aarav, who
was lying on the sofa with TV’s remote in his hand.
“Hey dude wake up… I
have got a problem.” Pratham tapped him
“What now? You also
want to kiss yourself? Go in washroom and kiss mirror, and let others sleep.”
Aarav changed his sleeping position scratching his head
“What do you mean by
that? Get up!” Pratham poured the vase over him
“Dude that water was
sweet. What was it?” Aarav asked tasting the water dripping down his head
“Oh gross, will you
just tell me why Rashi is in there, on my bed?” Pratham asked
“You must know that
thing well enough; your dad told you about birds and bees, right?” Aarav joked
about the situation
“I know way better than
you, but how she is here and why I can’t recall anything?” Pratham was confused
“That my dear friend is
called, the hangover. And then you won’t also be able to recall that Sonal was
also in there last night?” Aarav asked
“No ways, that can’t be
true. Please tell me it’s not a fact.” Sonal emerged from Aarav’s room rubbing
her eyes
“What you are doing
here?” Aarav and Pratham were both in state of shock
“What? Aarav you didn’t
remember? When I came here last night banging the door, you told me to go back
to my room. I reached there only to see the door locked with my keys inside. So
I came back here again and found you dozing off on the sofa so I slept in your
room.” She explained
“Ok so that explains
why you are here, but why were you banging the door so late? I mean we both
slid you under your blanket, right?” Pratham asked
“She was here to kiss
you.” Aarav spoke and it was Sonal was counting stars and dodging any eye
contact with Pratham
“Yes I was but I didn’t
do it, he was looking so cute sleeping like a little baby, I didn’t want him to
wake up at that time.” There came Rashi and it was like classic Mexican
encounter. Pratham realized both girls came to make out with him last night,
Aarav’s head was feeling like it’s been to a metal concert for whole day, Sonal
was full of embarrassment neglecting anything coming at her, and Rashi had no
idea why everyone was acting weird.
“Well… I have to make a
call, so I better go and make it.” Sonal sneaked out of the room
“Take care you two, I
am also going.” Rashi followed
“Oh my dear head,
please stop spinning. I am never gonna touch that poison again.” Pratham referred
to the drinks he had last night.
“Yea for sure, tell
yourself that when we will be cheering for Barcelona in an El classico.” Aarav said
“Google up the haunted
placed in Goa, we are hitting them tonight to forget all this stuff. Get up!” Pratham
sat back closing his eyes catching glimpse of the bizarre night. After a
storming session of googling Aarav came up with a name…
“The Three King’s
Church, Cuelim Hill.” Aarav said just to realize Pratham was not there, he had
left long ago
“Dude where are you? We
are going to south goa, cuelim hill.” Aarav called him
“Yea I was just with Rashi
coming right up.” Pratham disconnected the call
“Aarav? What was he
saying?” Rashi asked assuming it was Aarav only
“Nothing just a place
we are going to some place in south goa tonight. You wanna come?” Pratham asked
“Sure, I would love to
hang out with you guys.” Rashi agreed
“So what’s this place
we are going to?” Pratham asked Aarav when they reached the suite
“Three King’s Church,
it is said to be most haunted place of goa.”
“Wait, did you just
said HAUNTED?” Rashi shouted
“Yes, it’s number 10 on
my accurate list.” Pratham was in doubt that Rashi will be coming with them
anymore after knowing about the place
“You guys go I will
stay here and watch movies. Maybe Sonal would like to experience it.” Rashi pushed
Sonal to go.
“Wh… Why me?” Sonal blabbered
“Cause you like horror
movies and this is the time to live one.” Rashi left for her room
“Ok so, done we are the
ones who are gonna meet those legendary kings tonight.” Pratham seemed excited about it. As the sun kept diving into
the Arabian Sea, all of them were collecting essentials for the rest of the
night at church.
“I have packed a
flashlight, spare batteries, portable charger, and my camera. That’s all I will
be needing tonight.” Aarav said
“I have kept, some
food, in case any of us will be hungry.” Sonal said
“And I have kept
nothing, cause I count on you guys. We will be back in an hour or so.” Pratham laughed
about them keeping so much of stuff.
“Yea whatever.” Aarav said
locking the door. They drove all the way to the Celium Hill, and the church was
uphill so they have to park the car down there only. After the little trekking
they reached uphill. The church was small, actually just a house, which was
later named as church.
There was no sign of a human being, only a worn and torn
board with the note:
“According to some people this church is a haunted
church. It is said that long time ago there were 3 Portuguese kings who lived
in Goa. They often used to fight to gain power in the land but as they were
tied by the Portuguese diplomacy between rulers policy, they cannot take it up
to the people and hence it was between them only. One of the kings (King Holger
Alvunger) one day invited the other two kings at his place and poisoned them to
death. He himself fell out with the public and committed suicide by consuming
poison. King Holger’ s place is the current 3 kings’ church in Goa, where there
have been reports of sightings and general unrest.”
 |
| Three Kings Church |
“What nonsense
is this, come on let’s go inside.” Pratham was nowhere sacred as compared to Sonal
and Aarav.
“It is
really dark, wait let me get the flashlight.” As Aarav turned the light on Sonal
screamed
“What
was that, we are not even inside the church?” Pratham asked and to that Sonal pointed
at the wall where light was falling
“That
is just a painting of some king. No need to cry out loud for that.” Aarav calmed
her down
“It
was staring at me. I swear to the God.” She tried to convince them but ended up
in failure. As they moved more inwards, Sonal’s mind started playing all of the
tricks which she saw in one movie or another. Once she felt chilly breeze
passing by her side, once someone patting her on the shoulder, and saw someone
holding a bowl of fruits. But each of them were illusions, breeze was coming
from the cracked window, Aarav tapped her to turn and be captured terrorized in
the video he was making, and image with the bowl of fruits was a sculpture.
“Wow
can you believe it, how quite it is in here.” Pratham was amazed of the silence
and just then his phone rang
“Arghhhh!!”
this time it was Aarav who shouted and Sonal also joined him
“Chill,
it’s my phone. And it’s Rashi… hey dear, yea we reached, yes we are fine. And your
best friend, who claimed to watch many movies, is shouting at every moving
object. Yea ok we will leave in just 15 minutes, take care.” Pratham reported Rashi
as she was worried
“Dude
you gotta keep the volume down, I just skipped couple of heartbeats.” Aarav said
“A
couple? My heart restarted like a device.” Sonal yelled at him
“Sorry
about that, let’s move forward, and visit this whole place and then leave.” Pratham
moved
“So
this was the dining room where it all happened.” Sonal said pointing to the huge
dining table in the middle of the room
“Yea
and this must be the kitchen where he mixed the venom.” Aarav moved away with
flashlight and Pratham felt Sonal’s hand gripping his arm.
“Hey
the bottle is still here look.” As Aarav picked the bottle the door against him
slammed making him locked inside, and the dining room went pitch black.
“Aarav?
Are you ok? You there?” Sonal started crying while Pratham reached his pocket
and grabbed the phone lighting up the room with its light.
“Pratham
your arm, its bleeding.” Sonal said with sacred like hell expressions
“Don’t
worry it wasn’t any king it was you, you took a hold of me little tighter.” As Pratham
said this they both felt someone whispering in the corner. The whisper grew
more and more with seconds. Then there were zero degree breezes and the room
lit up with candles, food appeared on the table, the whispering turned into
audible talk. And out of nowhere the two kings appeared, all blue with poison,
third king came from the kitchen serving fruits himself, and as the kitchen
door opened, frightened Aarav ran out of it and reached the main gate. Witnessing
this Sonal, who was in embrace of Pratham shouted…
“Aarav!”
As she uttered these words all three of the kings turned their heads and roared
a big laugh and vanished like smoke. Scared by this both of them ran out of the
church without even turning back.
“What
was all that?” Pratham asked while Sonal was still catching her breath
“I don’t
know man, the door got locked from outside, food appeared from nowhere and the
king took the bottle from my hand and sprayed it over the fruits, winked at me
and then went through the door.” Aarav said panting
“Both
of you I am gonna kill you” Sonal started crying
“Woah
choose your words carefully. I mistakenly thought the king got into you.” Aarav
said at which Sonal laughed a bit and Pratham hugged her trying to make her
clam.
They got out from there, just after Aarav
wrote “It’s all true” under the sign
board. Pratham took a glance over the watch and was surprised; it had been
three hours since Rashi’s call. Time had really gone fast with their encounter
with the kings. They reached the hotel, it was quite late and all of them didn’t
wanted Rashi to get up and get scared, so Sonal went with the boys to their suite.
“You
can go and sleep in my room, I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight. Aarav you also go
and take a proper nap.” Pratham offered Sonal his room
“Ok
and please don’t try to scare me in the night. I have seen it all today.” Sonal
said while going to bed
“Dude
you wanna share bed?” Aarav offered back Pratham to which he said no and
prepared the sofa. Sonal was having trouble sleeping, whenever she closed her
eyes, the church was all that was coming up. Similarly, Pratham was also
turning left right on the sofa thinking the same.
“Can I
talk for a while, until I feel sleepy?” Sonal
reached Pratham and asked
“Yea
for sure. Have a seat.” Pratham sat straight listening to her
“I am
really scared of what we encountered today. Whose stupid idea this was?” and
she burst into tears.
“Oh I
am sorry…” sensing the importance of a hug, he hugged her and patted over her
back. It was a while now, she wasn’t letting him go.
“Sorry
I kept that long.” She said letting go of him
“No it’s
alright you needed that. Want something to drink? My throat is like desert.” Pratham
replied with a smile picking up the phone and ordered two beers, which he
shouldn’t have done. When the beers came they were in living room on the sofa,
and when the last sip was taken they ended up in Pratham’s bedroom.
“That
was much needed.” Pratham said and lent over and there met his lips over Sonal’s.
“My
wish is finally granted” Sonal said as they get closer and there they were
making out with each other. The groom and his bride’s best friend, calling for
all sorts of trouble. The morning was going to be rocky and full of flips, as Rashi’s
phone buzzed in the mid of the night.
‘Number 10, haunted house done… number 3, lost my virginity…’ Pratham’s text read
Early
in the morning walk of shame awaited both of them, for Sonal a big walk to the
washroom and for Pratham walk to the living room back to the sofa…
“Who
was she?” Rashi stormed in as he sat there imagining things
-The Other Me
No comments:
Post a Comment