The Ghost – Part 3(Section 1)

“Let’s go! Come on! We haven’t got much time!”

“Alright! Alright! I’m coming! But let me just finish this quickly!”

“How are you able to write when the light is switched off?”

I heard the click of a switch, and after a few moments of flickering, the lightbulb glowed brightly. I could see my siblings, Vidya and Shyamala. They were the twins, and I was the odd one out. We had been planning to visit our grandparents, who lived very close to us.

“You can finish that story later, it’s not due until next week!”, Vidya said, while trying to shove my books into my bag.

“Please! Just give me a few minutes, I will be ready. Are you both ready to go?”, I asked.

“Yes, yes, we are. Just come, or we’ll be in trouble”, said Shyamala, who was tying her shoe laces by the door.

“Fine!”, I said. “I’ll just leave all of this behind, and come!” Unfortunately, they didn’t realize that I was being sarcastic, and forced me to go with them. Vidya and I put on our shoes and the three of us climbed down the stairs of our apartment, took out our bicycles and rode out into the streets.

We had to push our way through the extremely crowded streets. A huge procession was going on and people were carrying an enormous idol of God as they sang their way through the streets.

After about twenty minutes of pushing around, the three of us got separated. This was when I first became extremely nervous. I called out to them, but either they couldn’t hear me, or I couldn’t hear them. I started becoming really tense. I yelled out to them several times but there was no response. Strangely, nobody near me looked surprised at all my shouting. But I didn’t care. All I wanted was to get back to them, as soon as possible.

I continued pushing my way around until I reached a crossing. I had no idea where I was. The crowd kept coming from all sides, singing and dancing. I somehow finally managed to get onto the pavement, and into the staircase of a black-coloured building which was actually a white one, but extremely dirty. It looked like an apartment, but with only one floor. The staircase at the entrance led directly to the terrace, and there were no floors in between.

Thinking that I would be able to see the crowd better from a higher place, I climbed the staircase and into the terrace. There were sweet wrappers almost everywhere on the floor, and I every time I placed my foot somewhere, I heard a crackling sound. The creepiness just sent shivers up my spine.

I leaned over the wall of the terrace and looked below. The singing and the trumpets were deafening. I looked for my sisters who were no where to be seen. I called out to them until my voice became hoarse. It was getting dark and the crowd slowly started dispersing.

I thought that it would be a better idea to search once everyone had left, and so I waited.

A few minutes later, I decided to go down and search for Vidya and Shyamala in the streets. I went down the staircase, and this time, the crunching of the sweet wrappers sounded extremely loud, due to the silence outside. I was just about to set my foot on the road, when I heard a bloodcurdling scream for an entire minute. The immediate silence that followed was simply horrifying. For a split-second, I thought I saw my sisters run past, right in front of me. Without thinking, I ran in the direction which I thought they went in.

I ran along, into an alley, and stopped. Looking around, I realized that it was a dead end. I heard the sound of running footsteps behind me, and swiftly turned around. There was a moment of silence, followed by the howling of a dog, which sounded very eerie in the darkness.

I was able to see two dark outlines of people, whose faces I couldn’t see. All three of us stood as still as statues – for a few moments.

“Hello?”, I whispered tentatively.

“It’s us! Shyamala and Vidya!”, one of them said.

“Oh, Thank God! Thank God you two are back! You have no clue how scared I was!” I replied. “What happened to the two of you in the crowd?”

Both of them looked at each other.
“You won’t believe it”, Shyamala began.

“Wait – before we start, we must decide what we should do now. We can either try finding a way back home, or stay here and wait until the morning”, Vidya said.

The three of us debated for a while, and decided to try and find our way back home.

While we were walking, Shyamala began,” In the crowd, for a few minutes, Vidya and I were together, and then we got separated too. So I was just being pushed about in the crowd. I had no idea where I was, but after about half an hour, I saw this building, which looked rather empty. It was a dirty white building, so dirty, that it looked black!”

“Wait”, I said. “Did it have only one floor? And a staircase leading to directly to the terrace – with no floors in between?”

“Yes, yes”, said Shyamala.”So you were there too? Apparently, Vidya was there too! She told me when we met each other outside the building!”

“This is unbelievable! All three of us went into the same building! Was this a coincidence, or was it meant to be?”, Vidya asked nervously. “But the worst part is, Shyamala and I were there at the same time, and yet we didn’t see each other at all! We bumped into each other only outside the building! The reason as to why I went into the black-white building was because I saw Shyamala going inside. I went up the staircase, and there were all these sweet wrappers on the floor! I heard Shyamala’s footsteps from above me, and I heard her calling to you and me. So out of curiosity, I went up to the terrace. But – “

“Nobody was there”, I guessed. “Yes, nobody was there,” Vidya said.

A bike sped past us. All the street lights except one were glowing. We walked in silence. I had absolutely no idea as to what was going on. All sorts of questions were running through my mind. How was it possible that Vidya and Shyamala simply heard each other but did not see each other? The only way by which Shyamala could have got out was by the staircase. But that was not possible. She would have met Vidya on the way. Could she have jumped from the terrace? Or was there something supernatural going on?

I checked my watch for the time, and that was when something very mysterious happened. The time was 10 pm. We walked for a few more minutes. Hoping that our parents would send help to us, I checked my watch again, and this time, the time was 9:54 pm! I was simply too shocked! I checked the time with Vidya.

“Vidya, what’s the time?”

“It’s 9:54 pm. I hope our parents and grandparents start searching for us! I should have brought my phone with me!” she replied.

I told Vidya about my doubts. At first, she simply refused to believe me. So, as proof, I told her to check both our watches after a few minutes, and she was shocked when she saw the time! It was now 9:50 pm! She believed me now.

Soon, it began to get bright. It was 7 in the evening according to our watches.

“Wait. I have a theory, but it may sound a bit far-fetched”, said Shyamala.

“What is it?” Vidya and I asked at the same time.

“I believe we may be going back in time!”

“Back in time?” I said with a laugh. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Hey, look! It’s the crowd – they’re coming back!” said Vidya.

Shyamala and I looked. The crowd was indeed coming back! I realized that if we were actually going back in time, then it was logical that the crowd would come back!

This time, the three of us stayed together in the crowd. We moved along with them, in their direction, trying to find the black-white building. We had decided to go there and actually see what had happened. After about 20 minutes in the crowd, I spotted the building. The three of us moved along, fighting our way through. We managed to get onto the pavement, and heaved a sigh relief.

“Come on! Let’s go!” I said.

And that was when Vidya and I realized that Shyamala had disappeared. We called out to her. There was no response. Vidya became worried.

I had no clue as to when she might have gone, as that would have given us information as to where we had been at that time. Hoping that she had not been kidnapped, we mingled with crowd once more, in search of her. We went into various side streets and small dark alleys, as well into buildings that looked suspicious – like that of a kidnapper’s. Sometime later, I spotted someone in the crowd who resembled Shyamala. This girl was going in the direction of the black-white building, which was on the same street. The two of us followed her and she reached the building. She looked around, and went inside. We too hopped onto the pavement, brushed our clothes, and went inside. We climbed onto the terrace – and there she was!

“Shyamala! Where have you been? We were so worried. What happened?” I asked her.

“Well – you won’t believe this!” she said. “I just found out what happened!”

There was a moment of silence. The three of us looked at each other. We were stunned. We urged her to continue.

“Did you notice the library that we passed while we were in the crowd?” she asked.

We both nodded. I was feeling quite curious. She continued speaking –

“Well, being the avid reader that I am, I decided to see if I could find any information about this place. I tried to drag the two of you, but the force of the crowd was too strong, so I just decided to go on my own – and I did get some information. I went in, asked the librarian for books about the black-white building. She looked rather surprised, and lead me to the shelves which had books written about such mysterious buildings – and then she went back to the back of the library, sat at her table and continued reading a magazine.

I began by taking out this book from one of the shelves,” saying so, Shyamala produced a tattered, leather-covered book from her handbag. It’s red leather cover was peeled of in many places and its pages had turned yellow with age. “I read the first few pages, and it looked like this was the book I needed,” she looked slightly guilty. “I stole it,” she whispered. “That doesn’t matter,” Vidya said. “We need information – and we need to get back home.”

Shyamala stared at her twin for a few moments and then opened the book. She carefully turned the pages and started reading from the middle of the book.

“While on the subject of mystery and human deaths, an interesting legend brings us to the house of El Van Brown. A man beyond his times, in both intellect and magic, Brown inhabited an enormous bungalow, of which now not much remains. Though known for his unparalleled way of performing magic tricks, as well as the tragic death of his wife in the early 1820s, his childhood is known only to a few.

Born in 1789, El Van Brown spent his childhood at home, as his parents were not able to afford his education. He was a naturally gifted child, who was known to spend his free time making tricky contraptions – and by the age of thirteen, had invented a very interesting magic trick. In this act, he would enter a glass case, slightly larger than the size of a coffin. In front of the audience, he would raise his arms inside this closed glass box, and in a matter of a few minutes, he would slowly disappear into nothingness. An extra piece of information that I would like to disclose, is that nobody till date has been able to reproduce this act. Such was the genius of Brown. However, at this time, the people in his village believed him to be a sorcerer and hence he was thrown out by the time he was sixteen years of age. Sources say that he wandered through various cities in England, performing his magic tricks in streets, and met a man, with whom he became close friends. The name of this person is unknown, and it is believed that this person brought Brown to India, as this was the time when the British rule over India was prominent. However, there is no means of confirming if the information provided by these sources as true, but a large portion of the people who knew him believe it to be quite true.

Brown married an Indian woman in 1819, at the age of thirty. He rose to fame even in India for his performances. But, like all good things, even happiness and success do not last long. In this next section, we will be looking at the downfall of Van El Brown.

An Unfortunate Downfall

In 1824, Brown’s wife passed away due to unknown conditions. After this, Brown and his daughter lived alone in their lavish bungalow. He stopped performing his shows. In 1832, the famous incident occurred. Their house was burnt down. The cause of this tragedy is unknown and till date, all that remains is a small portion, which was said to be Brown’s daughter’s room and her own balcony – like – terrace above it. Historians have tried to find more about this incident, but remain quite unsuccessful.”

We looked at each other. All three of us were thinking of the same thing. Could this be Brown’s home? I looked at my watch. It was stuck for some reason. Vidya checked hers and so did Shyamala. All three of our watches were stuck at 6 pm. We were feeling extremely tired now. I yawned and I had no strength left in me. My eyelids became heavy, and I dozed off.

I woke up sometime later. The street below was eerily quiet. Vidya and Shyamala too looked like they had just woken up. I rubbed my eyes, and stretched my arms. We debated and decided to go downstairs and take a look at the ground floor. At this point, I was extremely curious to know what happened.

While going down the stairs, I had a theory.

“Do you think that time has stopped? Since all three of our watches are stuck at 6 pm?”

“It’s likely,” Vidya said. “Maybe the ghost of Mr. Brown is trying to tell us something.”

Hoping that we would get some clues, we started exploring the ground floor. That’s when it started becoming rather misty. The ground started shaking and three of us held on to each other, terrified.

A voice, deep and rumbling, loomed out of the darkness. But it sounded rather scared and helpless.

“Help – me,” it whispered. Shyamala, Vidya and I were as still as statues. I had goosebumps all over. I felt rather cold from the mist and I started shivering. I wanted to run from there and get away as soon as possible. I turned around and looked at my sisters. Vidya had closed her eyes and clapped her hands over her ears, while Shyamala was simply staring into the mist, dumbfounded. I felt a sudden pity for the person who spoke. After all, he just wanted help.

I boldly stepped forward and said, “How can we help you?” There was a moment of silence. “You know my story”, the voice whispered, a bit louder now. “You know what they did to us”, it spoke louder with courage. “You know they deserve much more than death!”

Vidya was trembling from head to toe. The mist suddenly cleared – and out of it came a fairly middle – aged man. El Van Brown, or that’s who I thought it was, looked completely different from how I had imagined him to be. He was a short, slightly plump and the fact that he was wearing modern-day clothing (a t-shirt and a pair of jeans), surprised me the most. A young girl, who looked like she was around eleven or twelve years old, was holding his hand. She had long, braided hair and smiled at me. She wore a pretty white frock. I assumed her to be his daughter. The two of them looked nothing like the ghosts one sees in horror movies. In fact, they looked quite normal and could easily mingle with a crowd.

Brown stretched out his hand, and said, “El Van Brown – pleased to meet you.” I hesitated. I had no idea about his intentions. After all, I didn’t want to be murdered by a reckless ghost! He continued stretching out his hand. Vidya, Shyamala and I did nothing.

“Oh well!” he said, breaking the silence. “Never mind!”

He went and and sat down in a chair that had not been there before. His daughter was sitting on the floor eating some sweets and she threw the wrappers onto the staircase, probably because there didn’t seem to be any dustbin nearby. Mr. Brown clapped his hands and out of nowhere, three wooden chairs appeared behind us and assuming it was for us, I went and sat down. Shyamala and Vidya followed.

Mr. El Van Brown cleared his throat and began speaking, “Welcome,” he said in a business-like tone.”Welcome to my home, or rather, what’s left of it!” – and without letting us reply, he continued, “You’re probably wondering why all those things have happened to you. I have not chosen you three for any reason, except for the fact that you entered my home when no-one has done so for quite some time,” saying so, he pointed one of his short fingers at me.

“Chosen us for what, exactly?” I asked him the moment he stopped speaking. I waited with bated breath. He looked at me keenly. “Let me explain,” he said. “I shall start from the very beginning.

What you read in the book was mostly true. I left my village when I was sixteen, met up with a sailor, who helped me come here. I became close friends with him. Unfortunately, he betrayed me. I thought I knew him well,” and Mr. Brown was lost in thought for quite some time. Vidya cleared her throat. Mr. Brown was startled for a moment. “Oh! Sorry. It was just the fact that he was a very close friend of mine. Something changed in him, and he became a different man…

I came to India with him, when I had absolutely no money with me except for a few pounds. I came here, to Chennai, and he introduced me to the owner of a theatre, who agreed to let me perform small shows. People here liked my shows. I was getting quite rich and I even got married! But that’s when things started to go downhill. My sailor friend visited our home one day, that is, this house, and he looked quite worried. He said he needed a lot of money as he had incurred heavy losses for some reason. I gave him quite a lot of money, because he was the person who had helped me when I was in times of need. I never thought about it too much because I had considered him to be my friend. But then, he gradually stopped answering my letters. A week later, the owner of theatre in which I performed my shows died due to a heart attack. I had no source of income for a long time. So I -“

“Why couldn’t you perform in other theatres? Or have a different job?” Vidya asked.

Brown sighed. “You see, I had signed a contract to the owner of that theatre that I would not work at any other theatre or shows. I couldn’t have another job because the only thing I was good at was my magic tricks. I came from a village that had no schools – I knew nothing else other than magic!”

“I sent a letter to my sailor friend who had borrowed my money. I told him I needed some of it back. But he refused! I had a fight with him. And then, that very night he came to our home and he shot my wife, and threatened to kill my daughter if I told anyone about him. And so, I remained quiet.. for a very long time…

For the next few years till my death, I was a pauper. I could not live my life – it was too difficult. And so I decided to take revenge on him. I had spent the little money that I had over those years and now, I decided that after all he had done to me, he deserved to die!”

I could sense the hatred coming from the man standing before me, and I could feel his desire for revenge. I was curious to know what he had done.

Mr. Brown continued speaking, “And one night, a perfect chance for me to murder him came. I concealed a knife inside my pocket, and went into his house through a broken window. He was sleeping. I went right next to him and raised my knife quietly, over his body. But I was rather unfortunate. One of his servants who was at the door saw me and started shouting and waking everyone up. The sailor woke up, and I had to run for my life. He had a gun right next to him, on his bedside table, concealed in the darkness. He shot my right arm just as I was climbing through the broken window. I was in deep pain. I staggered along the garden path, climbed over the gate and went straight into my house.”

All three of us as well as Brown’s own daughter were staring at him wide eyed. His daughter looked as though she had never been told this story before. “What happened?” she whispered. Did he murder us?” I looked at my watch. It was still stuck at 6pm.

“Yes,” said Mr. Brown. “That traitor and his guards followed me with their kerosene lamps. They followed me right into my house – and he told me. He told me why he had done it all.”

SECTION 1 is over! I hope you liked it! Section 2 will be releasing soon!