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“Serial
Killer at 15?” the reporter on the television read out.
“In a series
of mysterious deaths that hit the town, three people were brutally
murdered in a span of five days. Police sources indicate a common
killer since the modus operandi is the same in each case. The prime
suspect is 15 year-old Akshay Sharma who, adding a twist to this
bizarre tale, doesn’t even recollect being near the crime scenes.
“While the
doctors indicate a case of split personality, the locals believe
that the boy has been possessed by an aatma (spirit). Investigations
are still pending.
“In another
incident…”
Anil Sharma, Akshay’s
father, switched off the television in exasperation. “What do we do,
Anita?” he asked his wife. “It is true that Akshay has been acting
weird lately. The doctors have also not been able to help him.”
“Have you thought
about my brother-in-law’s suggestion?” Anita inquired.
“About going to see
that witch-doctor?” Anil asked incredulously. “Anita, we’re educated
people. Surely you can’t believe in all that mumbo jumbo!”
“We have tried almost
everything. What is the harm in trying one more thing?” she replied.
“Alright. We’ll go
see him,” Anil sighed.
* * *
“How many times
do I have to tell you that I do not know anything?” Akshay
said to the police officer interrogating him. “Except for that
shopkeeper, when I went to buy some sugar a few days back, I don’t
know any of those who got killed.”
“Listen, sonny boy,
tell us what you know about the murders and we’ll let you go. All
the evidence is pointing against your claims of ‘innocence’. We have
other ways of extracting information too,” the Inspector
Sanjay Talwar said with a hint of frustration in his voice. This
case was not going as he had expected it to go when he had taken it
up a few days back.
“Inspector Sa’ab.
The boy’s father is back with a lawyer this time,” a constable said
from behind Sanjay.
Sanjay, irritated by
the interruption, nodded to the constable and turned back to Akshay.
“I’m letting you go for now. But this is not over yet.”
* * *
It had all started a
few months back when Akshay had gone for a trip to the nearby ruins
with his friends. Ever since that trip, he had been acting strange.
No one had given it a lot of thought, but after he was associated
with the three murders, all hell had broken loose in the Sharma
household.
Akshay had distanced
himself from everyone; his friends, his parents and his teachers,
all trying their best to break down the wall he had created around
himself. Anil and Anita believed their son when he said that he had
nothing to do with the murders, but it did nothing to quell their
concern for their son. It baffled them how an outgoing boy like him
could clam up all of a sudden.
When they tried
talking to his friends about what had happened at the ruins, all
they got in response was a fearful look in the children’s eyes, and
they refused to tell anything. Finally giving in to Anita’s wishes,
Anil had gone to visit the witch-doctor with her.
“Hmmm… I can see what
the problem may be,” the witch-doctor had said to the couple. “I
would need to see the boy before I can say anything.”
Even after the
tantrik had visited Akshay, and had assured Anita that he would
find a solution to their problem, there was no change in the boy’s
demeanor. Tantrik baba had confirmed that Akshay was
indeed possessed by a spirit and that it was responsible for all
those murders. Why, he didn’t know, but he promised to find out
soon.
* * *
“Baba, please
do something. There has been another death,” Anita said to the
witch-doctor after a week.
“Where is the boy?”
the tantrik asked her. “Take me to him.”
Anita escorted the
tantrik to Akshay, who was rocking himself in a rocking chair;
lost in deep thought.
“Make him lie down on
the bed and hold his limbs tightly,” Baba said to Anita and
Anil, as the latter entered the room behind them.
The tantrik
took out a copper tumbler and started filling it with things
unfamiliar to Akshay’s parents. He kept mumbling mantras
under his breath while the couple held on to their son and awaited
further instructions. The tantrik lit an incense stick and
plunged it into the tumbler. Akshay immediately jerked up and
struggled with his parents to let go. He started sweating profusely
and his eyeballs rotated in their sockets.
“Leave me alone,”
Akshay said in a voice that was not his. The lights in the room
started to flicker even as Anita and Anil tried their best to hold
the struggling boy beneath them. “I said ‘LEAVE ME’!”
A wail escaped from
the tantrik’s mouth and deep cuts appeared on his body. He
fell to the floor but managed to keep the tumbler upright and
continued to chant the mantras.
“Who are you? What do
you want from my boy? Why are you killing those people?” a quivering
Anita asked the spirit.
“Hold your tongue,
Woman! I killed them because they were a disgrace to this society.
They were not fit to live,” the spirit replied. He broke into
maniacal laughter and continued, “Hence I killed them all! I killed
them all!”
“But why?” sobbed
Anita.
“I was killed by
those scheming bastards because I was pure at heart. I chose not to
do their bidding. They murdered me and dumped my body near the
ruins, trapping me there forever, until your son came and rescued
me. HUSH!” he said turning his attention to the tantrik who
was continuing his chanting of the mantras. “Do you think you can
force me to leave this body, you frail old man? This boy is as pure
as I was when I was alive. I will not let him go.”
“I-I…I c-cm-mand
y-you t-to leave t-t-his boy’s body a-a-nd m-m-ove on to t-t-he aft-terl-life,”
the baba stuttered.
“You are not capable
of banishing me!” roared the spirit.
Akshay broke free
from his parents’ grasp and floated out of the room, leaving the
confused parents to stare at the sputtering tantrik.
“I s-s-summon t-t-he
p-powers that b-b-behold me. Hear m-me, my L-L-ords,” they heard him
say and saw his wounds miraculously healed before their eyes.
“Banish this spirit to where it rightfully belongs,” baba
said, standing up and taking the copper tumbler in his hands. He
rushed out into the living room behind the Akshay.
“Heaven and Hell,
stake your claim on this unmarked soul. HEAR ME!!”
The spirit-Akshay
stopped in the middle of the room, suspended a foot above the floor.
He turned around in fury to look at the tantrik just as the
latter emptied the contents of the tumbler on him.
“Nooooo!” screamed
Akshay, as the white, ghostly shape of a man separated from his
body. It circled the room a few times, and when it spotted the
witch-doctor glaring at it, it flew towards him in a fit of rage.
Before it could reach the baba, the latter took out an amulet
from within his pocket and slipped it around the spirit’s neck as it
approached. The ghost screeched in agony before disintegrating into
the abyss.
Inspector Sanjay, walking in
through the front door, stopped in amazement. “What in the name
of…?”
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