Final Days (The Red #6)

 

Titititit! Titititit!

It was 07:30 AM.

I woke up suddenly from my bed. I couldn’t able to sleep last night. All I could think was the haunting music and that beautiful voice came from my neighbour room.

After finishing my bath, I decided to ask about my neighbour to Madhi. I waited. And Waited. And Waited. It had passed 09:30 and still there was no sign off Madhi. Just when I reached the end of patience, I heard a knock.

I opened the door and was surprised to see Madhi’s deaf brother Sukumaaran.

He didn’t even notice me. He rolled the table, did what he supposed to do and went outside. I swiftly grabbed him and asked him by making signs from my hand.

He looked me and nodded from left to right indicating No.

What does that supposed to mean? Is he trying to say that Madhi is not available or Madhi won’t come hereafter?

Whatever! My stomach started growling and I went back inside my room and started devouring the food.

Then something hit me. A spark if I may say it. I could use the concept of brothers who look alike each other, in my novel. In fact, the core story of my novel deals with a haunted Village in Kansas. And my novels name is…

When I realised it, I thought of it and shrugged it as absurd. But my instinct told me otherwise. Its too good to be a coincidence. Or it may be one. But it’s absurd to think that my last night’s experience and the name of my novel were the same.

They both were Red.

Then again something hit me inside my head. What if I can make a plot thread out of it. It would be interesting to support my lead characters in the novel.

Then I went on with it. I lost my appetite and rushed eating the remaining food on the plate.

I knew then and there that I am going to spend a lot of time framing and executing this plot. And if it comes out the way I think, then my novel is going to be a hit.

Days gone by…

I never met Madhi after that. And every night at exactly 01:00 AM. I would hear the same haunting music and same beautiful voice every night. And whenever I look inside the Keyhole, the music and the singing would stop suddenly and, I could see only Red colour. May be the lady inside this room wanted to keep herself privy as I do.

But to paint the other side of the keyhole red or to paste something red on the keyhole was weird. But the weirdest part was whenever I tried to peep inside that room, the sound would get stopped. Does she know I am watching? That thought brought a hard on.

For the next 2 months, this had become my routine. My confidence as a writer was also gaining its momentum. For a long time, I have been longing for this feeling; for this feeling of satisfaction combined with the feeling of doing something. Sometimes, I would think of asking Madhi about my neighbour. But I couldn’t able to find him. In fact, I couldn’t able to find a single person in this hotel. Is this hotel haunted or what? Absurd it may seem, I started having second thoughts on my sanity.

Writing a horror novel can do this to a writer sometimes. But it never scares them instead, it acts as a fuel to write more. Same happened in my case too. My curiosity for the mystery lady increased day by day. I never went outside during daytime. It would break my concentration as I was going on a writing streak for the past 5 months.

I can feel the ending is near.

Titititit! Titititit!

It was yet another morning. Its been 200+ days since I came to this mansion. Not once in these 200+ days did I stepped outside this mansion. Except when that weird dream happened on my first day of this mansion. For the last 6 days, I have been re-editing my draft several times. I had finished my novel last month. I wanted it to be perfect and I have been editing the draft for weeks. I haven’t put this much of commitment and work on my previous work. One could say that this novel would be my Magnum Opus. I am sure Helen would love it!

Helen!

I had nearly forgotten her existence. Writing can do that to me. When I think about it, I never liked this quality of mine, but I can’t help it. And I am pretty sure that Helen loves this part of mine. The thought of Helen started filling my mind. I still have one more day of work to do. Tomorrow I would be vacating this place.

“Thank you, Sukumaaran!”

As usual he didn’t respond. I expected that. I ate my food slowly thinking about the Mysterious lady.

I thought about the night when I finally stopped peeping inside the keyhole. I wanted to hear the full song. It was a local language and I couldn’t able to understand anything. I didn’t intend to know the meaning too. But her voice was magical, and the haunting music did no justice to her voice. As days went on, I kind of habituated to the haunting effect of that music. To be honest, it was relaxing in one way. When I start loving both music and the voice, I started to eagerly wait for 01:00 AM. For 30 minutes, this would continue. Sometimes, I would sleep listening to the mesmerising melody.

I stood up and went to the balcony. I like the sunny weather and the hotness of this country. The air still smelled of wet sand. I looked at my neighbour’s balcony. What is she doing right now? The distance between my balcony and my neighbour’s balcony was quite long. I even thought of jumping to the next balcony once. But it would be a bad idea. It’s a 50-50 chance and I didn’t want to take that risk.

I went inside and started reviewing my draft.

The next thing I remember besides my novel was the knock on the door. Its already past 09:00 PM.

Sukumaaran was always late but Indian food had a strange effect on my body. I somehow gained weight instead of losing it. I opened the door and there were no body. Except the rolling table.

“Sukumaaran!!!” – I shouted and went downstairs. There were no one. I got confused and little bit irritated. I climbed upstairs swiftly and walked towards my room thinking about the weirdness of it all.

When I walked past the room of the mysterious lady, I felt this sudden urge to knock that room. It nothing new. I had done it before many times. Every time I would get no response. Eventually I stopped trying. But this is my last day here and I wanted to try knocking it once.

Knock! Knock!

No Response.

I waited for few seconds and finally, I peeked inside the keyhole.

It was Red Again.