I woke up with a gasp. I couldn’t able to breath. I sprang up from my bed and reached the balcony door. I unlocked it and rushed outside. The air was chilly. I inhaled a lot of those chilly air and it was a bliss. The air smelled of wet sand. I looked up and it was a beautiful full moon. Then I looked down. I saw the same forest that I had dreamt about just now. Then a fear started creeping inside me. I turned to my right and looked my neighbour balcony.
No one was there. Neither there was any light turned on.
After spending some time in the balcony. I returned to my bed. The darkness was unnerving. I switched on the light for a second and looked the clock. It was 01:30 AM. I had slept for a whole two hours to wake up from a nightmare. I sighed myself and switched off the lights. I fall on the bed. The darkness didn’t disturb me now. It just made me drowsy.
Titititit! Titititit!
The alarm woke me up. It was 07:30 AM.
As soon as I finished my bath and came outside from the bathroom, I heard something.
“Sir!” – Somebody knocked the door.
“Sir! Room Service!” – He knocked the door once again. I looked the clock. It was 8:27 AM.
“Yeah! Wait a minute” – I shouted back. The knocking stopped for a minute. I opened and saw a young guy, probably in his teens, ready to knock the door again. When he saw me, he rolled back his hands and dragged the wheel table.
“Food ready, Sir”
I blinked at the food closed by a lid and then looked back at the teenager. He looked familiar.
“Thank you. Please come inside.”
The boy rolled the table and came inside my room. Then it hit me.
“You are the one I met yesterday at the reception, right? But you looked old yesterday.”
The boy turned back and smiled. “That is my brother Sukumaran sir. He can’t able to speak. I am Madhimaaran. You can call me Madhi, Sir”
I knew it. He was deaf after all. “And you can call me Ed.” – I just don’t feel comfortable when people call me Sir. I didn’t hear any reply from Madhi. He looked at me and smiled.
“If you need any help. Dial the phone on that corner. I’ll help you.” – he smiled again and went out.
I chose this mansion randomly with two conditions. One: It should have a balcony and Two: It should serve me well so that I won’t need to leave my room. Now, I feel like I got both my conditions checked.
Now it was up to me to write this fucking story with my fucking genre. I opened my lap and started to type.
Knock. Knock.
“Sir! Room Service”
I looked at the door and looked at the clock. It was 8:36 PM. I been reviewing and rewriting my draft for a straight 12 hours. I could understand when Melena said it was a piece of crap. The last 12 hours have been a hell to me. This would be the end of me, I guess. I couldn’t able to write even a decent single para. My head started aching and my eyes went dry. The room service knocked the door again.
I purposely requested to not bring my lunch before I booked the rooms in this mansion so that I would have no intervention. But by thinking about it now, it was never needed at all. I would never write anything good anymore.
I opened the door. Madhi grinned at me and dragged the wheel table inside my room. He placed the new dishes and took the leftover dishes and the dust bin cover with him. I have cleaned the plate and trashed the leftover. He just smiled and went outside. I wanted to talk to him but with the mood that I am in now, I just felt against it.
I locked the room, ate the dish. Indian dishes are spicy, but it tastes and smell good.
I cleaned the plates and went to the balcony to get some air. I liked the view from here. The sky was beautiful today too. But I can’t able to get off the alarming feeling I get by seeing the forest. I should’ve asked Madhi about the person staying next door. Next time I should ask him that. But for now, I should do something about my draft.
For the next 2 to 3 hours, I scribbled the ideas and story threads for my novel. I never spent writing novel when I feel sleepy. Weird it may seem but, I get ideas usually at night times. I write horror and mystery thrillers mostly. So, cold of the night and the darkness were the two factors that gives me ideas. After using and cracking my brain for ideas, I felt drowsy,
It was 11:17 PM
As soon as I fall on the bed, I slept.
Titititit! Titititit!
I punched the alarm to stop and woke up. I felt sleepy. But it’s time to wake up. When I opened my eyes, it was till dark. That’s weird. I looked at the time.
01:00 AM
What the fuck?
Is something wrong with the alarm? I got back. I went outside to the balcony to get some fresh air. As soon as I opened the balcony door, the breeze of cool air started flowing all around me. My hair started tingling because of the cold. I went to the edge of the balcony to enjoy the night’s cold.
I closed my eyes as I neared the edge. I handed my arms and rested on the edge of the balcony. I inhaled a lot of the cold air and sighed with relief. I opened my eyes. I looked at the forest. It didn’t scare me anymore. I laughed a little and turned back to get some shut eye.
I felt something shined near me. I looked at the neighbour’s balcony. There was light. What is the person doing at this hour? I walked towards the edge of my neighbour’s balcony. I looked at the glass door which was closed.
Suddenly, I saw a silhouette appearing at the door. Okay! Let’s see who is opening the door. I looked at that intently. But the silhouette stood there for a long moment. Then it moved away from the door. So, no one is going to open the door today it seems. May be tomorrow. I chuckled inside myself and reached my balcony’s glass door. Then in a moment of silence, the air stopped flowing and I heard it. I heard it again.
I heard the haunting music coming from my neighbour’s door once again.
I walked swiftly. Curiosity hit my head. Also, an anger started rising inside me. Who the fuck turns on music at this hour? I should ask them to stop. I unlocked my door and reached my neighbour’s door. I slowly knocked the door.
No response.
The sound just got amplified. Some how the tune was so eery and it made me uncomfortable. I just want to stop the music. I banged the door hardly this time.
No response.
The music didn’t seem to stop. I yelled at them. “Please stop the music.”
No response.
It started irritating me. Suddenly a woman started singing. I can clearly hear a woman’s voice coming from the other side of the door. Curiosity again hit my head. I wanted to know what’s happening on the other side of this door.
I was searching for something in my head and it clicked me.
The keyhole of the door.
It didn’t feel nice to sneak a peek on someone else’s door, but it didn’t matter anymore. I couldn’t control my curiosity. And if it’s a woman, then I want to see her for sure.
I placed my eyes near the keyhole and adjusted myself to see clearly. Suddenly the singing stopped. But the music didn’t end.
I looked closely inside my neighbour’s room. It was weird. I thought I was seeing things. The music got stopped now.
Then I brushed my eyes once and saw inside that keyhole again. It was weird. All I could see on the other side was the colour…
Red.
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