Mrs Mirdha woke up at 2:30 am. The flute music playlist she had played on her phone was still playing. She had fallen asleep. It had been a beautiful week in nature, under a clear sky, amongst the mountain air.
Mrs Mirdha looked towards Mr Mirdha’s side of the bed and he was not there. The few days after the week did not share the calmness and beauty of the previous days.
The back of the homestay faced the forest and its absolute depth, from a point onwards, the forest had not been tampered with.
“Do you think wild animals are going to be a problem even though the owner assured they won’t be with a little precaution,” Mrs Mirdha had asked her husband when they first arrived
“Trust me Sumati when I tell you there is no animal to be more careful of than humans themselves,” Mr Mirdha had replied. A life in the police department had shown Mr Mirdha what’s within the darkness which scared most people. He did not talk about it at home ever, but some days it could be seen on his eyes and face.
Nearby, there was a beautiful village where their driver Alok, drove them to have evening tea and sometimes other meals of the day. They also bought groceries and other items from there. It was a moderately crowded village and the Mirdha’s found very few reasons why it could be crowded in the future. However, they decided to explore more before trying to think of getting a property for themselves.
The view of the forest from the long balcony of the homestay was a bit complicated after the Sun went down. It did not give the same feeling of positivity that it emitted during the day and it was affecting Mr Mirdha who had started to hear whispers coming from the darkness amongst the trees.
“You are clearly not used to this, having spent all your life in the noise and crowd of the city,” said Mrs Mirdha when Mr Mirdha told her about it
“There is someone out there, could be more than one. You get a sense of such things if you have had a profession like mine,” said Mr Mirdha
“Is this related to occupational trauma?” asked Mrs Mirdha, “I have heard about it, we might have to consult someone.”
Mr Mirdha looked at his wife with an expression which said that he was not very pleased with what she had said and Mrs Mirdha thus did not continue on with the topic.
But late at night for the past few days, Mr Mirdha had been going down to check out the windows once in a while and it worried his wife who realised things might get worse without sleep.
“Look, our driver Alok sleeps in one of the rooms on the ground floor at night. If anything happens, he would know,” said Mrs Mirdha
“I highly doubt that,” said Mr Mirdha rubbing his head due to lack of sleep, “the smell that comes from his room at night, I am sure he is far drunk into sleep to be aware of anything”
Three days had gone by in this manner and this was the third. Mrs Mirdha picked the phone and turned off the music. She checked the entire first floor and did not find her husband.
Then she slowly went down the stairs calling her husband’s name to which there was no response. She walked to the front door and found it locked and then looked out and thought she caught sight of a shadow and this was the first time she heard it. The faint whispers, but she convinced herself that it was just her mind playing tricks since her husband was obsessing over it. But where was he?
Mrs Mirdha walked towards Alok’s room and Mr Mirdha was right, the smell, he truly was drunk asleep every night. Mrs Mirdha decided to check the back door on her own.
The back door was open; Mr Mirdha might have gone out. It was cool weather and the small yellow light outside gave a hint of visibility rather than a clear vision. Mrs Mirdha wasn’t particularly courageous, but what option did she have. She slowly walked to the left corner of the house and turned towards the front. There was no light there, all that could be understood was from the natural light. Mrs Mirdha walked along the side of the house towards the front; she called for her husband and at first there was no response then he appeared at the front end.
Mrs Mirdha kept walking towards him and said, “If you are not going to think about yourself, at least think about me. Let’s go back home and if it is bothering you so much, but we can’t keep staying here like this.”
Her husband did not speak anything and then Mrs Mirdha heard the whispers once more.
“End it with the whispers and come here,” said Mrs Mirdha and as he walked closer, the whispers grew louder and she understood it was not her husband at all but a bearded man in his late 40s, who was clearly under the effect of something or was not well mentally. She could not understand what he was whispering. It was more like a chant of some kind.
Mrs Mirdha’s mind went blank, she honestly didn’t think someone else would be out here. She prepared herself for the worst since she knew she wouldn’t be able to outrun him, but then the man became aware of something as he looked past Mrs Mirdha, he took a few steps back before falling and then getting up and running away.
Mrs Mirdha turned to find her husband standing, holding a pistol in his hand.
“Vishswanath..,” said Mrs Mirdha, “let’s get out of here”
“We will leave in the morning. Alok isn’t in condition to drive,” said Mr Mirdha
“What if that man comes back?”
“He won’t. A confrontation was all that was needed here”
The Mirdha’s retired to the bed, to a sleepless night and early the next morning they left for their homes. Mr Mirdha made a call to file a complaint against this stranger and he decided to postpone the search for his house. Well they never did come back to the hilly regions for a long time.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 