Nandita looked at the person standing next to her with the intensity of a laserbeam. He looked familiar, she has seen him somewhere but couldn’t recall where. She, along with few others have taken shelter under the bus-shelter canopy from the unseasonal rain. She looked again at the person and tried to visualize him without the French-cut beard. This time, the guy looked back at her and momentarily a faint smile appeared on his lips.

“Nandita, isn’t that you?” he exclaimed.

Instantly, Nandita recognized him. The voice is still the same, heavy, intense but innocent like it was.

“Soumya, what a surprise, seeing you here after such a long time.”

“Yes, it’s been many years since we last met.”

“The rain has almost stopped, if you aren’t too busy, please come with me to my home. We will talk over dinner.” Nandita urged Soumya who looked a bit uncomfortable but eventually agreed.

They walked together a little distance to where Nandita had parked her compact SUV. The house or the detached bungalow where Nandita lives is in the cantonment area beyond the city limits. Her husband is an officer in the army with the rank of a Lt. Colonel. Aniruddha never discusses his real job but Nandita could guess that it involves intelligence gathering and analysis. He does flexible hours and at least, half a month goes for the night shift. If you ask him, his standard reply is “More work can be done at night without the usual chatter and noise that’s there during the day.”

By the time, Nandita parked the car in the portico, darkness had engulfed the surroundings. One of the attendants posted there came forward to open the car door and take the shopping bags from the car. Nandita asked, “I hope, you are not afraid of the dogs because we have a pair of them. They are very sweet if they like you.” She didn’t say what they will do if they don’t like him. Soumya stopped in his track with askance.

“Come on, they are babies and I am sure they will like you.”

As they entered, two fluffy dogs came to welcome Nandita with their tails wagging furiously. “These are chowchows, the darker one is John and the lighter creamy one is Jenny. The dogs stayed with Nandita, making no attempt to check on Soumya. He kept standing near the door, obviously uncomfortable in the presence of the dogs. Nandita understood and called the manservant to take the dogs inside. Once the dogs were taken away, Soumya came inside the room. The living room was well appointed with period furniture and the walls adorned paintings and artefacts.  A lady-servant came with tray of sweets and water. Nandita instructed her to get tea and some snacks.

“I will just join you, let me check if Aniruddha is back from office.” She went inside.

Soumya checked the paintings on the wall while waiting for Nandita. One painting particularly attracted his attention. It was of a room flooded by moonlight coming through the grilled window and a tree just outside the window giving a mystic surreal feeling to the environment of the room.

“You like that painting? I painted that few months ago. There’s a bit funny story behind that painting. I dreamt about the scene and got up in the middle of the night to paint before the dream gets erased from my memory. Aniruddha called me crazy.” Nandita had come inside the room silently and seeing Soumya engrossed in the painting, spoke with excitement.

“Yes, this is very interesting. I have a feeling that I have seen it somewhere. What’s on that wall in the picture, a painting within a painting?”

“That’s the mystery part of that painting. I really don’t know what I painted there, I felt someone else was forcing me to paint them and I just stroked the brush on the canvas.” Nandita spoke in hushed voice while looking at the painting with a renewed interest.

Aniruddha came in to meet Soumya. As they shook hands, Aniruddha gave a sharp glance to Soumya, “You are cold, did you get drenched in the rain? You can change into my clothes, I think they will fit you. We have similar physic.”

“No, no, I am fine. It is hardly wet and will dry up soon. Are you coming in or going out?”

“Actually, I came in to grab a quick dinner before heading back. There’s some development in the western sector which needs 24×7 monitoring.”

“Why don’t you two talk while I set the table for dinner?” Nandita showed some urgency.

“So, I gathered that you and Nandita were classmates in school…” Aniruddha tried to make a conversation.

“Yes, we were classmates till secondary level, after that she took up commerce stream while I took up science to become an engineer.” Soumya replied.

“So, what do you do now?”

“I was in New Zealand at Auckland University, Environmental Science and Development as a faculty and doing my research on global warming at a macro level.”

“Oh, you are a doctor, after all.”

Soumya just smiled.

There was an awkward silence, both trying to figure out what or who should speak. They were saved by the arrival of Nandita announcing that dinner is ready and table has been set. Over dinner, Aniruddha suggested that Soumya should stay overnight with the weather becoming uncertain. Soumya politely declined, saying, “Thank you for the offer but I will have to go as I will be leaving for the hills, early in the morning.”

They finished their dinner with Nandita being the speaker while Soumya and Aniruddha listening, nodding and occasionally interjecting with quips.

“Sorry, I can’t stay anymore, will have to rush to my station but you must come over and spend a few days with us on your return.” Aniruddha spoke while leaving for the office. Soumya and Nandita came out with Aniruddha to see him off. Aniruddha sat in the car starting the engine and as the headlight of the car came on them, something felt odd but he couldn’t pinpoint it. The car moved out of the porch. Once in the office, he forgot all about home and concentrated deeply in analyzing the information that kept pouring in on his computer.

Nandita and Soumya came back to the living room. She asked for coffee and settled down on the sofa; Soumya took the single seater.

“So, tell me where all you have been all these years?” Nandita broke the silence.

Soumya looked at her and then beyond her at the painting that had caught his attention earlier, then spoke softly, “I was all over the place, roamed the world.”

“Wow, tell me all the details.” Nandita was visibly excited and demanded to know his escapades.

“It is a long story, will take more time than what we have now.” Soumya replied sounding tired.

“Okay tell me briefly about your journey after that last day in school.” Nandita insisted.

“Well, you broke up with me on that day.” Soumya said with a tinge of sadness.

“Why not? Instead of spending the evening with your girlfriend, you decided to take up a stupid challenge of your friend Prateek. By the way, I read in the newspaper that a man named Prateek died yesterday, tragically falling from the balcony of a high-rise building. I hope he’s not the same Prateek.”

“Unfortunately, he’s the same Prateek. I was there to meet him when it happened.”

“You mean, you met him, spoke to him?”

“No, before I could speak to him, he fell overboard from his 15^th floor balcony. The police called it accidental death pending further investigation.”

“Oh my god!!”

“Yes, very unfortunate, he was my best friend in school. We lost touch with each other after the last day in school. I believe he did his master’s in business management and joined his father’s business. He grew the business many folds to make it one of the top five companies in their field.”

“I am sorry for your loss.”

“Do you remember Arpita? I saw her in Edinburg.”

“You mean that snobbish girl who always tied her hair in ponytail?”

“You are still jealous about her.” Soumya was amused.  

“No, not jealous but I never liked her. She seemed artificial and a big snob.”

“Ah, oh, that’s pretty serious allegation. Anyways, she passed away last week.”

“Oh my God! What happened?”

“Actually, it is my fault, I saw her and called her out… she got excited and rushed on to the street to cross and got hit by a speeding car. She was immediately taken to the hospital but it was too late.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have bad mouthed about a deceased soul.”

Both were silent for some time, memories of school days flashing before their eyes like a kaleidoscope. Then, Soumya broke the silence, “When did you paint that canvas?” pointing to the one that had caught his attention.

“Oh, that’s the only one I have ever painted, about 6-8 months ago. Actually, I don’t have the patience of an artist. I just took the brush and perhaps in a trance went on to paint and finished it in few hours. All I remember is that I had dreamt of the scene and had decided to draw on the canvas. Aniruddha liked it and got it framed.”

“Actually, the scene on the painting is very familiar, I have a feeling that I have been there some time in the past.” Soumya lamented thoughtfully. 

The conversation hovered around the paintings that hung on the walls, Nandita became excited as she narrated the origins and how she acquired them over the years, becoming an art collector. Soumya listened to her with enthusiasm as he was a budding artist in school, with many of his artworks displayed on the walls of the meeting room and even in the principal’s office. Suddenly, Soumya said, “I know the origin of that painting. I have spent a whole night in that room.”

“Where?”

“You remember, on the last day of the school you asked me to join you for dinner but I avoided because I had promised Prateek to join his graduation party? And you broke off with me.” There was sadness in Soumya’s voice.

“I was your girlfriend and you ditched me for an all-boys party… and you expect me to be loyal?” Nandita became agitated.

“Anyways, let bygone be bygone. Are you interested to know what happened that evening and how I ended up spending the night in that room?”

“Yes, tell me please. You simply vanished after that day.”

“Well, we will have to go there to understand the events of that day. That room is in our school.”

“Which room?”

“You remember the old building that used to be the science block before it was abandoned because the structure became dangerous? That particular room was in the corner, used to be the biology classroom. Also became infamous after a student committed suicide having failed in the subject.”

“You want me to go to a haunted room? I am all game for it, it’s exciting to see a real ghost.” Nandita almost screamed in excitement.

Aniruddha was engrossed on the images that flashed on the monitor. He was particularly interested in the shadowy image and asked the operator to enlarge and clean up for better view. He did not realize the presence of his colleague Lt. Col. Rupashree and was startled when she spoke, “Why are you so interested in the shadows?”

Aniruddha turned around to look at her but another thought immediately struck him. He jumped out of his chair, “Thank you Rupa, I will just be back, something important has come up.” He rushed out and got into his car, driving back home with urgency.

On reaching home, he called out for Nandita but the housekeeper appeared, “Madam is not here. She left with the Sahib who had come earlier.”

“Where did they go? Did she tell you?”

“No, Sir.”

The guard had joined them at the porch… he spoke, “I heard them talking about their school.”

Aniruddha scratched his head trying to remember the name of Nandita’s school but couldn’t recall. He called his mother-in-law and after a brief chat said “Thank you, maa” and disconnected. He asked the guard to join him in the car and drove towards the St. Renee High School.

It took them 20 minutes to reach the gates of the school which was locked. A guard came out as he honked the horn. “The school is closed now Sir; you have to come back on Monday morning.” The guard announced.

“Did anyone, perhaps a man and woman come here about half hour ago?” Aniruddha asked.

“No Sir, nobody has shown up since evening after the principal madam left.”

“Are there any other branch of this school?”

“No Sir, this is a stand-alone school.” The guard informed and then thoughtfully said, “There’s the old school building in the eastern suburbs but that’s dilapidated and abandoned.”

“How far is it? Can you please direct us?”

Taking the direction from the guard, Aniruddha rushed towards the old school building. He was not familiar with these parts of the city and took few wrong turns before locating the building.

Nandita and Soumya reached the school without any difficulty, both knew the place very well having spent fourteen years there. The gate was closed with a heavy chain and big lock.

“What do we do now, the gate is locked.” Nandita spoke first.

“No worries, I know there is a big gap in the wall on the rear side. We will be able to slip through.” Soumya assured her.

They got out of the car and ran towards the backside of the building. There were no residences in the vicinity, only few commercial buildings in the distance which threw faint lights not enough to see the dark alley, one or two cats scurried away, a few dogs barked at them for intrusion but did not come near them. Soumya found the gap in the wall and allowed Nandita to go in first. The school building looked ghostly in the dark, though it was full moon night but the cloud cover prevented any lights from the moon reaching the earth. They avoided the main building and tip-toed towards the science block.

The staircase was broken at some places but Soumya guided Nandita expertly as if he had been climbing the stairs regularly. They reached the second floor where a closed door welcomed them. “Push the door with strength.” Soumya directed Nandita. It took a bit of pushing as the unused door had jammed on the hinges but eventually it opened wide and they stepped on the lounge area of the second floor of the science block. Soumya guided her to the corner room and again told her to push the door open. This time Nandita gave it a hard push and it opened with a loud noise. Momentarily she felt a chilly breeze swept by her as if to stop her from stepping in the room.

The condition of the room was precarious from years no maintenance and natural wear-n-tear. The grill of one of the windows had fallen creating a hollow in the wall… it looked like a big mouth ready to swallow anyone daring to go near it. Outside the window, the mango tree has grown tall and it was flowering, weeks away from the small raw mangoes to bloom. The cloud had given way to the full moon which lighted the room from the broken skylights and the windows creating a light n shadow effect inside the room. Nandita became a little unsettled by the eerie atmosphere inside the room and the sound created by the waving mango branches and the leaves by the breeze outside. She felt the breeze was foreboding about the ominous future. She moved away from the window and went to a corner of the room that was flooded by the moonlight.

“That was where I spent the night, I was locked up in this room by Prateek. That corner somehow felt safe with the moonlight flooding it.” Soumya broke the silence.

“How did you come out?”

“There was a broken piece of brick, I used it to draw the scenic beauty that I could see from the window. If you look closely, the wall behind you still has the sketch, albeit faded now. And you drew the same scenery on the canvas that hung on your living room wall.” Soumya ignored her query.

Nandita turned to look at the wall and to her disbelief, she realized she had painted the exact same scenery on the canvas. “How is it possible?” she spoke softly.

“You were holding the brush but it was I, who painted it on your canvas.” The voice of Soumya came booming from a distance although he was standing close. Nandita was startled but gathered her wits together and looked at Soumya. He was looking at her too with piercing eyes.

“You did not answer me, how did you manage to escape from this room?” Nandita asked with a steady voice. She repeated again, “Tell me how you managed to escape?”

“I didn’t.”

“What do mean?” Nandita became agitated.

“Well, in the beginning I was enjoying the wager of 100 bucks that Prateek was to pay me if I stayed here past the midnight. He promised to come and open the door after midnight. To pass the time, I sketched all over the walls of this room, most of them are gone now but few of them are still visible. You see on that wall, the boy and the girl walking away from the cheering crowd, that’s you and me.”

Nandita felt a tinge of sadness. They were in love in that tender age. She should have looked for him more intensely but accepted her mother’s version that Soumya had left the town permanently.

“I used to love you then as much as I love you now. Leave Aniruddha and come with me. Our friends are waiting to join the party.”

“What friend? What party? And I can’t leave Aniruddha; I love him deeply.”

“The friends, Prateek and Arpita are here too, only you can’t see them. Close your eyes for a minute and open them again, you could see them clearly.”

When Nandita opened her eyes, she saw Prateek and Arpita standing by Soumya smiling at her. Like a psychedelic lights, all three of them were turning into skeleton and then flesh n blood humans again. Repeating the sequence quickly. Nandita thought she was hallucinating and screamed for help. The three of them laughed loudly which echoed through the stillness of the night. Nandita tried to escape through the open door but it slammed shut by some unknown force before she could reach. She was trapped. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She kept screaming for help. She tried to open it with all her might but failed. Then a force greater than her started pulling her towards the grill-less window.

Aniruddha and his orderly, Pratap Singh reached the school gate and saw the familiar car of Nandita. They jumped out the Gypsy and rushed to the closed gate.

“There must be some back entry but we don’t have time to search for it. Let’s jump over the gate.” Aniruddha spoke with urgency.

Both being in the army, were fit enough to effortlessly climb over the gate. They heard the scream of Nandita and became alert for the direction of the scream. A few dogs started howling in the lane adjacent to the building. One of them wriggled in through the crack in the wall followed by two more. They barked at the two strangers and ran towards the source of the woman’s scream.

“Sir, let’s follow the dogs, I think they have picked up the source.” Pratap suggested.

Aniruddha and Pratap followed the dogs, both had weapons on them and they drew out those. They reached the old dilapidated science block building. It stood like a ghost in the blackened background. A huge mango tree stood on the side as if to protect its fall. They saw the dogs rush in through a broken door and followed them. The dogs climbed up the stairs easily but for Aniruddha and Pratap it was a bit challenging to climb up the broken steps. They reached the second floor and found the dogs vigorously barking at the closed door. They stopped to listen the conversation behind the doors.

“Let me go, why are you doing this to me?” Nandita was pleading.

Aniruddha approached the door and found it locked from inside. He used his shoulder to break the lock. The door did not budge even an inch. Pratap joined him and together they in sync gave a hard shove to the door, it swayed a little but did not open. They took few steps back then rushed towards the door and shoved it with full strength. The old rickety door hinges gave away and it fell on the floor. The dogs rushed in before the humans could see what’s happening inside.

Once the dust cleared a bit, Nandita was found with her right leg on the windowsill and right arm stretched out through the window while the left leg and the left hand on the wall resisting the pull from some unknown unseen forces. One of the dogs, the biggest of the pack rushed towards her and grabbed the end part of her kurta. The dog started pulling her back in the room. The other dogs kept barking at the empty space of the window. Aniruddha rushed to the window and grabbed Nandita from her waist pulling her inside. Nandita collapsed in the arms of Aniruddha. Sensing the need for water, Pratap rushed out get water from the car. The large dog that had held on to Nandita’s kurta came close sniffing her and then started licking the face of Nandita as if to wake her up. It worked, Nandita opened her eyes and finding Aniruddha, couldn’t hold herself anymore, started crying. The angels in the garb of dogs sensing that the situation was under control, left one after the another. Pratap came back with a bottle of water for Nandita to drink.

Journey back home was silent and peaceful. Pratap drove Nandita’s car while Aniruddha and Nandita took the Gypsy. Nandita slept through the ride. Aniruddha called up his office to inform that he won’t be going back due to family emergency.

Epilogue:

More than a week has passed since that fateful night, Nandita and Aniruddha were at her mother’s home for Sunday lunch. Her mother spoke first, “I am sorry, I should have told you about Somya’s passing away but you two were such good friends, I thought the news would upset you…”

“Let the bygones be bygones, why bring it up now? Aniruddha protested.

“I am intrigued; how did you know where I had gone? Also what made you suspect Soumya was not what he appeared to be?” Nandita asked.

“Well, if you really want to know, the first cue was his reluctance to shake hands when you introduced him. He extended his hand briefly and it was stone cold. At that time, I dismissed it thinking that he was cold because of the rains, but it did not sit with me. Secondly, I remembered a story, my grandma told me many years ago… ghosts don’t throw shadows. When I was leaving for office, my car’s headlight fell on you two but there was only your shadow on the wall behind. Again, I did not think much about it till my colleague said something about me chasing shadows.”

“How come I did not realize these? Even John and Jenny refused to acknowledge his existence but Soumya was scared of them and did not enter the room till they were in.”

“Forget about the incidence as a bad dream. The good news is that the bulldozers are in place to demolish the entire school building. I have requested the authorities to create a dog shelter in a small part of the plot for those angels without wings.”