The Girl In Gown

"You want to sleep. You want a deep; a deep sleep where there's nothing except darkness", said the hypnotist as a vibrant spectrum of colors fell on the Karan's blank wide-open eyes. Eventually the lights were quenched and all that remained illuminated was a pattern of black and white curves. The curves had a mysterious intoxication associated with them. Anyone who looked deeper into the patterns craved for slumber even more.

"You are in a dark room with a small exit door. Tell me! Where are you?” the sudden change of pitch in the hypnotist’s voice pierced through the dark silence of the hypnosis laboratory.

"I...I...amm..in a daaark rooomm."

"You will forget all that happened last night."

"Yesss...Yes."

It was ironical that the hypnotist talked about forgetting the last night's incident his own laboratory carried a similar hellish look.

*** A Week Earlier ***

"Karan! Have you packed everything son?”

"Yes Mom. Just a few things remain."

"Okay do it quickly. You have your flight at 10 and it’s already half past 8."

Karan has never been so excited before. He got his first job, a job which surpassed every of his classmates'. Info-Soft Microsystems, the best software firm of India, recruited Karan. Why wouldn't they have recruited him? Karan was their best bet. He could forget everything save coding. Karan's mother was earlier reluctant to send him for a job to Goa. "Why couldn’t you get a job in Delhi? You don't want to live near me", she argued. Deep inside she knew that this was the best job her son could get so she didn't press upon him much.

After a tiring journey Karan finally reached Goa where he was received by Rohit, Karan's project manager.

"Welcome to Goa Karan."

 "Thank you Sir."

"Call me Rohit and stop being too formal or I'll haunt you."

"Ha Ha."

"Come on. Allow me to take you to your bungalow", Rohit said pointing towards his car.

"Bungalow?"

"Yes, obviously the company has made all world class arrangements for their best employee", Rohit smiled. Karan responded with a smile.

After a half hour drive they finally reached a silent lane which had too few houses to be termed a society. The car stopped in front of an elegant bungalow colored with dark brown on the canopy and a creamy color elsewhere. A pavement full of small pebbles, carved so beautifully that one could hardly make out a difference between any two except for the different shades. A beautiful flower bed along the pavement with flowers of all scents and colors. A lawn with unparalleled maintenance of grass that a speck of overgrown grass was hardly visible.

On the other side of the lane stood another house, dark and humongous as if someone had burnt it brutally unto destruction. Any  soul who praised the beauty of the bungalow could not help but mention about the monstrous house. 

Ting Tong. The doorbell rang.

“Good afternoon Sir”, the caretaker greeted them.

“Bring some refreshment for Karan Sir.”

Rohit started giving Karan a tour of the bungalow. Karan looked out of the window and the dark unkempt house in front caught his attention again.

"Who lives there?”

"No one. It has been abandoned since four years. Nobody knows who owns the property. Some say that the owner went abroad, others say that he died."

The caretaker brought coffee. They chatted for about an hour.

"I must leave now", Rohit said.

Karan accompanied Rohit to the exit.

"See you at the office tomorrow", Rohit smiled and drove off.

Karan was exhausted. He went to the bedroom upstairs and slept. The contrast of atmosphere from outside to the air conditioned one in the bedroom proved to be sedative and took him into depths of sleep.

***

It was almost dark.

Karan peeped out of the window and saw that a girl in a light blue gown was looking out of the window of the supposedly abandoned house. Not much was visible from such distance but Karan could make out that the girl was beautiful. Karan was hypnotized by her beauty. He ran downstairs and went to the street to get a closer view. He looked up but could not find anyone looking out of the house's window.

"Am I having hallucinations? What did I have for the lunch today", Karan talked to himself to lighten the air and turned back.

He heard footsteps going down the lane. He peeped closely into the dark and saw someone moving down the lane with steady steps. On a closer look he saw that she was the same girl in the blue gown.

"Excuse me", he called out.

The girl stopped for a while and started moving again without giving a look backwards.

"Excuse me Miss", Karan called again, in a louder voice this time.

The girl kept moving and started pacing. Karan paced too. She ran and all of a sudden disappeared into the dark lane. He stopped and saw that he stood by a cathedral. He bowed in respect and turned back only to see the same girl in the graveyard across the street.

"What is she doing in the graveyard at this point of time?”

He went inside the graveyard and said softly, "Hello".

She turned slowly.

Her face, the most beautiful one Karan had ever seen in his life, except for her eyes, they were completely white. He blinked his own eyes to see if it was an illusion. He tried hard to find a tincture of black, brown or blue in her eyes but to no success.  A breath got stuck in his throat and he was unable to exhale. She took hold of Karan and threw him several feet away. Karan ran at his maximum pace towards his bungalow, the girl followed him. He tripped over a stone and fell down. The girl caught hold of his neck and started squeezing his life out. He knew he was about to die, tiny droplets of sweat smeared his forehead.

“Oh…O..God sa..save me”, he muttered.

The cathedral’s bell rang and Karan jumped out of his bed.

"Wake up Sir. It is 7 am", the caretaker said handing over a large mug of coffee to Karan. Karan took the coffee mug and reflected hard to remember why he was so scared. He had forgotten all the happenings of the dream. 

The doorbell rang. The caretaker opened the door.

“Who is it?”

“None Karan Sir. Someone left a note for you.”

“Bring it to me.”

“You seem to be a really nice soul Karan. Please help me” the note read.

“Who is it from?”

“I don’t know Sir I just found this note when I opened the door.”

The entire day Karan could not stop thinking about the note.

Karan was returning from the evening walk.

“Excuse me Mister”, a lovely voice summoned Karan.

"Yes"

"Can you please help me with my luggage? I just moved in the nearby bungalow", a girl in blue gown requested.

Karan was mesmerized by her beauty. Everything looked dull before her; she had taken all the beauty and scent out of the flowers. Karan gazed at her face in awe.

"Please help me", she said again.

"Oh I am Sorry! Of course", Karan replied.

Karan helped her setting up her luggage.

"Karan. What is your name?” he asked extending his hand.

"Jane. Jane D'Souza", she replied.

"Thank you so much for your help".

“Coffee in the evening today?” Karan asked and pinched himself for being too straightforward.

"Yes. Why not?" She smiled.

They met a few more times that week after the coffee in the evening. She was the most intellectual and fun loving girl Karan had ever met. Whenever she smiled it seemed that the world smiled with her.

Karan started to develop a liking for Jane.

***

3 am

Karan got up and went to the wash-room. When he returned to his bedroom he found his almirah open. He went near the almirah to close it wondering why he had left it open. He closed the door and there she was behind it in a gown all white which competed with the moonlight that entered through the ventilation. Her eyes all white; red tear drops trying to ooze out of them.

"J..Jane", Karan fumbled with his words.

“Yess…Karan.”

“What…what are you doing here? And what are you?”

She kept her finger on Karan’s lips.

“Do you love me Karan?”

“Yes.”

She held Karan’s hand.

“Then please help me.”

“What help?”

She hugged him tightly.

“Help me.”

She disappeared from his arms.

A jackal squeaked somewhere in the nearby woods. Wind blew and the leaves of trees rustled.

Karan went unconscious.

*** Present Day ***

Karan walked out of the hypnosis laboratory.

"How are you feeling now?” the doctor inquired.

"Better", Karan lied; he could remember more or less everything about the last night.

"Come let us go out for some fun", Rohit said.

They went away in Karan's car.

"I can remember almost everything about the last night. It was definitely Jane, the girl who lives near my house."

They went to a peaceful high cliff.

"Oh! I forgot the drinks in the car. Let me bring them", Rohit said.

"Go on"

Karan turned towards the cliff and reflected on the recent happenings. Everything flashed in front of his eyes. The note, the meetings with Jane and the last night’s incident.

“What may have happened to Jane”, he thought.

The waves stroked the shore below and created a great echo.

Karan felt someone was just behind him. In a fraction of second he turned back and found that Rohit was about to push him.

"What the hell?” Karan got hold of Rohit's hand and pushed him back.

Rohit punched him on the face. Karan retaliated and held him from his collar. In the chaos Rohit slipped near the edge and was about to fall down when Karan caught his hand. Rohit hanged to the edge of the cliff.

"You moron. Why do you want to kill me?” Karan shouted.

"Because you know my secret about Jane".

"Jane? How do you know Jane? What secret?"

“Jane was my secretary.”

“What? But she just moved into the city.”

“I proposed her but the bitch refused.”

Karan was still struggling with Rohit’s words.

“In the fit of rage I kidnapped her and kept her at my alternative house, the now abandoned house in front of your bungalow. I raped that bitch for a month. How could she refuse me?”

“Then what happened to her?” Karan spoke trying to hold his anger.

“She starved. One day when I came back to the house saw her hanging to the ceiling fan from the bed sheet and the entire wall smeared with blood. ‘I will never forgive you’, she wrote.”

“You bastard! You killed her! You killed the innocent girl!”

“I washed the entire room. I went away and came back with a saw and cut her into small pieces. In the darkness of the night I took the pieces in a large bag and buried the bag in the graveyard near the cathedral. Then I spilled petrol and set the house on fire. Nobody ever knew what caused the fire.”

Tears oozed from the eyes of Karan listening to the devilish deed of Rohit. He loosened his grip and threw Rohit off the cliff.

“No…no..nooooo” Rohit shouted.

Karan turned back and went away in his car. He came to his bungalow and went to the bedroom. 

He found a note.  

"Thank you. -J"

He took the note, held it near his heart.

 “I love you too” he whispered and closed his eyes.