Laughter in Darkness
A suspense, romantic and psychological thriller
By
Kotra Siva Rama Krishna
The people there looked into each other’s faces.
“Do you say these were also nothing but their auditory and visionary hallucinations?” Rajesh asked Rose who was in the end of finishing her breakfast.
“What else? Surely they are that.” Instead of Rose, Neeraja who was beside Rose, answered to him.
Rose nodded her head and threw the remaining waste package into the dustbin there.
“People are still feeling fear to this house. In their opinion the spirits of grandmother, Nagaraju and Semanthakam…” Ratnam tried to say something more.
“You may better stop now.” Rajesh impatiently said. “We all know very well none of that is true.”
“I am sorry. It seems that I unnecessarily made you people feel fear.” With a regretful expression in his face, Ratnam said.
“Its alright. Don’t worry too much.” Tanuja said trying not to show her inner feelings on her face. Hearing Ratnam like that increased her uneasiness a lot. “Anyhow the help you are doing to us, we never can forget. We never can thank you enough for that.”
“I many a time asked you people and now also I am asking, please don’t say like that.” Ratnam said. “Comparing the help that grandmother did to us, whatever I am doing now is nothing.”
Then Ratnam and the other person poured the coffee they took there in another bundle into the glasses and distributed among those who finished their breakfast.
“I want to know what you people are interested to take in your lunch.” While handing over a coffee cup to Rajesh, Ratnam asked him.
“Just make it in the way you want. Your selection would be more delicious than ours, I know. It proved so last time.” Taking the coffee cup from his hands, Rajesh said.
“I don’t eat non-vegetarian items, please remember.” Neeraja said.
“There shall be lot of vegetarian items in it. You need not worry about.” Handing over a coffee cup to her also, Ratnam said.
Even they were all feeling uneasy inside themselves, all of them enjoyed that breakfast and tea. When Ratnam and the other person retired from the house, the doors of it were promptly closed again and latched from inside.
&&&
“I read your article ‘dealing with feelings’. It is indeed very good.” Neeraja said to Rose.
Rose, Neeraja and Emily were in the room allotted to them. It was spacious enough for those three and the king size bed in it also was spacious enough to accommodate the three of them. At that time, Rose and Neeraja were talking sitting in the chairs facing each other while Emily settled on the bed with her mother’s smart phone in her hands.
“In fact I have started to write a book on that but could not manage. So it remained as a big article like that.” Hissing out heavily Rose said.
“Anyhow you said very important points. Feelings are very important. Feelings can be independent without thoughts. In fact thoughts are not necessary for feelings at all. Even a two months aged child who does not know any language can have feelings. I still remember whatever I have read in that article.” Neeraja said.
“What is your opinion on it? Do you agree with my theories?” Rose asked her.
“Absolutely. I know that you don’t say anything without thorough knowledge and without experimenting with it. The way you said to deal with feelings. You know I implemented that many a time. Concentrating on the feeling we are having and trying to analyze that. Surprisingly, whenever I tried to implement that technique whenever I enveloped with heavy feeling slowly and slowly that feeling was diminished and disappeared! Really a wonderful technique I must say.” With surprise and happy expression in her face, Neeraja said.
“I cannot say I invented that technique Neeraja, it may be in vogue and many people may be practicing it also.” Rose said. “But I thought how it would be if we do it like that. I started observing and analyzing every feeling that entered into me. Very soon I understood that no feeling would last longer in us if we put it under deep scrutiny.”
“The irony is, the same result follows for the happy feelings also. If we try to observe and analyze happy feelings, they also diminish and vanish fast from us. But we want happy feelings to go long time in us.”
“I agree with you.” Rose nodded her head. “Then we do leave our happy feelings without applying this technique. We can implement this technique only to the feelings we don’t want.”
“You are right. We can limit the implementation of this technique to the unwanted feelings. What did you say, let the feeling come and engulf you like a tide does the rock on the beach of the sea. It is imperative that the feeling goes back and frees us just like the tide goes back and frees the rock.” Neeraja said.
“Not just that, once we do know that the feeling does not last long and sooner or later it goes away, it would not affect us much. We can see that feeling separate from us.” Rose said.
“You know how much I have affected with the madness of my mom. After her death, I have immersed with such sad feeling that I thought I may better die. I used the technique you said about the feelings whenever I became emotionally unbalanced with the thoughts of my mom.” Neeraja said.
“Oh, Neeraja” Rose took the right hand of Neeraja into her hands and squeezed it gently. “I know how much you have been affected first with your mom’s madness and next with her death. But so far she was fortunate. She suffered a lot with her madness by the time of her death.” Rose said.
“But I always wanted my mother to live even in such mad condition also. I could not console myself that her death put an end not only to her suffering but to our suffering also.”
“I can understand your feeling but….” Then quite involuntarily she looked towards her daughter on the bed. After she started conversing in that room, until that moment, she was completely oblivious about her.
The smart phone was beside her on the bed and Emily was looking straight ahead her without any expression in her face. For how long she was looking like that, Rose could not understand.
“Emily dear, what you are doing?” releasing the hand of Neeraja, Rose went to her and put her hand on Emily’s right shoulder.
“What mom, what happened?” instantly looking into the face of Rose, Emily asked her.
“You are just staring ahead…..at what you have been staring like that?” looking into the face of her daughter, Rose asked her anxiously.
“Mom, what is opposite me except the wall to look at? What I can look?” knitting her brows together, Emily asked her mother.
“You are feeling unnecessarily anxious Rose” Neeraja came near to her and put her hand on her right shoulder.
Rose looked into the face of Neeraja, smiled and said. “You are right.” Then she looked into the face of Emily once again and said. “Why do you bind yourself all the time in this room? Go out and enjoy your time with that Madhuri and Arjun.”
“They are too young to me to pass my time with.” Frowns gathered on the forehead of Emily but they were cleared immediately. “But that Anand uncle is very much interesting. I do go and pass my time with him.” Saying so Emily got off from the bed.
“May I also come with you? They may be in their room taking rest.” Rose said and got off from the chair. But by that time itself Emily went out of that room.
“If no one is available outside to play, she comes back into our room. You just sit and relax yourself.” Neeraja hold Rose’s hand and made her sit in the chair again. “For sometime, you appeared very much anxious. I did not find anything unusual in Emily at all. Anyone may remain staring ahead like that occasionally.”
“If Emily’s matter is like anyone else, I would not have bothered like this.” Rose hissed out heavily. “In the past Emily suffered from the problem of split-personality.”
“Emily suffered from split-personality! I just cannot understand.” With a shocking expression in her face, Neeraja said.
“Some time back I took a book which contains the story of some strange people to my home to see if there is any psychological angle in it. Emily read that book without my knowledge and it influenced her a lot. It influenced her that much it caused split personality in her.”
“Really unbelievable! Just by reading a book she was subjected to split-personality? That too a daughter of a famous psychiatrist!” with astonishment in her face, Neeraja said.
“That is the irony” Rose sighed heavily. “Anyhow that book is like that.”
“Do you still have that book with you?” adjusting herself in the chair for more comfort, Neeraja asked her.
“No, I gave that book back” quite automatically Rose remembered all those incidents again. “In fact a huge story is behind that book.”
“I want to hear all that story. Please tell me, it would be best time pass to us.” Neeraja became straight in her chair.
“It took indeed lot of time to tell all that story to you” Rose yawned heavily. “Anyhow I tell you all that to you and you say your opinion on that. I want to see whether your opinion differs from me.”
Then Rose explained to Neeraja all about that story.
(The books ‘Amaswitha’ and ‘Sasikala’ contained the story that Rose told to Neeraja)
“That made me do believe in paranormal, Neeraja. You may feel surprise, despite being a reputed psychiatrist, I was forced to believe in paranormal because of those incidents.” Rose sighed heavily and said. “Now I want to hear your opinion on this.”
“Whatever you said made me remember the story of my own village Mummara. You already know about it in full” Neeraja laughed loudly and said.
(The book ‘Just Relax!’ Contains the story of Neeraja’s village Mummara)
“Yes, I remember it very well now also. It has been made believed by the villagers of Mummara that ten sorcerers were first murdered as they were committing atrocities on the villagers. The villagers were further made believed that later the spirits of those sorcerers also were buried deep under the earth and spell bounded there as their spirits also continued their atrocities on the villagers. The villagers have illusions and hallucinations and you debunked their beliefs with concrete proofs.” Rose said.
“But I have not become completely successful! Those villagers are still imagining and hallucinating. They just don’t want to accept the truth.” Neeraja sighed heavily.
“You know the reason for that also. They want thrill by imagining like that. Thinking that their village is full of spirits is giving them a sort of joy and thrill.” Rose said.
“Yes, you are absolutely right. So I have stopped trying to convince them. We have a house in that village and occasionally my father and I go there and stay.” Remembering their house there, her friend Sarika, Neeraja said. Unknowingly her heart has become heavier.
“But your village’s story is not as much complicated as the story I have said to you.” Rose said.
“I agree with you” Neeraja nodded her head and said.
“Tell me your opinion now. Do you agree that there is paranormal in the world?” Looking straight into the face of Neeraja, with knitted brows, Rose asked her.
Neeraja clipped her lower lip between her teeth frames and released it slowly. “Just because I could prove that our villagers’ belief that spirits were buried under the earth and spell-bounded there was false, I cannot say that there is no paranormal at all. There are very great people who do believe in paranormal. For example, the famous and reputed psychiatrist, Sahamooti. Without any basis why does he believe in paranormal?” Neeraja said.
“I am also thinking in the same way.” Rose said. “In fact there is one other strong reason for my believing in paranormal.”
“Tell me about it also. You are giving me the best time pass.” Once again Neeraja adjusted herself in her chair for more comfort.
(I hope that you enjoyed upto here. I shall publish the next chapter as soon as possible. Please don’t forget to rate and review.)
