Laughter in Darkness
A suspense, romantic and psychological thriller
By
Kotra Siva Rama Krishna
“I am sorry. I could not take either coffee or tea for you people.” Raju finished the distribution of the packets and said with a sorrowful expression in his face.
“No problem. We have no mood to drink them now.” Eating his dinner Vinod said. “Just like the breakfast and lunch, dinner also is excellent!”
“Yes, Vinod is right. Dinner is very good! You took particular care to see dinner like this.” Tanuja said with a satisfying expression on her face.
There were such expressions on the faces of the other people there.
“I am feeling happy that you liked the dinner also.” Raju said. “But it was Ratnam who took particular care for this dinner. He always thinks very much about grandmother, her son and his family. He always says that his family never can forget the help grandmother did to them.”
There came surprising expressions on the faces of people there.
“Is it is so? Then why did he talk like that? I was really very much shocked on hearing him so in the afternoon.” Rajesh said.
“I already told you that he became mad. On some occasions he will be alright but he does not know how he behaves and talks on some other occasions. His family members have also been suffering with him.” Raju said.
Rajesh looked into the face of Rose there.
“I have observed something like madness in him but I cannot say completely about it until making a thorough diagnosis.” Rose said.
“But he was quite alright until one year or so back. On one day he suddenly turned like that. It has happened just like that in his father’s case also. He was also quite alright until he reached his sixtieth year or so but suddenly from one day he started behaving madly and gradually completely became mad.” Raju placed himself in a chair and observing their eating their dinner.
None of them said anything but continued their eating so.
There were three or so packets remained in one bag but Raju did not want to eat anything there.
“But it has been found out that on the day when Ratnam’s father started behaving madly, he came to the house of grandmother.” Raju said.
“Ratnakar came to my grandma’s home everyday in fact.” Rajesh said.
“But on that day grandmother opened the upstairs locked room. She did not expect Ratnakar then in her house. Ratnakar went upstairs and seeing the upstairs always locked room opened like that, he entered into it. It could not be found what he has seen in that, but it is believed whatever he had seen in that room made him like that.”
“How it could be known?” Rajesh asked him.
“Ratnam heard while Ratnakar was mumbling in himself. I came to know about this through Ratnam.” Raju said.
Rajesh and Vinod looked into each other’s faces.
“You know one thing? We have opened the upstairs room and looked into it.” Vinod said.
“What? really you people did it? What has been found in that room?” with astonishment in his face, Raju asked him.
“Nothing. There was nothing in that room. Fully empty!”
“But there are supposed to be dead bodies, grandmother’s husband’s and her lover’s!” the surprising expression was still so in the face of Raju.
“That is just a rumor. Now we are confirmed that grandmother never kept any dead body in that room.” Rajesh said.
“It is difficult to say like that.” Raju said with a small voice after few seconds’ pause. “She might have changed them from there to somewhere else. But it was very strongly believed by so many people that there were dead bodies in the upstairs last room.”
There was ominous silence again. “We have got that doubt of course. What she would have done with the bodies?” Vinod asked him again.
“Very difficult to say. Grandma never let some of her actions to be known to anyone else.” Raju said.
“But…” Tanuja said. “Such an old woman! How could she deal with those dead bodies on all her own?”
“She is an old woman. But she has other help in this house.”
“She never let any other human being stay with her. How she could get help from anyone?”
“Not human help.” Raju said. “But don’t forget that Semanthakam and Nagaraju’s spirits are here to help her.”
“What’s the bloody hell you are talking? There are no spirits on the earth. We never believe in such type of things.” Neeraja said angrily.
“I am sorry. I should not have talked like this.” Raju hung his head.
“He said what he is thinking, what’s wrong in it? Let him tell us whatever he wants.” Rose said looking into the face of Neeraja.
“Alright, alright. You please continue.” Neeraja said.
“One doubt I have here.” Sunanda said. “I agree that Semanthakam spirit might help her. But why Nagaraju would help her? She was a great enemy to him. She cheated him and married Semanthakam. Did not he kill her husband, parents and two others with that anger?”
“But they were lovers. The difference might have been cleared later on. Grandma’s marriage with Semanthakam might be a compulsion and she would have convinced that Nagaraju so.” Raju said.
“Absolutely absurd! I never believe that grandma was forced to marry Semanthakam.” Rajesh said vehemently.
“We don’t know sir. Anything could have happened.” Raju said.
“Anyhow I cannot see any reason for grandma’s keeping dead bodies in the upstairs room if she really would have kept them so.” With a small voice Rajesh said again.
“There is a rumor that Semanthakam and Nagaraju occasionally came into those bodies and talked and walked. It was just like the spirits once again came back into their bodies.” Ratnam said.
“That means zombies!” with a horrifying expression in her face, Sameera said.
“I don’t have heard this word anywhere before.” With confusion in his face, Raju said.
“I have not heard more absurd thing than this. Semanthakam and Nagaraju entered into their bodies again! How it is believable?” anyhow there was shock and irritation on the face of Rajesh. All there were also equally shocked on hearing that.
“It may be just a rumor but it is also in circulation. There must be a reason for grandma to keep the dead bodies like that.” Raju said.
“If at all she kept the bodies so. There is no proof whatsoever that she kept the dead bodies like that at one time in that room.” Rajesh said.
“With how many people grandma used to be intimate in the village?” Tanuja asked him.
“Not even with one single person except that Ratnakar. She got everything done through Ratnakar only. Even Ratnam too looked after the affairs of grandma, he was not as much intimated as Ratnakar with her. She helped the villagers and did so many good things for the village also but everything has been done through these two individuals only. You may feel surprise no villager had seen her except hearing about her! She never came out of this house and no villager has been let come into this house.” Raju said.
“Really surprising and astonishing!” Rose said. “Whatever might have taken in her life, what is the necessity to live like that?”
“That is what no one can know about. She is a very big puzzle to one and all.” Tanuja said.
Talking with him like that all of them have finished their dinner. Raju has got off from the chair and said. “I am going home now. Come here again tomorrow with your breakfast. If you have any necessity in the meanwhile, please call my number.”
“None of our cell phones have signal here.” Rajesh said.
“If you come out of the house, you get the signal.” Raju said. “Please grant me leave for the present.”
“You may go now.” Rajesh nodded his head. “Thank you very much.”
“You need not thank me. Ratnam paid for my services more than enough.” Raju said.
“How a mad man look after the things in such a way I cannot understand.” Vinod said.
“He becomes mad like that only occasionally. In other times he behaves nicely.” Raju said and went out of that place.
&&&
“Oh, my god! I just don’t know how to take all of this.” As soon as Raju went away from that place, Sameera said. “I have no doubt that this Raju also is partially mad.”
“Raju is not mad. He just said whatever he has heard so far.” Neeraja said.
“But is there anything like that? Spirits come into their own bodies after death?” looking into the face of Aravind, Sunanda asked him.
“Yes there is. I have not seen and I don’t have much knowledge but I heard about spirits coming back into their own bodies.” Aravind said.
“If you can believe there are as many nonsense things on this earth as you cannot count.” Rajesh said. “Spirits itself is a nonsensical issue. Their coming back into their own bodies, it is just another absurd creation of sick minds.”
“Just because we did not see with our eyes, we cannot strike off all these as non-existing and nonsensical.” Aravind said. “I have stopped following the shadow world a long time back but I have enough knowledge and experience in them. I have heard a lot about this zombies’ issue. That rumor may be true.”
None of them talked anything and the ominous silence that was continuing mingled with the darkness was intensifying the uneasiness in them. “Cannot we talk now anything else except these paranormal matters?” Sameera who could not bear that silence and wanted to change the subject said that.
“I want to talk with Dr.Padmaja. There are two or three patients who need intensive care. If it were Malathi I need not even think about it.” yawning heavily, Rajesh said as if to change the topic.
“Then talk. Who stops you?” looking into his face, Tanuja said.
“But I have no signal in my cell phone here.” Rajesh said.
“Oh, Rajesh” Tanuja said showing surprise in her face. “If you cannot make the phone call here, do it out of this house. I think we can have the signal if we go out from here.”
“We have cell phone signal in the upstairs middle room for sometime but it did not last long.” Sunanda said.
“Why don’t you go out and do the calling?” Tanuja asked him again as if she did not hear Sunanda at all.
“There are two problems if I make the call now.” Rajesh said. “First point, if I have heard some disturbing news from Padmaja, I cannot be there straight and do anything. It would take considerable time to me to reach there and I need to face unnecessary anxiousness in the meanwhile. The other point, Padmaja may think I did not confide in her just for three days or so also.”
“If it is so, you may do in the way you want.” Tanuja said irritatingly. The things she have heard from that Raju were not very much interesting to her also. “There is no necessity to say all your thoughts out like that.”
“You asked me to change the subject so I changed it like that.” Rajesh smiled.
“There is nothing to feel fear or to get irritation in any of this.” Neeraja said. “So far I am concerned it is a peculiar and useful experience. There is no doubt that these zombies or spirits are nothing but the creation of sick minds. But however much sick a mind, why anyone wants to create them? I am sorry that I am talking on the same topic you don’t like.” In the end she looked into the face of Tanuja.
(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.)
