Chapter 1

"Third house in a year." Madhavi grumbles as she irately started setting up the flat.

Hearing her mother, Gauri chuckles softly as she continued to connect the TV.

"Stop laughing. Do you find it funny?" Madhavi asks her furiously. "I am the one who has to set up the whole place and clean it up."

"This is a nice house, Mama." Gauri tells her smiling as she winked at her father.

"What is the use? We will be moving out of here very soon." Madhavi furiously tells her as she stared at Inder furiously.

Inder cheekily grins at her as he continued to put the curtains. "You know, why I do this."

"Don't get me started!" Madhavi says furiously as she pulled the chair to position.

"Seriously Papa, have you even seen one ghost?" Gauri asks him confused.

"No." Inder replies.

"Maybe there is no such thing as ghosts." Gauri tells him.

"There is, Gauri." Inder tells her seriously as he got down from the ladder and walked towards Madhavi to help her put up the couch.

"Then how come you haven't seen even one?"

"It is not that simple, Gauri. They need to call out to us."

"Are you saying all these 76 haunted houses we have stayed after our marriage didn't have a single ghost calling out to you?" Madhavi mocks him.

"It is easy not to believe." Inder tells her upset.

"Wrong. It is easy to believe in these kinds of superstitions."

"It is my virasat. It is our duty to help those who have no one." Inder tells her passionately. "My mother, my grandmother, they all could feel and interact with ghost."

Madhavi turns to look at Inder and gently tells him, "You are 50 years old, Inder. Maybe it is time that you accept that you don't have your mother's or your ancestors' talent of communicating with the dead."

Inder looks away upset while Gauri gently smiles at him.

 

"Are you done connecting the TV, Gauri?" Inder asks her.

"I am almost done." Gauri replies as she connected the wires.

"Hurry up, Gauri. I want to see the news."

Gauri who was concentrating on figuring out which wire to put where, rolls her eyes. As she untangled the wires she feels a tingling feeling on her neck as if someone was standing so close to her and watching her untangle the wires. Realizing Inder was watching over her shoulders Gauri stops in irritation and says, "Papa, I am trying."

"Do it fast." Inder orders her from behind her.

"I am." Gauri says and tries to concentrate when she feels her father move closer to her. "Papa!" Gauri shouts in irritation as she turned around to scold her father for not letting her do her work when she stops in shock seeing her father across the room talking to her mother.

"What?" Inder asks as he turned to look at her curiously.

Gauri looks at him in shock, she had really thought he was next to her. GOD! Very soon she will be crazy like her father. "Nothing. It will be ready soon." Gauri tells him and turns around to fix the wire. Few seconds later, she feels someone over her shoulder. Gauri slowly turns to look back gulping as fear gripped her and found herself alone in that area. Gauri's heart beats starts rising as she tried to understand why she was feeling as if someone was standing right next to her. She kept staring at the empty space as she tried to fight that weird feeling that someone was staring right back at her. As sweat broke out on her face and her breathing started becoming erratic she gently takes her shaking hand forward to see if really some presence was there. As her hand moved freely in the air Gauri felt a chill creeping up her fingertips to her palm. Gauri screams in fear as the chill climbed up her arm to her shoulder. Gauri stumbles back as the strange sensation left her.

"Gauri!" Madhavi and Inder runs to her in fear.

"What happened, Gauri?" Inder asks her worried.

"Papa..." Gauri gulps as she looked at him wondering how to explain to him about the weird sensation.

Seeing the switch on, Madhavi turns to Gauri in anger, "How many times I have told you to turn off the switch when you work with electricity?"

"Electric shock?" Inder asks her as he switched off the TV. "You go sit, I'll do this."

Gauri nods and gets up.

 

By next evening, Gauri was convinced that the weird feeling she had was because of lack of rest as it was hectic packing up from their old house and shifting to the new place, and also because of the ghost talk they had. Gauri had started feeling so stupid for her moment of "stupidity" that she was even embarrassed to tell her father about it. Gauri realized that she was under too much stress when she started misplacing things. So she decided to stay in that night instead of going for a relative's wedding for the much needed rest. That night Gauri was in the kitchen doing the dishes when she felt someone walking towards her from behind. Assuming it is her mother, Gauri continues to do the dishes when she suddenly feels a tingle at the back of her neck. Realizing that her parents were still not back from the wedding Gauri stops in shock then she felt a chill at her back. Gauri starts trembling as the chill spread out through her. Tears starts flowing from her eyes as the fear gripped her temporarily paralyzing her. Then she feels a breathing sensation near her ears breaking her out of her paralysis and dropping the dishes, Gauri runs out of the kitchen.

 

Gauri comes running out of the kitchen panicking on where to go or where to hide as the fear set in, her breath fell short and soon she was gasping for air. Hearing the doorbell ring, Gauri runs to open the door as she gasped for her breath.

"GAURI!" Madhavi shouts out in fear seeing Gauri gasping.

"Where is your inhaler?" Inder asks her frantically as he made her sit while Madhavi started helping her.

"Ba...g." Gauri gasps out and Inder runs to her room to get her inhaler.

 

"Are you fine now?" Madhavi asks her as she gently rubbed her back.

Gauri nods in reply tiredly as she hugged her mother for comfort.

"It's okay, Gauri. Nothing happened. You are fine now." Inder tells her as he tried to calm her down.

"Can I sleep with you two?" Gauri asks them worried.

"Yes, Gauri." Inder tells her as he kissed her forehead.

 

Three days later, Gauri was getting ready for bed. As she pulled up the blanket over her and turned off the lights she felt a chill next to her. Gauri turns to the empty spot next to her on the bed and she could feel someone breathing onto her face. Gauri gulps in fear as she gripped the blanket closer to her. As the chill kept increasing, her breath started falling short. She was about to get up from her bed and run to her parents room when she felt someone hold her hand. Gauri opens her mouth to shriek but due to fear her voice betrayed her. Soon she was gasping for her breath. She struggled to breath and find her inhaler at the same time, she slips and falls down. Gauri struggles to get up when she felt the chill again next to her, so close that she started shivering due to the cold. Then the chill was gone and a second later she hears the door closing loudly.

 

Hearing the commotion Inder wakes up to check and he sees Gauri's door closing and opening loudly. He hurries to her room to check on her and finds her on the floor. He quickly grabs her inhaler and runs to her.

 

 

"You alright, Gauri?" Inder asks her as he helped her up. "What happened?"

"Papa... there is a ghost here." Gauri whispers to him in fear.

"I know." Inder gently tells her as he rubbed her back.

"You know?" Gauri asks shocked.

"I took this place because I found out this place was haunted right?" Inder asks her as he helped her up and took her to the kitchen. "When the door started closing and opening I realized that there is a ghost here."

 

 

"Drink this." Inder says as he passed her a cup filled with hot chocolate. As Gauri started sipping it he says, "I'll come now."

"Wh... where are you going?" Gauri asks in panic.

"I'll come now. Going to get a drink." Inder tells her.

Before she could stop him, he walks out.

 

Gauri sits alone at the kitchen table as she gripped her mug staring at the empty chair on her right. She could feel a presence there and it was scary. Hearing her father walk back in she heaves a sigh of relief. Inder sits on the chair opposite to her with a drink in his hand.

"Tell me everything." Inder tells her smiling excitedly.

Gauri gapes at her father in shock seeing his excitement. "Papa... someone is sitting in that chair. Someone dead and you are excited?"

"Can you see them?" Inder asks her shocked.

"No. But I can feel someone."

"Hmmm"

"Papa... I don't want this kind of feeling. Please help me. We will move out of here." Gauri pleads him.

"Gauri... all my life I have been moving from one haunted house to the other so I could help someone and now you have the chance and you won't do it?" Inder asks her shocked.

"It's a dead person, Papa. What help they would need? Whatever they need they can get it done."

"No, Gauri. It is not like that. They can't leave this place."

"Why?" Gauri asks frowning.

"Because they died here." Inder gently tells her.

"How... how do you know that?"

"That is why their soul is stuck here. They can't leave here and there is one last thing that they need done before they get mukti."

"What thing?"

"That only they can tell you."

"But I don't like this." Gauri tells him crying.

"It is your duty, Gauri." Inder tells her. "Your ancestors were gifted with this and now you."

"This is not a gift, Papa." Gauri tells him angrily.

"You are the only person who can help someone. If that is not a gift then what is?"

"Why can't you help them?"

"Because I am not blessed with this gift, it is you." Inder tells her sadly. "Your mother is right, I am not the gifted one. It is you."

"I don't want this."

"You are born with it, Gauri."

"Why now? Why not before?" Gauri asks him confused.

"Because the truth is not always the houses people say are haunted are really haunted. And not every dead person is calling out for someone to hear them."

"How do you know they are calling out?"

"They are, Gauri. And the first time is the most difficult and delayed one as it needs to sharpen your aura."

"Sharpen my aura?"

"Yes, to attune you to the dead. Like turning on your "on" button. After this, you would be able to sense a spirit calling out for help without any difficulty."

"You mean to say that lifelong I am going to be haunted?" Gauri asks outraged.

"Till your child inherits it from you. And not haunted but sort out for help. See it like that."

"Papa... it comes and stands behind me. Breathing on to me. It keeps shifting my things and I thought I was being absent minded. It even held me." Gauri whispers to him.

"They are trying to get you to listen to them."

"I can't hear them or see them."

"You can see or hear them only if you are connected to them."

"Connected to them?" Gauri asks confused.

"Yes... you need to be in physical contact with something of them that is still living. Then only you will be able to see them or hear them." Inder explains.

"If they are dead then how can they be still alive?" Gauri asks him confused.

"Warris, Gauri. Their children. Or in rare cases if the person had a retina, heart transplant then if you are close to the donor you can see and hear them."

"Why is it so?"

"Because you can feel their presence that is your gift but to see them and hear them you need to be connected to the living part of them." Inder explains.

"So you are saying I should find their child to talk to this person to find out what they want? Till then they are going to haunt me?" Gauri asks panicking. "How can I ever find out that if I don't even know who is haunting me?"

"No, Gauri. You don't need all that. A good old Ouija board will do." Inder tells her smiling.

"That works?"

"They can move things and that would help us find out about them."

"This is all just insane!" Gauri says trying to hold on to her non believing side and that there is a perfectly scientific explanation to what she is experience.

"It just wants your help, Gauri. Nothing more. If it was here to hurt you then it wouldn't have woke me up when you needed your inhaler."

"It can keep moving my things around but can't give me my inhaler." Gauri mutters.

"Maybe because it didn't know where your inhaler was and was worried for your life. So now it is your duty to help them."

Gauri sighs loudly realizing that she had to do it.

"Are you ready? I will get my Ouija board?" Inder asks her excitedly.

"Can you try to be a little less enthusiastic?" Gauri asks him frowning.

"It's my first ghost experience in years. Ever since my mother passed away I haven't experienced it."

"Are you upset that it is not you?" Gauri asks curiously, her father had been obsessed with this ghost business as long as she can remember and now he realized that it was not him.

"No, Gauri. I realize that I am not the one. My duty is that of my father and my grandfather."

"What is that?"

"Guiding and being the support for the gifted one." Inder tells her smiling. "Till you are married it is my duty then it will be your husband's."

"Oh please! You think anyone would marry me if they find out this? They will call me a freak."

"No, Gauri. Like your ancestors you are going to find that person who is going to believe this is your biggest gift." Inder tells her smiling.

Gauri shrugs not wanting to think about all that now; she had more immediate things to take care of.

 

Inder comes back with his Ouija board and starts setting it up.

"Papa..."

"Yes?"

"You said grandmom and great grandmom were the gifted one and granddad and great granddad were the guides."

 "Yes."

"Is it possible that only women can feel the presence?" Gauri asks him curiously.

"I am not sure." Inder says thoughtfully as he placed the planchette on the board. "I have heard that only one male from our family was able to feel the presence. Don't know if it is true."

"Hmmm."

"Are you ready?" Inder asks her.

"What am I supposed to do?" Gauri asks him taking a deep breath.

"Touch this planchette and think of this person, asking them to come to you."

"It's sitting on that chair." Gauri informs him as she pointed at the chair.

Inder looks at the chair in shock and then at Gauri gently smiling, "You are no longer scared."

"That is because you are here. I feel safe with you here and you know what to do also." Gauri tells him.

Inder smiles at her and points to the board.

Taking a deep breath Gauri gently keeps her hand over the indicator.  "You are not keeping your hand?" Gauri asks confused.

"They can only communicate with you, Gauri. I can watch but I can't interact with them." Inder explains.

"Do they have a rule book for this?" Gauri asks exasperated.

"Concentrate." Inder gently tells her.

 

Gauri was concentrating when she feels the planchette moving under her fingers.

Gauri jumps up in shock.

"Relax... don't be scared." Inder tells her gently. "Keep your hand back on it and ask them your questions."

Hesitantly Gauri keeps her hand on the indicator. "What do you want?" Gauri asks loudly. "Who are you?"

Then she sees the indicator moving she watches it as her father quickly took a notepad to write down the message.  The planchette moves to O first then to M.