Chapter 2

"OM? Who is OM?" Gauri asks confused.

"My brother." Inder reads out.

"Who are you?" Gauri asks her.

"Priyanka Oberoi." Inder reads out.

"You have a message for your brother?"

The planchette moves to Yes.

Gauri looks at Inder for guidance and he nods at her. Sighing warily, Gauri asks "What is the message? And how do I find your brother?"

 

"I am telling you this is absolutely crazy." Gauri furiously whispers to Inder as they waited for someone to open the door to the huge mansion the next day.

"You relax. I will do the talking." Inder calms her.

"If they threaten to call the police or a psychiatrist then I'll tell them you are mad and I am just humoring you." Gauri warns him.

Inder gives her a look.

"Why wasn't I born to this rich and sane people instead of you?" Gauri asks loudly making Inder chuckle softly.

"Sorry?" A manly voice says.

"Who is that?" Gauri panic as she looks around to find a body for that voice. "I am going crazy. I can't do this."

"Do what? Who are you and what do you want?" the voice asks again.

"We are leaving, Papa! This place is also haunted! I don't want one more!" Gauri says and starts to run off when Inder holds her hand.

"It's the intercom." Inder explains to her shaking his head as he turned to look at the intercom and answer.

"Oh! Why can't they simply just open the door?" Gauri mutters.

"Because we don't entertain crazy." Comes the reply.

"YOU! Come out and say that to my face!" Gauri says furiously as she marched towards the intercom challenging.

"Gauri... behave. Let me handle this." Inder admonishes her then turning to the intercom he says, "I am Inder Sharma and this is my daughter Gauri Kumari Sharma. We are here to meet Omkara."

"We'll come back later." Gauri decides as she realized that she couldn't tell this Omkara the big news. "Let's go, Papa."

"Gauri... we can't go back. It is our duty." Inder gently tells her.

"We can't tell him like this, Papa." Gauri argues.

"It's been months, Gauri. They need to know." Inder whispers to her furiously.

"What this is in regards to?" the voice asks curiously.

"It's personal." Gauri snaps at him. She was sick of that voice. Can't he come out and talk to them like humans? Were they so beneath this bloody butler that he couldn't open the door for them?

"Personal?" voice asks.

"Just tell Omkara that we are here. He knows us." Gauri lies while Inder glares at her. "What does this butler think of us?" Gauri furiously asks her father.

"I AM Omkara." The voice replies furiously.

Inder closes his eyes while Gauri gapes in shock.

"Please understand my daughter is really nervous and she doesn't want to do this. That is why she is behaving like this. But please we really need to talk to you." Inder explains.

"What is this about?" Omkara asks.

"We are not some parasite that you can't open your damn doors to us. Open the damn door." Gauri furiously orders him.

"If you don't leave from my property in 10 seconds I will have the guards throw you out." Omkara says furiously.

"It's about your sister." Inder tells him urgently.

"My sister?" Omkara asks shocked.

"Priyanka has a message for you." Inder gently tells him.

There was a silence for a while then the door opens and Omkara walks out.

 

 

Gauri turns to look at the handsome man standing at the door. If he hadn't been a pig to them till now she might have considered him swoon worthy.

"What is this message from my sister?" Omkara asks them.

Gauri panics hearing the question and pulling on her father's hand she says frantically, "It was a mistake. Sorry. Papa let's go."

"We are not going anywhere." Inder tells her sternly and turning to look at Omkara he says, "This message is for your mother too. Can we sit and talk."

"Papa..."

"It's your duty, Gauri." Inder snaps at her angrily.

"How can you so easily tell them?" Gauri asks him in tears.

"What the hell is going on?" Omkara asks furiously.

"It's not easy. Helping is never easy, Gauri but we have no other choice." Inder tells her. Then turning to Omkara he says, "Call your mother also."

"This better be important." Omkara says as he opened the door for them and let them in. Gauri walked pasts Omkara not looking at him as her unease increased tenfold and worry gripped her. Omkara looks at Gauri momentarily getting distracted from his sister, she was really beautiful... only if she wasn't crazy or arrogant then he might have considered her worthy enough for his time. Shaking his head he follows them in.

 

 

"I don't want to know anything about Priyanka." Jhanvi says furiously as she walked in with Omkara.

"Thank you so much." Gauri replies relieved and gets up to walk out.

"Get back here, Gauri." Inder orders her as he remained where he is.

"Papa they don't want to know." Gauri argues.

Inder turns to Jhanvi and Omkara and tells them, "Priyanka said that she chose you two. Even though she loved that man she realized that she loved you two more and couldn't hurt you by marrying someone neither of you approved."

"What?" Omkara snaps with a frown. "What nonsense is this?"

"She didn't marry him?" Jhanvi asks confused.

"No, she didn't." Inder tells her.

"She sent me a message saying she is marrying him and going to be with him. Not to look for her, that is what she told me." Omkara says furiously.

"She didn't send that message." Gauri answers.

"She didn't? Then who did? Why didn't she ever come home then?" Omkara asks confused.

"Her killer." Gauri answers softly.

Omkara looks at her in shock.

"PRIYANKA!" Jhanvi screams out in shock just as she faints.

Omkara quickly catches her and helps her on to the couch.

 

"Mom?" Omkara gently shakes her in worry though his mind was elsewhere. He turns to Gauri in shock, "Priyanka is dead?"

"Yes."

"Killer? Who killed her? And how do you know all this?" Omkara asks her furiously.

Gauri looks at Inder in panic. Inder turns to Omkara to explain, "Our family from centuries has been able to communicate with ghost. My daughter also can. Gauri has been talking to Priyanka's ghost."

Omkara looks at them in shock then turning outright furious he shouts, "YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE?"

"It's not a joke. You have to believe what we are saying then only your sister will get mukti and leave this world." Inder explains.

"GET OUT!"

"We are trying to help your sister." Gauri explains.

"YOU NEED HELP! PSYCHIATRIC HELP!"

"Omkara..." Inder gently starts.

"I want you both out of here this instant." Omkara furiously tells them.

"Let's go, Papa." Gauri gently tells him.

"Gauri..." Inder tries to stop her.

"We will come back later, Papa." Gauri tells him realizing that she had to somehow bring out the truth about Priyanka, like her father said it was her duty and only she could help.

"Don't ever come back here." Omkara furiously tells her as he turned back to check on his mother.

"This is my card. In case you need to..." Inder says as he kept his card on the table.

 

 

By evening, Gauri was again cribbing about the mighty Omkara Singh Oberoi to her new best friend. The best way for two women to bond was by bitching about the common guy in their life.

"Your brother is a pig!" Gauri says furiously as she paced the room. Then she smiles satisfied seeing the indicator on the Ouijo board moving to yes. Now she no longer had to hold the Ouijo board to communicate with Priyanka.

"Your poor mother, she fainted but that dog threw us out. Is it so hard to believe that ghosts exist?"

Gauri nods approvingly. "You don't worry, Priyanka. I'll make him believe that you had chosen them."

Gauri waves her hand as if brushing it away. "Is there any way I can make them believe? What if I talk to your mother when he is not around?"

Gauri sighs.

"Don't be upset. I'll help you." Gauri tells her smiling.

"No worries." Gauri says smiling.  "But how come you didn't see anyone else?"

"Really? So you mean to say that how I can sense and feel you, you can only see me and hear me? I wonder if Papa is aware of this."

"Anyway what next? Papa thinks your brother might call him."

"Then what will we do?"

"Me? Please, I can't tolerate him."

"With the manners of a pig."

"Are you trying to sway me with your hot brother?"

Gauri shakes her head at the emptiness then remembering Omkara's handsome features, she starts grinning and says slightly excited, "Give me his number."

 

 

 

"Hello?"

"Erm... it's me." Gauri says.

"Who?" Omkara asks confused.

"Gauri."

"You!"

"You remember me?" Gauri asks surprised.

"How can I forget you?" Omkara asks her furiously. "Just stop bothering us. My mother is sick because of you. So stop messing with our lives."

Noticing the indicator moving on the Ouijo Board she says, "Wait a minute."

"WHAT?"

"ONE SEC!" Gauri snaps.

"Just get lost!" Omkara says furiously and was about to hang up when he hears Gauri's outraged question. "ARE YOU SINGING A SONG?"

"ARE YOU MAD?" Omkara asks her.

"It is not always about you, idiot! Your sister is singing rooth ke humse. Seriously are you all mental by genetics?"

"Whi... which song?" Omkara asks in shock.

"Rooth Ke Humse Kabhi from Jo Jeetha Wohi Sikander."

"Oh my God." Omkara softly whispers.

"What is it? What is it?" Gauri asks confused.

In reply Omkara hangs up.

 

 

"What is up with him? I tell them your song and still he doesn't believe me?" Gauri asks Priyanka, she had informed her that was the song Priyanka used to sing when Omkara and she fought.

"I doubt it." Gauri says as she thought of other ways to get justice for Priyanka. "Who killed you?"

"Was he your boyfriend?"

"You told him that you won't marry him and he killed you?" Gauri asks hesitantly.

"Oh! I am sorry, Priyanka."

"We should bring him to justice."

"Maybe then Omkara will believe." Gauri argues.

 

Gauri was waiting at the reception of Ranveer's office nervously. Priyanka had tried to stop her from coming but that time she had been blinded with the thought of getting justice for Priyanka so she had come here without even telling her father. But now waiting for a man she knows is a killer was suddenly giving her the chills. Gauri decides to leave and do something else to help Priyanka.

"Gauri?"

Gauri turns back hearing the soft voice and see a tall man curiously looking at her.

"I am Ranveer... I was told that you are here to meet me." Ranveer tells her with a smile.

Seeing him smile at her, Gauri remembers the horror stricken expression of Omkara and his mother when she had informed them of Priyanka's death and becomes furious.

"Ranveer!"

"Yes?"

"You know Priyanka?" Gauri asks him.

Ranveer's smile drops and he says with a frown, "Yes. Why?"

"I am living in your old flat now."

"So?"

"I talked to Priyanka and that is why I am here."

"Talked to Priyanka?" Ranveer asks confused. "What is wrong with you? How can you talk to Priyanka?"

"Why can't I talk to her?" Gauri asks him challengingly.

Ranveer panics and quickly tells her as sweat broke out on his forehead, "She left town."

"She didn't."

"I have no time for this." Ranveer says as he wipes down his face and turns to leave.

"Are you scared that I know your secret?"

"What secret?" Ranveer asks in a furious whisper.

"That you killed her."

"You are crazy. Shut your mouth!" Ranveer says as he gripped her arms furiously.

"You are going to go to the police and tell them what you did."

"Get lost!"

"Else I will go." Gauri warns him.

"And what will you tell them? A person you are claiming to be dead is telling you that I killed her? They will put you in a mental hospital!" Ranveer tells her chuckling.

"I am not that stupid." Gauri tells him. "I can find one of Priyanka's friends and ask them to file a complaint that she is missing and tell the police that the last time they saw her was with you when she went to meet you in your apartment. When they come to my house to search for clues, I am going to open the doors for them. They are going to find something. At least some dried up blood. Do you know there are chemicals to find dried up blood? How much ever you clean there would be traces left. Then how difficult do you think it is to match the DNA with either her mother or brother? Once that is confirmed their next stop would be at your door." Gauri finishes off with a smirk mentally patting herself for watching CSI so religiously.

Ranveer looks at Gauri incredulously as she finished off. "You have time only till tomorrow morning." Gauri tells him and walks.

 

 

"I had no choice." Gauri argues again.

"He is not picking his calls." Gauri tells her as she plops down on the chair.

"You crazy? He will kill me if he finds out that I went to openly challenge a psycho killer."

"Stop being so pissed. Tell me some of your friends' name and number so that I can contact them to file the police case."

"Gauri!" Madhavi calls her.

"Yes, Mama?" Gauri asks as she opens the door.

"All day you have been on the phone. Give your ears some rest." Madhavi tells her assuming that the sound she had been hearing from Gauri's room has been of her on the phone.

Gauri grins at her in reply.

"I am going to get grocery. Inder will be coming home in a while."

"Where did he go?"

"He got some call and he left. He asked you to be here when he gets back."

"Yeah... I will be home today." Gauri replies as she was scared of going out after challenging Ranveer. She didn't want him to hurt her. She was safe in her own house and she intended to stay inside hidden till the police nabbed him.

"Bye Mama!" Gauri says as she locked the door after her.

 

Gauri was taking down the number from Priyanka when the doorbell rings.

"As usual she forgot something." Gauri tells Priyanka and runs out of the room.

"What did you forg..." Gauri asks as she opened the door and stops in shock seeing Ranveer at the door. He smiles at her sweetly scaring Gauri completely. Gauri starts to close the door when he easily pushes his way in and easily locks the door.

"I will scream!" Gauri warns him as she moved back in fear.

"Scream... when I was living here, I had made this place soundproof." Ranveer tells her grinning.

Gauri gulps hearing him and then she looks around for an escape route as he advanced towards her.

"We have no time. I have been waiting outside your house for 3 hrs. We need to finish up before your mother comes and then I have to make it look like a burglary gone wrong."

"Please don't kill me." Gauri begs him.

"You should have thought of all this when you started digging into unwanted things. Before that, how did you find out that I killed Priyanka?"

"Her ghost is here in this house." Gauri gulps in panic.

"You think I am stupid?" Ranveer asks her furiously as he slapped her.

Gauri yelps out in pain.

"Tell me the truth. How did you find out? Who else knows? Did you tell anyone else?"

"YES!" Gauri lies to scare him.

"Who else?"

"I won't tell you." Gauri tells him as she started inching towards the kitchen. There were knives in there.

Seeing her moving towards the kitchen Ranveer quickly grabs her and pulls her towards him. Gauri starts screaming and kicking him to escape. Ranveer takes a scarf from his pocket and wraps it around her neck. Gauri starts to struggle to loosen the scarf from her neck when he pulls the both the end and starts to strangle her with it. Gauri starts gasping as she struggled against him. Just when everything was about to turn black she feels Ranveer flying away from her.

Gasping for her breath, Gauri looks at him and sees him turning white as if he was seeing a ghost. Realization dawns on Gauri and she turns to look what he was staring at as he crawled on the floor and sees a chair floating on air.

"Priya.." Ranveer starts to say as he got up and stumbles against the chair giving out his location to Priyanka. The chair hits him hard on his shoulder and head. Ranveer screams out in panic, fear and pain. He stumbles and crawls as he drags himself to the door leaving a trail of blood making it easy for Priyanka to locate him. Priyanka hits him again.

Ranveer with all his might get up and opens the door even though Priyanka kept hitting him and he runs out.

"Priii..." Gauri gasps out to Priyanka as she struggled to breath.

Gauri sees the chair dropping on the floor and a second later she sees her bedroom door opening loudly.

 

Gauri was gasping for her breath as she struggled to sit up when she hears soft voices coming from outside and she looks up to call out for help when she sees her father and Omkara walk in deep in conversation. Omkara was the first one to notice her.

"God! What happened to her?" Omkara asks in shock.

"GAURI!" Inder runs to her in worry and seeing her gasping for breath, he runs to his room to get Gauri her inhaler. "I'll get your inhaler. Don't worry." Inder calls out to her.

Seeing her gasping, Omkara hurries towards her and tries to help her up when suddenly an inhaler falls to his foot. Omkara without thinking quickly takes it and he cradles Gauri to his chest and shaking the inhaler he opens it and gives it to her.

Gauri pumps the inhaler into her mouth. As her suffocation left her, Gauri sighs in relief.

"Are you fine?" Omkara asks her.

Gauri starts to nod when Inders comes out running with the inhaler.

"Gauri..."

"I got it, Papa." Gauri replies gasping as she tried to calm her erratic breathing and she starts to stand up with Omkara's help while Omkara looked at Inder in confusion wondering where the other inhaler came from.

"Who gave the other inhaler?" Omkara asks suspiciously as he looked around.

"Your sister." Inder answers for Gauri.

"Priyanka? Is she really here? PRIYANKA?" Omkara calls out frantically as he looks around to see her.