||The Uninvited Guests||: A KNAUC TS. Chap 3(b) pg:14, 24/2. Complete - Page 5

CHAPTER 2 (b): THE HISTORY

It's 3:20pm now. After laughing our hearts out at Kabir's condition, Umesh bhaiya and Kabir returned to Dolly di's room, while I did some window shopping and returned back after half an hour or so. Since, Umesh bhaiya and Kabir were asleep, I decided to take a short nap too. But, when I woke up, I found the room devoid of people other than me. Kabir had left a message telling Umesh bhaiya and he are out to do some shopping for the camping tonight and would pick up Sukku and Kirti on the way back. So, here I am sitting on the bed with my phone, trying to find out the history of Vaz Villa". As always my BFF, google, has all the answers to my questions. So, after a few minutes of research, this is what I found out:

'The Vaz Villa was built in 1943 by E.J.Vaz, an eminent advocate in Bombay High Court, and later gifted it to his spinster daughters. This stale mansion then became a royal house of two Anglo Indian spinster sisters Vera Vaz and Dolce Vaz. Vera vaz was an English tutor and Dolce vaz was a piano instructor by profession. Since, the house was a prime property, it was constantly under pressure from land sharks. On the morning of September 4 2002, around 1am Dolce Vaz was stabbed to death in front of her sister Vera Vaz by an unknown assassin. A terror stricken Vera, fled from there, leaving behind a wailing Dolce, crying for help. If rumours are to be believed, her body was buried within this mansion. That was the day her spirit rose up to wander within her house. Since then paranormal activities started taking place within this house. The police could neither find Dolce's dead body nor could they trace Vera, who was the sole eyewitness, to nab the assassin. Hence the case found a disappointing closure. Due to the spookiness of this mansion, nobody was ready to buy this haunted house in Bangalore city which is reported to be sold in recent years.'

Oh! that's interesting! So, this place has now been sold. That means, someone must have busted the haunting. I was lost in my thoughts about the Villa, when I heard the door unlocking. As soon as the door opened, a furious Dolly di burst in, followed by the rest, who had a 'we tried but couldn't convince' look on their face.

"What kind of madness is this Nishu?!! Why are you so keens on going to that haunted house?!! What if something happens? No. It's decided we are not going and I'm not going to budge from my decision!", said a hyper Dolly di.

I was about to open my mouth to convince dolly di, when that duffer husband of mine interrupted me.

"Exactly!, Ive been telling this to Umesh and Nisha since afternoon! But, they keep laughing at me", said he making a puppy face as he said the latter part. But, this time instead of going 'aww' on his expression, everyone gave him an angry glare.

"Shut up Kabir! Dolly di please, hear me out for a minute na please!", I said making the best pleading face possible, knowing it will definitely work on her.

And it worked! "ok says", she said turning towards me. I smiled wide and began my 'convince dolly di' mission.

After narrating the history of this place, I continued, "Ok first and foremost the haunting behind it has been busted and the house has been sold recently. To whom? I don't know. But the fact that it has been sold proves there's no haunting. Secondly, we will take all the necessary precautions and backups before going in. And di, we have been to so many so called haunted forts and houses back in Jaipur. But, we came out safe and sound without experiencing any paranormal activities, didn't we?" I sighed as I completed my reasoning and looked up to see an almost convinced Dolly di.

"okay fine we'll go! But, what if someone sees us going in? We may land in a huge trouble.", said dolly di tensing up.

"Relax dolly, we'll go there at around 11:30pm and the street will mostly be deserted by then. Also..." The ringing of Dolly di's mobile interrrupted Umesh bhaiya.

"What?!! Oh no! Ok I'l come ASAP!", said dolly di to the caller and hungup the call with a worried and sad face.

"What's wrong?" asked Saurav. All our attention was now on Dolly di. "It was Amrita's call. Our professor has preponed our project submission date and we should submit it tomorrow! Which requires me to stay over at Divya's room tonight to complete the project." said a sad dolly di. Divya, Amrita and Dolly di were a 3 member team for some project of their's.

"It's ok Dolly, we can go there again tomorrow with you. I think we six are enough to scare the ghost of that Villa today." said Saurav winking.

"But.."

"No ifs and buts dolly di! We can go there with you someother day as we are here for a week! But, right now your project completion must be your priority. We can enjoy tomorrow as you will be tension free and Amrita will join us too." said Sukku interrupting Dolly di.

"okays then! see you all tomorrow afternoon, as I will directly go to college from Divya's place tomorrow". After assuring dolly di of our safety, we bid her a goodbye and headed out for dinner. We had our dinner at a nearby restaurant and came back to the room to pack our stuff for the nightout at Vaz Villa.

It was around 11:40pm when we reached the Villa. The street was already deserted and the spooky look of the Villa sent an involuntary shiver down my spine. It was decided that Sukku would jump over the compound first, followed by Umesh bhaiya, Kirti, Saurav, Kabir and then me. Just when I placed my hand on the compound wall, ready to jump, "DON'T" whispered someone right next to my ear!. I immediately retracted my hand from the compound and turned back to see the source of that sound. But, to my surprise there was not a single soul behind me! "it's just your overthinking paranoid self Nisha!" I chided myself.

"Hurry up Nishu!", whisper-screamed an impatient Kirti from the other side of the compound. Shaking my head in a bid to dismiss the unwanted thoughts, I jumped over the wall and joined the rest.

"Do we really need to do this?", asked my scared hubby.

"Actually, this place is starting to give me the chills Nishu, are you sure the haunting was busted?" asked an uncertain Kirti.

"Guys please don't get yourself worked-up! Or else even a gust of wind may seem abnormal to you", I said half boosting their confidence and half reassuring myself.

Sukku and Umesh bhaiya led the way to the main door with flashlights in their hand.

"aah" shouted Kabir suddenly, making us jump out startled.

"What the hell is wrong with you Kabir?!", asked an irritated Saurav.

"I.. I just bu..bumped into s...s..something or someone", stammered Kabir with his eyes closed tight in fear.

"Relax Kabir, It's just the old car", said Umesh bhaiya shining the flashlight on the broken down car, as we sighed in relief.

"oh sorry", said a relieved Kabir, giving us a silly smile. Shaking our heads at him we turned our attention back to the main door. Just when Umesh bhaiya was about to keep his hand on the door handle to open it, something rattled behind us. The sound seemed to come from the direction of the old rusty gate.

"Let me check it out", I said moving ahead when Kabir caught my hand.

"lets all go together" I nodded at him and we went near the gate to check out the object causing the sound.

"Seems like some sign board", I said moving the dry leaves covering it.

Sukku focused his flashlight on it and we all gasped reading the signboard! It read: