An elderly woman in her 40s was doing aarti of Bhagwan’s idol. ‘Jai Mata di,’ she said this with bell in her one hand which she was ringing in front of the idol. She heard screeching sound from outside which was very loud. She took Mata’s blessings and went outside to check. Her gaze went on the swing which was moving back and forth continuously but no one was sitting on it. It was breezy night, but not too much windy that the swing would move too fast on its own. She went towards it and stopped it as the sound irritated her.
As she started leaving and was at a distance of ten steps from the swing, she heard the screeching sound again. She started sweating as it wasn’t normal for such a heavy swing to move so fast that too on its own. She turned back and walked to the swing again and as she was about to stop it again, she moved back with a jerk in shock as she heard a familiar singing voice near her. ‘La la la la la la lallalala, la la la la la la la la, hmmmmmmm hmm hmmmm hmmm hmmhm hmmhm hmhmhmhm,’ this was the humming sound she heard.
Just then she fell unconscious on the floor. In Dehradun, a man in his late 20s was working on the laptop, his eyebrows creased from the stress, but he continued working on laptop. He heard a knock on the door. ‘Come in,’ he said still engrossed in his work. ‘Sir there’s a call for you,’ said a girl wearing her work outfit, her hair were tied in a ponytail. ‘Receive,’ he ordered. She did so and gave the phone to him. ‘Hallo,’ he spoke over the phone. ‘Yes, I am Shivaay Singh Oberoi, what’s the matter?’
Shock came over him as he heard the words of the person on the other end of the phone. ‘Ok,’ he said and the call disconnected. ‘Kumud, go book today’s flight, mom is unwell,’ he ordered his secretary Kumud. She went. Just then two men entered his room. ‘Shivay, we want to go back to Mumbai,’ he said sitting in front of him. ‘I have already booked tickets of today after two hours my dear brothers, mom is unwell and she’s in hospital, don’t know what happened suddenly,’ he said. ‘Shivaay, I can see you don’t want to go,’ said the man who had neck length hair.
‘No Om, its about mom and even if I don’t want to, I will go at any cost, I need to pack my stuff,’ he said and went to his cupboard. ‘Rudra, don’t you think he’s ignorant, he’s just avoiding the reality, he really doesn’t want to go,’ Om said in a low voice. ‘Yes I think the same, but mom isn’t well, let’s go pack our stuff as well,’ he replied and they went. Shivay was done with half of his packing, he rolled up his sleeve.
There was a scar of heart with letter ‘A’ carved with knife on his wrist. He touched it lightly. [Background music: La la la la la la lallalala, la la la la la la la la, hmmmmmmm hmm hmmmm hmmm hmmhm hmmhm hmhmhmhm]. He got into deep thoughts. Many flashes came of little boy and girl swinging together, having mud fight, joining pinky fingers as a promise, teenage boy running behind the girl around a swing and then the girl falling on the swing and the boy kissing her forehead, girl crying reading a letter and the boy holding the girl’s face.
He opened his eyes suddenly and realized he was in the cab and was dreaming, their cab had collided accidentally with a car but nothing major had happened. ‘You OK Shivaay? What are you thinking bro?’, Om asked concerned. ‘Yes, we’ve been noticing you are not willing to go? If you say, we can go and check and if there’s your need, we’ll call?’, Rudra suggested. ‘No, its nothing like that, I was just thinking that now when Anika won’t be there in that house, I will feel really strange,’ Shivaay said sadly. ‘Its high time you should move on,’ Rudra said.
‘Its not easy, for me its like yesterday she died,’ he replied. ‘But bro, she also won’t be wanting you to stay unhappy recalling her for twenty four hours,’ Om said. ‘I am responsible for whatever happened, if I wouldn’t have gone out that night, nothing would’ve happened to her,’ Shivaay said. ‘Don’t say that bro, aapko bhi samajh lena chahiye k honee ko koi taal nahi sakta, don’t blame yourself,’ Om said. ‘Yes bhai, its not your fault,’ Rudra said. So they reached the airport and flew to Mumbai within some hours.
Rudra and Om went to Oberoi Mansion to unpack dropping Shivaay outside Lifeline Hospital. He went inside and walked towards the reception. ‘Pinky Oberoi,’ he said and the receptionist checked the register and told the ward number and he went there and opened the door of the ward peeping in making sure its the correct ward. He went inside as he saw its his mother only. ‘Mom,’ he spoke warmly placing his hand on her arm. She didn’t responded. A nurse came inside. ‘Sir please don’t disturb the patient right now. She’s unconscious,’ she said. ‘What exactly happened to her?’, he asked.
‘The shock of something has affected her brain, she needs complete rest,’ she replied. ‘There’s nothing to get scared,right?’, he asked. ‘No,’ she said and he walked out giving her a last glance. He then sat in a car which belonged to him and the driver was driving the car. After a short drive, he stepped down in front of a luxurious mansion, the front had a small fence gate, behind it had a big beautiful garden and then came the big Oberoi Mansion. He opened the small gate and walked inside looking at the garden that held many memories.
He stopped while walking and closed his eyes inhaling the beautiful fragrance of flowers that made him feel nostalgic and smiled opening his eyes. He looked at the big iron swing, white in colour, it was same as before. It too held many memories. So much sadness to deal with.
(A/N: OK so this is basically a horror ff, you might have already known by the starting scene, I don’t know if anyone will like it, so please everyone tell your views)