Praveen has been having some odd experiences today "Mom, this house is haunted".
"Why do you keep saying that since you woke up?, this house is not haunted" assured Raji his mother, who looked tired most of the time these days, as she had been working twice as hard to keep the family afloat since his dad left.
"No, it is ", "I can feel them, I can even hear them" insisted Praveen.
"What has suddenly gotten in to you" enquired his mother "You are 13 now, and you are old enough to know quite well there are no such things called ghosts, eat your breakfast soon, I will have to drop you in school and get to my office by 9 am".
He knew she would not believe if he told her that he had seen his pillow moving in the air, and then sounds of people conversing in the hall about a cricket match, he even heard a baby cry a few times, right besides him in the bed. So he decided it's better to keep mouth closed, may be he was imagining things, he thought to himself.
"Mommmm..... " screamed Praveen while his mother was cleaning the dishes, "Mom, today is Monday this is not Monday's uniform!, where is the other pair",
his mother got red with shame that she had forgotten and hesitantly pointed to the cupboard "sorry dear, I had forgotten to iron them, you will have to make do with this somehow".
"Okey, but just today", nodding with a stern look on his face, Praveen understood, how difficult it has been for his mother so he had already decided to make her life easier in every little way he could.
"Praveen, Praveen, get up it's time for you to go to school" said Raji "it's 7 already, I have to be in my office by nine".
When his mother left the room, he heard a girl shouting, "mother you only care about him, you have no care for me at all", and then an elderly women's voice replied "O darling, I love you, but he is just a baby he cannot take care of himself", Praveen alarmed, looked around the room, then outside his window, the sounds seemed like they definitely came from inside of his room, he shivered at the thought of what he had just witnessed and rushed away from his room.
"Mom, I have been hearing strange noises today" said Praveen during breakfast. But his mother was not listening she was busy ironing his Monday dress which she had forgotten to iron yesterday.
"Mom, mom, what are you doing it's 7.30, you should be the one waking me up", shaking his mother's shoulders, his mother Raji slowly gaining consciousness from her dream state whispered in surprise "what it's 7.30 already! ", sprinted off the bed in seconds. picked up a brush and started brushing and simultaneously heated the pan over the stove, "shit, it's Monday, I have this important meeting at 9.15" she screamed knocking her head with a brush.
"Praveen, wake up, I have made poories and chana Masala today, your favorite, and don't forget to wear your Monday uniforms I have them ready too".
When Praveen went to the bath room, he heard a flushing sound, but he hadn't flushed the toilet, then a man's voice boomed right outside the bathroom door "who had left the tap open".
Praveen opened the cupboard to look for his unicorn when he heard chorus screams, a young female's voice exclaimed "look, it's opening by itself", praveen was alarmed, but there was no one around then a male voice whispered "it must be them, this has got to end today, I will call the Father, you call the previous owner". Scared Praveen ran to look for his mother, but she was busy getting the food ready so he restrained himself from complaining.
At the breakfast table Praveen muttered "don't you think something weird is going on", "what weird things?" questioned his mother curiously,
"I feel like there are people around me, standing right beside me and talking".
" ha ha ha really funny, stop making things up, we have no time for this now"
When they were about to go out of the house to the car, a loud deep voice beamed "Mrs. Raji, Mrs. Raji", it came from within the house, but they were the only ones there, Raji was in shock, but she answered back cautiously, in a very low tone " who is this?, what are you doing in our house?". But all they heard was
"I think I am getting some kind of a connection", it seemed like the deep voice was addressing someone else, it spoke again "everyone hold your hands tight", both Praveen and Raji were shaking, Raji looked at Praveen who had a I told you so look on his face, which was imposed over terror.
"Mom look" Praveen pointed at the door with a sudden jerk, a translucent image of a man with golden red robes with a rosary in one hand and a hammer in the other hand started appearing, he was not looking at them but at the dinner table, the room started dimming and images of 4-5 people holding their hands appeared, they were shitting n chairs around the table, and like the man with the golden robes they seemed be getting clearer with time, a single candle was lit on the table was their only source of light now. Praveen held his mothers hand tight as she looked on with jitters.
"Can you hear me mrs.Raji? " questioned the man with the golden robes, "hear you I can see you" replies Raji and "please leave us alone, what did we do to you?".
"please mam, it's time for you to pass on" said the man "you should leave the family alone, they have young children, didn't you have a son too".
Raji got less scared now and more confused "I still have him, he is right beside me, what do you what?, I can't leave the house, this is my house, you should all get out now?".
"Raji" someone spoke from the table, this voice was trembling? It sounded like the person was crying, "it's Suresh, it's me Suresh".
Raji froze when she heard his voice, it was Suresh was her ex- husband, who left her for his secretary, his voice brought back all the painful memories of the messy divorce, "Suresh, what are you doing here, what kind of a sick joke is this".
On hearing her voice he started crying harder " Raji, it is you, it is really you, is Praveen with you too, I miss you both so much, I am so sorry" and gave out a very painful growl, cleared his throat and started speaking again, " if I hadn't left you none of this would have happened, it is all my fault".
" What is you're fault Suresh" Raji questioned with all the anger towards him, replaced by sympathy now, "we are doing fine".
Suresh questioned "Raji don't you remember the accident?, don't you know what happened to you on 12th June 2010.
"Today is 12th June 2010" Raji snapped, "what are you even trying to say".
"Raji today is 20th January 2016,
you and Paveen, both died on 12 th June 2010, it was a monday morning and you were driving him to school, the doctors told me, both you died before you were brought in to the hospital".
