Christmas Eve
By: Kavya Janani. U
Tags: Halloween, Short Story, Fiction, Short Fiction, Horror

December 24…

Christmas Eve

Tanmay crept inside the kitchen to drive away a black cat that had entered in his absence. The cat was peacefully sleeping on the kitchen’s windowsill. Sensing human movement, the cat stirred. The next moment, it turned and stared into Tanmay’s eyes with its green shining eyeballs. Tanmay screamed in horror and the black cat fled from the scene, jumping out of the window.

For a few moments, Tanmay could not comprehend what had happened. He wiped off the sweat beads from his forehead. He realized that he frightened a poor cat, instead of silently shooing it away. He could not believe that the fear of a black cat’s eyes had gripped him. Heaving a sigh of relief, he opened the fridge and took out the roasted chicken, which he had saved for the Christmas Eve.

With the sumptuous dish in his hand, he dimmed the lights in the hall and plopped down on the cozy sofa. “Should I watch Insidious 1 or 2?” he spoke to himself. There were two DVDs on the tea table. He closed his eyes and slowly hovered over the DVDs with his index finger. Suddenly, the persistent ringing of the telephone pierced through the tranquil atmosphere of the house. Adrenalin gushed throughout his entire body. He opened his eyes and frantically gulped some saliva. His legs wobbled as he stood up to attend the call.

“Hel..hellooo..” he stammered.

“Tanmay beta, how are you?” the voice at the other end asked.

Tanmay heaved a sigh of relief. He wondered why his mom did not call his mobile phone.

“Ma, I am fine. I am glad that you called me. I was shivering with fear a few seconds ago.”

“Oh my God! What happened, beta? Anything bothering you?” asked his mom, with her usual concern.

“Nothing, Ma. I just feel creepy to live in this big house all alone. Even a small cat or a telephone ring terrifies me. I don’t know what happened to me. I used to be a brave guy. But…”

“Don’t worry about anything, dear. You will get accustomed to the house. It’s just been two months since you moved in. You will feel all right after a few days. Be friendly with your neighbours so that they might help you if you are in trouble.”

“Okay, Ma, I feel better talking to you,” saying so, Tanmay began playing with the end of the oval mirror that hung on the wall above the telephone. His eyes slowly moved over to the mirror to catch a glimpse of his face. But, he was shocked to see two reflections on the mirror! The second one was that of a girl, standing behind him.

“Aaaaaaa…” he screamed. The receiver slipped from his hands. He turned back and saw. There was none behind him! He searched the entire drawing room, but she was not there. He was sweating profusely. He opened the bathroom to check if anyone was present there. After double-checking all the rooms, he was sure that he was hallucinating. Closing the doors of all the rooms, he moved to the drawing room once again. He picked up the receiver and placed it back on the base.

He silently seated himself on the sofa. His mobile phone began ringing. He picked up in an instant, knowing that it was his mother.

“Hello, Tanmay beta, how are you?” His mother’s cheerful voice boomed over the phone.

“Ma! You called me just now, right? To the landline?” He asked, his eyebrows furrowing automatically.

“No, beta, I did not call. I don’t even know your landline number.”

Tanmay felt paralyzed for a moment. He realized that something was horribly wrong and abruptly cut the call. He looked around the wretched house. There was no sound except the ticking of the clock. The serene mood of the house was disturbing him. He remembered the gala days, which he had spent with his family back in Jaipur.

Slowly, he reached for the water bottle. He sipped some water to wet his dry throat. The next moment, the water turned red. It was blood.

“Yuck!” Tanmay spit the water and threw the bottle away. His eyes widened as he saw the rolling bottle on the floor.

“This can’t happen,” he said to himself. There was only water spilled on the floor, no blood.

“I saw blood a moment before. How can this happen? I can’t hallucinate this much. I have not been affected by anything…” But there was no one to comfort him. He was his own partner. He looked out of the window to call any neighbour to strike a conversation, so that he might not feel lonely, but there was nobody. Everybody was probably celebrating Christmas with their families inside their homes. He could only see a beautifully decorated Christmas tree and a shining pink star dangling in the house opposite to his.

Exactly after ten minutes, everything was back to normal, or Tanmay presumed so. He was gobbling up the roasted chicken in small pieces, savouring every bit of it. He then chose Insidious 1 and inserted the DVD inside the player. The movie began with its title and the characters’ names. The B/W eerie images, which were displayed along with the names, sent a chill down his spine.

“I should not be watching this now. First, it was the cat, then the telephone, the girl-like reflection, mom saying that she never called, and finally the water turning red. Something is wrong with me. And yet I have chosen to watch Insidious,” he spoke to himself. Though his mind cried out to switch off the TV and go to sleep, he never budged from his place. He fixed his eyes on the screen, for the movie was about to begin.

He clutched the hand rest of the sofa as the sequences began to play on the screen. He shuddered and shivered when he saw a Hindi movie being played on the TV instead of Insidious. He stopped the player and ejected the DVD. He checked and it was indeed Insidious 1. He inserted the DVD in his laptop to check. It was perfect.

‘ “How come?”’ he thought, and once again inserted the DVD in the player. The title showed ‘Insidious’ and the titles were being shown. And then, the wedding video of his parents began playing. Then the TV automatically turned off!

Tanmay was too stunned to move. He was sure that he had inserted Insidious 1 DVD. But what he had watched was beyond explanation. He became aware of the presence of a spirit inside the house.

“I am not hallucinating. There is a ghost in here.” He wondered how he could believe in ghosts. But whatever happened in the past one hour was enough to make him believe in everything that was scary. He tried to stand up but his legs weren’t cooperating.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He was not able to turn his head around. The grip of the hand turned firm. He felt someone breathing near his neck. He could smell the fresh fragrance of cologne, which he had known for many years.

‘That’s Anushkriti’s perfume,’ he thought.

“Who are you? Come and stand before me!” he yelled at his tormentor. A shrill devilish laughter echoed throughout the house. Tanmay’s heart pounded with fear. His face expressed complete agony. Even then, he thought that the invisible intruder was a human being and not a ghost. The hands engulfed his neck and he choked. The intruder placed its chin on his head and let out a laugh. It then placed its hand below Tanmay’s chin and made him to look up. And he saw Anushkriti. Her hair was dishevelled. Her teeth were stained red as if she was chewing on paan. Her eyes were watery and her cheeks had scars. She was deadly in appearance. Tanmay had a panic attack and his brain stopped responding. His eyes were transfixed on Anushkriti. He felt numb and her fingernails were burying deep into his neck. And then blood gushed out, soaking him completely. Anushkriti closed his eyes with her palm and let out a tiny squeal of joy.

“Ghosts do exist!” she chortled and vanished, leaving behind Tanmay’s lifeless body.

Then the screen in Room no. 7 of SFA Studio turned black. The words appeared in bold letters:

A film by Tanmay Sharma

The credits began to roll and the spectators were jolted back to reality.

“Woooohoooo! Tanmay you nailed it, yaar!” Tanmay’s friends applauded and carried him as a mark of victory. Tanmay looked at Pritham who was still in some kind of trance after watching the movie. He came over and congratulated him.

“Well done, Tanmay! I haven’t been scared like this before. This movie gave me the jitters. The first half, which you played yesterday kept me guessing what would happen next. I even made out my own scenes of how the character ‘Tanmay’ would realize the presence of ghosts, and the second half, beginning from the black cat, was just mind-blowing. You have brought out all the elements of a perfect short horror movie.”

“Thank you so much, Pritham. I am overwhelmed!” said Tanmay, with happiness dancing on his face.

“Well, casting yourself was a great idea. What about the girl in the movie?”

“Ha! That girl is a look-alike of Anushkriti, my deceased girlfriend. I had almost launched a hunt through the entire city for this doppelganger.”

Pritham’s expression changed to that of shock. He asked, “But don’t you think casting someone in a dead person’s identity would receive the wrath of the dead, that too, Anushkriti being your loved one?”

“Ha ha ha…is this some kind of a joke, Pritham? Do you also believe in ghosts? There is no such thing. Chill out, man!” said Tanmay, patting on Pritham’s back.

Pritham smiled uneasily and waved him a goodbye, promising to showcase Tanmay’s Christmas Eve movie in Short Celluloid competition.