Ghost hunting- Book 1 (Part 1)

It was indeed a glorious day! Randalf had made a path breaking discovery and had finally managed to finish the machine on which he had been working tirelessly for years. He had worked day and night making modifications, checking accuracy and adjusting it according to his needs. It had become an obsession with him. And today, finally, all his toiling and hard work had paid off. The machine of his dreams was ready. It was an ordinary looking instrument but was actually quite sophisticated. It looked like any other radar would look like. But it had been modified and tweaked to perfection by its maker until it was perfectly ready to serve its ‘purpose’. The purpose in itself was quite an extraordinary one. It had received both criticism and applause in ample measures. People had branded him as a maniac, an insane person who had lost his marbles. They called him a crack minded weirdo who was wasting his time and immense talent on that fruitless purpose. But there were many others who were in awe of his objective. They considered him to be the bravest person there could be and secretly applauded his feat. His machine had been condemned as diabolical and dangerous by the clergy men. A strained atmosphere prevailed throughout the village.

His purpose was radical. He wanted to hunt ghosts.

Randalf had been an aspiring mechanical engineer. He did his M. Tech from the renowned University of Edinburgh and passed out with flying colours. But that one incident changed his whole life. He had gone to visit his Granma during the Easter break like he always did. He always looked forward to those visits as he loved his Granma and her wonderful cooking. His Granma was an aged lady and no one knew how old she really was. He had never seen her eating as such but she had once told him that she was too old to have an appetite. But she loved cooking for him and Randalf enjoyed the delicacies she made for him. He also looked forward to meeting his friend Rasool. They had been born on the same day and co-incidentally had a similar look. And as fate would have it, they shared similar tastes too. They were considered to be the bravest bunch of boys in the village. Their tales of pluck and daring were spread throughout the village. But when they became 18, they had to separate. Randalf chose to pursue his dream of becoming a mechanical engineer and joined University of Edinburgh. Rasool, on the other hand, decided to stay back and help his old father with the farming. They parted with each other with heavy hearts and smiles on their faces but promised to meet each other every Easter. They also stayed in touch through telephone and kept updating each other with the latest news.

On that fateful Easter when Randalf returned home for his holidays, he and Rasool hatched up a plan to visit a supposedly ‘haunted’ mansion. Without disclosing their plans to anyone, they made a rendezvous at the back gate of the ‘haunted house’. They scaled the wall, jumped into the back yard of the house and went inside through a battered old door. There is no solid account of what happened after that. All everyone knew was that Randalf came out screaming with a panic stricken face. All he managed to explain in an incoherent voice was that Rasool had been captured by the ghosts of the haunted house. Then he fainted. The people blinked for a minute and it was only then that the horrific news sunk into their minds. An immediate pandemonium issued among the people and it took a full hour for the village head to calm them down. A rescue party was quickly organised and the search for Rasool began. No one dared to go inside the mansion. So they scouted the perimeter but found nothing. The next day they found a few blood stains on the porch of the house.

 Randalf became mad with grief. He had lost his best friend. His brother. He swore to avenge his friend’s death. He set upon making a machine which would enable him to hunt down the perpetrators and take his revenge. He worked tirelessly for three years with little success. He lost track of night and day and continued working on his mission. Finally in the fourth year he managed to get a break through and achieved what he wanted. The machine was ready.

 He fixed the exact day on which that tragic incident had taken place 5yrs ago. Soon the fateful day arrived. Randalf walked to the same place from where his misfortunes had begun. He stood resolutely in front of the back gate of the mansion with a fiercely determined expression on his face and a slightly maniacal glint in his eye. He stared at the gates for two minutes and then started climbing the wall.

(To be continued..........)