The air was chilled and an aura of eeriness prevailed inside the house. Patches of red were vaguely visible on the walls.
"Dry blood." thought Randalf grimly. He looked at the girl walking next to him from the corner of his eyes and noticed a sort of blank and slightly scared look on her face. Her fists were tightly clenched as if in an effort to gather courage and appear brave. His thoughts had been full of the beautiful and attractive girl, Elizabeth, who he had rescued a few moments ago. He tried clearing these thoughts out of his head again and again but without much success.
“I need to think clearly! Focus Randalf, focus!” he said to himself sternly.
Two minutes passed by.
“Didn’t you know this house was haunted?” whispered Randalf to Elizabeth. He had abandoned the attempt to clear his mind.
“Not really” whispered back Elizabeth. “You see, we are new here. We had heard some stories about a house which was inhabited by ghosts. But we did not know this was it!”
“Oh,” replied Randalf. He remained silent for a minute.
“You know, I lost my best friend in this very house 5 years ago,” he murmured.
“Really? How sad! I’m sorry!” said Elizabeth remorsefully. “Was he.....?”
“Yes.” replied Randalf heavily. “He was like a brother to me! We...” he said and broke off.
“I’m so sorry Randalf!” said Elizabeth softly.
“I can never forgive myself. It was entirely my fault! It was my idea to come to this cursed house. If only we had stayed away from it, he would still have been alive!” said Randalf sorrowfully.
“Come on Randalf. You can’t blame yourself for everything!” said Elizabeth. “What has happened has happened. You cannot do anything to bring him back. You have to let go of your past! Start a new life!”
“You are right, Elizabeth.” said Randalf. “I sorry I broke down like this. I have carried this burden with me ever since that day, and it just came pouring out suddenly!”
“That’s okay, Randalf.” replied Elizabeth. “I’m glad I could help ease your burden.”
“Thanks, Elizabeth!” said Randalf gratefully. “I won’t let Rasool’s death go in vain! I’ll have my revenge! This ghost has troubled so many people, destroyed so many lives! But now it’s payback time. I’ll make sure they pay for what they have done!” said Randalf fiercely.
He looked at Elizabeth and saw her staring at him.
“Are you ok?” he asked her.
“Yes, I’m fine.” replied Elizabeth. “You know what Randalf? You are the bravest person I have ever met!” she said smiling.
Randalf smiled back as they started walking again. He looked into his radar.
“We are nearly there!” said Randalf looking at the blinking red light. “Your sister must be in there.” he said pointing at a room.
“Oh! I hope she’s safe!” said Elizabeth worriedly.
They made their way towards the room cautiously, looking around for any sign of disturbance. Randalf opened the door softly and flashed his torch inside the dark room.
Elizabeth stuck her head inside the room and gave a squeal.
“Rosaline! There you are! Are you okay?” She ran inside and made her way to the corner of the room where a dishevelled, scared looking girl was huddled against the wall.
“Oh, Elizabeth! I’m so hungry! Help me!” said Rosaline sobbing.
Randalf stepped inside the room and looked at the girl. She seemed to be in her teens. She had a pretty face which was currently dirty and streaked with tears. Her hair was messed up and her clothes were stained with blood.
“Is she ok?” asked Randalf with concern.
Rosaline noticed Randalf for the first time and stared up at him.
“Randalf, this is Rosaline my younger sister.” said Elizabeth smiling at him.
“Rose dear, this is Randalf. He has come to rescue us!” she explained quickly.
“Oh...” muttered Rosaline. “I’m so glad you're here, sir!” she said to Randalf.
“I’m glad I could be of help.” said Randalf gravely. “Are you hurt? You have got blood stains on your clothes!”
“Yes she’s fine,” said Elizabeth. “There are no injuries as far as I can see.”
“Oh yes, I’m fine!” assured Rosaline. “This whole place is so bloody and dirty! I think it must have stuck while I ran to hide here. I was running blindly!“
“Oh... Ok.” said Randalf. "Anyways, we need to get out of here as quickly as possible!”
Randalf consulted his map to plan an escape. They made their way out of the room warily, carefully proceeded to the ground floor of the house and then towards the back exit. Randalf was focussing completely on getting the sisters out of the house safely.
He checked his radar again. The two red lights representing Elizabeth and Rosaline were still blinking. There was still no sign of a blue dot.
“Where could the ghost be?” Randalf wondered as they were passing by the bathroom on the first floor. The surprising lack of ghostly activities was getting on his nerves.
“The sooner we get out of here the better,” thought Randalf grimly.
“Excuse me! What’s that you have in your hand?” enquired Rosaline, pointing at the radar.
After Randalf explained how it works, Rosaline asked, “So it points out ghosts with a blinking blue light and humans with a red one?”
“That’s right,” confirmed Randalf. “Ghosts have a cold aura around them. This machine detects it and the blue light blinks. Humans, on the other hand, have warmth inside them. So it detects that and the red light starts blinking,” he explained.
“That’s wonderful!” exclaimed Rosaline. “You seem to know a lot about ghosts.”
“Well, I did do a little bit of research before coming here.” confessed Randalf.
He turned back and saw that Elizabeth had stopped in front of the bathroom.
“Hey! We have to leave quickly! You can wash up later when we’re out of here!” said Randalf urgently. His anxiety had reached its peak.
“I had heard a rumour about ghosts too,” said Rosaline.
“That’s good!” said Randalf irritably. “What was it?”
“That ghosts change the polarity of the area around them or something,” said Rosaline.
“What?” asked Randalf confused.
“Nothing much. It's just that the presence of ghosts make electronic instruments go haywire,” said Elizabeth sadly.
The atmosphere was unnaturally chilly. Now that he thought about it, the air had been colder ever since Rosaline had joined them. Randalf blew out air and saw vapour swirling out of his mouth. He looked up at the two girls and saw them smiling at him ironically. Their words sunk inside his head slowly: “the presence of ghosts make all electronic instruments go haywire.”
His mouth dropped open.
It was 9.00 p.m. and darkness had settled outside. A passerby was hurrying past a creepy-looking mansion when he suddenly heard a loud scream coming from the house, followed by an eerie silence. Only a thick dripping sound issued from the house thereafter.
To be continued......
In BOOK 2
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