Short Story: The House of None (Part Three)

Part Three: 28 dead bodies

Without wasting another minute, Professor Roy stepped inside the house. He switched on the torchlight to see the interiors of the house. As heard, the house was neat and tidy. It felt as if someone cleaned the house regularly and stayed there. The house still had furniture which was covered by white sheets. Professor Roy walked through the corridor and entered the kitchen. It was also clean. He tried switching on the tube light but, there was no electricity. He searched every nook and cranny but, didn’t find anything worth. He thought the rumors about the house were untrue, and people here were definitely imagining things.

  Someone comes here every day and cleans this house. Professor assumed.

 He turned around and looked towards the door thinking of getting out of this house because his visit was nothing but just waste of time. He was walking towards the door when in front of his eyes, the door got closed on its own. After watching this, Professor Roy did not move an inch. It took him few seconds to perceive what had just happened.  This was his biggest fear before entering the house. And his fears often came true. Quietly, he moved towards the direction of the door. He tried opening the door, forcefully but, he failed. He was trapped. He shouldn’t have entered the house after listening to those stories. Inside his head, he was constantly blaming himself.

 He stood there for some more minutes thinking of getting out of David’s house. Within a minute, he saw windows of the house closing automatically as if they were preprogrammed. He ran towards a window and punched it with thrust but it was of no use. He ended up hurting himself. He looked outside from the glass of the window. He got a blurry view of the wall. He rubbed the glass of the window and again tried to see outside. Again, he was unable to see clearly. Tired of trying again, Professor turned around to check if there was a door on the backside. What he saw next, left him astonished. The furniture which was kept in the drawing room had disappeared. Professor Roy found it hard to digest this fact but, it was true. Then he remembered what he saw at 2 a.m. that night. The used furniture was kept on the backside. He entered the kitchen in a hurry and saw from the window. Whatever he had seen that night, had already disappeared. All he could do now was – laugh.  He laughed out loud, running his fingers through his hair. He knew he had no other option but, to face the reality. And the reality was: he was dealing with spirits this time. Not human beings.

 In a hope to find a way, he walked around the house peacefully observing the walls. He entered one of the bedrooms and saw there was something drawn on the wall. It was a drawing of an elephant. This used to be their daughter’s room, he thought. He sat on the floor predicting what might happen next. This house had a habit of throwing unexpected situations on people. Professor Roy never used to believe in ghosts but, now, he has to believe in them. He had seen everything with his own eyes. He closed his eyes to reduce the fear which was deeply unnerving him. That is when he heard a noise. It was coming from the same bedroom. He opened his eyes slowly to see what was happening. He saw a newspaper lying next to him. It was one single paper which had news reports on both the sides. Professor Roy flashed the light on it and read the headline in his mind:

5 more people found dead in the house, where 1992 mass-murder happened!

Professor Roy went on to read the whole news report and turned the paper to read the other side. The news report on the other side not only shocked him but also gave him the answer to this case. He heard a big banging sound in the house. He got out of the bedroom and again saw something unexpected: The door got open on its own.

 “So, this is the mystery of this house.” He smiled as he stepped out of the house.

NEXT DAY: NIRAJ’S HOUSE

It was Sunday. Everyone had holiday and ones who worked during Sunday were forced to take a day’s leave.  Professor Roy had called an urgent meeting to disclose the secret of David’s house, which was popularly known as The House of None. Everyone assembled (and adjusted) in the drawing room of Niraj’s house. Everyone came excluding small kids because no one wanted their children to get afraid. Though, they were already aware of the mysterious house near to them.

 “Well, everyone knows why I have called you all here. But then also I will repeat everything once again. The last house of the lane next to this lane is rumored to be haunted. 10 years back, David lived there with his family. One day, 28 died bodies are found in David’s house. A night before he had called everyone in his house for a party and in this party, something very, very mysterious happens and all the people are dead. During Police investigation, no poison was found in the food which was served in the party. Everyone died that day. This whole small town died that day except one.” Professor explained.

 “Who?” Someone asked.

 “Why so much hurry? I’ll explain you everything. So, where was I?  Yeah, the whole town died that day except one person. I will tell the name of the person very soon. But before that, you need to hear something else too. Last night, I entered the house and I got trapped inside it. I experienced some strange things while I was inside that house. Well, this means – the house was haunted. It was. Now, it’s not haunted anymore. It’s like any other house and anyone can stay there. Leaving that aside, I will tell you that one of the spirits in the house helped me to solve the case. Niraj, will you please tell me how many houses are there in this whole town?”

“40 houses!”

“Right! Well, when this incident happened there were 3 lanes which had 20 houses. And now, there are 40 houses well-constructed by AP builders. He is the one who instructed someone to kill everyone that night because everyone opposed his decision of deforestation. In 1992, this place was a major tourist attraction due to nature and that is when the owner of AP builders decided to make this a settlement area. But, people here loved the natural environment and straight away refused his offer. Then he planned to clear his path by killing everyone. The entire town.”

  “Last night, when I was inside that house, a newspaper came to me by its own. The first page of the newspaper said that 5 more people were found dead in David’s house a year after the mass-murder incident. Well, at that time, no one lived here. This was the area under construction and people who died in David’s house were construction workers who were trying to demolish David’s house. They were killed in the same way. But this time, poison was found in the food. I don’t know who poisoned it. It might be done by the spirits in that house because they didn’t want the house to be destroyed. This news received less coverage that is why people are not aware of it.”

“Now, the only question remains – who helped the owner of AP builder? Unfortunately, the person who helped AP builders was none other than David’s wife. I am not saying it because I want to prove my intelligence by solving this case. I have a very logical explanation for this. First of all, when people ate the food there was poison in it already. Second thing is, she knew when the next party was or she might have invited people to her home for dinner. She must have made the food again and cleared the poisoned food. Well, anyone would doubt my explanation by questioning – how can a woman kill her own husband and daughter? Well, I have an explanation for this too. So, this newspaper had something written on the other side too. And this what the headlines read –  

Wife of a reputable builder poisoned herself and her husband in front of many people. 

“The woman in this image is David’s wife, Amy" Professor revealed.  

“How can you be so sure about it? She can be someone else.” Someone from the crowd said. 

“I must have thought the same but, police records have some photos of David and his family which they took into their custody after the incident. After visiting you Pooja, I called my friend, Mr. Rohan and asked him to help me with the photos. I wanted to take a look at them. Luckily, he got a family photo of David. This is the one. Amy married the owner of AP builder, afterward. There was an affair between them I think so or maybe she did this heartless crime for money. So, does anyone have any doubts?”

No one responded. Everyone stayed silent. But, Professor Roy still had something to say.

“But, still, that day 28 people died and I have this list of names of those people. Police found 28 dead bodies in the house and this list includes David’s wife’s name. Then how can there be 28 dead bodies? Because one person from this list did not die. Then why police wrote 28 dead bodies?” Professor stood there expecting an answer from someone. He did not get any.

“David’s family had a dog, a mongrel. Including him, there were 28 dead bodies because in the entire town 28 people and one animal lived. By mistake, police wrote her name even though she wasn’t dead or AP builder brided them to do so (I don’t know) but, they didn’t write the dead dog’s name. This is the entire mystery. Thank you, you all may leave now. Don’t be afraid, now. The house won’t disturb anyone from now.” Professor Roy said, sadly.

Professor Roy had lunch and stepped out of Niraj’s house. They both reached car in which Professor came.

“Thank you, Roy. This means a lot. But, are you sure that house is no more haunted?”  Niraj asked.

“I am very sure, Niraj. And I want to share something with you. I never believed in evil spirits until yesterday night. Perhaps, I always thought that there’s nothing that a human being can do. I thought human beings are almost capable of everything. But yesterday’s night proved two major things that I would never forget: One – that spirits exist. Two – Not all spirits are evil. Some are just wandering around like unsolved mysteries wanting to be solved.”

“Take care, Professor. Drive safely.”

“You need to trust my skills at least for now! Will you?”

He smiled and drove away