The Green Room

by Nag Mani

  Five minutes later, with not another page turned, she heard Anjali complain again. “Oh dear! I forgot to give him my key.”

  Chandni held her breath.

  “Chandni, are you free?”

  “Yes, Anjali?” she looked up, as if awoken from a deep reading session.

  “How careless of me! Can you please give this key to Rohan?”

  “Ma’am, you can call the guard-room and ask them to return, or they can arrange for a spare key,” Akshay interrupted. “They might not have reached the main gate by now.” He looked at Chandni, expecting appreciation for rescuing her. But she didn’t look pleased at all. No, she didn’t, for she was glaring at him, her fingers clenched. If eyes could kill, she brutally slaughtered him. “But I don’t have… number…” he gulped and trailed off, trembling under her gaze, wondering what went wrong.

  “Can you please go along and give Rohan this key?” Anjali turned back to her.

  Chandni let out a sigh. “Sure!” She stood up and casually settled her dress.

  “Thank you so much!” Anjali beamed at her. “There are some sweets in my fridge. Feel free to have a few!”

  It was very cold outside. The path to the main gate was deserted. She kept her eyes down, not daring to look around. She had expected to meet him midway but only dark trees awaited her, standing gloomily away from the light cast by lamp-posts. Something moved. She looked up. The Art Block loomed to her left, its gaping dark windows watching her. To her right, the mountain rolled down gradually to a small settlement. She could see a few lights below. The path went up and turned around a boulder. A dark figure stood there. Chandni stopped dead, her heart racing.

  It was her!

  She looked back. The Auditorium was out of sight. All she saw was murky trees towering above the lamp-posts. The figure took a step towards her. She stepped back, she fingers curled around her sleeves. She felt too weak to run. Her eyes began to water.

  “What are you doing here?” The figure spoke.

  A guard! Chandni let out a breath. She quickly wiped her eyes. “I was going to the Girls’ Hostel.”

  “Alone? You aren’t suppose be wandering alone at night. Let me see your gate-pass.” He held out his hand and came forward.

  Chandni raised her eye-brows. She wasn’t sure whether it was her face he recognised first or her golden badge, but the next moment he jumped to a side to give her way. “Yes, sure… sure! I will escort you,” he muttered. Relieved that she now had company, she followed him.

  Rohan was waiting outside the guard-room by the main gate. A guard was talking on a phone. “Hey!” he greeted as she approached.

  “Looking for this?” She dangled the key in front of him.

  “Oh, you brought it.” The guard hung up and came out. “We were trying to arrange for a spare.”

  “No need now. Where are the girls?” she asked.

  “They left. Too busy!” Rohan held out his hand.

  “Never mind! I’ll take you along.”

  Anjali’s house was small and cosy. Chandni opened the door and an exotic smell greeted them. The dining table was right in front of them. Other than that, her house was thinly furnished. Rohan spotted the bag on the table. And then he noticed something else. Resting behind the bag was an annual magazine.

  1989.

  He didn’t have to search. It was on the very first page. He saw a picture of a girl… an extremely beautiful girl. It almost pinched to look at her.

  Kajal Khanna

  1972-1989

  May her soul rest in peace.

  She looked familiar. Wasn’t she the same girl he had seen in the Vice-Principal’s Office?

  K. Khanna. That was her name. Kajal Khanna.

  She was the one he had seen near the Swimming Pool. Rohan picked up the magazine. She was dead. He felt sorry for her. The fact that she had killed three people should have terrorised him, but it didn’t. Chandni’s presence did not refrain him from gazing at her. She was his age when she died, savagely eaten by an animal. He heard her screams and they chilled his core. And then, he saw her earring. It was star-shaped, intricately designed, studded with white stones.

  “You have seen her too, haven’t you?” Chandni was leaning behind him.

  Rohan nodded.

  She picked up the bag and gently pulled him. “Come. Let’s go!”

  Neither Rohan nor Chandni said anything on their way back. She walked close beside him, but left him to his thought. He had her earring. It had been in his gown pocket all along. He had taken something of hers. Was that the reason why she was haunting him? He had to give it back. “Hey, I have to go back to my dormitory,” he said once they reached the Auditorium.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. I am fine.”

  She knew he wasn’t. Nevertheless, she went inside. Rohan ran all the way up to his dormitory. Boys roamed in every corridor, studying, playing, smiling, worrying… living. It was a different world altogether. He did not give anyone a chance to talk to him. He stopped only at his locker, panting, and pulled out his gown. There was something cold in its pocket. The silver earring. He loathed it. It was no longer beautiful. It was evil. He had to get rid of it.

  He ran down to the front quadrangle and flung it over the Chapel into the forest beyond. Having done that, he leaned against the parapet to catch his breath. He had thrown it away. He felt lighter, as if he had just got rid of a heavy burden. But the pity… why did he still feel sad for her? Shivering a little, he closed his eyes and hunched over a flower bed atop the parapet. After a while, he opened his eyes. He saw glimpses of hazy mountains and starry sky through strands of flowers and leaves. And he could not close his eyes again.

  He had dinner with rest of the school. Now that he was spending most of his time in the Auditorium, he had loads to catch up on. The warden haunted this part of the school. He punished and humiliated students for slightest violation of discipline. He recently made two juniors dress up like waiters and serve lunch to the school as punishment for cheating in an exam. Students were angry. Everyone refused to eat. Then prefects came into action, threatening them of severe punishments if they did not eat. The administration simply refused to accept that the steps taken to enforce discipline were way too harsh.

  The other boys from the play returned to the dormitory by midnight. Rohan was in his bed by then. He was thinking about Kajal. He fought with an ever growing desire to look at her photo again. He was embarrassed. That girl had died even before he was born and there he was, infatuated.

  She had been killed by a leopard and it was still unclear how. He had heard her screams in the Green Room. Chandni had heard it too and Anjali knew about it. He imagined her struggling, desperately fighting for her life. It was a painful death. The leopard must have dragged her into the forest. But, there was no trace. The authorities would have known for sure what had happened with her, unless they themselves tried to hide it. Chandni had said that she probably ran away, or rather, gone out, like him, to explore the wilderness. That was plausible.

  He felt thirsty. It was too cold to step out of the bed, but he had never felt so thirsty before. He looked around. Everyone was asleep. He crept out of his bed and went downstairs to the water purifier. The cold water lashed his sleep away completely. He headed back, rubbing his slipper on the edges of the stairs to remove a chewing-gum. He sensed something unusual and looked up… and came to an abrupt halt.

  An extremely thick mist awaited him in the corridor, swirling… snarling at him. He could not see his dormitory on the other end. He gulped and took a step down the staircase.

  THUD… THUD…

  Someone was coming towards him, deliberately stamping on the wooden floor. The mist seemed to be advancing. He took another step down.

  THUD… THUD…

  It was almost on him. But the mist revealed nothing. It just danced its terrifying dance. Something else caught his attention now. At first he thought it was a locker. Then the mist lightened.

 
THUD… THUD…

  It was rectangular. A door? And what was the ghastly thing above? Rohan retreated. He had realised what it was.

  A human skull!

  THUD… THUD…

  He saw something move – something on the floor. Eyes wide, he looked down.

  Pug marks!

  Something pounced on him, something invisible. He felt it. A heaviness. In a desperate attempt to get away, he leapt down the stairs… and fell with a crash.

  “Who’s there?” asked a voice.

  A familiar voice. He got up just in time to see the warden emerge from a dormitory, his hands deep in his pockets. “Yes… Sir,” he managed to speak, breathing heavily, “I was going to drink water.”

  The warden studied him. He realised he was sweating and holding his knees. “Sorry… I slipped and fell.” He looked up the staircase. The mist had vanished.

  The warden continued to stare at him. There were movements behind him. Rohan turned around to see two prefects coming towards them.

  “You called us, Sir?” asked one of them.

  “Yes!” replied the warden. “Let’s get over with it.” With that he led the prefects to his dormitory. “You,” the warden ordered him, “go and stand by your bed.”

  What’s going on?

  Rohan quietly followed them, relieved to have their company. The warden switched on the lights and roared like thunder, “Wake up!” and the boys leapt out of their beds like lightning. Rohan stood by his bed, wondering what he had done now. Nevertheless, with lights on and so many alive faces around him - faces and not their skulls - he felt calmer, safer. The prefects began pulling the laziest ones out. Within minutes, everyone was standing by his bed, sleepy, puzzled and shivering.

  “Now…” the warden paced up and down, “I have been informed that one of you is in possession of a mobile phone,” he paused meaningfully, letting his words sink in.

  Rohan relaxed. The boys were not shivering in the cold because of him. He gave a nervous glance towards the corridor. Only wooden lockers facing each other. No mist. No skull.

  “I will count till five, and I want that boy to step forward.”

  Most of the boys were still recovering from their sleep.

  “FIVE!”

  What! He just decided to skip to five?

  “FOUR!”

  Oh! A count-down!

  “THREE!”

  Rohan knew no one would own up. But like others, he too looked around innocently at everyone else.

  “TWO!”

  The prefects became alert for any suspicious exchange of looks.

  “ONE!” the warden paused for a moment. “No one? Okay. Strip their beds!” He ordered the prefects while he went to raid their lockers. The boys watched in horror as their cosy warm beds were stripped down to bare, while they stood shivering in the cold. The raid lasted for an hour, but the phone was not recovered. How could it be? It lay charging above a tube-light fixture in the ceiling. Everyone knew about it, even the prefects.

  The warden was furious. He began inspecting every individual. Ayush somehow found this very amusing. The warden had proved himself to be a lousy husband, if he ever got married. Who on earth would spend a night as cold as this recovering an ‘illegal’ mobile-phone?

  The warden stopped in front of Ayush. “What is that?” he pointed at a Playboy deodorant poking out from his blanket. Oh boy, a lousy way to open his file!

  “That is a deodorant, Sir!”

  The warden examined it as if he had never seen such a thing before. Would it make a strong case to be put into his file? Or was he staring at it, fantasizing...

  “It’s only a deodorant,” Ayush said, faking innocence, “not the magazine, Sir!”

  Suppressed giggles rippled across the dormitory. The prefects turned their heads or covered their mouths. But the warden did not realise that he had been taunted at for staring at the Playboy logo. He continued to eye the bottle in awe. “But why do you keep deodorants?”

  Ayush just eyed him, his mouth open. The only excuse for this question was sarcasm, or maybe alcohol, but the warden neither joked nor drank.

  “You people should be taught to stay clean, and not use these to hide your filth. Is this even allowed here?” He turned to the prefects and without waiting for a reply, ordered, “Confiscate all the deodorants!”

  The prefects rushed to their lockers. Over the years, a few stupid rules had been imposed every now and then, but no one, ever, had ordered anything more puerile than this. Rohan wanted to kill him with that Playboy deodorant, break open his head, then spray it all over and set him on fire.

  “Why is your hair so long?” the warden continued to inspect Ayush. Now that his file had been opened, the warden was examining his case from every angle to slap as many charges as possible.

  “It’s not long. I was not checked during inspection.”

  “Why? Were you bunking the inspection?”

  “No, Sir, I was…”

  “Look at your side-locks!” the warden pulled his side-locks and shoved him around.

  Ayush winced in pain. “I will have a hair-cut tomorrow,” he promised.

  “You bloody will! Bring me a trimmer!”

  A prefect procured one. Rohan watched as the warden switched it on and pulled his hair. Ayush didn’t protest. What was the harm in getting his side-lock trimmed short? But before he could understand what had happened, the warden ran the trimmer all the way up to the top. Ayush’s jaws dropped to the floor along with a large chunk of hair. He hands immediately ran over his head.

  “You have a hair-cut now, and I will hammer you to death,” the warden threatened coldly. “Now everyone, make your beds and go to sleep!” With that, he put his hands in his pockets and left.

  8. SOMETHING

  Rohan watched the play from the control room. Ayush sat quietly beside him, clicking switches every now and then. He had put on a cap earlier that day, but the warden took it off during lunch and growled at the students, “You are not supposed to wear caps in the Dining Hall!” Angry over the insult, Ayush trimmed his head bare after lunch as the warden had ordered the barber not to cut his hair till further notice. Anjali was furious over what the warden had done, and also on the staff members for doing nothing about it. She tried to bring Ayush down from the control room, but he just sat there, ignoring all her gestures. He looked funny; even if the juniors would dare not as much as glimpse at his bald head, he didn’t want to be a piece of attraction.

  Rohan reminded Anjali about the costumes and props before the practice began. “Don’t worry, dear!” was all she replied. With Chandni busy on stage, Rohan sat with Ayush, desperately waiting for the session to end. He slumped onto his bed the moment he reached his dormitory. He was exhausted. He didn’t change into his night-suit. What was the use? He would have to change back into his uniform again the next morning. He loosened his tie and tried to sleep.

  Pug marks. They must have played a crucial role in identifying the leopard. Why did the forest officer kill himself?

  He was walking through a forest. He looked back.

  Pug marks.

  Will they realise it’s all fake? Whatever! Sir will take care of that.

  That was all he could do. He looked back again and again. No, he did not leave his own footprints.

  Only pug marks.

  He fell on a bed. It was comfortable. He turned to a side… and his mouth went dry.

  His bed was hovering in the air.

  Panic struck him. A strange sensation ran down his nerves. His bed began to descend. He prepared for the impact… but none came. He opened his eyes. The dormitory came into view. The lights were on. He looked around.

  Why are all the beds empty?

  He heard a commotion downstairs, as if the entire school had gathered there. What was going on? Why didn’t anyone wake him up?

  He tried to get out of his bed… and opened his eyes. It was dark. He was breathing heavily. His back was wet with sweat. He pulled the blanket fr
om his face and took in a long breath. He looked around. All his classmates were sleeping. His eyes wandered towards the locker area. Silver moonlight fell from a skylight at its entrance… she stood there!

  Kajal! For the first time he saw her clearly. She was more beautiful than she had appeared in the picture. He wanted to get closer. He felt a pang of fear. She was luring him, and he was falling for her. She was a killer. He saw the formidable mist swirling behind her. She was waiting for him. His heart went frantic. He began to tremble. He wanted to run… scream… only if he could take his eyes off her.

  It has to be a dream! It has to be a dream!

  He heard a commotion erupt downstairs. It appeared as if the entire school had gathered there. The mist began to advance towards him. He wanted to jump out of his bed. But he felt too weak; and soon he was in the heart of the monstrous mist. He couldn’t see anything except her. She turned, and slowly walked away.

  And next thing he knew he was out of his bed.

  What am I doing?

  She had almost drowned him once. What was he doing? Following her? She had been brutally killed. Rohan heard her scrams; felt her pain; saw the leopard tear her apart as she put up a hopeless fight. He remembered what Chandni had told him. The guard’s body had been ripped apart…

  And she will kill you the same way!

  No. She did not push him into the pool, a tiny voice somewhere said. He had lost his balance. And he had never screamed. Then whom did Ayush hear?

  He started walking towards her. She was at the other end of the corridor, waiting for him. In spite of the mist, his vision became clearer. The lockers appeared newer. He looked at her again and she disappeared down the stairs. He followed.

  She was waiting for him at the warden’s house. But it wasn’t a house any longer. It had transformed into some sort of office. He followed her down the stairs and stepped out into the front quadrangle. The guard-room was locked. He looked up at the sky. All he saw was a dense canopy of dark grey vapours. But what lay in front of him took his breath away. His ears began to ring. Time stopped.

  What the hell is going on?

  The entire school had lined up in the quadrangle. The girls were moving in a single file into the Dining Hall. Nobody paid attention to him. They were all strangers. He saw Kajal go down the shaded path. He ran behind her. She was heading for the Infirmary. He saw silhouettes of two boys coming up the path. He stopped. They came close… closer… and they walked right past, without as much as glancing at him. They were strangers too, though dressed in school uniforms. He noticed traces of make-up on their faces.