The Green Room

by Nag Mani

  Dress rehearsal?

  Apparently a play practice had just ended and students were returning to the Senior School. He saw Kajal turn at the lamp-post. He ran to catch up, but she had disappeared. The Junior School courtyard was deserted. He stood alone under the lamp-post, looking for her.

  He took a step forward, and just then, a sweet, but sad melody emanated from the Auditorium. Someone was on the piano. Mesmerized, he headed for the hall. Suddenly, a man appeared in the courtyard from nowhere. Rohan backed away into a dark corner. He had an unpleasant feeling about this man, who looked around for a while, deciding upon something, and then staggered up the steps to the Auditorium. He seemed drunk. No sooner did the man go inside than the music stopped. Rohan cautiously followed him. He was midway up the stairs when the man came out again. Rohan saw his face. He had seen him somewhere… but where… he couldn’t remember. Maybe in a different life!

  The man waited impatiently at the portico. He was anxious. He procured a small bottle of liquor from his overcoat and took a swig. Madness glared out of his face. He wiped his mouth with his sleeves and deliberately went inside the hall. The doors shut behind him.

  Rohan waited, expecting him to come out again. He looked around. The courtyard was completely empty. He climbed onto the porch and pushed the door. It didn’t budge. It was locked. He took a step back, wondering how the man had gone inside. He became aware of something in his trousers’ pocket. A key! He unlocked the door and went inside. There was no one on the piano. The curtains were drawn. The chairs were carelessly thrown about. He took a step towards the stage… and then, a scream thundered across the Auditorium. It seemed to be coming from every wall, every mountain… yet he knew, it was coming from the Green Room.

  The leopard!

  He ran to the stage. It was completely dark on the other side of the curtains. He blindly made for the stairs, tripped over something on the floor and fell. It was an overcoat. The man was in danger too. He held onto the lose railing and leapt down the stairs into the waiting room. A blazer was lying on the floor. The screams were coming from the changing room. He kicked at the door. It was bolted from inside. He kicked again. It didn’t open. He looked around the room and saw an old bat protruding from the closet. He was about to lift it when the screams stopped. Someone coughed. There was rustling of clothes. The door jerked. Someone was trying to open it. Rohan raised his hands to confront whatever lay beyond.

  The door burst open and Kajal leapt out of the room. She was clutching her shirt. It had been ripped apart. Her pullover was torn and hung by her waist. Her hair was dishevelled. He noticed something shimmering on her lips and cheeks. There were bite marks on her neck.

  She glanced back into the room and darted for the stairs. A man ran out from the room behind her. He caught her hair, pulled her back and forced her to the floor. Rohan saw her mouth open to scream, but never heard it. It was the same man he had seen on the portico. He was stripped to his inners and was struggling to put on his trousers. Kajal tried to get up. He kicked her in stomach, still struggling with the hook of his trousers. She squeezed her stomach and curled onto the floor. The man advanced towards her. Rohan leapt at him, determined to bring him down and break his neck. But he went right through… and crashed onto the floor.

  The man pushed Kajal against a wall and grabbed her neck. Blood was flowing down her neck and Rohan realised that her ear-lobe was split - her earring was missing. The man was shouting at her. Rohan could not hear him, but from his expressions, it was clear that he was threatening her. He watched her helpless struggle to break free. Rohan stood up. Neither had she run away nor had she been killed by a man-eater. He watched as the man slapped her again and again. Her pride had been shattered. There was fear in her eyes. But, despite the turmoil within, she stood up bravely against him, doing whatever she could to maintain her dignity while the man slapped and spat on her. He pushed her against a wall and she fell. Rohan could not watch them any longer. He hurled at him again… and again he crashed onto the floor. The man, completely unaware of his presence, knelt beside her and whispered in her ear. Whatever he said made her jerk away from him. And he punched her stomach. She slithered in pain. He bent over her and whispered again, caressing her thighs. She tried to crawl away. The man kept advancing. She was soon pinned against a wall. The pity in her eyes was intolerable. Rohan made a move again. But then, something made him freeze.

  They had heard it too.

  The staircase was creaking. Someone was coming down. They all looked at the doorway in unison.

  A man, in his late sixties, appeared at the door. He had a strict face and grey, balding hair. He casually stepped into the room and his eyes fell on the girl. Colours drained away from his face. No one moved. Even the walls held their breath.

  Kajal was first to recover. She heaved the man away and ran to Mr. A. S. Williams, the principal of 1989. The man lunged at her but Mr. Williams came in between and pushed him back, still recovering from the shock. Kajal stood shivering behind him, holding her uniform. The man tried to get Kajal again, but Mr. Williams pushed him to a wall, shouting madly at him. Kajal put on her blazer and watched the two men fight.

  But she did not see what Rohan saw.

  He saw two men standing by the Wheel-of-Fortune in an annual Fete.

  Mr. A. S. Williams with his brother Mr. E. S. Chapman.

  And now he knew where he had seen that drunk man. It was in the school magazine in the Vice-Principal’s Office. Mr. Williams shoved his brother around the room and finally, he fell to his knees. The seriousness of the crime had dawned upon him. He gently took Kajal by her shoulders and spoke to her. What he said, Rohan did not hear, but she pushed him away, bewildered. He pulled her and spoke more intensely this time. She backed away from him. He lost his patience. Kajal sensed the danger. She broke free and ran but Chapman savagely grabbed her hair and slammed her against a wall. Her head hit the wall. Her body went limp and fell to the floor. Mr. Williams ran to her, barking at Chapman like a dog. She was breathing. He covered his face and sank down beside her, completely lost of decision.

  Rohan examined Kajal. She was lying motionlessly on the floor. There was no visible wound on her head. Blood was dripping from her ear onto the carpet. Chapman had noticed it too. He roughly lifted her and dumped her on a wooden chair in the make-up room, the only non-carpeted room. The chair was right in the centre of the room, in front of the two mirrors. Assured that her blood was no longer drenching anything more than her clothes, he went back to Mr. Williams.

  Rohan just stood at the doorway, desperately hoping for her to recover, for something to happen – anything - that could have ended her misery. Minutes passed and he saw her eyes flicker. Her fingers moved. She was trying to move, but couldn’t. She was staring at something in the mirror. Rohan went closer.

  “It will be fine,” he whispered, though he knew it wouldn’t be, that she was destined to die that very night. She didn’t hear him. She was already dead. But he couldn’t just stand there and watch her struggle. He followed her eyes and saw what she was looking at; and the sight filled his heart with pity.

  She was looking at herself in the mirror.

  Chapman had left her to watch herself bleed to death. Her hands grasped the arm-rest and she made a frantic effort to stand. But all she managed was to choke. She coughed and blood spluttered from her mouth. She didn’t give up. She gulped. Her eyes were fixed on something else now. The back-door! Mr. Williams and Chapman were in a heated argument in the other room. Kajal could have made it.

  Run! Get out!

  No. Wait!

  The image of what lay beyond the door formed before his eyes. He visualised dark shapes of the forest, and something darker lurking in them. She would run into the forest to escape these monsters and… he almost saw it now, its yellow fur, its hungry eyes, its hideous canines…

  It was unfair.

  She had fought so bravely. She had not succumbed to threats and torture. It could not have ended that
way. Rather, it should not have ended that way. Rohan felt a lump in his throat as he watched Kajal’s feeble attempts to escape. It was not right. He wanted to cry. He placed his hands on hers. He felt hard wood. If only someone had actually been there by her side that night!

  At least, the leopard had a heart. It wouldn’t torture her. It would be quick.

  Where the damn are the guards?

  Kajal was getting stronger. Rohan knelt beside her and at that very moment, Chapman entered the room with the old bat in his hands. He stood beside Kajal for a moment or two, breathing heavily.

  Then he lifted the bat.

  “NO!” Rohan shouted and leapt at him again. He rolled over on the other side and quickly recovered, ready to pounce again, only to see something he could never forget.

  Her hands were trembling as she tried to shield herself. Her face had lost its dignity. Tears rolled down her eyes. They were helpless; they were scared; they were begging… He saw Pity. He saw Fear. He saw Helplessness.

  Then the bat hit her head.

  She fell over and the chair toppled to a side. Her body went into a spasm. Her fingers twitched. Her legs jolted uncontrollably. Blood poured out of her head and spread on the floor. Mr. Williams ran in. He was crying. All three of them stood still, watching her die in the pool of her own blood. Her movements slowed. Her head jerked once and then, she never moved again. She was breathing faintly. But Chapman could not let her die in peace. With one tug he lifted her over his shoulder. He signalled Mr. Williams and after a quick glance around, took her body down the spiral staircase. Rohan followed them.

  Mr. Williams led them deep into the forest. Rohan could not hear anything. The silence was deafening. Dark tree trunks sprouted from the mist as the land fell gradually. They walked straight for a few minutes until Mr. Williams turned left and took a steep path along the mountain edge. Rohan thought they were going to throw her down, but Mr. Williams kept walking. He now began to have an unsettling feeling about it.

  He had sneaked out of the school and ventured along that path several times before. On one such trip he had come across a wide crack in the path; at least it had appeared like a crack when he first saw it. But soon he discovered that it was one of the many openings to a vast chain of dangerous caves. His instincts had instantly told him to leave those pristine caves alone. Just as he began to wonder, Mr. Williams stopped. He was standing at the edge of the mountain. Very carefully, he pulled aside some bushes and Rohan saw the crack. Chapman laid her at its edge. He let out a breath, waited a moment…

  …and then pushed her into the black opening.

  There she died, in that faraway cave, cold and dark, all alone and scared.

  Suddenly the forest began to buzz with life. Rohan heard insects all around. He sensed movements in the trees. The mist had lifted. He found himself standing at the very edge of the mountain. Darkness huddled in the valley below. The forest leered at him. He panicked. His heart began to race. He was all alone; miles away from any living soul. And why were the trees swaying excitedly? It had to be monkeys, at least a thousand of them! He almost saw them on the trees. Faces? But they didn’t appear like monkeys.

  He stepped back. His vision blurred. He saw stars sparkling in the sky. And then, they began to fade. His body inclined backwards. He knew he was falling into the valley. He should have made attempts to regain balance, but he didn’t. He was losing consciousness.

  Then he felt someone pull him. The stars swirled away and the dark forest came back into view. He was leaning against someone. His knees gave way. But he didn’t collapse. He felt himself being laid on the ground. Then, he saw the moon. And again darkness swallowed him.

  ***

  White ceiling. Green curtains. Maroon counterpane.

  No dark forest.

  It wasn’t a dream after all. Even if it was, he had not just dreamt it, but lived it, for Rohan woke up not in his bed, but in the Infirmary. A wall clock told him it was seven in the morning. He heard voices outside.

  “No, Sir! You cannot speak to him right now. He is resting.” It was Sister.

  “I do not want to speak to him,” roared Mr. Lawrence. “I just want to kick him out of this school. He can rest as much as he wants afterwards.” So, the principal was furious.

  “I am sorry, I cannot allow this. You’ll have to wait,” Sister said again.

  “I want him out of this school this very moment. Mr. Kumar, pack his bags and have him thrown out!”

  “I will send him to you when I decide he is strong enough to do so. Till then, he rests here. Please leave now. This is an infirmary!”

  Sister took her stand and the men had to leave. Some guard must have seen him go into the forest and brought him to the Infirmary. The principal must have come running down the moment he heard the news. He ought to be furious. Rohan felt heavy with guilt and nervousness. He wanted to go back to sleep and wake up from this dream. He would surely be expelled from school. That was inevitable. But what would he say when asked for an explanation? Should he tell them the truth? But what was the truth? He had witnessed a rape and brutal murder. Kajal never ran away. There was no leopard. And leopards don’t eat dead bodies. The story was fake! It was invented to cover up the crime. Then why was her body never found? The cave was on the outskirts of a small village. Her body couldn’t lie there and rot and go unnoticed. They had dumped it there out of panic and fright. Did they come back to get rid of it?

  Rohan tried to relate the death of the three men. Mr. Williams died in a car accident. The forest officer and the guard must have had a role in this cover up. It was ridiculous to be thinking about it, but it was real. The guard may have created rumours about a man-eater and then killed one as proof. And how did he unleash those rumours?

  Pug marks!

  The officer committed suicide. He must have known that the pug marks were fake. Did she haunt them as well? But why was Chapman in school? He remembered the photograph of him and his brother on stage. He was the director of the play. His name was clear. Chandni had never spoken about him. What was he going to tell Mr. Lawrence? A former principal helped his brother to cover up a rape. And how did he find out? The dead girl came back and literally showed him her death. How real!

  His expulsion was confirmed, he would only make it more dramatic. Instead he could come up with an acceptable story and leave with dignity. Besides, he had followed Kajal, he was scared, but he did, lived her death, felt her pain. But eventually, she almost killed him had it not been for the guard who saved him from falling off the mountain. He was hurt. He couldn’t have done anything to save her. He was not even born when she died. Even if that was a hallucination, he at least tried to help and in return, she tried to kill him. No. He would not make a fool out of himself. He could say he had accepted a challenge to wander in the woods and he would mulishly stick to his story. They would have no choice but to believe him.

  “What nonsense are you boys always up to?” scolded Sister as she entered his room. “Do you ever think about your parents?” She thrust a tablet into his palm. He immediately swallowed it and lowered his head. “Why do they even allow night practices,” she murmured, checking his forehead for temperature, “… no concern for their safety.”

  Rohan spent the entire day in the Infirmary miserably waiting for a call from the principal. No one was allowed to meet him. He ate both his meals in solitude. He was sure most of the students were not even aware of the incident. They must have assumed he got sick the previous night and landed in the Infirmary. The sun began to lower and he began to regret what he did. He had put on stake everything he had earned in the school the moment he got out of his bed. He would be expelled. And what then? He had always dreamt of becoming the House-Captain, and his chances were promising. And now, he would lose it all.

  The call came in the evening. His heart became as heavy as lead. He slowly made his way to the Principal’s Office. Every step he took drained him out of energy. Once at the office, he settled his uniform, took a
deep breath and went inside.

  Mr. Lawrence was waiting behind his desk. The warden was sitting in front of him. Harry was leaning against the window.

  “Here comes our boy,” Mr. Lawrence rose to his feet. “What would you like, Mr. Agarwal? Tea? Coffee? Make your wish. We are all here to serve you!”

  Rohan lowered his head and remained silent.

  “You are a brave boy,” he sat down and continued in an icy tone. “You fear nothing. You even survived the cold. You would have surely found your way back had not that villager found you, wouldn’t you, Mr. Agarwal?”

  Found me?

  “That is why I ordered the guards to throw you out of the gates. You are capable of finding your way back to Bihar, I am sure about it. But Mr. Kumar here brought to my notice that I cannot order such a thing, no I cannot! Apparently, I have to call your parents, inform them of your heroic deeds, and then wait for them to take their time out and come here. But I can’t wait that long. Mr. Kumar, please call his father and ask him to hop onto the first train to Kathgodam. If his son can handle the forest, I am sure he will do fine without reservation.”

  The warden chuckled. Rohan felt anger flicker deep within. The guilt evaporated.

  “So, Mr. Agarwal, while we wait for your father, will you, if you please, tell us why, unlike normal students, you find it so difficult to abide by the rules?”

  I am really sorry, I was stupid. I accepted a dare. I wanted to prove… or, I forgot to lock the Auditorium, and when I went down to lock it, I saw something fishy…

  The Green Room materialised before his eyes. He saw Chapman raise the bat... he saw Kajal begging...