RagNa Love Stories: Ragna SS: Haunted House (A house with many secrets) Chapter 9

I placed few flowers and a small glass containing holy water in a tray.

I walked through the huge mansion and visited all the rooms that were open, thus sprinkling water and making the place holy.

I reached the room which was locked and dint move further as I knew that it was the same room where Raghav's mother was killed. I took a step back and stopped. A though struck my mind. "What if I make this day memorable for Raghav? If not a celebration, I can definitely gift him something or give him a kind of surprise that he loves? I looked around and said to myself that whatever I have today is his. I bought everything with his salary so what could I give him that would make him happy. The 'happy man' I gifted him on his birthday wasn't a special gift although he keeps it safely in his room on the table but still he isn't attached to it. This time I want to give him something that would make him happy from inside as well."

I sat on the sofa in the hall and kept thinking. "Oh yes, his mom's photograph would be good. I haven't seen any photos of his mom nor his childhood photographs. How about framing his mom's pic and gifting him it. Aunty had given me a photoframe for my wedding and I can use it but from where can I get his mother's picture?"

I got up from the sofa and walked about thinking "Should I ask Rajesh? Umm....No. He won't help me and instead his angry glare will make me more nervous."

I thought of checking in the store house which was behind the mansion for a photograph. Raghav had once told me that his memories are in that house.

I opened the door with the house keys and started coughing a lot. The room was full of spider webs and creatures. There was a lot of dust as well which was making me feel breathless and a strong foul smell was coming from the room.

I covered my mouth and nose with my scarf and entered the room, getting myself through the spider webs. I walked further and fell upon a trunk. My leg got hit badly and I screamed with pain.

I somehow took the help of a wooden shelf and stood up. I started searching in the book shelf in the corner as the other places were just full of spiders and cockroaches.

I noticed many books were based on Dark Stories, Cannibals and other books related to Flesh Eating. I opened a book and noticed that there were pointers and notes written which mentioned which methods the reader had tried and what did he eat to achieve his goal. It was a nauseating experience for me and I noticed that there were few dried blood stains as well. The book surely belonged to Raghav's father or ancestors as it was a book of the 18th century.

I could not read the book further and kept it back as I was feeling like puking and for few moments I was feeling as if the incident of flesh eating was taking place before me which made me tremble and get goosebumps.

I took few steps back and hit another shelf and screamed as I felt someone was catching em from behind. I was relieved when I saw it was just a shelf and I caught my chest as I started panting a lot.

I noticed few pictures and old photoframes in the shelf and picked up few of them. There was a picture of a man holding a gun in his hand. It looked like Raghav's dad but I wasn't quite sure. He looked strict and handsome though but I couldn't imagine that he could be a cannibal. Those thoughts made me scared and I kept the pictures back.

I browsed through few albums and found photographs of Raghav's childhood and he looked too cute when he was young. I smiled as I saw him smiling and cuddling his mom. There were many pictures where Raghav was just few months old till he was 6 years of age. The picture where he was holding the knife in his tiny fingers and cutting the cake with his mom and dad.

I dint want to pick that picture as he wouldn't like to see the photograph of his dad but I picked few pictures of his mom and his childhood photographs.

I went to my room and started scanning these photographs to make a collage and it was done in few minutes. I took the photoframe and place the image in it. It looked awesome and I knew that Raghav would love it.

Raghav woke up and hour later and I served him a cup of coffee.

He wished me Morning and gave me a peck on my lips asking "Why are you looking so happy and excited today? Anything special?"

I was a bit taken aback with his words as he dint remember that it's my birthday but I consoled myself saying that he has been working so hard in the past few days and that may be a reason.

I gave him a cup of tea and decided to show him the gift. However, I dint have a wrapping paper to wrap the gift and so I just had placed it in a box. I went to pick up the box and I opened it as well but when I returned, I noticed that Raghav had already entered the washroom to take a shower.

I keep waiting for him outside and get up form the bed when the door knocks. I open the door and Rajesh comes in saying "I made some snacks for Raghav baba." He kept the tray and turned to face me and his expressions changed.

He picked up the photoframe from the table and said "How did you get hold of these photographs and why did you make this photoframe? Did Raghav baba see this?..." He kept asking me questions and I was astonished as to who is he to question me and what mistake did I do.

He came to me with the photoframe and started scolding me "I asked you who told you to bring out these photographs from the store room? You know what a blunder you have done. You have awakened the dead."

Disclaimer: The character names in the story are fictional characters and owned by the creators of the show "Ek Mutthi Asmaan" on ZEE TV.