Houses do not breathe.......My childhood's tale of horror.

I understand that my exams are around the corner,added to that the nervousness spread amongst us(the poor UPTU students)by ever non-ending circulars(adding to that Ashutosh Vikram's circular too...he he)but despite the prevelant tense atmosphere i would like to share here one of my greatest bhooootiya incident that happened to me when i was in my 8th std at CTKHS,Tundla.


To begin with ,that was the day when my nanaji had died.It was the first time i had ever seen a dead body in my life.....LIVE ! :)...My poor nanaji's body,as dead as a door nail.... was put in the middle of the varandha of  thier house,everybody was mourning over his death,and almost everybody was crying and sympathizing with my poor nanaji except one ...................me !,i was not even pretending to mourn....u knw what,i was instead busy analysing and examining the effects on a body upon death comparing my nanaji's body with the bodies of little poor creatures that were kept in small shiny,twinkling jars filled with some shit in my biology lab.


Anyway the rituals were performed,everybody had some food at 7 pm and then it was time to sleep(at least fr me).Us din mere mamaji ke dono ladke bhi aaye hue the...Minku and Manoj bhaiya[Mayank vyas and Manoj Vyas],bhaiya was in 12th grade hence he was a bit serious kinda guy but as far me and minku were concerned we were considered as the weapons of mass destruction[whenever we were together],Chalo aage badte hain,since no one was happy as it was a day of mourning everybody just found a place wherever he could and went to sleep.I and minku were on the ground floor in the same room.My mamaji,mamiji,mummy,papa and buaji were in the hall in the older part of the house adjoining the verandha ,the rest[other people] were in the tent.


Though everybody was quite tired hence almost everyone of us went to sleep quite soon,except me and minku.Our young innocent  8th grade shaitaani minds imagined and discussed all sorts of hillarious things about nanaji,we wondered how nanji would have made it to the heavens without using a propellent ! nyway we continued gossiping and laughed and smiled and cherished everything that we had in our innocent minds.


“Will you two get to sleep? We can hear you all the way from our room” hollered my mother from the old part of the house. We referred to it as the old part because that was what it was. Our nanaji's home was an old country house that had a new addition built onto the back.A large mud room was what separated the old part from the new part. My brother and I had our bedrooms in the new part, and our parent’s bedroom was completely at the other end of the house.


“Yes mummy/yes buaji” we synchronized our voices for good effect and began to giggle some more. We were enjoying each other’s company and the novelty of having to share a bedroom for the next few days.We were glad for each others company because neither of us had felt very comfortable alone in the house. The strange thing was that although the old part was creepy with its spooky attic and the decaying dirt floor basement, it was the new part that sent shivers up our spine.


Once again a voice of reason bellowed from the old part of the house. This time it was my mamaji accompanied by my father. We understood we had reached our limits at this point. Our giggles and small talk turned to hushed whispers. As I began to settle in, minku quietly asked if I could hear ‘that’.
“Hear what?” I asked.
“Shh, listen” he replied.


Lying in my bed I strained my ears to hear what minku was referring to. Through the closed bedroom door, I could hear the faint sound of someone gently walking across the common room floor. “Sounds like Mom or Dad is checking in on us” I finally answered.
“Yeah, I guess.” exhaled minku from above.


As we lay quietly in the dark, the sound of the light foot steps slowly made there way to my room. “Dad is that you?” my maternal brother[minku] asked. The steps stopped but there was no reply.


“Mom is that you?” I giggled nervously. There was still no reply.
“Well one of them must be out there.” minku whisperer to me.


For the next few moments we were content with the idea that one of our parents was merely checking on us. Either that or my or his father was up to one of his tricks again. Then just as we were beginning to relax, a faint but detectable breathing came from the corridor.


“Did you hear that?” Concern was rising in minku’s voice.
“Uh huh.” I whispered, “Probably just  mamaji trying to be funny.”
“Ok Dad, your not funny.” Growled minku towards the door.


For a moment the breathing stopped. Then it started again right outside our door. It wasn’t a heavy breath such as someone gasping for air, but rather light and fluid. Regardless of it being a parental hoax or not,minku and I were becoming very uncomfortable. I could feel the bed shift above me as he sat upright.


“Ok, he’s taking this too far.” he whispered in annoyance.
“I’m scared.” I admitted.


For a brief moment we sat frozen in our place, I with my blanket wrapped around me and minku like a tiger ready to pounce from a tree limb. The light breathing commenced once more. And then the unthinkable happened. The breathing came through our closed door and into the bedroom.


“What the hell!” shouted minku,utterly terrified. Leaping from the top bunk, he flung open the door and ran. Too petrified to move, I pulled my blanket over my head and prayed for something to take away what ever it was in my room. Gathering my courage, I unwrapped my head and listened. The only sound was the clamber of feet coming from my brother and both of our parents running towards my room.


My father and mamaji searched the room and the rest of the house but found nothing. Perhaps if it wasn’t the sheer look of terror on our faces, our parents would have passed it off as a child’s prank. Instead our parents rationalized it as the settling of the house. In the wisdom of my youth, I turned to them and announced, “Houses do not breathe.”
-Hemant Kumar
the unknown blogger