Room#113:
Neelima was quite annoyed and perplexed on why her boss Abhilash had arranged their business meeting at a resort in a hill station quite far away from their office as well as their city. She wondered that he could have chosen some hotels or resorts within the city itself quite convenient to all and that too it was planned on a Saturday.
They both were top officials working in a reputed software company, and as part of a business meet with their clients which comprised of delegates from different parts of the country as well as abroad they had arranged the same in a picturesque venue.
Abhilash a senior director of the company, a well matured middle-aged gentleman had taken the decision to have this conducted in a pristine location in a beautiful hill station nearby, though it would take three to four hours of road trip to reach there. His subordinate, a senior manager Neelima who was also supposed to join the meeting along with him, felt it very much awkward by such a weird decision.
However, to ensure Neelima faces the least inconvenience, Abhilash
volunteered to pick her up from her house and drop her back in the evening
without she having to make any arrangements for the commute. He also had a word
with her husband and confirmed to be back the same day, and also was a bit
apologetic for the inconvenience caused and that too on a Saturday.
Neelima usually spends time with her little daughter on weekends and
today her husband had assured his full support in being with their daughter.
Her husband is a businessman and usually used to be on travels. But owing to
the official engagement she had, her husband had to cancel few other plans he
had to ensure he could be at home.
Abhilash on the other hand had two teenaged kids and his wife being unemployed would always be at home to look after his kids.
As the car headed to the location which a very beautiful resort set in
the backdrop of a pristine scenic view, Neelima was mesmerised by the fabulous
views the surroundings had to offer. Meanwhile Abhilash continued driving his
grey SUV silently. As he drove, though he answered to some questions which
Neelima intermittently asked, he was not of the talkative type and only
maintained a professional conduct with his fellow employees.
She requested to stop the car inbetween for her to get down and capture some stills of the scenic beauty, and as they proceeded in similar fashion they had multiple halts on their way for her photographic stint.
The meeting was planned for an hour or two and afterwards they were hosting a lunch party at the resort for their guests and later would return.
After a nice long car drive, climbing uphill as they conquered several hairpin curves, they were on time to reach the venue, a beautiful resort nestled in a valley with the misty mountains in the background and the entire surroundings draped in lush greenery.
They were welcomed cordially by the hotel staff and were ushered inside to a lounge where they could wait. Their guests were also mostly on time, and in total it comprised of around 15 people.
After the initial greetings and chatting they were directed to a large
conference hall arranged by the hotel folks as requested, and there they
conducted the business meeting.
It was a two-hour long meeting where Abhilash and Neelima explained in detail about the new products and services and how that would benefit the clients. Also, they had an annual business review meeting. The clients were quite impressed after the meeting and also thanked Abhilash and Neelima for arranging this in such a lovely place.
The rest of the day's events went quite smoothly as was planned. The arrangement for lunch was also done with the utmost perfection, and the hotel staff were very hospitable and helpful with serving the food with great cordiality so that their guests were very much impressed.
By afternoon it was time for everyone to part. Some of the delegates mainly few European clients had planned to stay back, but mostly the rest of the folks were by then packing up to leave the lovely resort to be back in the city by evening .
Abhilash and Neelima too had planned to leave as they need to back to their homes, hence bid goodbye to everyone and set out in the SUV. They were very much proud and contended after the successful meeting they could conduct.
As they left the resort and was about to deviate to drive downhill, Abhilash quickly decided to have a nice drive around the hilly town and after that they could resume their journey back home. He thought they would have enough time for a quick tour of the place.
He drove quite slowly enjoying the magnificent views and elegant scenic beauty with country side roads, coniferous trees all around, moss covered fence walls and stone huts and country cottages and so on.
While driving around the hilly country unfortunately the unexpected happened.
A flat tyre !
With no spare tyre to fix, they had a hell of a time reaching out for
help and getting a mechanic and to have it fixed, which consumed considerable
time.
Due to the unexpected delay and the weather turning too foggy being late
in the afternoon, the descend through the hilly road was to be ruled out,
considering the safety aspects.
Abhilash was not so familiar driving on the mountainous terrain, as he was mostly confined only to city and highway driving, and also his SUV was relatively new. So, with poor visibility due to bad weather and being quite late, they decided it apt to stay back, however would need to find an accommodation.
They quickly returned to the resort from where they left, and checked at the reception, and to their dismay they got to know that there weren't any rooms available except one room (Room#113). It was a room which normally guests won't prefer due to some superstitious beliefs of paranormal activities reported by several former guests. So, from a long time, that room is not being given to guests, and remains under surveillance.
Abhilash brushed off these nonsenses and he wasn't much religious and never bothered about any sorts of beliefs. He asked if they could provide that room if the guest didn't care about such silly tales and superstitious stuff. As they hesitated with their reply he turned to Neelima to clarify if she could stay there while he would look for some other options for him either at any local inns nearby or the worst case he would sleep in his car itself.
The sudden pale look on her face and her frightful eyes conveyed the reply instantly and needed no words to affirm her denial.
As they stood at the reception, discussing and contemplating, they met
one of their delegates with whom they had the meeting earlier that day, and he
came over to talk. Perceiving the situation they were in, and understanding the
gravity, he recommended that one of their colleagues the lady Annabella who was
also part of the meeting in the morning was a single occupant in a double bed
room, and probably she could share her room with Neelima if she would
prefer.
In that case if Abhilash didn't care about the superstitions associated with the ill-fated room# 113, probably he could check-in and spend the night there.
Well, this plan was quickly finalized and Abhilash was in the room 113, a very cosy and comfortable one.
The folks at the reception had briefed him that several guests had disturbing experiences of feeling an invisible presence of another person also in the room when they had stayed there, with unusual sounds at night, eerie whispers and voices, tapping on door and table, wall clocks stopping at a specific time at night, and visions of a woman covered in blood approaching them etc.
Abhilash listened with a chuckle totally unperturbed and with hardly any
slightest trace of fear in him. He had heard lot of such tales and never have given
any heed to those. They also mentioned that to ensure the safety of any inmate
who by any chance would end up staying in the room, they have installed a
camera which gives a full wide-angle view of the room's interior.
If he prefers to have the camera disabled owing to the privacy he need, they could do so, but Abhilash forbade them and permitted the visuals in his room to be recorded as he had no private affair inside.
The room appeared to be very comfortable and being at a corner of the building it threw an amazing view out of the windows as well as from the balcony, which he noticed the next morning.
After he settled down in his room Neelima called him over phone to enquire if everything was fine and he too checked with her if all good with her too, which she confirmed.
Later that night they assembled in the dining hall for dinner and three European clients from their meeting had stayed back in the resort. Abhilash and Neelima had a nice dinner with them. Had a pleasant time talking, with more of personal talks rather than the professional ones which usually they have during formal business meetings.
After a heavy dinner, they all returned to their rooms and retired for the day.
That night Abhilash slept peacefully with hardly any disturbance. He wasn't taken in by the tales of so-called paranormal activities which the receptionist told, and wondered it could be an agenda to keep the guests off this room as this might be kept aside for someone special or for something else.
No clocks stopping, no invisible presence, no ghostly visitors, and no
sounds or anything unusual. It was completely silent and peaceful and he had a
sound sleep.
However, when Abhilash woke up the next morning he was feeling very much exhausted and didn't appear as if he had a long sleep for more than seven hours. He was almost feeling as if how he had felt when he went to bed.
Well after he got up, he drew the curtain blinds aside to have the golden morning rays streamed into his room. The view the room had to offer was splendid and it only affirmed his notion that the hoteliers had this set aside for someone or something.
He boiled some water in the electric kettle in his room and prepared black tea and as he sat on a chair facing the balcony enjoying the serene morning and sipping the hot cup of tea, that it quickly occurred of the strange dream he had last night.
Well, he was driving his car alone through some remote country side road. It was the late hours in the night and the road appeared to be deserted except for the lights of few vehicles plying. Some vehicles zoomed past him and it appeared as if the cars were all vintage model from the 1960s - Chevrolet, Plymouth, Ford etc. Suddenly he noticed the dashboard, the tiny light bulbs and the analogue speedometer etc of his car and it was quite a surprise that this also seemed to be the interiors of a vintage car that he was driving.
Suddenly like a streak of lightning, a woman appeared in front of him, and quickly on impulse he stepped on the brake and somehow manoeuvred his skidding car to a halt without hitting the woman. She looked terrorized and blood was oozing down from her forehead. He also noticed that her leg was also bleeding and she was limping a bit. He immediately got out to assist her.
She
pointed her finger ahead towards a tree on the side of the road and was still
struggling to gain the strength and composure to talk, but still, perceiving
the situation he dashed forward. As he neared the tree he could see there was a
ditch beyond that tree on the side of the road, not visible from the road
unless someone comes closer and peep. The ditch was quite wide and there was a
car lying there, it's head lights blinking. He suddenly turned to look back,
and saw that the injured bleeding woman was limping towards him and when she
was close she uttered some faint words that she was with her sister and her
husband, and suddenly their car skidded off the road, lost control, bumped
against the tree and fell into the ditch. He scanned the area around to see if
he could get some help but hardly any vehicles were around and it was pitch
dark except for the headlight of his car behind, beaming the light into the darkness
ahead. He immediately climbed down into the ditch, turned on his pocket torch
and peeped inside to look for survivors. He looked up, to ask the woman a
question but she was nowhere to be seen. He supposed that she might have
stepped back and away from the frame of view from the ditch.
Through the mangled body of the car, he peeped inside and as he shone his torch he saw the motionless body of a man at the wheel and the woman beside. He tried to feel their pulse and shook them but no luck. They were motionless and they had no heartbeat. Suddenly he caught notice of another woman seated behind. She too was lying motionless, her head was towards the other window. He had thought that the woman told him that besides her, it was only her sister and her husband, so who was this other woman. Might be in fright and terror she might have forgotten to mention the other traveller.
Well, he shone the light behind and tried to grab her hand to feel the pulse. No luck here too. She too was dead as a stone. He tried to pull her up with both his hands and he firmly had his torch held in his mouth as he did so and made the woman sit straight. He noticed she was bleeding badly from her forehead and her hair covered most of her face. He tried to brush aside her hair, and suddenly let out a wild scream horror struck, and for an instant his breathing seemed to have stopped and his eyes bulged in terror on seeing her face. It was the very same woman he had seen on the road…
Abhilash suddenly woke up from his dream, a rather disturbing one, but his subconscious mind drifted further to some other vague visuals, without waking him completely from the repose of slumber and he continued sleeping peacefully until morning.
Well, after a while, he dressed up and went down to meet Neelima. Quickly they had an early breakfast together, as they were planning to leave in the morning at the earliest.
He enquired about her stay and she replied it was nice and pleasant. Annabella was still in her room getting ready and probably might be coming late for breakfast. Anyway, they decided they would meet each of their guests in person and would have a formal farewell before they left.
With some hesitation Neelima enquired about the stay in the haunted room. She was quite worried but apprehensive to ask considering Abhilash's stern demeanour. She was sure he never cared about such make belief stuff as ghosts and haunted rooms and he was sure to be irritated if she pestered too much with any questions related to that.
To her surprise he didn't appear to be annoyed or irritated but took her
question very seriously yet simply gave a reply that it was all fine last
night.
Then he went over to check out of his room, and while returning the key of the room # 113, the anxious receptionist too enquired with great concern on his stay, and she was quite relieved to know that it was very pleasant.
So casually Abhilash enquired what the general folklore was, and why the room 113 was believed to be haunted.
The receptionist replied that she was unaware of the underlying facts fully but what she had heard from her grandparents she could explain.
The resort as we see today was remodelled from an ancient mansion which was run as an inn welcoming visitors in the 1960s,... the receptionist began.
A young beautiful woman and her boyfriend as well as her elder sister and her husband had once come to stay there. As they were short of rooms and the time quite late in the night, the inn having only one vacant room, the kind innkeeper provided additional bedding and had them accommodated in the room which is currently the room 113 of this resort.
In the middle of the night, these four guests seem to have rushed out of the inn panic stricken, and got into their car, briefly informing the boy at the reception that they had some emergency to look into and would be back soon. They left in a hurry in the car, but never returned that whole night.
Next morning their car was found crashed and fallen into a ditch on the road side and everyone inside dead. However, the young woman's boyfriend couldn't be found. The boy at the inn was skeptical and though he firmly believed he saw the young gentleman also join the rest as they left, he wasn't so sure, and that was the statement he gave to the police. It remained a mystery as to where that young gentleman had disappeared, if he was in the car or not, and many believe he somehow had the rest of them murdered and made it up as a road accident and he went absconding but nothing to prove such claims were ever brought to light. It remains a mystery to this day what had happened.
People whoever stayed in that room had one or the other disturbing experiences which they believe were paranormal and hence we don't usually entertain any guests in that room.
Abhilash listened to her narration with utmost interest.
The receptionist also added that she was really glad to know from Abhilash that his stay was pleasant. Abhilash nodded his head and smiled, though he was a bit troubled to hear her explanation.
He thanked the receptionist and waited there for a while for Neelima to be back at the lobby with her bag.
Then without wasting much time they bid farewell to their guests and hastened to the car for their journey back home. Their families were concerned when informed yesterday on their staying back unlike as was planned due to unforeseen situations, yet they were positive.
They set out in Abhilash's grey SUV and being a warm and clear morning, the drive was smooth. While driving down the hilly road, when they reached a long stretch of road they saw a woman on the road neatly dressed in formal western attire standing quite far off and waving at their car. She was wearing a navy-blue skirt and light cream coloured shirt, her hair made in a style which predates the present times, as how you see women dress up in the old black and white movies. She also had a peculiar old fashioned purple coloured hair brooch which held her hair in that vintage style.
She appeared to them to be some receptionist in some hotel in the vicinity, as all other options one could think of like an IT professional or air hostess should be ruled out as that wouldn't fit into the scenario they were in.
Abhilash pulled over his SUV, and the woman came over and peeped in through the car's window scanning the folks thoroughly, she calmly enquired if she could be given a ride to a township few kilometres downhill.
Abhilash agreed and she hopped into the backseat and they resumed their
journey. Both Abhilash and Neelima had this question popping in their minds on
how she ended up in the middle of nowhere on a fine morning, and also where she
worked.
Neelima couldn't resist any further and politely she enquired, "So
did your car break down and your accomplice went to get it repaired and you
were left there?"
The woman just nodded and uttered a faint yes.
Neelima thought to herself that she shouldn't have put forth the
question that way, by putting across the situation she could think of, but
rather blatantly should have asked what had happened to her.
Well, she put forth the next question rather directly to her, "so are you out for work, I guess ? Where are you going?"
The woman mentioned the name of a hotel and just mentioned she worked there.
They continued their drive and reached a longer stretch of road.
Suddenly the road appeared quite familiar to Abhilash and the next instant his
jaw dropped as a very familiar tree was spotted on the roadside and before he
could realize what was happening his car skidded and he lost the control. He
applied the brakes immediately almost stepping completely on the brake pedal,
still couldn't cut down the momentum or manoeuvre the vehicle, as like a carrom
board striker hitting the edge, it skidded off the road banged against the
tree, swirled and down into a ditch it fell, the lights blinking and setting
off the car's blaring alarm, but everything silent inside the car.
A volkswagen sedan zoomed down the hill with a lone passenger cum driver, a young vibrant chap clad in jeans and tee shirts with a tattoo on his neck, and enjoying his drive as well as the pop music from his car's stereo. He was speeding down the road, quite unusual to drive so fast in the mountainous terrain.
Suddenly like a streak of lightning, a woman appeared in front of him
and on impulse he stepped on the brake and somehow manoeuvred his skidding car
to a halt without hitting the woman. She looked terrorized and blood was oozing
down from her forehead. She was wearing a navy-blue skirt and cream coloured
shirt and he specifically noticed the purple-coloured hair brooch and her hair
made up in a peculiar vintage hair style. He also noticed that her leg was also
bleeding and she was limping a bit.
He immediately got out to assist her.
She pointed her finger ahead towards a tree on the side of the road and
was still struggling to gain the strength and composure to talk but perceiving
the situation he dashed forward. He could hear the shrill sound of a car's
alarm from beyond the road and perceived it to be a road accident and a car
fallen into a ditch. As he neared the tree he could see as expected there
was a ditch beyond that tree on the side of the road, not visible from the road
unless someone comes closer and peep. The ditch was quite wide and there was a
grey SUV car lying there, it's lights blinking also the car's alarm had gone
off a blaring din it created yet there wasn’t anyone from the surrounding who
had come running to help.
He suddenly turned to look back, and saw that the injured bleeding woman
who limped toward him and uttered that she was in the car with a man and a
woman and suddenly the car skidded off the road, lost control, bumped against
the tree and turned over and fell into the ditch. He immediately climbed down
into the ditch, and peeped inside to look for survivors. He looked up, to ask
the woman a question but she was nowhere to be seen. He supposed that she might
have stepped back and away from the frame of view from the ditch.
Through the mangled body of the car, he peeped inside and he saw the motionless
body of a man at the wheel and woman beside just as the woman told him. He
tried to feel their pulse and shook their body but no luck. They were
motionless and no pulse. Suddenly he caught notice of another woman seated
behind. She too was lying motionless her head was towards the other window. He
had thought that the woman told him that besides her it was only a man and a
woman, so who was this other woman. Might be in fright and terror she might
have forgotten to mention the other traveller.
Well, he tried to grab the hand of the woman lying behind to feel the pulse. No luck here too. She too was dead as a stone. He tried to pull her up with both his hands and made the woman sit straight. He noticed she was bleeding badly from her forehead and her hair covered most of her face. He tried to brush aside her hair, which had a purple brooch similar to the woman he had seen on the road. As he pushed aside her hair he suddenly let out a wild scream, was horror struck, and for an instant his breathing seemed to have stopped and his eyes bulged in terror to see her face. It was the very same woman he had seen on the road...
Written by,
Suveen Jacob Abraham.
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