Superstar: Horn OK Please (12 page)

“I didn’t tell you guys because she said it’s all hopeless! She said we’re all going to die! That evil thing can only be touched by Jenny….she’s about to die already! I don’t want you guys to die!” said Derek, as he looked around for sympathy and understanding. He got zilch.  

“Have you told her that we found the key?” Hound asked, calming down.

“No. I didn’t know about it myself before I met you guys in the room this evening. I figured that if someone must enter the room tomorrow morning, it should be Jenny and I. If someone must die trying to save Jenny, it should be me….not you…!” said Derek, covering his face with his hands. “I love that woman, but she loves me more…”

Now that was a shocker. Derek Demonia had a heart. “Bastard, now you decide for us? Forget Jenny, do you even care for us, you selfish bastard?” thundered Hound, unable to hold back his anger.

“Shut up. I love Jenny, just that I don’t show it like you do, Hound. And I love my friends. Would I have pinched the key from Goose otherwise?” said Derek, standing up and looking at Hound straight in the eye as he fished out the key from his pocket and flashed it to him.

“What the hell?” I said, surprised as Goose patted my shoulder and whispered, “Shhh! Let it be. They’re matters of the heart, bro, we won’t understand”.

He was right for Hound gave Derek a bear hug and slapped Derek tight and spoke in a soft voice, “We’re in this together, Dude. It’s bro code. Respect it. If die we must, we must all die together. But we’re not losers. This is about Jenny. We’ve got to find her a good fighting chance to survive. We’ve got to stay alive to help her kill her Doppelganger. We can fight over her later. You savvy, bro? I love her too”.

It was good to see them bury the hatchet. We just couldn’t afford to be squabbling right now, time was running out. Jenny’s Doppelganger was becoming more powerful and we were racing against time. Jenny’s birthday was just around the corner. It was close to 2:00 AM now.

“Awesome and all that, Dudes, but the fact is – we don’t have enough time. We can’t wait till tomorrow morning. We must find the secret room. Lobsang and I will go with Jenny…..we must go tonight. Having you morons around will only be a hurdle for us”, said Cathy, getting up from the couch as she looked at Lobsang. She seemed to read Lobsang’s mind.

There was something about Cathy’s voice that told us not to mess with her and take orders for a change instead. The three ladies would enter the secret room of Winston alone. And it was a given.

“Leave it to me, I’ll wake up Jenny. She would know what to do”, said Lobsang, as she got up and walked towards room number seven as I stared at the huge, evil painting that adorned the wall just above the fireplace. That demented man in the painting was Winston D’Silva.
I got up and moved closer to the painting, trying to spot clues. I was soon to be joined by Goose. In the painting, Winston D’Silva was leaning on some kind of a pedestal that had a clay pot, an urn kept on top of it. A black, leather diary with a golden buckle in one hand held close to his chest, the evil dude rested his other hand on the pedestal. The same floral design that was there on the metal chest we found today was there on the urn as well!

“Well, I’ll be damned”, said Goose, as he let out a low whistle, “Chief, that urn. Look sharp! It has the same floral design on it. That strange flower? Do you see that?”

Hound and Derek joined us to see what we were looking at as I noticed the design of the strange flower on the metal. It was the same floral design that was there all over the furniture in the mansion when Derek muttered, “….That clay urn! That must be the evil thing that Jenny kept talking about!” The urn was the size of about four cans of Rebdull put together and was shaped like a sphere. It looked like a small, closed, clay vessel that was kept on the pedestal. Typically used to store ashes of a dead person, the evil Winston had been posing, standing and grinning with the urn. It had to be the “evil thing”.

“Did someone call moi?” said a soft, sweet voice as I turned around to see who it was. It was Jenny, looking like the morning drop of dew.

Derek hugged Jenny as soon as he saw her. “Wow! Wait, you primate! I’m not about to die or something?” said Jenny, pushing herself away from Derek, “A public display of affection doesn’t suit you, Derek”. There were peals of laughter in the room as Derek stood dumb and numb. He finally got what he deserved.

“Good, Uncle’s wasted. He’s had a drop too much. Let’s not wake him up, he’ll freak out. You, morons, lift the painting and make yourselves useful”, continued Jenny as Hound and Derek lifted the heavy portrait to see if there was a keyhole. It was evident from the dirt behind the painting that no one had dared to touch it from the day it was hung in that position. Since the wall was made of exquisite stone masonry, there had been no need to do the wall up. Also, nobody dared to mess around with Winston D’Silva, alive or dead.

Sure enough, tucked innocuously between two stones was a keyhole. Even if someone had dared to lift the portrait in the past, it would have been overlooked as another hole in the wall of an old, crumbling mansion. Using his right hand, Derek inserted the key into the hole. A perfect fit as he thrust the key deeper and turned it clockwise. He eased the key back into position and took out the key as a soft rumbling sound could be heard in the room number seven. Winston’s chamber.

Toothpick Nanny could be heard screaming inside the room. She came running towards us, leaving the door of room number seven wide open.

“The floor! The floor! A gateway to hell, not heaven!” shrieked broomstick Nanny as Goose and I burst out laughing.

“The door! The door! It’s in room number seven!” rhymed Hound, sniggering at banshee Nanny and we ran towards it.

Walking swiftly to the room, we saw a flagstone that had moved out of position to reveal a dark, dank and unlit staircase.

Derek was the first to peer inside and said, “Brrr! This sure looks creepy. It looks like an entrance to a catacomb right under the mansion.” Nothing could be seen beyond a few crooked steps into darkness, “Are you sure you ghost busters want to go alone?”

“Shut up and get me a flash light. Anyways, I’m the one getting battered around the place for no reason or love”, said Jenny sarcastically, as she got down on her knees, bracing herself to get inside, “Cathy, Lobsang, please say a prayer for humanity before we enter this hellhole?”

Toothpick Nanny rushed out and came back with three flashlights and yattered, “Here, careful you be, my child. I hate that Doppelganger. Kick her ass hard for me if you spot her, will you, my brave little Jenny? Do you want my pink handkerchief for luck?”

“Stuff it, Nanny, and while you’re at it, keep an eye on these four morons for me? Especially that big brute they call Derek? I love him, he has no idea how much I care for him”, said Jenny as she slowly started her descent. Cathy and Lobsang followed as my heart started beating wildly.

“Let’s wait right here and hope they call for us”, Goose said, hating the fact that we were not invited to Winston’s hen party.  

“I give a rat’s ass about their orders! I’m going there. She needs me”, roared Derek as he sprang up and dashed inside.

“No!” said Hound, “just for once, respect her words if you love her. Please…”

Goose and I looked at each other, paused for a moment and then Goose said, “Is that why you’ve not followed her down, Hound?”

Hound didn’t respond. We waited for them to return. For a fleeting moment, I wished Jenny had fallen for Hound instead of Derek. He knew how to care.

Deep down the secret passage, Jenny had already started her descent down the slippery steps. Was it leading her to hell? We didn’t know…we could just pray…

***
 

CHAPTER EIGHT

***

***

Roses are red and violets are blue,

Her horrific past will surely shock you;

Trapped in a limbo, they long to be set free,

A tornado of souls, he would just not let them be;

She wept in silence knowing it was him,

She could care no more, survival chances were slim;

The more she learnt, the more it hurt,

Trapped in an urn of clay, when they should’ve mixed with dirt;

His greed was unending, his cruelty had no end,

Trapped in the circle of light, she just couldn’t comprehend;

She was hopelessly in love; she’d found the perfect mate,

Deep inside her heart she knew love walked in a little too late;

She was too far gone; she was left with no choice,

She had herself to blame, she chose to listen to her inner voice;

She knew it was not his fault, but she couldn’t let it go,

She couldn’t help herself from oscillating between high & low;

But it happened; no one was to blame,

Men, she said to herself, they’re all the same;

But if smiles and Imagination makes you say ‘Cheese’

Drive on, that’s the spirit of Horn OK Please….

***

Winston’s evil:

The steps were smooth and there were exactly 23 steps to a smooth surface that turned into a passage. The eerie silence didn’t seem to bother Jenny as she led the way. The beam of light from her torchlight shone on the narrow, stone passage. It was dark and damp as she felt a strange sensation of watching her great grandfather walk in front of her. Her mind was playing tricks on her yet she didn’t show her fright, lest she scare Lobsang and Cathy.

For a brief moment, she felt that she was helping them and it was not the other way around. No, it wasn’t fear that she felt then, but a strange feeling of retribution. Deep in her mind, she knew that this was her lone battle. Much as she wanted to have Derek walk by her side now, she didn’t have the right to put her lover’s life at risk. She knew that only she would be able to fathom the truth. As she neared the door, she knew she would find more questions, not answers in there.

***

“What? You’re back already? What happened? Where are Lobsang and Cathy?” exclaimed Hound in surprise as he saw Jenny emerge from the stairs. Derek was too confused to react.

“Shut up, Hound! Come with me now, Derek, there is something we need from the cemetery right now! Ask me no questions! Just come!” said Jenny urgently, grabbing Derek’s hand. Goose was shocked and I was flummoxed as we saw Derek and Jenny rush out from room number seven. Soon, we heard the sound of Motormouth and they were gone.

She came like a breeze and swept Derek off his feet and within seconds they were on their way. “Wow! They must have found something. It sure gets curious and interesting. I can’t wait to see what they shall find…..that lucky bastard, Derek. What are Lobsang and Cathy still doing in there?” said Hound, his chin resting on his folded arms that locked his knees while he sat on the ground with us, staring at the secret door that lay open in front of us. It looked ghostly in the flickering candlelight.

***

Derek screeched Motormouth in front of the cemetery as he slammed on the brakes. Jenny rushed out and ran straight towards the empty room under the steeple of the entrance as she yelled, “Quick! Follow me!”

The graveyard looked eerie draped in milky white mist. As the dew drops from the foliage trickled down and landed on Motormouth with a thud, it gave a bone chilling experience as if thousands of people were marching towards Derek and Jenny. A distant hooting of the owl reverberated around the graveyard. 

Derek took out the keys, locked Motormouth doors and ran behind Jenny as he looked at his watch. It was 3:00 AM. They made their way through the thorny bushes and soon they were at the door of the tiny room and Jenny pushed it open. As soon as they entered the small room at the entrance, Derek saw Jenny drop her clothes as she stood in front of him naked, “Make love to me now, Derek, I have this nasty urge to feel like a woman. Shut up and do what I say ….”

Derek was flabbergasted and stared at Jenny as she slid onto the floor. He couldn’t care less. He loved her; he would do anything she wanted, anywhere, anytime. She may be gone in a couple of days.

Jenny eased herself on the floor as Derek stood semi-naked in front of her. She made greedy, guttural sounds. “Hell! It’s been more than a day now! But what on earth do you want from here? Don’t tell me you wanted an intimate moment and so you came out?” said Derek, as he held her head in the eerie, dark night.

“Yes, Derek, I just wanted you. When I was underground, I felt this unstoppable urge about you. I want you to make love to me right here, right now, for who knows about tomorrow? Your Jenny might soon be gone…” she said as she knelt down on the hard floor. The faint moonlight shone through the windows. Derek looked at her face bathed in moonlight. It looked different. She appeared to have a faraway look in her eyes. She seemed to be in a mysterious rush. Derek didn’t care. He was on fire. He started showering her with kisses.

“She smells…strange”, he said to himself. Hell! He’d never seen her so heated up. Derek let go of all the fake tenderness in him as the beast in him took control. He made love like a beast then with no room for love or emotions.  

She was like an animal that night; never had he seen her body so much on fire as she grunted like a beast. Derek was at his beastly best till she let out a loud moan. He looked at her and said, “Did you like it? I’ve never seen you so like this before. You were hungry!”

Derek tried to catch his breath after the arduous love making stint, he bent down to pull his jeans up and tucked in his shirt. “You know, Jenny, this is exactly the way I like it…I’m so glad tonight happened. Love making can wait…eh, Jenny?” said Derek, looking up to realize that Jenny was gone as his voice echoed in the empty room.

He moved fast to the doorframe and leaned out before calling out, “Jenny? Where are you? Are you out there?” No answer. She had disappeared. It was then when a thought struck Derek. Maybe, it never was Jenny. He’d just been rudely tricked by her Doppelganger. He had accelerated the pace of transformation of the soulless creature. Shit! He ran like the wind towards Motormouth and started up her engine, did a mad U-turn and sped like the wind in the crazy, dark night.

He heard a thump on the roof of Motormouth and as he sped down the winding, dark roads. He saw two extremely ugly hands descend over Motormouth’s windshield. He was a few meters away from the entrance of the resort as an ugly inverted skinless head peered over the window. His blood froze in horror as he realized that it was Jenny’s Doppelganger as she broke out into an evil laughter that rung through his ears. He slammed on the brakes as she slipped and landed right in front of Motormouth. For a brief moment, he saw pure evil creature as it lay on the ground, stunned. It was still laughing.

It was a bone chilling experience. Never in his life had Derek had a ride with an apparition but tonight and that too a twisted one. His mind went totally blank and he felt short of breath due to extreme fear. It happened in such a heart-beat that Derek got no chance to ponder over what was actually going on. He had got a gut feeling that his moments of pleasure with the Doppelganger was omen of something extremely obnoxious to happen. He was worried about Jenny, he couldn’t afford to lose the love of his life.    

The beast was just a lump of dead flesh, bloody and white, with no skin on her. Her eyes shone like the wolf’s eyes they had seen that night. As she tried to get up, Derek pushed on the accelerator real hard and ran over her. There was a dull thud as he felt Motormouth going over a dead body. He drove straight to the reception. He yanked open the door somehow and made a dash right into the mansion, into room number seven just to look around and see that there was no one there. He turned around, shaking like a leaf as a figure emerged at the door.

It was Jeremy. He quickly grabbed Derek and said, “Boy! What happened? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost!”

“Not just that, you idiot! I think I just made love with one…”said Derek, trembling as Jeremy patted him on his shoulder.

“You’re alive, my boy, that’s what matters”, said Jeremy as he sat with Derek on the floor, making sure Derek was comfortable. “Here, drink this, you’ll feel better”, said Jeremy, as he thrust a glass of whisky into his hands. Derek took the glass of whisky. The flagstones were back in the place and there was no sign of a trapdoor over there. They sat and stared at the secret door for 10 minutes.

“Where are they? Where’s the bloody trapdoor gone?” spoke Derek in a jiffy, as he regained his composure, emptying his whiskey in one gulp.

“You mean the girls and your pals? Oh! They’ve gone back to Hound’s room”, said Jeremy, as he continued to stare at the floor.

The candle light flickered on as Derek gave a dead, blank look to Jeremy. He now knew Jeremy was dim, much dimmer than any flickering candlelight. The whiskey had turned him into a complete dolt. He got up and rushed to Hound’s room and knocked on his door. A confused Jeremy dragged himself up the staircase as he tried to follow Derek.

***

“I don’t know. I sense something very wrong”, said Goose, as he looked at the secret door, “Why on earth would Jenny rush out of the place and take Derek with her when she’s the only one who can find the evil?”

“Oh my God!” my heart skipped a beat, as I rushed out to the door. It was too late. I could see the Doppelganger drive away with Derek. My heart sank as I watched Motormouth leave the premises as she shot out like a bullet from a cannon. I’d just bled through my nose for her brand new tyres and servicing. She was a trusty, good ride. I felt sad for Derek too. I hated the Doppelganger like never before now. Something deep inside me snapped. I was determined to help Jenny kill her Doppelganger no matter what. Nobody messes up with Motormouth.

“Don’t worry, Chief. Motormouth will be alright; it’s that Doppelganger I’m worried about now”, said Goose, as he put his hand around my shoulder. He could feel my pain. I knew he was an intuitive bastard.

Spare me Doppelgangers and ghosts and give me a dead tandoori chicken anytime. At least grilled, dead, chickens don't have strange stories to tell. What's the strangest thing a stupid chicken could have ever done before it died anyway? Cross a road to get to the other side? What could have been worse? But Jenny’s Doppelganger had just eloped with our best buddy. Worse, it had taken my Motormouth along with him. Now that was not acceptable to me at any cost. For only a true road hog can share the pain I felt at that moment.

“Quick! Get back into the room. I hope Jenny’s alright”, said Hound, immediately retracing his steps and rushing to Jenny’s rescue. Goose and I trudged behind, as I looked back. I secretly hoped they’re alright….my brand new tyres. Of course, I knew Derek would come back alive.

***

As Jenny quickly scaled the dark passage to reach the door with Lobsang and Cathy in tow, the light from her torch fell on a door at the end of the passage. She felt a cold, disgusting feeling as she turned the doorknob. It was pitch dark in there and a suffocating, damp, pungent smell of death entered her nostrils as she pushed the door open. This was the place where her great grandfather would have been coming regularly before. He’d probably been the only one who’d been here before. She could feel the evil that lurked within, the feeling had never been so strong.

“Give me your flashlights”, whispered Jenny as Lobsang and Cathy handed over their torches to Jenny. Easing herself into the dingy cramped room, she placed the three torches upright on the writing table she vaguely saw.  As the smooth, cool blue lights bathed the windowless room, the three of them realized that they had entered into Winston’s secret chamber.

As they stepped into the chamber, they had to battle against the cobwebs of time as well as the real spider webs which tried to stop them from seeing the obvious. There were many of them and they seemed to be protecting some strange secret hidden in those dark depths. There were lizards on the walls that made muffled trills. There was a puissant vibration that Lobsang could feel in the secret chamber. 

“Where are we?” asked Lobsang, as the narrow, winding passage had left her completely disoriented.

“We’re right under the fireplace. We’re staring at the wall that extends from fireplace right to this room. That’s where the writing table is kept. Look over there! See that strange apparatus?” said Cathy, pointing to a periscope that started from the roof attached to the wall with the protruding lenses like those of binoculars.

She peered in through the lenses and said, “That’s a periscope….My God! Winston was spying on everybody in the house from here! The eyes of the painting are actually lenses and it gave him a complete view of the mansion from here. Every portrait of the room is a see through lens!”

Jenny stood rooted to the spot near the door that was the western wall of the room.  Her gaze transfixed on something on the top right hand corner of the room as Cathy and Lobsang looked around to see what was so special about this room. It was a small, dingy room with stonewalls.

“It’s some kind of a laboratory”, whispered Lobsang, as her blood froze when she saw what they saw, “Look……the urn from the painting…”

The western wall was a direct extension of stonewall of the fireplace, extending straight into the catacomb. Under the periscope, stood an elaborately carved, large study table and a chair with similar carvings. They all had the same floral carvings of the strange flower on them. Piles of dusty books lay on the table in a haphazard manner, evident that Winston was heavily researching on a particular topic. A thick, black, moleskin diary was kept separately on the table.

“It’s Winston’s diary. It is the same one we see in the ghastly portrait above the staircase where he’s holding it”, said Cathy as she walked across to the study table to get a closer look, “Hmm…books on organic chemistry. He sure was a sly one. It’s evident that he was trying to create something here.”

Cathy started flipping the notes in the diary and the old paper seemed to disintegrate by her mere touch.

Lobsang cautiously approached the southern wall that was lined with racks that held all kinds of medical equipment from the past 350 years or so. Test tubes, burettes, burners, pipettes, jars, multi-colored chemicals and in the corner was a carefully kept mini-distillation unit. On the northern wall hung some mutilated scenic portraits from the places he had travelled to. It was evident he had picked up these as souvenirs from all over the world. Below the paintings were large glass jars with dried flowers inside. Beside them were two jars containing some white powder.