Superstar: Horn OK Please (2 page)

Lobsang could never understand what it meant. But over the years, she had realized that she had the power to protect people from evil spirits when she was around them.

One of Lobsang’s students, Sonam, was a 12-year old girl from the school. Sonam had confided in Lobsang about a strange apparition that had been troubling her since birth. She had told her that the ghost wanted to kill her for some reason, but it didn’t dare to do so when Lobsang was around. It was very afraid of Lobsang for some reason. One night, Lobsang felt the sudden urge to talk to Sonam for she suddenly seemed to know that she could help Sonam.

Lobsang had asked Sonam to lie down on the floor and drew a circle around her. She then placed 12 candles around Sonam, one candle for each year that Sonam had lived to suffer. She then lit them up to create what she’d called
‘The Circle of Light’
.

Sonam closed her eyes and Lobsang started to chant in some strange, lost and forgotten language. The hymns came to Lobsang as if by magic, nobody had taught her that. She didn’t know if it was good or evil and she was scared.

But after a few minutes, Sonam had opened her eyes and told Lobsang that she had seen herself go to Tibet and back. She had met a monk over there. The monk had told her to burn the Raggedy Ann doll she possessed ever since she was a baby.

Her mother had told her that the doll had been given to Sonam by a strange old man who had visited her family when she was born. She’d kept the doll in her room ever since. That night, Lobsang helped Sonam burn the doll.

After she’d burnt the Rageddy Ann doll, Sonam never saw the ghost again. It was that night when Lobsang learned that the she had the power to protect people from evil spirits.

The power had been bestowed upon Lobsang by the beast who commanded her to protect Jenny from something till she was ready. Maybe, that’s why Lobsang was allowed to live. It had given her a purpose for a reason.

Lobsang knew her life would end once the evil beast decided that Jenny was ready. Jenny was the only person who knew about Lobsang’s meeting with the Devil. Ever since, Lobsang and Jenny had become best friends.

It was Father’s Day again today, the saddest day of her life. Lobsang said a quiet prayer remembering her father when the phone in the Dean’s office rang, rudely interrupting her prayers. Picking up the phone reluctantly, she said, “Hello? This is TCV, whom do you wish to speak to?”

The voice at the other end replied, “Good Morning! I would like to talk to a teacher named Lobsang.”

“We have many Lobsangs here, which one do you specifically wish to speak to, Madam?” replied Lobsang.

“I wish to talk to Lobsang, the miracle girl. You know her? It’s urgent.”

Lobsang felt a lump in her throat as she stuttered, “I am no magic girl. I am an ordinary woman, a teacher who’s trying to keep the dreams alive for the children”.

There was a pause at the other end and then the feminine voice spoke softly, “My name is Catherine, Dr. Catherine D’Souza from New Delhi. This is about Jenny. I’m her aunt and I’m her psychiatrist. Jenny needs us…we need to leave for the Estate immediately”

If Aunt Cathy had called, it must be serious. Jenny needed her more than ever. She’d do anything for her best friend. Nothing else mattered.

Lobsang knew the time had come. The Devil wanted its due. The Beast was calling.

***
 

CHAPTER ONE

***

***

Roses are red and violets are blue,

She smells the stench of death every night; it’s nothing new;

The fear messes up her mind; darkness engulfs her soul,

It’s taken away her peace of mind, her smile it stole;

As she waits for the sun to set, her heart beats wild,

She’s just another woman, she’s just a lonely child;

It haunts her in her dreams; it shreds her simple mind,

It takes away her sanity; it just leaves the pain behind;

She wakes up every morning, her mind twisted and skewed,

She waits for her love to arrive, she longs to be rescued;

She longs love, she wants to be held before it’s too late,

She is trapped in her own prison, a victim of fate;

She cries in her pillow at night, she holds a teddy bear tight,

But then it comes to ravage her soul, night after night;

Who can understand her sadness and wipe away those tears?

When will he arrive, the one with the pointed spears?

It comes every night; it drives her insane,

Her head seems to explode as she writhes in pain

But if smiles and imagination makes you say ‘Cheese’

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

***

Onward D’Silva Mansion:

We had been driving all day, down from South Goa and were very close to the land of tea and coffee estates. The scenery changed considerably as we drove towards the plantations deep in the heart of South India.

The sandy beaches gave way to lush green rainforests as we crossed the state borders. Motormouth continued to meander on the serpentine roads as loud rock music blared on the stereo.

We’d been driving around aimlessly for months on end and our adventures were sapping the life out of me. We wanted some peace and quietude, away from it all. The previous adventure had taken a toll on our nerves.

We were on our way to the D’Silva mansion. Goose had said that it was a fantastic place where we’d have all the time in the whole wide world to do as we please. I was happy to finally find the
time away from civilization and the highways.

We’d done good distance all day long despite the torrential downpour. Of all the days to leave sunny Goa, we had to choose this day. It was raining cats and dogs and there seemed no sign of a respite. It was late in the evening and the sun had set over the gloomy, grey horizon.

Visibility close to near zero, the night was pitch dark. Motormouth’s headlights cut through the darkness with ease as we drove down the empty, dark road.

To make matters worse, the GPS was down and we had lost our way. The narrow, horrible road leading to their estate was full of potholes. Motormouth was taking a beating in the rains and the road conditions only made matters worse and slowed us down considerably.

The rains showed no signs of slowing down. The dark clouds seemed to be following us. Soon, we left the plains and started the steep climb. I had taken over the wheel now for Goose loathed doing the dirt tracks.

Goose had always been a great driver on highways. Derek preferred driving around mountains while Hound didn’t like driving in India at all. It
seemed to tire him out where intuition counted more than the skill.

“How far are we from the D’Silva estate, guys?” asked Derek, obviously irritated from the constant battering he faced on the bumpy roads in the backseat of the SUV.

“Another 30 kilometers or so and we should be there. The mansion shouldn’t be far away once we enter the plantations”, said Goose, without looking back, keeping his eyes on the road, looking for a right turn that would lead us to the resort.

The downpour was merciless and I could barely see a few feet away. The screeching wipers danced like maniacs on the windshield and the defogger made a racket. And all this while, I held onto the steering wheel firmly.

The torrential rain kept battering the landscape as Motormouth sturdily gripped the road.

“If I’m not mistaken, we should reach a T-junction anytime now. We’ve got to make a sharp right over there. Shit…the map says there’s no road after the turn for the next twenty kilometers!” said Hound, trying to focus on his map with torchlight.

“You mean we’re on a darn road right now?” I asked, unable to believe Hound, as I carefully drove with both hands firmly on the steering wheel. It was a mean journey alright.

“Dude, we’re doing just 20 Kmph on the road if I’m to believe Hound’s map. I hope it gets better after the T-junction when there’s going to be no road…it could get worse though”, said Goose, eyes glued to the road so we don’t miss the T-junction and drop off a cliff.

“To the right, Chief, right over there, about 15 feet away, that’s the junction! Turn right! In 5 kilometers, we should come to a small bridge. Careful, the road’s damn slippery!” yelled Goose at the top of his voice as he frantically pointed to a small clearing off the road that seemed to materialize mysteriously under Motormouth’s powerful headlights.

“Like I won’t be careful if you didn’t tell me! At least let me reach the junction first”, I snapped back at Goose, trying to find the muddy road in the gushing water that hid the dirt track ahead of us.

“Watch out! There’s a freaking big wolf right in the middle of the road! There, see?” exclaimed Derek from the backseat as he grabbed my headrest, almost yanking it out of the seat.

Sure enough, a huge, ugly and scary beast of a wolf stood there at the T-junction, blocking our path.  The beast seemed to come out of nowhere.

I took a sharp right turn and immediately applied the brake for the tar road disappeared as Motormouth took on the dirt track. Goose lowered the window and shone his powerful flashlight at the huge beast. Drops of rain fell on my lap as I watched in shock and awe.

“What’s a wolf doing in these parts? There aren’t any wolves around here”, whispered Hound as he turned around to take a good look at it.

The huge gray wolf stared at us. It was bigger than any wolf I’d ever seen. It had flaming, red eyes and there it stood in the middle of the road, snarling. Its mouth was blood red.

It had huge, sharp teeth that could tear apart any human or animal, limb from limb. It was breathing hard and we could see its breath turn to fog.

A sudden silence enveloped Motormouth. The raindrops seemed to fall silently on the steel body and quickly vanish in the oblivion. We watched in rapt attention.

After about five minutes, the wolf quickly disappeared into the coffee plantations by the side of the road. Hearts thumped louder than ever. It had left behind a weird feeling, a feeling of uneasiness and fear. Maybe, we had seen the Devil.

“It’s gone…it looked so evil”, whispered Goose, visibly shaken by the sight, “Did you get that stench?” The rain continued to bring the havoc as I eased Motormouth into the dirt track.

“It was the smell of death, I tell you, Dude! It was the stench of decaying flesh. That was no freaking wolf…” said Derek in a low voice.

“Superstitious fool! Don’t cry wolf for nothing, Derek. Let’s blow this popsicle stand”, I eased up the windows as I wiped myself. It had started to rain harder.

Motormouth now crawled at 10 Kmph. I was struggling to find the dirt patch between the thick bushes from which rainwater flowed and hid the track, “Are you sure we’ve taken the right turn, Goose?”

“Yeah, at least it seems like we’ve taken the right turn. There is no other way. I can’t even call the mansion to find out, there’s no signal. The cellphone’s not working. Anyway, we’ll get to know soon enough once we come to the bridge in about five kilometers. There’s an old cemetery just a short distance away from there. Once we cross that, the mansion’s just about a kilometer or two away. They call it the ‘Mansion of the Gods’, it must be good”, said Goose, as he held on to his seat belt, trying to comfort himself.

Motormouth moved at a snail’s pace as I just couldn’t get myself to drive faster.

Hound turned down the volume of the stereo as it belted out AC/DC hits. It didn’t go with the mood at that time. 

After driving for close to about an hour, Goose exclaimed, “There! There’s the bridge I was talking about. It’s barely 20 meters long. It’s a small one just to cross over a canal that feeds water to the plantations. Sweet God! It took us an hour just to do five kilometers!” exclaimed Goose, holding on to his belt, smiling, pleased with himself that he’d got us the right way.

It was nearly impossible for me to know if I was driving on the defined dirt track on the map or not. The slushy track could have been a field for all I know.

“Dude!!! Do you see what I see? Is that a girl on the bridge?” hollered Derek as Motormouth approached the bridge. I screeched the SUV to a grinding halt and turned on the high beam. It shone right on the bridge, bathing it in pale yellow light.

The constant whirring of the wiper on the windshield and the roar of Motormouth’s engine was all I could hear. As my eyes got accustomed to the illuminated surroundings, I could see clearly that it was a woman.

She stood on the edge of bridge, holding on dangerously to the thin railing as though preparing to take a leap from it straight into the gushing water in the canal underneath. She must’ve been crazy. She seemed to be in a trance or just didn’t care to notice the powerful high beam that shone on her.

“Chief! Derek is right! That’s a woman! What is she doing out here at night? That too when it’s pouring so hard!” I leaned forward to get a better look and cleaned the mist that had formed on the windshield. Goose was numb.

Dressed in white shirt and blue jeans and drenched from head to toe, she was a young woman who must have been in her early twenties.  With no footwear on, she had her arms wide open as though she was about to embrace death.

There she stood, looking away from us. The bright lights seemed to have no effect on her. Either she was oblivious of our presence or she was doped out senseless for she walked on the edge, balancing herself, trying to find the right place to jump in and die.

“Wow! That crazy woman is about to jump! This is so cool! This reminds me of the gymnasts who used to waltz in the air. I can feel the same excitement level now!” chuckled Derek as we saw the woman slowly climb up the railing. I stared at Derek not knowing how to react.

Before anyone could react, Hound yanked the door open and ran towards her, his impulse getting the better of him. Meanwhile Goose pulled out a dry towel from under his butt and followed Hound. 

“Wait! Are you insane? Be careful! She may be armed!” I yelled, downing the windows and peering out. I couldn’t get out of Motormouth for if I did, she would go sliding down the slippery road, right into the canal that flowed boisterously under the bridge.

Derek looked around to see if it was an ambush, worried if this were some kind of a highway robbery as he steeled himself for a fight, gripping his Swiss-knife.

We watched Hound yank the woman off the railing and ease her to the ground. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he rudely shook her back to life. She seemed to respond to Hound’s therapy for suddenly she seemed to snap back to life. She must have been sleepwalking.

Goose gently put a dry towel around her as they stood in the pouring rain. I always knew his faculties yearned for a complete overhaul. Hound dragged her as they ran back into the warm shelter of Motormouth.

“Great! This is exactly what we need! Pick up a woman in the middle of nowhere and bring her in with us. The locals are going to love us for it. Seriously, Dude, are you demented? We’re going to have the cops asking us all kind of questions and if this woman lies…we’ll be in deep shit!” I said sarcastically, as Goose eased himself into the front seat and Hound shoved the woman in the backseat beside Derek.

“Well, we can’t just leave her there, can we, you selfish moron?” yelped Hound as Derek switched on the lights to look at the woman. Much as I hated to admit it, he was right. We just couldn’t leave her there. Especially, since she was breathtakingly beautiful.

I glanced at the rearview mirror to see what she looked like. She looked like an angel as she wiped her face with the towel, the dark hair curling on her forehead.

She was as gorgeous as she was insane. Her face could not be fathomed fully in the darkness, but one could make out that she was a very desirable woman.

“What on earth were you doing out there, woman? Are you off your rocker? Spit it out! What’s your story?” snapped Goose, irritated by the fact that he had to get out and get wet.

I suppose the loss of his favorite butt towel must have aggravated Goose no end. It was the only one he had. The trauma must have ticked him off.

“I…I’m sorry! I really don’t know! I have no idea what I’m doing over here. I am as clueless as you all are!” she fumbled with words as a puzzled expression masked her pretty face. I switched on the blower to keep everybody warm and dry.

“OK, we can talk about that later. We’re going to the D’Silva mansion. Do you know where it is?” inquired Hound, grabbing her hand as he stared at her lovingly.

“Yes…that’s the way. I stay there. Please don’t hurt me! I’ll take you there”, said the woman, obviously frightened by Hound’s tone and firm grip.

I eased Motormouth onto the bridge and crossed over. I drove for some time till I had to slam the brakes ones again and screeched Motormouth to a jerky halt for her highness had screamed, “Stop!”

There was an uneasy calm inside Motormouth till the beautiful one broke the silence and said, “Ah! There’s the cemetery to the left. We should wait there till the rain subsides. You can’t go any further till we get help”.

Four pairs of wide eyes stared at her. She was one loony person for sure.

“Are you crazy or are you trying to pull a fast one on us?” I asked, mildly irritated with her for having put everything out of whack. I had half a mind to dump her right in the middle of nowhere if we had to get anywhere close to somewhere then.

“Look at the road ahead, there’s a broken tree blocking our path. Aren’t you happy that we stopped? We don’t have a choice but to take shelter at the entrance of the old cemetery. There’s a room in there”, said the woman, pointing towards the ghostly home of the dead.

I stared hard at the road ahead; sure enough the path was blocked. It wasn’t a good thing.

“She’s right, mates. We must turn left and stop by the entrance of the graveyard and wait for the road to be cleared”, said Derek wryly, grinning from ear to ear. I could sense trouble brewing. The evening was messed up and he was enjoying every bit of it. Goose didn’t like it one bit. This was a scary experience.