OUIJA ADVENTURE II
“Yes, dad,” screamed the children joyously while Rajam nodded and rested her head on Ramanna’s shoulder as they walked into the bungalow.
Prologue
“Come on, guys let’s get into our house, no, home. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Ramanna asked.
“Yes, dad,” screamed the children joyously while Rajam nodded and rested her head on Ramanna’s shoulder as they walked into the bungalow.
In a dark corner inside the basement, Pazuzu chuckled…
Evil Inherited
“Kids, pick your rooms on the first floor; the third will be the guest bedroom. Your mother and I shall occupy the master bedroom on the ground floor; the small room will be my study. OK?”
“Yeah…dad,” Pradeep and Praveen screamed in unison.
“It’ll be another week or so before we can actually shift. I’m getting the house cleaned, whitewashed and repainted. Some minor repairs are needed – plumbing, electrical fittings…”
“Listen…” Rajam said hesitantly.
“Is everything OK, Rajam? You look worried,” Ramanna observed.
“Did we buy the house hastily? It has a…a…past…you know. Four children vanished from here.”
“Come on, mom…” The sons protested in unison.
“Come on, Rajam. Every house has a history. We debated this threadbare and then decided to buy it. You can’t get such a big independent house for such a throwaway price.”
“Still…”
“True, four children disappeared from here; may have been kidnapped. The police could not find them. The case is in limbo.”
“It’ll be OK, mom.”
Rajam gave a sigh and nodded nervously. The family was lost in the realm of optimistic mental planning…
***
…oblivious to the lurking danger.
***
A week later, they shifted to their new home and started settling.
On their first Sunday morning Rajam was serving breakfast.
“Deepu, Veenu, dad is waiting…” Rajam called out for her sons.
Pradeep was in the XI standard and Praveen in VI. They came scurrying and joined their parents at the dining table. Ramanna was reading the Sunday newspapers.
“Dad, the basement needs an exhaust fan; it stinks. We need to dump some of our stuff there,” Pradeep said.
“OK, we’ll get it installed but those workers have cleaned the whole house after whitewashing and painting!”
“Yeah, but still it stinks…like a dead rat or something…”
“Yuk…yuk…” Praveen joined his brother.
“Shall I give you a tight slap? Is this required while we are having breakfast?”
The ever-mischievous siblings hid their smiles from their mother.
“But, Rajam, I thought the guys cleaned the basement also!”
“Why don’t you check with the contractor?”
For the next few minutes, the family ate their breakfast in silence.
“Did you hear that?” Rajam asked.
“Yeah, like a chair or something fell; in the basement,” Pradeep said.
“Check it, Deepu.”
“What mom…can’t even eat breakfast…” Pradeep reluctantly dragged his feet towards the basement.
“Maybe rats…or…cat…or…ghost…” Praveen was enjoying every moment.
“Shut up, Veenu. You are scaring me,” Rajam said angrily.
“Just kidding, mom,” Praveen murmured sheepishly.
Minutes later…
“Aaahhh…”
…a scream from the basement…
Ramanna and Rajam stared at each other. Ramanna rushed towards the basement when he collided into his son who came out running like a bat out of hell.
“Mom…” Pradeep collapsed into the lap of his mother.
***
“What mom…can’t even eat breakfast…” Pradeep reluctantly dragged his feet towards the basement.
He opened the door and started climbing down the short flight of stairs. It was dark. He flicked the light switch. The light did not glow.
“Sh*t…” he murmured and continued climbing down the stairs. “God! It stinks.”
The faint diffused daylight from above was fighting a hard battle with the darkness in the basement. Pradeep groped his way to the floor.
He strained his eyes to see as clearly as possible. Lot of junk cluttered the floor. However much Pradeep tried not to, he stumbled against an item.
“Sh*t,” he cried sharply.
The basement was quite large. The farthest end was almost completely shrouded in darkness. Moments later Pradeep found the cause of the sound they heard, an overturned wooden chair. Pradeep sorrily shook his head and bent over to straighten the problematic piece of furniture.
Then he heard it…heavy breathing.
A gentle cold waft touched the nape of his neck. The hair on his neck stood on end.
Pradeep turned around saying, “Veenu, I’ll kill you.”
There was no one else in the basement!
There, on the farthest wall, was a patch of foggy illumination. Inside the illumination, he saw some kind of indiscernible movement. He shuffled closer to the wall…
…and was shocked.
The imperceptible movement inside the illumination became clear. He saw what it was; a smoky, ghost-like form with a man’s body, a lion’s head, an eagle’s clawed feet, two pairs of wings, a scorpion’s tail, the right hand pointing upwards and the left hand pointing down. It was throbbing with raw energy and was bobbing its head menacingly.
Pradeep felt something touch his neck; like rough fingers frozen in cold.
Pradeep screamed…
***
“I am telling the truth, dad,” Pradeep insisted.
They were sitting in Pradeep’s bedroom, while he was resting in his bed.
“It must be a cold draft,” Ramanna said.
“And what I saw down there, did I imagine it, dad?”
“Reflected light, maybe.”
“But we didn’t see it when we went back in immediately!”
“Look, your mind was conditioned by what Veenu said and must have played some trick.”
“That’s it guys, end of arguments. Let him rest.” Rajam hustled the others out of the room.
***
Pradeep was having disturbed sleep. He was tossing and turning in his bed. The illumination projected on the ceiling by the laser-sphere colour-changing lamp made the ambience eerie.
“Creak… Creak… Creak…”
The wooden doors of the closet creaked eerily in the silence of the night. Pradeep opened his eyes into millimetric slits.
The closet doors were opening slowly.
Cold sweat broke out on his body. He shut his eyes tightly.
“Thud…thud…thud…” Soft sound of shuffling feet.
He pulled the bed sheet fully over his head and closed his eyes more tightly.
The shuffling sound halted. Pradeep could hear heavy breathing near his cot. He opened his eyes and slowly lowered the bed sheet down to his cheeks.
…and he screamed…
***
“Deepu is acting strangely for the past few days,” Rajam gave her husband coffee in a small stainless steel tumbler and dabarah and sat beside him on the sofa.
“Why? What happened?” Ramanna slurped the steaming filter coffee.
“He is dull, always in bed; says he is nauseous all the time…and…”
Seeing her hesitate, Ramanna inquired, “And, what?”
“He has become rude; started using offensive language.”
“What?”
“Ever since that experience in the basement Deepu hasn’t been the same,” she lamented. “He said he experienced it again the next night.”
Ramanna was lost in thought for several minutes.
“Let me speak to him. It may be nothing; maybe just a teenager’s problem; they have their own tensions and pressures, you see.” He tried to make light of the issue.
***
That night, after dinner Ramanna softly knocked on the door and entered Pradeep’s room. The room was dark save for the laser night lamp. The windows were shut and the room smelt of stale air.
Pradeep was lying on the cot in a foetal posture.
“Deepu, are you alright? You didn’t even come down for dinner!”
Ramanna thought he heard Pradeep growl softly.
“Deepu, are you OK?”
Ramanna placed his hand on his son’s shoulder and gently turned him over on his back.
He could clearly see his son’s face. It was nothing like his son Pradeep’s face. It was the face of a daemon. The face was ashen. The lips were drawn far back in a feral grin, displaying darkened teeth and thick dark tongue. Foul breath was emanating from the mouth and thick saliva was oozing onto the bed.
Ramanna sat, nay, collapsed on the floor and, instinctively, cowered away from the thing on the bed.
“What is it, you ba**ard?” Pradeep growled and lunged forward.
Ramanna screamed…
***
Dr. Murthy, the family physician followed Ramanna and Rajam out of Pradeep’s room. They sat in the drawing room, while Praveen stayed back with his brother.
Finally, Ramanna broke the silence.
“Tell me, doctor, what is the matter with Deepu?”
Dr. Murthy replied after a few moments, “Nothing, Mr. Ramanna, he is alright.”
“What? I told you what I saw.”
“He is in perfect health; a little tense, maybe, but he is OK; has no fever; pulse, heartbeat and BP are normal.”
“But what I saw…”
“I don’t know what you saw…”
“Doctor, that…that…thing…in there isn’t my son.” Ramanna went on to describe, once again, what he saw. “How do you explain it, doctor?”
“I don’t,” Dr. Murthy scribbled something on his prescription pad. He tore off two sheets and handed to Ramanna. “Here are some medicines to calm him so that he can sleep peacefully, and here is a reference to a psychiatrist…”
Ramanna interrupted him, “Psychiatrist? Why?”
“Listen Mr. Ramanna, the boy is in perfect health but seems tense. Dr. Rama Rao is an eminent psychiatrist. Take the boy to him. Tell me what Dr. Rao says. In the meanwhile, try to keep the boy calm.”
***
Next few days…
Pradeep neighed like a horse; oinked like a pig; hissed like a serpent.
He trotted like a horse; slithered like a snake; leaped like a frog.
He defecated in bed; urinated in bed; vomited in bed.
He hurled intolerable invective against his parents and brother.
They bore it all with equanimity, for they immensely loved their Pradeep.
They waited…
***
A beleaguered Ramanna family was returning home from Dr.Rao’s clinic, with Pradeep tightly wrapped in a bed sheet. Silence engulfed the interior of the Honda Civic.
Suddenly, a soft, muffled voice startled them out of their sombre silence.
“Dad, mom what’s wrong with me?” Pradeep spoke from inside the layers of bed sheet.
The innocent question broke open the floodgates. Rajam broke down, hugged her son and wept.
“Nothing, dear, nothing. You have been sick. That’s all.”
***
Earlier, in Dr. Rao’s consulting room…
“Mr. Ramanna, if you permit I’d like to use hypnosis to get to the bottom of it.”
“Hypnotism? Why, doctor?”
“I’m worried. His answers to my questions were…huh…guarded and…intriguing. It is not telekinesis or schizophrenia. It is something else. Unless I hypnotise Pradeep I cannot get into his mind.”
Rajam nodded a yes to her husband. “Anything, if it is beneficial to Deepu, doctor.”
“Go ahead Dr. Rao.” Ramanna concurred.
***
Except a night lamp, all lights were switched off. Curtains were drawn. Total silence was maintained. Ramanna and Rajam sat on chairs along a wall, while Pradeep sat on a leather-upholstered, high-back armchair. Dr. Rao sat opposite Pradeep on a low-back swivelling laboratory chair. He reached into a table drawer and produced a long chain with a shining stainless steel ball attached to one end. He started swinging the ball in a pendulum-like arc, while shining a small pocket flash light on it.
Dr. Rao started speaking to Pradeep in a soft voice.
“Pradeep, look at the ball…Look at the ball…Your eyes are growing heavy…They are growing heavy…You are unable to keep them open…You are feeling sleepy…”
“Huh…heavy…sleepy…”
“You are falling asleep, Pradeep…You will wake up when I snap my fingers…Your eyes are heavy…You are asleep… You are asleep, Pradeep.”
Dr. Rao spoke in a soft soporific monotone.
Within minutes Pradeep rested his head on the chair, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
***
“Pradeep, can you hear me?”
“Yes…”
“What happened to you?”
“I am scared…”
“You said there is someone inside you.”
“Hmmm…Yes…sometimes…”
“Who is it? Can I speak to that person?”
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room changed. A pen stand kept on the study table tumbled onto the floor, scattering its contents around. A dull thudding sound filled the room…thud…thud…thud…as if someone was pounding on the walls. The air turned so cold that their breath hung around their faces like fog. Dr. Rao looked around stunned at the eerie activity. When his gaze returned to Pradeep, he could not believe his eyes.
Pradeep’s entire persona metamorphosed into something unrecognisable and bestial.
The face turned pallid. The lips receded far back in a feral grin displaying darkened teeth and gums, and a thick black tongue. Offensive breath issued from the mouth and thick dark saliva oozed onto his chest.
“Do you think you can hypnotise me, you bastard?” Pradeep’s voice was a hoarse growl.
“Who are you? Why are you tormenting this boy?”
“Hmmm…” the entity crooned softly lolling its tongue. “You want to know everything…huh.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Pazuzu. I am Satan. I am the devil. I am whatever you want me to be…hmmm…” The answer reverberated against the walls.
“Why are you tormenting this boy?”
“The pig is mine…nowhere else to go…will reside in him.” A gruff growl.
“How did you come here?”
“Hmmm…Decades ago… was driven out…a girl…another place…was wandering…four children invited…this is my residence…these bastards occupied it…will kill the boy…will not leave.” Loud blood-curdling growl.
“What happened to those four children?”
“Hmmm…tasty.” Again a soft croon that shocked all of them.
“If the boy wants you to leave him?”
“Noooo….” An evil howl. Pradeep hit Dr. Rao with unbelievable strength. The blow lifted Dr. Rao off his chair and hurled him against a wall.
The evil entity howled like a wolf.
***
A barely conscious Pradeep was lying on a couch.
Dr. Rao was applying ice to his chin and cheek.
“What now, doctor?” Ramanna asked despondently.
“I don’t know, Mr. Ramanna. You have seen it all. It is beyond me.” He paused. “Have you heard of exorcism?”
***
“We are desperate, Savitri,” Rajam was speaking over her mobile.
“I understand, Rajam. It’s so painful that Deepu is suffering like this.”
“Dr. Rao suggested exorcism. Perhaps you know some tantric, exorcist?” She asked hopefully.
“Hmmm…I don’t know…I’ll have to see, Rajam.”
“Thanks, Savitri.”
The Exorcist
Shankara Shastri, Ramanna and Rajam were sitting in the drawing room.
“Thanks, Mr. Shastri. Savitri sent you for the exorcism, didn’t she?”
He smiled and stood up. “Shall we go?”
For the next quarter of an hour, Shastri examined every nook and corner of the house. Pradeep seemed to be asleep and Praveen was at school. Finally, they reached the basement. It was damp and slightly cold. Shastri inspected it meticulously.
“There is no doubt that a very strong presence exists in the house.” He paused. “There is a history to the house, you say?”
Ramanna briefly described the details that he knew of the disappearance of four teenagers from the house a year previously. Shastri listened carefully with eyes closed.
“Hmmm…Yes, I suspected some such incident. Anything else?”
“Under hypnosis it said that it was…Pazuzu, Satan, devil or something…”
“Pazuzu is a daemon in Assyrian and Babylonian mythology.”
“Huh…We are Hindus. So, how do we go about it, Mr. Shastri?”
“God is one, Mr. Ramanna. Only, paths for finding him are various, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and others. So is evil, the anti-God. He is one, with various names in various religions. We will tackle him, won’t we?”
Ramanna nodded sceptically.
Suddenly, they heard loud cries of Rajam and rushed to investigate.
***
They entered Pradeep’s room and found Rajam screaming, eyes wide-open, hand over mouth and index finger pointing to the centre of the room.
There, at the centre of the room, a scene of pure evil, which defied all laws of physics and all imagination, was unfolding.
Pradeep was the centre of attraction.
He was standing vertically upside down, on his head, like the yogic shirshasana. Only, the head was not touching the floor; it was a few inches above it! His arms were outstretched. His whole body was ramrod-straight…
…and he was spinning around a vertical axis, slowly at first. The spinning speed gradually increased to a frenetic level…
…and Pradeep started screaming…
“Help…dad…mom…Help me…Make him stop…I can’t…It hurts…Ask him to stop…aaahhh…”
***
“Let us begin,” Shastri said. “Remember, the evil entity will try its best to wear you down; your faith, your rationality and your sanity. Don’t listen to it. Just concentrate on what I am doing. Mrs. Ramanna, especially you, whatever may happen, please do not panic. I am here to take care.”
She looked at him with eyes filled with tears of hope. Shastri’s smile and words assuaged her ravaged heart and filled her with sanguinity.
“You will have your son back very soon.” He paused. “I assure you.”
Praveen was strictly instructed not to leave his room no matter what.
***
The following hours saw the basement turn into a battlefield; battle between good and evil; between holy and unholy; between Shastri and the entity; ultimately, between the Almighty and evil.
Stage was set for the exorcistic rituals; rangolis were drawn in rice flour; over a pile of sand an iron oven was set for homam; flowers, betel leaves and betel nuts were placed in trays;agarbattis and oil lamps were lit in front of images of Goddess Durga, Lord Narasimha and Lord Anjaneya.
Shastri and Pradeep sat on opposite sides of the rangoli. On another side a circle was drawn. A large empty glass jar was placed inside it.
And the battle began…
***
…and continued through the night, unabated, undiminished in intensity. The walls of the basement echoed the thudding of the entity. The whole house reverberated with the howling of the entity. The house reeked with the stench of vomit and defaecation. The air became, in turns, freezing cold, forming fog, and scorching hot, bringing out perspiration.
Shastri was implacable in his concentration, inexorable in his thrust towards evicting the entity. He chanted holy mantras. He invoked Goddess Durga, Lord Narasimha and Lord Anjaneya. He prayed unto them for freeing the boy from the evil.
The evil was adamant, vituperative and vindictive. It punished Pradeep’s physical body with pain and more pain, making him scream.
…and the battle raged, on and on.
***
Finally, in the wee hours of the next morning, the evil capitulated before the power of Almighty and appeared as a smoky figure, sending shivers of raw terror through the spines of Ramanna and Rajam. Howling and shrieking in helpless protest, the evil entity slowly descended into the glass jar placed in the circle. Shastri quickly closed the jar with a lid. He sealed it with wax and then wrapped a cloth around it twice over and sealed it, too.
All they could see inside the glass jar was vestigial grey smoke.
Sudden sound of cough startled them.
Pradeep was coming out of the trance.
“Mummy…daddy…” His voice was a choked whisper…
***
Once again, they were sitting in the drawing room. This time Pradeep and Praveen, joined them.
The atmosphere in the house was palpably happy.
Shastri declined the offer of coffee and said, “The evil is incarcerated. Mr. Ramanna, make sure that the jar will not break and the evil released once again. As I advised, drop it in the middle of the sea in a weighted bag.”
Ramanna nodded a promise.
Rajam asked, “How can we ever repay you? You restored our son to us.”
Shastri smiled.
“I have done God’s work. There is no question of repayment, Mrs. Rajam.”
“Still…”
“Don’t lose faith. That’s how you can repay. Stay together in happiness and adversity.”
They all nodded and took his blessings by touching his feet. The happily reunited Ramanna family bade him an emotional farewell.
***
“Hello, Savitri, this is Rajam.”
“Hi Rajam, how are you and how is Deepu? Everything is OK, I hope.”
“Yes. He’s very weak. Otherwise, he is OK. He doesn’t remember anything.”
“Good to hear that.”
“Savitri, thanks for sending Mr. Shastri. He saved Pradeep. Otherwise…”
A moment’s silence.
“Rajam, I didn’t send any Mr. Shastri. Who is he?”
“He is an exorcist, a tantric.”
“You are mistaken. I don’t know any tantric. I didn’t send Mr. Shastri.”
“But, I spoke to you. You said you’d see.”
“Did he say that I sent him?”
“Nnnooo…Come to think of it, he didn’t. Perhaps, we assumed it…”
“Maybe.”
“But, who was he? Who sent him?”
Epilogue
Deep down on the seabed, Pazuzu was waiting inside a glass jar…
***
Shyam Sundar Bulusu
Author’s Remarks
Forty years on, The Exorcist does not cease to amaze or inspire me. I am sure I am not alone in that category.
__END__
PUBLISHED BY-OURHELO.COM
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