Ghoul in the Factory Read online

  Ghoul in the Factory

  - Robi Bais

  Copyright © 2020 by Robi Bais

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Inspired by the Marathi Story Karkhanyatale Bhoot written by Sanket Pardhi.

  It was late evening. He could see the crescent moon from where he was standing. Beads of sweat were trickling over his face. He knew that he shouldn’t have stayed so long over at his friend’s place. He should have returned home earlier. Now he has to cross the factory on his way back home. The place he hated the most. If he could do anything about it Jay would stay away from that place, in fact he planned to move to Mumbai or Pune as soon as he could for the very same reason. Once his college final semester got over, he’ll look for an Engineering College in either of these places. His only worry was that he would have to convince Nikita to come along with him. Nikita was his childhood sweetheart and he had planned a lot of things they could do there which was not possible in this idyllic village. Uncle Shyam who worked in Dubai whose wife left him for another man always advised him that women left alone can’t be trusted. Some part of that advice also stuck with him in his mind.

  With these thoughts, he reached the turn from where he had to take a left and the path led him straight to his house. He began to take measured steps. It was only 8 o’clock and would hardly be called a late hour in the cities. But here in the village you’d hardly find a soul at this time. A couple of stray dogs wandering the street growling at each other. He could see the outline of the factory from where he was standing and he used to not be very comfortable being close to it even when there were people around and now he was alone and that too at this time. It was a beedi factory. It shut down some 25 years ago when a couple of workers killed themselves in it’s premises. Nobody knows why they killed themselves but it caused a big ruckus back then. The police came and conducted a detailed investigation but there was no outcome. Slowly the production was stopped and the factory had to be closed. Rumours began to flout that there was a blood-thirsty Pishacha in the factory. Then there were some people who went missing suddenly. The owner tried his best to sell the land but now no one wanted the factory which was the abode of the Pishacha. Now after all these years no one in the village dared to wander there. Then there is the occasional story of someone having had a near death encounter, but who knows and no one wanted to verify the truth.

  Jay kept walking faster and had by now reached right in front of the factory. His legs suddenly felt heavy and he was sweating profusely by now, but he just carried himself on. He didn’t want to look at the factory but from the corner of the eye he saw that the gate was open. It is impossible, he thought to himself. He had never seen the gate open, there were chains over it secured with a padlock. In all these years he had not once seen the gate open. Who opened the gates at this time of the night and more importantly what were they doing there at this time? Definitely not something good he understood. He didn’t want to have any sort of encounter. Even though he didn’t want to, his instincts got him to look deeper inside the factory premises and across the wall he saw some lights inside the main building. He knew he had to pick up his pace and get away from this place as fast as possible. His fear gave him renewed energy and he almost broke into a sprint.

  It was then he heard a voice. Almost like a screeching faint voice at first. It sounded like his voice. Someone was calling him from behind.

  “Jayyyyyyyyyyy” the voice said. The voice sounded familiar but there was no one behind him.

  Whoever it was they’ll have to wait cause he wasn’t turning back. He knew from what other people told him over the years, that if he turned back, the Pishacha would then have power over him. That was a no brainer. He had seen it everywhere. The prudent thing would be to walk ahead as if nothing happened.

  He began to run. But the voice followed him growing louder. Whatever was coming from behind was way faster than him. How could a person catch up to him so fast. Fear began to grip him. But then suddenly the voice stopped and an icy cold hand gripped his right wrist. Whatever courage he had mustered also began to slip away from him. Whoever caught his hand now began to shake him violently and again calling his name. He began to scream for dear life.

  ✥✥✥✥✥✥

  Jay opened his eyes to see his mother waking him up for college.

  “Jay, I’m tired of waking you up every morning. You will be late for college today again.”

  “Come on Ma… Please stop now.”

  He looked at the wall clock and saw that it was 8:30. He was late but not for college. He immediately sprung up from his bed and rushed to get ready.

  Nikita was dressed in her college uniform. She kept running her hands through her short hair. She was waiting for Jay at the end of the street on her lady-bird bicycle. She was waiting for him for almost 20 minutes now. She looked up to see Jay come pedalling his cycle hurriedly, sweating profusely.

  “Hey Nikki.” he said.

  But he saw that Nikita was angry about him being late. She pursed her lips, crossed her hands and didn’t respond to his greeting.

  “What happened darling?” he continued rhetorically.

  “You know what happened. Is this a time to come?”

  “Come on now dear. Let’s hurry. We are still not late for the movie. If we hurry we’ll make it before the initial credits are over”

  “Have we ever made it for a movie before that?”

  “Sorry babe. Let’s hurry now.” he said, making a pitiful face that he knew she would fall for.

  “I hate it when you make me do this. You know I have to lie at home, bunk college and everything to come for a movie and you do this.”

  “Come on dear, one last time”

  She took a deep breath and with that they both mounted their bikes and began pedalling towards the theatre.

  ✥✥✥✥✥✥

  “What a movie it was!” Jay was excited.

  “Yes. What do we do now? We still have a couple of hours before college gets over. I can’t go home before that.” said Nikita, and she asked “Where shall we go now?”

  “Let’s go to some place where people won’t be around.”

  “Why don’t you want people around?” asked Nikita with a sly smile “What is it that you are planning to do in this lonely place of yours?”

  “I’ll show you the Casanova inside me.”

  “And what will this Casanova do?” quizzed Nikita.

  “He will take his lover in his arms and run his hands over her hair.”

  “Wow. Then what ?” she led him on excitedly.

  “Then he will look into his lovers eyes till she is captivated by them and is helpless in front of him.”

  “What will you do after that?” she was excited and her heart began to beat fast.

  “After that he will come closer, and now their faces are so close that they can feel each other’s breaths. Their lips caress ever so lightly.”

  Nikita began to take deep breaths and whispered “And after that?”

  “First we’ll go to this place and you can discover it for yourself.”

  “Come on Jay. It was just getting hot.” She slapped him on his wrist for him having spoilt her fun.

  “There are people around over here. Now where shall we go?” Jay wondered.

  “I know just the place. Follow me.” said Nikita as she led him on.

  They had reached her destination to Jay’s utter d
ismay. He knew the place all too well. It was the factory from his dream.

  “Why did you come here?” he asked her.

  “This is the place where I think no one will bother us.”

  “Yeah. And you know why people don’t come to this side of the village? It’s for good reason.” Jay was frustrated.

  “Now Jay, come on and be a bit more sensible. I thought you were a progressive one.”

  “Progressive has nothing to do with this.”

  “It has everything to do with this, do you think the people from the cities you want to go to believe in all this? You watch any Hollywood or Bollywood horror films, the demons are mostly from the villages and rarely from the cities. Why do you think it’s so ?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me why is it so?”

  “It’s because the people from the cities are smarter unlike the gullible people here, who’ll believe anything. I hate for my man to be one such person.”

  “But you see, a lot of people have seen something. They can’t all be lying right?”

  Nikita realized that the fear in Jay’s mind wouldn’t go away so soon. So she decided to change the topic. She had thought of a way to prove her point and she began working on it.

  She looked at him seductively and said “I think you are forgetting something.” and gestured towards the Ashoka tree which was across the road from the factory.

  Jay got the point and his hormones took control of him and he forgot about the factory and the Pishacha.

  They pulled their cycles against the tree and then Jay took Nikita in his strong arms and carried her to the backside of the tree away from the road. He then laid her on the ground and climbed on top of her.

  She lay there on the grass and looked him in the eye. She was still in her college uniform and he couldn’t wait to take it off her. He was about to take off her shirt buttons, but she stopped him right then.

  She pulled him closer to her and put her hands over his hair and kissed him. She whispered into his ear, “I love you and will always do.”.

  Jay replied “Me too darling.” and they engaged in passionate romance.

  The young lovers didn’t realize as the hours passed by and soon it was evening. It was then that realization dawned upon Jay that he was so close to the factory.

  He made a hurried notion to Nikita to leave the place. She understood his fears and asked him,

  “Now the coward awakens.”

  “Come on now Nikita, why do you want to argue now?”

  “Do you know something, they say that there is a Yakshi on this banyan tree waiting to possess people who sit under it.”

  “Come on now. I have never heard of anything like that before.”

  “Just because you haven’t heard that before doesn’t mean people haven’t said it. I really mean it.”

  “What, that there is a Yakshi on this tree?”

  “People say so, but if what they were saying was true then how come we are still here? Or has one of us been possessed.”

  “I don’t have answers to all your questions, but i’d prefer if we leave right now.” insisted Jay.

  “Ok. We can leave now if you want to. But trust me, no girl likes to be with a coward.” said Nikita.

  “Are you saying that you will leave me, because i’m scared of Yakshis ?” asked Jay who started getting angry

  “I never said that. It was a generic statement” Nikita said in a justifying tone.

  “But I feel strongly that you must get over this fear of yours.”

  “I can’t and you can stay with me only if you are fine with that.”

  “Now there is no need to get so offensive about this. I just wanted you to come out of your cocoon.” Nikita began to get angry.

  “I don’t want to come out of any cocoon and it’s late. We must not be hanging out like this. Your parents might get worried.”

  “I’ll worry about my parents, you don’t need to burden yourself with that.” saying this Nikita picked up her bicycle and left.

  Jay also left right behind tailing her on his bike till her house and then headed home.

  Jay was staring into his phone. His wallpaper was a photo of Nikita. A picture they had taken during the school outing. He had basically grown up with this girl. He knew that what she was saying was true. He needed to grow a pair and face his fear. He opened his phone and texted her

  Jay: Hi Nikita… I’m sorry baby.

  He waited for sometime and he saw that there was no response from her end. He was getting impatient by the minute.

  Just when he thought he couldn’t wait anymore, he saw a ping from her.

  Nikita: Hi Jay... I missed you.

  Jay: I missed you more which is why I texted you first.

  Nikita: I’m sorry for being rude

  Jay: It’s alright dear… I know that sometimes I can be a bit of a tool. But i’ll change.

  Nikita: You don’t need to. I like you the way you are.

  Jay: No… I totally get your point. I shouldn’t be scared of all these folklore that these people keep saying.

  Nikita: Good. All of this is some bullshit and you got that messing up with your mind.

  Jay: Yeah. I couldn’t agree more to that.

  Nikita: I appreciate you being so mature about this. I’d like to show you my appreciation.

  Jay: How?

  Nikita: The same way you did today afternoon..

  Jay: Ooo… But where will we meet for that?

  Nikita: You decide the place this time.

  Jay: I’d say, let’s meet up at the same place at 4:15?

  Nikita: In front of the factory? Are you sure? You kinda got a bit edgy today.

  Jay: It’s a new me and i’m not scared of anything.

  Nikita: Now that’s my man. So proud of you dear.

  Jay: Love you darling….

  Nikita:
  Jay: Gud Night…

  Nikita: Bye…

  Jay kept staring at her message for a long time past that. He was so happy that he had made up with her. He knew that she had a point. It wasn’t wrong on her part to expect him to not believe in all these things. He knew what he had to do. He had to reach there early and go inside the factory and get rid of his fear once and for all. He felt the nervous excitement rise within him. He could already imagine the shock on Nikita’s face when she would see him come out from the factory. He could hardly sleep over the night. He kept tossing and turning over.

  ✥✥✥✥✥✥

  And the next morning, his mum didn’t have to wake him up in the morning after a really long time. The whole day he did nothing but think of the factory. Somewhere deep within he didn’t want the clock to turn 4pm. It looked like a good plan at night but now as the time came closer his courage started giving way to apprehension and fear.

  He looked at his watch and it showed 3:45pm. He made up his mind. He knew that he had to go. If he couldn’t do this for his girl, conquer this small fear of his, then how would he stand by her in the real challenges that life put forth in front of him. After all there is no such thing as a bloodsucking Pishacha, he assured himself.

  He kept pedaling his cycle excitedly and soon enough he could see the outlines of the factory. With every second his heart started beating faster. He reached the entrance to the factory. He parked the cycle under the Ashoka tree and began moving towards the factory. He smiled to himself thinking of Nikita’s story of the Yakshi on the tree. He saw that as always from the time he had seen it the first time, the factory gate had chains with padlocks on them and there was only one way to enter the factory.

  He climbed the gate and landed on the other side. He almost froze for a second when he felt a tug from behind. On looking back he realized that it was his shirt which had got stuck on one of the spokes coming out of the metal gate. He quickly untangled his shirt and moved forward cautiously. He was alone on the factory ground and began moving towards the main building. There were dry leaves lying all around. T
he air was filled with an eerie silence. He tried to move silently without making a noise but the dry leaves on the ground were crackling as he stepped over them. It sounded like some bones breaking and was the only sound he could hear. If there was anyone there hiding then they would for sure know that he was coming. He moved forward with nervous anticipation.

  All of a sudden he could hear a dog howling. It was the icing on the cake. His heart started beating like drums. His feet froze and he began contemplating on going back. He stood there motionless for about a minute before deciding that he must go on ahead if he had to prove anything to Nikita. This was all nothing. After all a dog howling was nothing out of the ordinary. If it was nearby his house he would hardly even notice it. Just because he heard it now when he is here shouldn’t make much of a difference. After reasoning with himself he began to move forwards.

  He reached the entrance of the main building. On the door was printed the name of the factory “King Beedies”. People rarely had beedies these days. The youngsters preferred cigarettes. But there was still a small dedicated consumerbase for this. Thankfully, unlike the gate there were no locks on the door. He pulled the latch. It was rusted due to years of not being used. A strong tug and the latch came off. He then pushed the door open. It opened to a loud creaking sound.

  He looked inside and sure enough it looked like any building where no one had been for many years. Dusty and full of cobwebs. The perfect set for a Bollywood horror film. He bolstered his courage and took the first step inside the factory. He could feel it inside that no one has set foot where he has in many years. He saw the tables where the workers used to sit and fold the beedies. Where they used to sit in circles and tie the tobacco in the leaves and place it into those trays. In the far corner he could see the furnace where the trays were kept to dry out the beedies for the finished product. The nostalgia of the place got him distracted from the real reason he was there. The Ghoul.. The Pishacha…