Chapter 1 – The Beginning

Love is the firstborn, loftier than the gods, the Fathers and men. You, O Love, are the eldest of all, altogether mighty.

To you we pay homage….

In many a form of goodness, O Love, you show your face. Grant that these forms may penetrate within our hearts.

Send elsewhere all malice!

-Atharva Veda

Pranita was a smart and hardworking intern at a reputed law firm. She loved her job simply because it was challenging and financially adequate for her at present. Though she tries to be calm and relaxed at her office and in front of her colleagues but, their daily gossips and personalized conversations made her feel over the edge and in her books it was an intentional attempt of breach in someone’s privacy. She liked the client works assigned to her outside the office.

One fine day when she entered the office ready to finish off the case files neatly assembled on her desk, she was called by her boss. Pranita was a bit apprehensive of the sudden urgency of the call when she was facing her boss. It turned out to be an assignment of catering to a well-known real-estate tycoon residing in his countryside home for some time. Taking this escaping opportunity from her office grave-vine environment, Pranita gladly accepted the case and started preparing careful notes in accordance to the points mailed in her inbox.

Next morning she drove to the address mentioned in her notes and parked her vehicle to see a huge house with just right balance of old and modern touch. The vast meadow in front with dried grass and a porch with wooden stairs and carved pillars leading straight to the inside of the house. The house was beautiful. It could look like a lavish countryside home if the exterior areas would have been taken care of such as watering the plants, removing dried leaves under shady trees with some attention to the fencing of the sides and cutting of the long grass blades The outside seemed to be minimalistic but, the inside was tastefully decorated with natural light encouraged through the large sliding glass windows. She was greeted promptly by an old lady as she was expected and was directed towards study to meet her client.

The next hour passed in a blur in understanding the details fed by the client and working over the legal interventions over the issues until a kid of about six to seven years unexpectedly barged into the study and started taking rounds around her chair. He was gleeful to see a guest and was asking his father to let him talk to the new person in the house and was seeking permission to play with her. His father looked towards Pranita as if to say that it’s her decision whether she wants to interact with the child or not. The innocence and charming smile of the child persuaded her to have a small talk with this welcoming child. For next half an hour the child kept on talking nonchalantly to her and she listened to him with a smile. Wishing to not push it any further she decided to take leave from her client. At the end of the meeting before she left the house she was able to figure out that the name of the child is Romie and he lived in the house with his grandma and parents. He missed his nanny and only friend whom he liked a lot as she left suddenly one day to never return. Romie also asked Pranita if she could be his friend and play with him as no one does. Expecting the interaction with this client to be a passing acquaintance for short time, she agreed to the request of this lovely child.

She received a mail to pay a visit to the house again after three days. This time she was clear in her professional dealings and entered the house to meet her client. She was greeted by excited Romie who came running towards her shouting that he is happy to see her. When she went to the study to meet Romie’s father, he took fifteen minutes of her time and told her to leave. As she got free sooner than expected she decided to spare some time for this adorable child waiting for her at the end of the staircase. She sat on the sofa placed in the centre of an almost circular living area. A beautiful well dressed lady with a business like attire came with a coffee mug for her. Pranita assumed on the basis of Romie’s description that she was his mother and the old lady whom she met the other day was his grandma. Everything seemed to be in perfect order yet, it was a bit out of place to see this well dressed lady to serve her guest by herself. Pranita was left alone with Romie after a few small talks and introductory session. She was playing with Romie and he was taking rounds around her as this was his favourite play. Everytime he turns towards her back he gently touched her waist at the left, after four rounds Pranita felt a strange yet gentle touch at right side of her waist too. She thought it must be Romie at first but as he was in front of her with both hands visible it seemed odd. There was no one else in the room, she brushed it off as her tiredness and left the house after caressing Romie and informing his grandma sitting in her study adjacent to the entrance door of the house.

She continued to visit this client on every alternate day and every time while she was playing with Romie she felt an odd presence and a sense of touch. She also noticed that Romie was getting quite and vanished in between his play, still her senses never dejected the feeling of the presence of a child around her who is eager to play. She kept on ignoring the feeling. One day when she arrived at the house and was about to knock at the door, she heard a group of people heatedly arguing with the two ladies in the house. She could make out that they were mentioning about the strange happenings with the nannies and maids in the past. They were claiming that something is amiss with Romie and no one is ready to serve in this house. Moreover, people living nearby were demanding that this family should move to some other place and they had a sense of hysteria from this place.

Pranita was taken aback as she realised that all her feelings were not the result of job fatigue and over exertion; others also had same experiences. She deduced that the lady of the house was doing the housework not out of choice but out of compulsion as they could not get a maid and nanny. Additionally she also got certain that something is wrong with this child yet, she could not refrain herself from believing that whatever it is, this child is truly innocent and meant no harm to her. The arguments soon ended and a group of people came out of the door and left in haste. She could see the local policemen, father of the church and some other people possibly the neighbours. While the door was about to close behind them she grabbed it and moved inside to see that the two ladies were standing in the living area and Romie was hiding behind his mother’s legs with moist eyes.

Romie’s grandma met her eyes and had a questioning look at first which was immediately replaced by a sense of understanding as if she got her answers. Pranita exchanged few polite pleasentries and fled to the stairs dying for an escape from those probing eyes. When she came down that day she was all set to finish this assignment as soon as possible and move on with her office work. She sat outside the house on the porch stairs to sum up the notes of the day and to plan a closure of the case in her next visit. She was about to finish and leave when Romie came and sat across her on the grass with his feet extended straight in front of her. He appeared sad and silent. Pranita asked him if he is alright and she can play with him for some time if that makes him happy. He looked towards her with a sad smile and said that you don’t understand this. She cracked a senseless joke she heard from an office colleague and Romie had a quite laugh. Pranita took this as an opportunity to lift up his spirit and grabbed him to tickle his stomach. It happened in a blink of an eye that Romie was hurt, crying in pain and his knee was bleeding. Before Pranita could understand what has happened as Roomie was still sitting with no one else around them and no piece of stone lying around to hurt him, ladies of the house came running hearing his voice.

They were continuously asking him about his injury and what has happened and suddenly Pranita felt the same gentle touch of a child at her waist. She asked who are you angrily, she was pulled closer and lower by her hand and a childlike voice answered in her ear that “I am Lucy, Will you play with me as you play with my brother”. Pranita froze as she could see no one yet could feel the presence of a child so close along with an sinistral vibe. As she was recovering from the shock and wrapping her mind around the recent event, Romie was lifted and taken inside the house. She stood unmoving for a minute and then she bustled inside the main door and looked towards the old lady demanding to talk to her. The old lady tried to brush her off but she was adamant to talk. She went inside the small study when the old lady gave in and waited for her. She tried to even her tone in an attempt to not sound like a maniac. She decided to be curt and arrive straight to the point. When the grandma entered the study she said that she knew something is wrong here all along and tried to overlook, earlier she thought something is not right with Romie and now she knows that it is not him, it’s his sister lucy. Lucy is present around the house and no one can see her. She made it clear that she will not reveal it to anyone as they are already having problems and she will not come to this place again.

She came out of the study after giving a piece of her mind and made her way towards the main entrance when she was stopped midway by grandma stating that as now because she knows, she has to come and help them. She has to listen to Lucy and play with her. All this while Pranita could feel the eyes of little Lucy over her standing right behind her Grandma. She was striked with a wave of terror and dred simultaneously and cried a pleading “no, please don’t force me into this”.

She stormed out and drove straight to her place. She cancelled all the plans for the day and lay in her bed. She mustered courage to take shower and grab a bowl of cereals for dinner and drifted off to sleep over a high beat music plugged in to her earphones. Somewhere around three in the morning she woke up suddenly and was overwhelmed by a sense of someone’s cry for help. She kept on tossing and turning in the bed just to be more restless in the morning.

In the morning she decided to put an end to this as she couldn’t afford to have more sleepless nights. She gambled on her intellect and decided to go back to have a word with the family and come at peace with her disturbing thoughts.