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  A Prophesied Demise

  Nitharsha Prakash

  Copyright 2012 by Nitharsha Prakash

  I lay in my bed, thinking of the day I had. Everyday learning something new kept it interesting. Med school was better than I had imagined. Not as spooky as I feared. Only the ragging was something I worried cause I had no clue what I might encounter in it. Finishing first year was the only thing that mattered now; because once you’re done with it you wouldn’t be getting rag-

  “You heard what it said. It kind of freaked me out.” I heard from outside my room door.

  “You believe it will happen?” This was my roommate.

  At first thought I thought they were talking about how a senior ragged them. But I was intrigued by my roommate’s words. I heard more footsteps. There seemed to be some excitation outside my room door. I took my phone and glanced at the time: 11.15p.m. That’s not the time I usually sleep. The only reason I was lying in my bed was to prevent myself from getting ragged as seniors don’t disturb those who sleep……..usually. I wanted to see what was happening but was a little afraid. All voices I heard were my year guys. So assuming it was safe to get out, I went out of my room. There were some guys standing there.

  “What’s going on man?” I asked.

  “Some guys in Room No. 1015 are communicating with spirits.” said my roommate.

  “What the hell?” I gasped in disbelief

  “You mean, they are Skype-ing. Do add me ‘cheesy.666’. The Devil itself.” mocked Deva. He was one of the bright students in the class. From the Deva I knew for the one month he seemed most logical of us all.

  “They are doing Odja…you know with a board”

  “That’s Ouija not odja…..I’d love to talk to spirits. Want to come??” He asked me.

  “I don’t believe in that crap. It’s not real. That coin-moving-jinx is the result of the person who keeps his hand on the coin moves it. It’s all got to do with the mind.”

  “I don’t believe it either and all I did was simply mock it. You rationalized for not believing in it. But, true belief never rationalizes. And you on the other hand, did rationalize; then…… it means you want to convince everyone that you don’t believe in spirits. And one…….. only needs to convince people when they are lying. So, you are lying that you don’t believe. So you must actually believe in spirits or you are afraid of them.” After a pause he added, “But I think, you don’t want to believe in them because you would be afraid if you believe. In simple terms, you’re afraid of spirits.” My roommate stood with a confused look. I really hated the fact that his blunt reasoning was true to the end. He was true. I was afraid of spirits but I just didn’t want to admit because I didn’t want anyone to use my fears upon me. I agreed to go with him, only so my roommate wouldn’t think that I really am afraid of spirits. We went into the room. I was quite surprised. There were even two seniors. For a moment I thought ragging was going on in the room. But then I saw a board with numbers and alphabets. I assumed it to be the Ouija board. The room in spite of the number of guys in; it was unusually silent. Deva leaned on the wall near the door, while I sat near a guy who was in my table during Anatomy dissection. One of the seniors had his finger on the coin. I tried finding out what happened but couldn’t make out what was going on.

  I locked in my fears by trying to pay attention to things that had nothing to do with Ouija. For some time I scanned the faces of the other guys who were sitting around, trying to figure which them were afraid of those spirits like me. Eventually I got bored and had nothing else to do, so I plucked up the courage and asked the guy who sat next to me, “What’s going on?” The guy just hushed me. I got tired of it and looked over. The senior whose hand was on the coin was trembling slightly. I wondered if it was his fear that caused it. After a few moments I think they bade their byes to the ghost. The seniors rose up and sighed. “When that thing asked for Ranjit’s blood I got shit scared. I didn’t think we were going to get out safely. I wouldn’t try Ouija for another few days man.” said one of the seniors. What the heck? Until then I didn’t think it was this freaked out. I regretted entering the room for the first time and wanted to get out.

  I went for the exit. If only Deva hadn’t stopped me, I definitely would have left. He gave me an ‘Are-you-running-away?’ look. I yielded to his taunt and stood next to him. Ranjit was my year. He was too freaked out to continue anymore. He along with the seniors left. Two guys of my own year took their place near the board. I wondered why Deva hadn’t mocked anyone yet. ‘Maybe he began to believe’ I ridiculed him within my mind. The guys began the next round of Ouija. They began:

  “What’s your name?” asked Tarun. The coin began to move.

  S-I-N-D-H-U R-A-N-I

  “Looks like we’ve got a girl for the night” said Deva in mockery. A guy sitting in front of me gave Deva a disgusted look. “How did you die?” was the next question put to the spirit. Before the coin began to move Deva muttered to me softly, “Bet you that she had a boyfriend.” I watched as the coin began to move…

  L-O-V-E

  I looked at Deva in amazement. “See, I know the spirit without even talking to It.” boasted Deva. The guy in front of me turned around again and said, “Have some pity. This girl had a tragic death.”

  “Yeah I know. Love by itself is tragic.” retorted Deva. I asked how he predicted it. He replied, “It’s in the minds. Someone must have thought of Sindhu someone else must have thought of Rani. The named ended up mixed. I’m sure half the guys would have thought of love.”

  “Who will be the love of my life?” asked Tarun.

  A-M-O-D-H-I-N-I

  “That’s definitely a spelling mistake. If not, more.” Deva laughed. That got all the eyes on him. He stopped his laughter and continued “What’re you looking at me for? You ever heard the name Amodhini at all?”

  “It’s a Malayalam name. One of my baby cousins was named Amodhini.” said Parikshith. She is half-Malayali, half-Tamil.

  “Fine, Amodhini exists, start learning Malayalam, Tarun.” said Deva with a tone of slightest mockery. There was silence for some time. Tarun broke the silence, “What else shall we ask?”

  “What’s in mess tomorrow?” It was Deva.

  “Why are you being so naïve?”

  “Ask Sindhu Rani? She is a know-it-all.” There was a mild laughter that died down as quickly as it rose. The laughter didn’t die of its own. The coin began to move.

  D-E-V-A

  “Ah! Here’s about my future.” The coin stayed put in ‘A’ for quite some time before moving to the next letter.

  D-E-A-T-H

  “Everybody dies.” spoke Deva. I couldn’t understand how even at a prediction of his own death, he mock at the board. The spirit had more for Deva.

  O-N-E

  I couldn’t bear the suspense at that moment. One day or week or month or even a year, whatever it was going to be, is definitely short for an 18-year old.

  Y-E-A-R

  I expected more mockery from him. Instead he abused the whole thing saying, “I don’t believe in that crap. It’s not real. That coin-moving-jinx is the result of the person who keeps his hand on the coin moves it. It’s all got to do with the mind.” And then he walked out of the room.

  I followed him outside. He seemed to be headed to his room. I called out, “I thought true belief never rationalizes.” I knew I was going to regret mocking him; I wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t used my own statement that he earlier mocked at. He turned around. I went up to him and he countered, “True belief needs no rationalization; only acknowledgement needs rationalizations.”

  “So…. you acknowledged that you are going to die. Why did you mock the board at all then?”

  “No, I pretended t
o acknowledge that I’m going to die. Now that’s mockery at the face of the board”

  I stood there stunned. He went into his room. I regretted entering that Room No. 1015 tonight. But here was this guy who had all the more reason to regret, yet all he did was mock. The thought of the coin dragging along the board to spell out ‘Death’ sent a cold shiver down my spine. But standing there in the corridor on that dark night: I, not in the least, thought Deva would go on to be my best friend a year later.

  “Oye, Fresher?” someone called. I looked to see who it was. There was someone standing in the corridor wearing a lungi. “Go to Room No. 1123” he ordered.

  After all that I’d been through the night, I completely forgot to take precaution against ragging. I was in the senior’s room till two in the morning.

  The night’s session had spread to all around the batch. That was the talk of the whole class. One side there was excitement over Tarun’sAmodhini, other side was Deva’s death date. The talk couldn’t be hushed at all. But none of that bothered Deva. I went to class twenty minutes before the lecture, as usual and sat there watching the whole class fill in the hall. He came in only a few minutes before the lecture and took a