Once upon a time, Roni and his five friends joined a new college named DPC, Delhi Public College as a murder of a boy had happened in their college, College for Boys. While the investigation was still on, the college was sealed by the police.
On the first day of the college, they were roaming around in the break time to explore the college. It was all going well until they heard a cry from the storeroom. They ignored it and moved forward. While returning, they heard the cry again but ignored it and went to their class. When the college was over, they again went near the store room out of curiosity. To their surprise, they heard the cry of a baby again.
The next day, they had a physical activity class near the storeroom.
Roni said, ‘’Friends, let’s again go near the storeroom.’’
Reesabh replied promptly, ‘’Yes, why not!’’
They all went near it and guess what? It was the same cry. Roni saw inside through the keyhole and said, ‘’There is no one inside the room. Who is crying?’’
That weekend the college organised a DJ night. The students of the first semester were required to confirm if they could stay in the college to organize the event. They had to pay ₹ 1000 for food and lodging facilities to be provided by the college. Many students joined the event because it was a great learning experience. However, Roni and his friends planned to join the night stay for some other reason. They planned to go inside the storeroom that night.
Abhijit said, ‘’We would steal the keys from the security guard at 12.30 when he is fast asleep.”
Reesabh jumped in excitement, “Let us name it Plan A.’’
Aaarav added, ‘’If we are caught then we will use Plan B, that is, we will steal the second set of keys from the Principal’s office.”
Roni wondered, “Given the low security and the event work going on, I don’t think it should be so difficult.”
Dhruv and Pratham got all excited to join the adventure.
On Friday, they stayed at the school, and instead of working for the event they played football for three hours and came back in their allotted room at 11 pm. Then they had dinner of rajma-chawal and pretended to go to sleep. They woke up at 12.30 as planned and stealthily walked towards the college campus where the security guard slept. They found the security guard in deep sleep and stole the bunch of keys hanging in the guard house. While they were trying to get the keys on the door of the storeroom, another security guard came on a round and they had to hide themselves for some time. Finally, Pratham took the keys and went alone to try them as it would be less suspicious than to be caught together. Also, Pratham was the fastest of them all. After trying seven keys, the eighth one unlocked the door and everyone gathered to enter the room and find out the mystery behind the cry.
They all banged into the room chanting, “Ganpati bapa morya mangal murti moray!”
They thought they would see a baby or a ghost inside but there was no one.
Roni said in anger, “All the effort for nothing!”
Dhruv looked at him, appalled.
Roni mocked, “Now what is the matter with you? Have you seen a ghost?”
Dhruv pointed upwards and all of them saw a ghost clinging on the ceiling.
They screamed and ran away only to find the ghost following them.
They hid themselves in a bathroom in the hope that the ghost would not find them there.
Reesabh chanted Hanuman Chalisa but the ghost entered the bathroom. They ran out of the bathroom towards the emergency telephone and called the security guard. The security guard came within ten minutes and till then they were running and hiding only to find the ghost behind them. The security guard came and chanted some spells which agitated the ghost and he forced the ghost inside the store room and locked it.
The security guard thundered, “What were you all up to? Had I not come in time you all would be dead by now. Go home now and do not mention about this to anyone or else…”
They all did not dare question the guard. They went to their houses and only came to the college after a week. They tried staying away from the security guard and the room as much as possible. But one day while Roni was walking by the store room he heard the ghost laughing wildly.
He told his friends, ‘’Strangely, I heard the ghost not crying but laughing maniacally today.’’
The friends were shocked and terrified at the same time. They went to attend their next class where Roni felt someone scratching his hands. He tried to ignore it only to find blood coming out of his hands a little later. He showed it to his teacher who took him to the infirmary where the nurse cleaned and bandaged his wounds.
The nurse asked, “Did you fight with someone?”
“No! But why?” asked Roni.
“It looks like someone with long nails scratched you intentionally.”
Roni told them about the night stay and the encounter with the ghost and the security guard to the nurse. She immediately informed the Principal who viewed the CCTV of the class and found a boy of around sixteen years scratching Roni. The picture of the boy was blurry. The Principal immediately called for the security guard. He was taken to the storeroom and the door was opened. All were shocked and scared to see the same boy in the room who was murdered in College for Boys.
The boy held the security guard by his neck and asked him to confess his crime in front of everyone. The security guard stuttered, “I-I-I-Please forgive me. P-P-Please, it was a mistake. I did not know that giving you drugs in the name of painkiller will kill you.”
“I want to hear your dirty secret not some half-baked cry of innocence,” thundered the boy.
“Y-Y-Yes! I used to carry drugs and sell them to the boys in the college who asked for them. Also, I gave it to the innocent boys when they asked to get them a painkiller or some other medicine. I swear…I no longer do it. I have left that dirty work after your death.” The boy left his neck and screamed in pain.
“I-I apologize for what I did to you…”
“You deserve punishment not just for me but for all the boys you trapped and made them drug addicts.”
“Vinay, I promise you I will see to it that this man gets the harshest punishment. Now please don’t scare us and other students as we have already suffered a lot because of the misdeeds of this bastard.”
Vinay disappeared and police were called. Roni showed them the entire video in which the guard confessed to his crimes. At last, justice was served when the court punished the security guard with lifetime imprisonment.
Divit Jain is ten years old now and studies in grade 5 at NPS, Guwahati. He wrote this story under the guidance and assistance of his mentor, Sneha Goel. He is a poet by heart and this poem of his will tell you about him.