DELIVER US FROM EVIL - THE MOST CHILLING THRILLER OF THIS YEAR

CHAPTER 9

Rudra toyed with the spinning top in his room, before he let himself think about the week he had. The fame that the inspector had told him about had nothing to do with people coming up and asking questions. In fact, Delhi Police had made sure no one would know about Rudra, Proteeti and Viraj, keeping them as secret witnesses who had reported the crime. And they had stayed that way, making sure no one would know.

Though, the fame came as Rudra was walking down the hall and felt everyone's gaze lingering on him. It was perhaps his imaginative conscience that probed him, but he felt all eyes were gazing at him. The fame was innate, personal and horrifying. It was worse, for he was paranoid. Did he know? Did she know? Does anyone know?

At one point, perhaps it was Thursday, when everyone stopped in the corridor. Their eyes slowly turned to him, like mechanical soldiers and then they just stared. He shook his head hard to realize the scene was different now. All students were busy, doing some random work or the other. I am bloody hallucinating!

He moved to the window. Staring down from the third floor in Maya Enclave apartment, he stared at the kids playing cricket in the park. They must be around ten. The trees and the grass reminded Rudra of Delhi Ridge, but he quickly dismissed that image for he kept thinking about the body. It was nightmarish. He would wake up, sweating and panting.

The one dream, he occasionally had was the time, he entered in the clearing, looking at the nailed corpse, when the head would bob. Glancing at him, the corpse in a shrill tone would curse: "You could've come early! You could have saved me!"

These were some strange dreams he had been having lately

He didn't know Tanya Mistry the way others did, but he did get to know what kind of a person she was. And he had learnt it in the first day of his college.

He was new. He was alone as he hadn't met Proteeti and Viraj by that time. And he was scared. He had heard about the infamous 'introductions'—a calmer, nicer word for 'ragging'. He walked the halls and corridors, biting his lips, hoping against hope that the seniors who now looked like hounds would not smell him and realize he was a 'fuccha'. Fuccha were juniors, the first years of every college who are clueless about how colleges work.

He had been walking close to the path that went from the lawns to the café. The café of St. Stephen's was on an elevated platform with a small dhaba where one would get samosas and nimbu paani. It was opposite to a huge, spiraling tree that helped the students hide from the scorching heat of late July. The tree had a circular platform-like surface near its base for students to sit on and chill.

Rudra had been walking to the café, when from the corner of his eyes; he could see these two seniors. One of them had a cheeky grin, with crew cut and a swimmer's body, the other was tall and broad with half of his face covered in stubble. The shorter, fair one, with his sinewy arms signaled. Rudra ignored.

He whistled.

"Stop! YOU! YES!"

Rudra's feet froze. He turned to see the fair boy walk to him.

"Are you blind or something? Randeep bhaiya is summoning you," he gestured over at the towering figure, who sat with his one hand over his jeans.

Rudra followed the fair boy.

"Myself Vishal," he said, with a laugh. "You are a futch, right?"

Rudra nodded, as he walked up the stairs and made his way to the tree. Randeep bhaiya was crookedly grinning at Rudra, and it was highly uncomfortable.

He hadn't expected his first day would pass being ragged. He had heard about it, how it all went. They would ask a few questions and that'll be it. St. Stephen's had an anti-ragging policy that assured Rudra from letting his thoughts wander into imagining extreme outcomes. His cousin, who had been part of DU, had told him never to fight with the ones who rag, but just go with it. "It's a onetime thing," he had said.