It was raining heavily. Raj was driving his bike very fast. There was a strange urgency in his gait. One would wonder what he was doing out on such a night when people would want to hole up and sit inside their houses. And the strangest part was that he was just married.
Raj met Simran a year back. Simran was a widow. Infact she was married to Raj’s best friend, but within a month of getting married Simran’s husband died in an accident. Simran was an orphan and she and Ajay had met in one of the Ashram’s functions. It was love at first sight for him. Those days the only thing he could talk about was Simran. It was like a fairy tale romance. Raj had met her once before they got married. He could never forget that day.
It was a Sunday and as usual Ajay was on and on about his girl. Raj got really frustrated and said that I too want to see how beautiful your Simran is. They took their bike and headed for Simran’s place. Ajay asked him to wait outside and said he will be back with her in a moment. When Raj was waiting outside he saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life in one of the balconies. She was drying her hair. He just couldn’t take his eyes of her. Suddenly she went inside and after some 15 minutes he saw Ajay coming with that girl. His whole world came crashing down.
After that day he will always avoid Ajay and whenever Ajay asked a reason he would say that he is quite busy with his office work. He did not even attend their marriage making an excuse that he was sick. Then after a month of the marriage, Raj was surprised to see Ajay’s number flash on his mobile. Ajay was an early sleeper and Raj had tried his whole life to take him out for night trips. Therefore it was a strange sight for him to see Ajay’s number at that hour. He immediately understood that something was wrong. He picked up the phone. No one was answering from the other end. He kept calling “Ajay … Ajay…” and then suddenly he heard the most nerve cracking laugh on the phone followed by a loud shriek.
Raj immediately left for Ajay’s house. There was a lock on their door. He waited till morning but there was no sign of anyone. After 2 days he read in the paper that there has been a fatal accident on the highway and a couple was involved in it. He immediately ran to the hospital and saw that Simran was in a critical condition. After 5 days she became stable and then she told the whole story to Raj. They were traveling to meet Ajay’s parents and they had met with the accident. Ajay had died on the spot and she was brought there by some travelers.
This incident left Simran completely broken and Raj was there to constantly support her. In due time, they got closer and decided to tie the knot. On the night of their marriage, Simran came into the room. She had a weird smile on her face. Suddenly she started laughing like a maniac. Raj was shaking with fear seeing this sudden change in her. Her eyes became blood red and with her hair open she was a devil personified. Raj was wondering where the beautiful Simran had disappeared and what was this standing in front of him.
Suddenly Simran turned away from him and started singing a song and he started wondering where had he heard it before. Then she turned back and started talking in a kid’s voice. “Raj do you remember me.” “Anjali…” After that moment everything was a blur for him.
Ajay, Raj and Anjali were all the time together when they were kids. Everyone used to call them inseparable. They would eat together, play together and their mother’s had a hard time separating them to sleep. It was like a atoot dosti. There was this old house on their way from school to home. Ajay and Raj decided to play a prank on Anjali. They knew she was scared of ghosts. That day they said they will close her eyes and give her a surprise. And then they blindfolded her and left her in that house. After that day they never saw her.
She was found dead in that house a few days later. Her body was severely destroyed. That incident changed everyone’s life. It was found out that some goon had raped her and left her for dead. Anjali’s parents were devastated and they left the town. Even Ajay and Raj couldn’t bear the trauma and left the town. They had just returned after finishing their education and had started working there.
Today seeing Anjali in front of him, Raj got reminded of all this. Now he understood the meaning of that phone call. He got scared and ran out of the room. And that was the reason for his sudden flight.
At that instant his bike stopped running. He could not find any problem with it, so in frustration he left the bike and started walking. To his horror he realized that he was in front of the same house where Anjali’s body was found. When he turned back to run she was standing right behind him. With a menace in her voice she said “Do you remember this house? This is where you had left me to die. But I am not going to do that to you.” Ajay was shocked to hear this. He had thought he would be a dead man. But this was nothing he had expected. Then Anjali started laughing suddenly. She said I will be revenged and your punishment is that you will have me as your wife till death do us apart.
