THE WARDEN
On the other hand, Charles keeps his phone in his pocket and rotates, only to find his wife looking perplexed, after hearing her husband's call. "Wha…wh..whats happening Charles. Are you ok? Why this? So sudden?." She has a thousand questions, but she forgets all of them as she sees her husband, trembling in fear. She runs towards him and hugs him, "Whatever it is …. we can fight this. You don't have to be soo pessimistic." Even his wife's embrace felt cold for Charles tonight. "Fiona, You know my habit..what I say every night at 11?" His voice still shaking. "Yes, it's PRESENT SIR, but you said it was just a habit of yours..from your college days." Fiona gets more and more confused now.Not a single day has passed when she has not heard these words at exact 11pm. It's just a stupid habit of him, why is he acting soo different suddenly? Charles buries his head on her shoulder, "Let everyone come. I'll explain everything tonight."
It was our college days. I was now a senior, my second year has just begun. I had a best friend as my roomate named Mike. We were always goofing around pulling pranks on each other and others. We were the nuisance of the hostel, but we loved it. It was gonna be the best year for us as our juniors have arrived and we were all ready to prank each one of them. "Hey Charles, let's stuff oreos with toothpaste and give our juniors a fitting welcome." Mike grinned as he took out two tubes of toothpaste from his pockets. My eyes lit up, "Oohh… that's a perfect one for the starters" we laughed as we start opening the oreos, removing the cream and stuffing it with toothpaste. Just about then, there was a knock on the door. "Hello Master Charles, it's attendance time. Is Master Mike with you too?" An elderly, but comfortingly warm voice was heard. "Oh ….. Present Sir, and yes he is with me" I bump his shoulder, " Present Warden sir. Don't worry we ain't out tonight. We got a lot to prepare for tomorrow." He winked at me and continued to apply the paste. "Ahhh… freshers are coming. Hey…. don't get too excited now boys. My grandson too gonna join tomorrow. At least spare him." The warden said that as he turned around and moved past the hallway. " Ahh yes, warden grandson too coming this year, we should prepare something extra for him." Mike grins at me as he took out a small bottle of sriracha and started drenching one oreo with it.
You see, our warden was very old. He was like a guardian to us all. He was kind, never complained to the authorities, but was also strict when it comes to the integrity of the hostel. There was a mutual respect between all the students and him. He always came at 11 pm for the roll call with a register and pen, knocked the door and with his humble voice, said "Hello Mr Charles, It's attendance time." He was an old man, but still came 4 stories up walking to every room and politely taking the attendance of each room. But the room he was most excited for was his grandson's. "Hello my son, have you eaten?" That room always got a special question than others. The door was always open for his old grandpa, as he was both, mother and father to him. The warden always made sure to go to his grandson's room at the last, as he and his grandson used to talk about the day eating instant noodles.
And suddenly, one day there was no knock on the door. Only a sad news came. The Warden passed away. And from that day, we never heard his voice again in the hostel. Or that's what we initially thought!
Months passed by after the sad news. A new warden had joined. Everyone's life was moving normal, except one. The warden's grandson stayed alone in the room. His whole family was gone and he was a mess. One day in the mess, we were as usual, joking around. Because of some ill fated reason, the late warden's topic got started. " Oh you guys, remember Charles used to make a perfect impression of the warden? " Oh Mike, why you had to remember this at that point. And my seniors who were also there, made me do impressions of a deceased.I admit it was wrong, but in hostel, it was just another gig. Not for his grandson though, who was still grieving for his loss. "Hey! You pathetic losers! Let a person rest in peace." And this was enough for us to get engulfed in power as a junior should never talk like that in-front of his seniors. Our small but vastly deep ego got shattered as our seniors start laughing at us. And at that heat of the moment we took the worst path, a path that was unnecessary and childish, a path that destroyed everything.
The incident fueled rage and a sense of broken stature to me. Our seniors too made it worse by agitating me to take action to "discipline" the junior. I was never good in screaming or fighting with others. Soo Mike and me made a plan with our own specialty. After some days of planning, as everything was sobering up, we geared up our plan. The new warden came for attendance at 12. According to plan we reached at the grandson's room at 11. My impressions were always the talk of the town because I was pretty good at those. Soo I channeled my inner warden and knocked on his door. "Who?" A voice came from inside. " Hello my son, have you eaten?" I said mimicking the old warden's voice. For a moment there was numbness all around us. "G…grandpa?!" It was our cue to run away. Me and Mike ran towards our room grinning, looking at each other. Our first part of plan was a success. Next day in the mess, we saw the look on the junior's face. He was pale, alone and scared to even look at other people's faces. The response was perfect. That was what our desired expression of him. For the next couple of weeks we kept on going to his room and scaring him. Sometimes rolled a pen inside his room or keeping a register with his name and attendance just outside his room for added effects. We were meticulous enough that not even a single person in the hostel knew it was us pranking him. We continued it for weeks, sometimes adding lines to the plot like, "you should have cared for your old grandpa more my child." Or "You knew I was sick, why didn't you do something?" Or the worst one "I despise you my child. Hope we meet soon." For us, it was funny, witty and revenge. For the junior, it was life altering. And we stretched it for like a month, making new tricks to scare him. But before we could try our new tricks, the junior hanged himself. Yes…. The news hit us like a truck. Like reality slapped us hard on our face. Just like after a slap, your face become flushed, emotions get numbed and all you feel is remorse. After his death, we came to know about how he had no other relatives other than his grandad. How the warden, by working day and night, made him this capable that he joined the college. Everyone said it was suicide due to the burden of no financial support and grave loss. But only Me and Mike knew, it was a murder, committed by us two, slowly suffocating the child's brain. Making him question his sanity. But of course we kept our mouths shut and pretended it was just a bad phase. Little did we knew, the bad phase of our lives have just kick started.
After a few days of the hanging incident. I was sitting alone in my room getting some classwork done. Thud! Thud! There was a gentle knock on the door." Yes." I didn't even bothered to look at the door and answered as I was buried in classwork, diligently studying. "Hello Master Charles. It's attendance time!" An elderly, comforting voice was heard. "Present Sir" Without even a thought I uttered those words, and continued working. After just a few minutes, BANG! My door is flunged open. The loud noise breaks my trance of studying and I look up. It was Mike. Pale as snow, sweat covered his face. Eyes, as much wide as they could be. "Dude what's the matter? I told you again and again not to ban…" He ignored my concerns and closed the door behind him as he entered the room and came running to my bed and sat beside me. I looked at his hands and they were shaking, like a leaf in autumn trees. "Didn't someone…urhhh… came just now to your room too?" His face was blank, but his eyes said he was in no mood for jokes today. "Yeah just the war…." And that's when it struck me. My spine froze like ice. My mouth became dry. My eyes started to flutter as I recalled what has happened. "No it can't be." And I picked up my watch to look it was 11:05pm. The cozy room became like a freezer.I kept staring at the watch as Mike held his head in utter shock. "Maybe ot was the new warden. He might have taken the attendance early." I tried to console myself with rationality. "No, it was him. The voice was clear. I didn't even replied as I thought someone might be knowing what we did and was making us miserable now. Soo I didn't even replied and in an instant opened the door just to find nothingness." Mike trembled telling me the details. Mike was always the mastermind behind our plans. He calculated the buffer time for us to run away soo that we would never get caught in the long alley of the hostel. If he says there was nothing, I believed it. There was no way Mike wouldn't see if you pranked on us, as he responded quick and had the whole campus hiding spots engraved in his mind. Our joke might have twisted the realms of reality and we were doomed after that one day.
That night marked the beginning of our curse. Every night at 11pm. There was a knock, with the same question. We tried everything, calling another person to watch over our room at that time, made a video of the room at 11pm. Everything we wanted to justify our situation. But only one conclusion came. The worst one. No video captured it, no one heard anything, but us. Even if the door was wide open, we still heard a knock and the warm voice after. It made us both miserable, scared to even enter our own rooms. But it was not only the rooms. During vacations when we were in our homes, it still continued. Slowly it was not just one line anymore. If we tried to ignore it, "Master Charles, I know you are in there. Should I come in to take your attendance?" The first time I heard it, My heart just sank to the bottom of my gut, my body felt like an anchor, my brain compelling me to speak so that it gets over. But when the door knob rotated on it's own, "Present sir, present sir, present sir!!!" I screamed as my heart would have stopped if that thing was right in front of my eyes. My eyes start gushing like a fountain. My brain was clueless. Never have I ever felt fear like this. It was a mess. So we both decided. That we would answer that thing as calmly as possible and move on with life. It was a curse we ourselves put upon us and soo we must endure it. Days past as we started roll calling twice a night. One to our current and other to our older warden. We thought we might have cracked the code to a happy life. Fear always have an expiry date. If you endure it enough, you might get immune and thats what happened to us. But normal was never a thing written in our scripts.
One night Mike called me," I think I am gonna die Charles save me. Save me please." His trembling voice still make my heart break. Apparently, the old warden that night, had something special to say to Mike. " Master Mike, this is your last attendance. Eagerly waiting to meet you!" For the first time in the history, the voice Mike heard was not warm, but cold. Cold as ice. Chilling as a winter breeze. He then hands me a register. With his name on it. Just like the one we prepared for his grandson. On the final page, was a sign with the older warden's signature. "Maybe he left you now. Maybe you will not see him after tonight!" I tried to find the silver lining. "No it isn't that…it isn't that. I feel it Charles I feel it. This throbbing pain in my heart. I know it isn't the end of this, it's the end of me!" No matter how much I tried to console him, he was crying but his eyes had conviction that what he thinks is right. This might just be….no…. Is definitely his last day. And the next day, everything felt like it was written. His fever was not reducing from the morning. Soo I went out to buy some medicine. And when I returned, fire trucks and ambulance were gathered around the hostel gates. In a body bag was Mike's body. I could only see the hand, but it was burnt to a crisp. Apparently the heater short circuited and the quilt caught on fire burning the whole room and Mike with it. The fire didn't even spread to other rooms. They said it was an ill fated accident. But only I knew it was a murder.
Tears start drooling from Charles eyes as he remembered his best friends demise. Fiona grabs his hand and tries to console him. Mr. Cho sat there bewildered and shocked. Charles son, Max sat there, like a lifeless body, scared even to utter a word. " And tonight, after coming every night to me till date….." Charles wipes his tears and puts a register on the table with his name on it in bold letters. Mr. Cho picks it up. He was a little skeptical till now about the story, but not now. This proves everything! In it was his attendance. Every single day of Charles life was counted. And in the end, was a signature. " I am prepared..to atone for my mistakes. I guess it's his way of punishing me, taking everything away after giving everything. But it is a future I knew followed me. Everyday I thought the nightmare might end tonight. But every night I heard his voice. No matter where I was. No matter if I was asleep or awake. I heard him, slowly reaching for me. Closer and closer. And frankly, I am happy that this torment will end tomorrow." The room was dead silent. Nobody spoke. As requested, Mr.Choi accepted his will as per his request. His wife and son tried to brainstorm and devised to protect their beloved. But the next day, as the day was coming to an end, " Hello Master Charles." It's a voice he recognized in his sleep too. But it was closer, like someone just breath over his neck, it was ice cold rather than warm. He turns slowly, shivering, trembling in fear. When he turned there was no warden, but a rotting corpse of a person hanging from his ceiling fan! He wanted to scream, he wanted to yell for help, he looses his balance. His mouth was suddenly devoid of any sound. His eyes looked as if they might pop out,were red and swollen. Tears were not stopping as he gasped for air looking at the corpse. His body lost all sense of movement. Suddenly, he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns almost reflexively. He could feel his body was regaining control, but for just a second. Because as he turns, he sees the very man, the man whom he wished he never have to face again. The warden stood there smiling. "Master Charles" his voice was comforting and warm like always. " Get ready for the second part of me and my grandson's prank." He grinned, ear to ear. It was the first time Charles saw him grinning like that. " Your friend is waiting. He is suffering for soo long without you.Ghosts can't defy your lifespan that's why we patiently waited for this moment. Please join him in hell. We will continue our prank there."
A sudden gust of wind pushes him through the window. Then there was a loud bang! and shattering of glass. Along with the bang, the car starts beeping, followed by a loud cry by Fiona.
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