Lady in Black - Part 2

This is a part of an ongoing story, if you haven't read Part 1, you can catch up with it here.


The next day dawned hot and bright. The Sharmas, delirious in their excitement for having found the right house, quickly checked out of the hotel, rented a cab and drove down to their new address – No. 6, 6th main road, Porur, Chennai 116. 

As Ramesh fiddled with the keys, he looked up at the house for a brief second.  “It looks as alluring as it did yesterday” he told himself, banishing from his mind the meeting they had with Lalitha that morning after leaving the hotel.

Lalitha had looked nervous to say the least. She had seemed on the edge as she handed over the papers for him to sign. He had asked her if she wasn't feeling well, but she had insisted that everything was fine. Though not convinced, Ramesh had not pushed any further, but the drop of sweat he saw rolling down her brow in the air conditioned room and the sigh of relief he was sure he had heard when the papers were signed, told him a different story. He had felt unsettled all through the drive to the new house. Komal had seemed to notice it as well but made no mention of it.

The gentle thud and clinking sound of the key bunch falling out of his hands and onto the ground shook him out of his thoughts. He opened the door quickly and they entered the house they would call their home for the time to come. 

The first few weeks saw the Sharmas busy settling down in the new home. But they seemed to face obstacles which were unusual and hard to resolve. Like the hunt for a domestic help. They left word with the local grocer and vegetable vendor but no one turned up for work. Even when Ramesh went personally to inquire about maids in the neighbourhood he was met with unfathomable stares whenever the door was not slammed on his face. Unable to make out what was going on but not one who would give such behaviour much thought, he dialed a maid service agency and hired a help to assist with the moving in process.

Cobwebs had created a thick coat across all ceilings while the bookshelves and inbuilt cupboards were layered with inches of dust. No wonder the dusting had taken more than a week, but finally the house was beginning to smell fresh and airy and things were falling into place, he thought feeling happy when the maid came running down to him, with a frown etched all over her face.

“Sir, there seems to be a problem” 

“What is it now?” 

“The painting on the landing, the portrait of the lady, it is rather dusty and…” 

“Oh yes!” said Ramesh cutting her off. “I have been meaning to take it down; probably the previous owners left it behind… take it off, now is a good time to get rid of it”

“But Sir, that is the problem, it cannot be removed” said the maid. The frown had turned into a look of fear. 

“Cannot be removed? How is that possible?” asked Ramesh as he made his way up the stairs to the landing area.

There it was, a life size portrait of a young girl who seemed to be in her teens, draped in a black sari, sitting on a chair. She had dark piercing eyes and a solemn look; an expression that seemed to want to convey a message to the person she must have been looking at. The painting was nothing special, nor did the artwork seem out of the ordinary. What stood out were the lady and her expression. They were enough to make a shiver run down the spine of anyone who took a good look at the painting.

Ramesh tried repeatedly, but the painting wouldn't budge. He brought out his tool kit and tried to wedge it off the wall but it stayed put. The lady seemed to be mocking him with that stately look, a look that suddenly made him feel all cold. A feeling that reminding him of what Lalitha had said the day before.. of the house being cold... had she meant this he wondered just as the sound of breaking glass reverberated through the entire house.

Quickly he and the maid ran off to the kitchen, that’s where the sound seemed to have come from. They found Sonia standing there with a stricken look, frozen to the ground.

“Are you ok Princess?” asked Ramesh, closing his hand around Sonia’s and giving her a hug. He had sensed from the look on her face that this wasn't the time to question the damage or what had caused it. He silently gestured to the maid to get a glass of water which he made Sonia drink.

“I don’t know Daddy, Mummy had asked me to wipe the crockery and arrange it in the cabinet. I was busy doing that when I saw a shadow loom over the wall but there was nobody in the room other than me…how could there have been a shadow? When I turned around I thought I saw a lady near the back door but she was gone before I could see her properly…it was scary!” her teeth clattered and she broke down into sobs as she clung onto her father.

“Shush…It’s ok Princess, it must have been your tiredness showing up. You have been helping out so much and have hardly had any sleep”. Ramesh consoled his daughter till she had calmed down. For how long they sat there at the dining table, he did not know…when he looked out of the window, the sun had almost set and the first specks of darkness had begun to make their appearance. Komal was yet to get back from the market and the maid had left for the day.

He got up to fix a quick snack for the two of them when on an impulse he turned around and asked his daughter “Sonia, can you tell me what you saw exactly?” he was hoping his question wouldn't make her break down again but her reaction told him that she had gotten over it, for now at least.

“I don’t remember much Daddy” she said after much thought. Ramesh decided to let it go and had just turned back towards the kitchen counter when Sonia called out frantically “Wait Daddy, I remember… she was draped in a sari, a black sari…”

To Be Continued...

Read on for Part 3