Chapter 1, Page 5

“Shall we step outside for a bit? We could roam the garden downstairs, perhaps the streets, grab a bite to eat.” I asked her gently. “Yeah. Sure. I think a walk would do us good.”” she responded, this time her voice was back, the strange accent was gone and her old speech was back. I felt a bit relieved on hearing this and took the room key and we both set out after locking the room door.

It must have been a few minutes past seven or perhaps just about seven in the evening when we stepped outside the hotel to be welcomed by the warm embrace of the gentle evening breeze. We walked past the staff quarters to the north east of the compound, went around the open lawn restaurant which was lit all around with those small fairy lights, as the Navaratri festival had just ended. We reached the clearing where the cars were parked and looked back towards the hotel; standing there in green and white, with lights that shone like stars, she stood like a guardian watching over the lawns and the people in it. While we paused to take in the sight, my wife who was uncharacteristically quiet pointed to the window of our room and said “What’s that lady doing in our room?”. I froze, and slowly turned to look from her towards the window she pointed to; “I don’t see anyone there.” I said, somehow finding my voice, why was my throat so dry? My wife just shrugged her shoulders and said “Let’s get something to eat.”. I wasn’t entirely convinced that she saw someone, and while this could well have been a trick of the light, I couldn’t rule it out either, the old fear was growing inside me again and I started to feel a slow sinking feeling in my stomach; at this point I considered checking out of the hotel and finding more conventional accommodation, as we walked towards the car.  I thought perhaps before hitting the panic button, a change in scene might set things straight again. And so, we strapped ourselves into the seats of our car, and I drove outside.

As we turned outside the gates of the hotel, I couldn’t help but notice that my dear wife had gone uncharacteristically silent. Normally, there would always be a snarky comment on my driving, on passersby, the odd abuse hurled at unruly folk on the streets, but now there was nothing. Not being able to stand this wall of silence, I asked her “Yb dear, are you alright?”; my voice shook slightly as I spoke. “I’m fine” she said in a voice that made my stomach drop, the same strange voice I heard her speak back  in our room. I asked her again, hoping that the voice would magically change back to my beloved wife’s again, “Yb are you really fine? Is everything alright?”, “I’m fine” she said again, this time with a slightly strained and exasperated smile in the same voice I had come to dread. Perhaps it was just me and the emotions that I was going through in the moment, but it seemed to me that she didn’t recognise me as she spoke, there was a blank look on her face and as she looked at me, it was without the warmth that usually greeted me; it was a cold, strained look with a smile that didn’t extend to the eyes; a look devoid of any recognition of who I was. Her posture was also different; she sat straight, erect and not in the casual and slightly hunched way that she usually sits. I felt a knot twisting in my stomach and with my  thoughts racing, I kept asking her again and again, “Are you really fine? Is Yb fine?” in an affected, kind voice, hoping to hide my fear. A cold shiver still runs down my spine as I recall this today. She responded in the same strange voice but a bit more sharply this time, “She’s fine.”and quickly followed it up with “I’m fine.” A thousand thoughts were now running in my head; it was like the gates that kept my fear at bay had opened all at once; and my diagnosis of her symptoms ranged from, delirium from the fever, past trauma manifesting as delusions, to complete spirit possession. I remembered a story about someone who was possessed by a spirit and once the people around did what the spirit asked, it left the person alone and never bothered them again. A few more such stories came to my mind, and I thought to myself if some princess of the old castle had indeed possessed my beloved wife, perhaps she would leave of her own accord; maybe she wanted to leave the castle and take a look at what had become of the city today through my wife. I couldn’t quite tell what was happening yet, but I resolved to not let my fear consume me and watch how the night unfolds.