supplies, set him in the center of the road, and began filming. The clock hands were exactly at seven, as Vijay started walking.
It was already dark. There was a fog all around. Tall trees on both sides of the road added to the overall effect on the street. The last thing Vijay wanted was to get lost in this forest in the dark, so he started walking fast. Then he noticed the silence. No bird or animal sounds came from the forest around him. The only sound he could hear was that being made by his shoes as they touched the ground. The road twisted, turned, and took him deeper and deeper into the jungle. Then suddenly he found himself at a crossroad.
No one had told him about this. Vijay stood there for a few minutes trying to decide which way to go. Then he started walking down the road to the right.
‘There should be a camera here somewhere,’ he thought.
“Hope this takes me to the right place. This back pack is heavy.” He said more for the cameras than to himself. His voice sounded eerie on the dark street. It was slightly chilly, yet beads of perspiration formed on his brow.
Then at a distance, he saw a building.
“Finally I have reached my destination,” he said and waved his arms in the air as if acknowledging cheering crowds.
“I hope that triggers the hidden cameras, wherever they are. They should see me make my grand entry.”
There was a huge iron gate in front of the building. Vijay had to use both his hands to swing them open. An un-earthy screeching noise echoed through the forest as the gates opened reluctantly. The sound sent a shiver down Vijay’s spine. Slowly he made his way to the building. It resembled a modern structure.
“That is odd. Why would ghosts roam around in a well-built concrete building?” he said more to the hidden cameras than to himself. He even smiled in the dark. He was sure that the cameras could film him in the dark. He wanted to show the world that he had earned the hundred thousand with a smile on his face.
There was an arch at the entrance. A flight of steps led to it and Vijay slowly made his way into the building.
“I have time till tomorrow morning to spend and I am in no hurry,” he said to himself. The rules of the contest required him to use no artificial source of light. He had to enter a minimum of ten rooms in the house. In each room, he was to spend some time and if possible, he was to sleep in one of them. There were hidden cameras outside which could record his movement inside the building.
Walking through the arch, he came to a medium-sized room. The room had exits in all four directions. Vijay walked towards one of them and peered through the door. It opened into a long passage, which had doors on both sides. He then walked towards another exit; it also opened into a long passage. The third one opened into a small room, which had a staircase. Vijay started climbing it in the darkness. He was expecting some creaking and cracking in line with the horror theme but the stairs looked in good condition.
“What sort of a haunted house is this? “He said to himself out aloud.” It is in a better condition than the building where I live!”
He wanted to add some humor in his dialogues so that people watching him would see how brave he was. This show could open the way to a career in Bollywood for him. He started laughing, and then stopped abruptly. He had heard a loud voice. With trembling hands holding on to the banister he listened. After a few minutes he realized that it was his laugh echoing in the darkness.
He remembered the story of the family that lived there. A maniac had come in one night when the family members were sleeping. He had hit them on the head with a huge boulder. Police officers, who had recovered the blood covered rock near the house, had been unable to lift it. This gave rise to the legend that the man had demonic strength. The media printed stories of locals who thought the man was the devil himself. They caught the murderer wandering around a nearby village. The trail was short and the verdict swift. Sentence was death by hanging. His execution had made the headlines in the media. More stories came out after the execution. People claimed they had seen a group of ten people walking holding hands down the street. They claimed the people dressed in white, had horrible wounds on their head. Strange and spine chilling shrieks and groans echoed through the forest at night. Vijay made an effort to forget all the stories as he entered each room.
“The last was three, this is four,” said Vijay. He was counting the number of rooms he had entered. He turned a corner and came up against a closed-door. There was a huge brass bolt on the door. It took some effort as Vijay slid the bolt and slowly opened it. Like everywhere else it was dark inside. Vijay walked into the room. Abruptly he stopped. He could make out that there was something in the room. It was huge. It rose up to the ceiling and stretched across the entire room. Then with a loud sound the wind blew the door shut. Trapped in this room with a monster and there was no way out. Vijay’s heart started beating fast as he ran towards one end of the room; the shape was there as well. He turned around and ran to the other side. The monster was following him everywhere. Vijay realized that he was going to die. He realized he had made a big mistake volunteering for the contest. He knew that the monster was waiting to devour him and hit at it with all his strength. He hit something hard and sharp. A sharp pain ran through his fist straight up to his brain. His finger felt warm and there was something sticky flowing out. He realized he was bleeding. He ran back, looked all around him. He was unable to find the door.
“Oh God, save me, please I don’t want the money. Please get me out of here. This monster will kill me. I don’t want to die here.” He ran all around in the dark, trying desperately to protect himself from the dark entity in the room. He banged against something in the dark, and fell down. Now a numbing pain started in his leg. He picked himself up, and fell down again. Then with a loud whoosh the wind blew the doors open. Vijay ran towards it, but something held him back. Something was pulling at the backpack on his back .Vijay yanked his shirt, which tore but he didn’t care. He wanted to reach the door before it shut again. He ran, stumbling, avoiding the protruding extremities of the monster, and made it through the door.
Outside he turned the corner and ran down the passage he had come through. From the corner of his eye could see doors on both sides flashing by as he ran through. He knew he had lost the challenge, but he was now beyond caring He wanted to get out of this haunted house and that was all he cared about. He reached the arched entrance. Running down the step and made his way towards the gate. He felt as if someone was running after him. He could hear footsteps behind him, but he did not stop to look.
‘It must be the murdered family,’ he thought. He ran faster, reached the gate and ran out. As he ran down the empty road, he remembered about the backpack. He had lost it somewhere in all the running and falling.
“To hell with the backpack, I am lucky I am still alive,” he said to himself. He ran as fast as his tired, injured body could carry him.
‘The cameras must have captured everything,’ he thought. He was out of breath; he turned his head to look back, to see if anyone was behind him. No one was coming after him. He slowed down and then stopped. He had to. Exhausted and out of breath, he knew he was bleeding from cuts all over his body. Shuffling and dragging his left feet, which was hurting he walked down the road. The trees around him were silent, there was no breeze and the moon was now shining bright.
Soon he reached the crossroad. The same one from where he had started his journey a few hours back. The moon showed him the two roads. This time he took the road on the left side and started walking. It was painful to walk. Each step made him wince. He knew he had twisted his ankle.
“Must have hurt my ankle in the struggle with the monster,” he said to himself, though he could not remember exactly when he had fallen. He was happy now that he had escaped alive from that house.
After walking for a few minutes he came up against a rusted iron gate which was blocking the way.
“I will need tetanus shots if I touch that,” Vijay said to himself and laughed. It felt good to laugh after a
long time.
” There would be people living here. Let me find them and get a place to sleep. Wonder what time it is?”
He had to use all his strength to open the gates. The gates were rotting for he could feel the rusted bars bending with the pressure as he pushed them.
Slowly he made his way towards the house. The house was in a clearing right in the middle of the path. There was no light burning inside the house.
“The folks must all be sleeping,” he said to himself. The house was two-storied high and in a bad shape. The windows all broken and hanging on their hinges. There were cracks in the door.
“How does anyone live in such a house,” said Vijay and climbed up the steps to the main door. In the dark he searched for a door bell and not finding any, knocked on the door. The sound echoed in the house.
“Is there anyone in this house?” he asked.
There was no answer. He waited for a few seconds and knocked again. This time louder and with more force. The door swung open. A blast of stale air hit him as he looked at the darkness inside. He was in a hall. He could see the faint outline of what looked like a staircase which curved on both sides of the room. Vijay stood there in the dark thinking for a few seconds.
It was late at night and he was