Short Stories: Mr. Caterpillar 2
1.
A crescent moon hung against the star-strewn sky. The air was warm and pleasant. Niti stood all by herself on a deserted sidewalk, starting at the building beyond the wall—at the third-floor window which was Shruti's apartment.
After a few minutes, the gate to her right swung open, and Shruti appeared, a smile stretching on her face.
"What took you so long?" Niti grumbled.
"I was deciding what to wear," Shruti said. The two girls stared at each other for a moment or two, then burst out laughing.
"What did you tell your dad?" Niti asked, still laughing.
"Sleepover," Shruti said.
"Did he believe it?"
"Of course not," Shruti said, "He thinks I'm going to a drug party."
"Where is that boy you were talking about?" Niti said, holding her stomach to calm herself down.
"He had said that--oh look—talk of devil and devil is here." She pointed behind Niti.
Niti looked over shoulder and saw a tall boy ambling his way toward them. He had crewcut hair, broad shoulders and he seemed to be hunching as he walked. And Shruti was right: he was cute.
"What took you so long?" Shruti asked him and then looked Niti. Both girls again broke up laughing.
The boy, apparently having no idea why they were laughing, frowned. He waited for their laughter to subside. It did.
"Niti meet Vicky," Shruti said, "and Vicky this is Niti, my best friend."
"Hey," Niti said and gave him her hand.
"Hi," he said and gave her hand a gentle wrung.
Niti turned to Shruti and asked, "What's next?"
"We'll wait for our pick up," Shruti said, grinning.
A few minutes later they heard a rumble of an engine, and the street flared up as a car rounded a corner, its headlights outshining the crescent moon. It was so bright that Niti had to shield her eyes from its glare. As the car came near, Niti realized that it was not any car—it was a limousine. It was by far the longest car Niti had ever seen in her life.
Oh my god, Niti thought, I'm going to sit in that thing!
The car trundled to a stop, its polished, black-painted hood perfectly reflecting the crescent moon. The shotgun window rolled down, and the driver cocked his head out and gazed at them.
"…uh," he said, "Which one of you is Shruti Das?"
"That's me," Shruti said, stepping forward. "And you must be our driver."
The driver nodded. "We don't have much time to spare. Open the door and hop in."
"Which door?" Vicky asked, "Because there is a dozen of them!"
"All the doors are locked," the driver said, "only the very last one is unlocked."
They made their way to the rear end of the car, and it literally took them one minute to reach there. Vicky opened the door, and the girls climbed inside. He went after them. It had the most luxurious interior Niti had ever seen. The driver pulled the car away from the curb.
Here goes nothing, Niti thought.
2.
The driver pulled the car into a graveled driveway, stones cracking under car's weight, then across a vast electronic gate and then toward a gurgling and shimmering water fountain.
Niti was the first person to step out of the car, and when she did, a puff of air escaped from her lips. She found herself standing in a front lawn that was as huge as a football field. An enormous mansion stood in the center. It was surrounded by huge grass-covered slopes that, in turn, were bordered by towering hedges. From her vantage point, Niti was getting a clear view of something that looked like a hedge maze right behind the mansion.
"Whoa," Shruti said. Niti looked over her shoulder and saw Shruti smiling, her dark brown hair fluttering in a warm breeze.
Shruti's right hand automatically went into her denim jeans pocket. She drew out a pack of cigarettes and pushed one between her lips.
"Excuse me miss," the driver said, pushing the gear into reverse. "You can't smoke inside the property."
"I can't?" Shruti asked.
He shook his head.
"You smoke?" Vicky asked in an I-can't-believe-it tone.
"Yes," Shruti said, then hastily added, "Only when I'm feeling restless, like now."
He gave her a reproachful look.
Niti and Shruti had first met in fourth grade and had promptly become friends. They had soon started sharing everything: tiffin likewise their woes. And as minutes turned into hours, hours into days, days into weeks, and weeks into years, they had become more than friends. They had become sisters. Shruti was a happy go lucky girl (her parents were very authoritarian and still are) and wanted to try everything in her life. So, she, out of curiosity, had dragged Niti to a store to buy a cigarette. "Don't worry," she had said, "You won't get addicted to it from just one drag." In retrospect, she was very much mistaken.
In the beginning, she would only smoke two cigarettes a week. Then one day her father caught her smoking and beat the crap out of her. He beat her until she had screamed. "He would have killed me," Shruti had said the next day, her right eye swollen, her nose broken and a rueful smile on her face. "If our neighbors had not intervened then he would have surely killed me." And Niti knew he would have. That day Shruti decided to show her father a thing or two. And now she was churning out two packs a day. Niti was afraid. She was afraid that those packs of cigarettes were slowly killing her friend, and she was sure they will succeed in it sooner or later. However, she never raised her voice against Shruti's chain-smoking habit. She believed that it was the friendship pledge that had stopped her. Although she knew that the truth was something else: she was a coward who was afraid to interfere.
"How long have you been working here?" Vicky asked the driver.
"Me?" the driver said, "I started a few days ago."
"Have you," Niti started, "ever seen—"
"No," the driver said at once, "he never leaves the room." He started backing out of the driveway, the car's headlights splashing across the lawn and onto the mansion; for a moment, the lights made the mansion look like a skull with a dozen of empty eyes. A few seconds later the lights disappeared as the car backed out of the gate, and the mansion was again thrown back in the darkness.
Vicky started for the mansion. Both the girls ambled after him. As they approached the mansion, its facade grew larger and larger and soon was looming over them. Niti didn't like it. It looked like a stone head with a frown on its face. Its windows were like evil eyes that seemed to be glaring right at them ravenously. Most of the upstairs light was out. The structure looked impressive and yet… what?
Empty. The voice in Niti's mind said.
They went across the graveled walkway, cricket's chirps filling their ears, and up the flagstone stairs and came across huge, bronze double-doors. Niti walked over to them and rang the doorbell and waited. The bulb overhead blinked. A gentle breeze blew from the north. The doors didn't budge.
"Hello," Shruti said, waving her hand, "anyone home?"
"Your voice won't reach them," Niti told her.
Shruti gave her a complacent smile and pointed at a corner. A camera was mounted there, its eye staring at them.
"Oh," Niti said in a tiny voice.
Vicky was about to say something when the doors abruptly flung inward to reveal a dark foyer.
Shruti swallowed hard. "Either I'm blind, or these doors actually opened on their own."
"I guess…." Niti said, "I don't know."
Vicky, who had lapsed into thoughtful silence, entered the foyer. He, apparently realizing that they were not following him, looked back and said, "You guys aren't coming?"
"But…" Shruti said, "The door… on its own
…"
Vicky rolled his eyes. "It is mechanically operated. Look at the hinges!"
"He is right," said a pleasant voice, and they all jumped.
A plump woman, wearing a maid dress, had appeared in the doorway. She clapped her both hands like a nursery teacher and smiled fondly at them. But her eyes didn't smile.
"Oh, you are here at last," she said, brandishing her all thirty-two teeth. "Come in. Come in. Mr. Mathews has been waiting for you." She turned and walked into the dark entryway.
They exchanged looks but followed her just the same.
"I'm the head maid," the woman said, "I've been serving Mr. Mathews for more than twenty years."
Niti saw that at the far end of the passage stood an ajar-door. Golden light glimmered from the gap and spilled onto the marble floor. The woman drew open the door and led them into a cavernous drawing room.
Niti's eyes grew wide as she looked around at the ancient relics and paintings—samurai sword, Louis XI era Knight's armor, Mayan relics and weapons from world war two. A broad staircase spiraled to the second-floor landing. A chandelier hung overhead in the center of a dome-shaped, elegant ceiling.
"Don't touch it," the woman said.
Niti looked behind and saw Shruti was standing by an Egyptian vase, her fingers a few inches away from it.
"Many of the things in this room cost more than million dollars," the woman said.
Sneering, Shruti drew her hand back and walked over to Niti. Vicky stood by a pillar, examining Renaissance paintings.
"Where is everyone?" Niti asked.
"What?' the woman said, her brow furrowed.
Niti had cocked her ears and had been listening with all her might. She actually wanted to hear some kind of noises like walking, talking—anything. But all she heard was a damp silence, a tell-tale sign that they were alone.
"You obviously don't work here all by yourself? " Niti asked, shrugging.
"No," the woman said again in that faked pleasant tone, "I don't work here alone."
"Then where is everyone?"
"They all left. No one stays here at night." The woman quickly added. "Mr. Mathews doesn't like people above the age of twenty staying in his mansion after twilight."
It took Niti some time to absorb that piece of information. So, they are all alone.
"Then what are you doing here?" Vicky asked.
"Waiting for you," the woman said in a that-was-a-very-stupid-question tone. "It's my job to show people around and explain them their work. If you are done staring at the hall, then step right this way. It's time for you to meet Mr. Mathew's pets."
2.
"Keep quiet," the woman whispered, opening the door to reveal a pitch-dark room, "they don't like noise."
She stepped across the threshold and groped the air before her. The woman found the thing she was looking for and gave a gentle tug. There was a click, and the fluorescent tubes overhead went on, casting a silver glow. The woman left the drew-cord.
There were cages; lots and lots of cages.
Niti went over to a cage, knelt down, stared at the surface filled with flamboyant, hairy, bloated caterpillars. Hundreds of them.
"You’ll find the leaves and fruits in those tubs," the woman was telling Shruti and Vicky. There is a chart right there on the table. Feed the caterpillars according to the chart."
They looked around for a few minutes.
"Okay," the woman said, again giving her hands that trademark nursery teacher's clap. "Now I'll show you the kitchen."
"Kitchen?" Shruti asked, following her out the room.
"Yes," the woman said, leading them out of the room.
Soon they were back in the drawing room. "But why do want us to see the kitchen?" Vicky asked, "Does mister Mathews eats food after midnight?"
"Yes, he eats food around two, but his food does not come from this kitchen," the woman said and smiled darkly at them.
They entered a restaurant size kitchen which had long rows of steel counters and stoves.
"Then why are you showing us the kitchen?" Niti asked, staring at the room that seemed as clean as a hospital's emergency room. Not just clean but more than that. Sterile, she thought.
"For you," the woman said, "you people must be hungry."
"I'm not," Shruti said.
"Neither me," Vicky said.
"Me too," Niti muttered.
The woman gave them a quick appraising look. "You'll have to eat from these three plates exactly after one hour. O—"
"Didn't I tell you," Shruti said defiantly, "that I don't want to eat anything."
"You'll have to eat," the woman snapped, "that too from these three plates."
"But what if we don't want to?" This was Niti.
"If you'll not eat, you'll not get the money. It's part of your contract."
They exchanged looks. Vicky shrugged.
"And don't think that you can fool me," the woman said, "there is a camera right over there—" she pointed at a corner—" and it sees everything."
They again exchanged looks.
The woman again smiled. "Great, now I'll take you to Mr. Mathews. Step right this way." She went out of the door.
"She is weird," Shruti muttered as they followed the woman out of the kitchen.
"She?" Vicky said, "this whole place is weird."
He is right, Niti thought. This whole place is weird. And also mysterious. Rich people do have a weird way of life, all right. But Mr. Mathews seemed to have taken that to the next level. First, he didn't like people above the age of twenty strolling around his mansion after night. Second, he wanted them to eat even though their tummies were full. Weird, Niti thought, very, very weird.
Now they climbed up and reached to the second-floor landing. Niti found herself staring at an extremely long corridor that reminded her of a horror movie scene. She didn't remember its name. But the scene she was most terrified of as a child came back to her. It was about a girl standing in the middle of a gloomy, deserted corridor. The girl was wearing tattered white clothes and had her face covered by her disheveled, long black hair. She seemed to be crying as well as laughing.
Niti tried to push that scene out of her mind and did it successfully. But a shudder crept up her spine just the same.
"His room is at the far end," the woman said, now taking long strides.
They had to run to keep up with her literally. She seems to be in a hurry, Niti thought. A few seconds later they came across a big recess in the wall. The recess was crammed with shoe racks and lots of shoes.
Vicky stopped in his track and studied them.
"What is it?" Niti asked him.
"They are all identical," Vicky said.
"What are you two doing back there?" the woman called.
"Coming," Niti called back. She turned to Vick. "Come on, they are just shoes."
"But, why so many shoes?" Vick muttered and followed her down the hall.
"Why is this door locked?" Shruti asked the woman. They were now almost at the end of the passage. Shruti was pointing at the second last door that was locked with chains and a padlock.
"Don't you think you ask too many questions, dear?" The woman said, walked to the last door and rapped her knuckles on it and waited. Then she opened it and beckoned them in.
When Niti entered the room, and cast a look at a Louis XI style bed, she recoiled. It was not because of the bed. She recoiled in horror at the thing that sat in it. Yes, the thing. Because there was no human quality to it. The man looked like a bloated, misshapen wax statue wrapped in a yellowing blanket. His chin seemed to be hanging all the way to his inflated belly. His eyes were big and bulged out so much that Niti was afraid they would topple out of his sockets. His head was a bald dome with thin ash-grey hair. His back was propped against yellowing pillows. Nasty smell of decaying food hung in the air. The smell made Niti's stomach roll in disgust.
She looked back at Shruti and Vicky and found that the colors from their faces had been drained.
"Hello Mr. Mathews," the woman said, "Look, who has come to meet you."
The man slowly moved his eyes and smiled, showing his crooked, yellow teeth. And their skin crinkled with gooseflesh.
"Hello, kids," he said in a guttural whisper.
If she told me to touch him, Niti thought, I will run out of this room.
But the woman told them to do nothing like that. Instead, she told that Mr. Mathews had a remote in his right hand. She said that if he would need something, then he would press that remote and would trigger an alarm. After that, the woman told them that her job was done and she will see them on the next day.
A few minutes later she sat in her old Chevy and backed out of the graveled driveway. They stood by the massive gate and stared at the taillights of the car dwindling into darkness.
3.
"Can you see the car?" Shruti asked, craning her head to get a better view of the car beyond the gate.
"No," Niti said.
"She is gone," Vicky said and looked around the enormous lawn. "Something seems different…"
A thick mist had now settled over the ground. The air had gone dry and cold.
Niti followed his gaze. "What?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go back."
They went across the lawn and through the foyer. Soon they were in the drawing room. Shruti slumped herself on the sofa and started fiddling with her cellphone. Niti walked over to the pedestal on which the samurai sword stood while Vicky went back to his business of gazing at Renaissance paintings.
"What the…" Shruti gasped and jumped out of the sofa.
Niti and Vicky both turned on their heels. "What?" they said in chorus.
"I'm not getting any network here," Shruti said, brandishing her phone.
They sighed. Niti pulled out her cellphone and gazed at it. Shruti was right.
"It's funny," Vicky said, "we are in the most developed area of the city, and yet we are not getting any network."
"Why don't you go outside and give it a try?" Niti told Shruti.
"Right," Shruti said feverishly and stomped toward the foyer. They followed her onto the front lawn and fruitlessly raised their cellphones.
"I can't believe it," Shruti said, shaking her head. "Maybe we should go outside…" she muttered and started for the enormous electronic gate.
She is going have one her tantrums, Niti thought nervously, hurrying after her.
Shruti went over to the gate and pushed the red button, just like the woman had done. She cocked her ears to listen the chugging of the engine and then rattling of wheels. But nothing happened. The gate didn't budge. She pressed the button again. Nothing. She started punching the button.
"Whoa, whoa," Vicky said, hurrying toward her. "Relax. Relax." He pulled her away from the button. She gazed at him and burst into helpless tears.
"She locked us in," Shruti sobbed, "that bitch locked us in."
He gave her a chaste embrace. "It's nothing to worry about. She must have done it to prevent us from stealing." He cast nervous looks at Niti, who was staring at the gate.
"I'm okay," Shruti said, tearing herself away from him. She pulled out a cigarette and pushed it between her trembling lips. Gazing darkly at the mansion, she dipped into her denim pocket and drew out her lighter. It took her some time to lit her cigarette because of her shaking hands. She took a drag, closed her eyes and again burst into fresh tears.
"We must take her in," Niti said.
Vicky nodded, placed his hand on Shruti's shoulder and helped her back into the drawing room.
Niti went into the kitchen and found a water bottle inside a drawer. She took it back to Shruti.
"Easy," Vicky told Shruti, pushing the top of the bottle to her lips. Shruti drank in small gulps. They lay her on the sofa.
Niti herself was filling parched. She unscrewed the top and was about to drink when the alarm went off.
"That must be him," Vicky said, looking up at the second-floor landing.
"You take care of her," Shruti said, "I'll go and see what he needs."
Holding the bottle in her left hand, Niti made her way to Mr. Mathews’s room. The corridor looked more sinister now. Maybe because this time, she was alone. She started moving to the last room, her sneakers thudding dully on the carpeted floor. The whole time she felt that the little girl with long hair would jump before her. She thought about going back and asking Vicky to come along with her. But then she realized that it would make her look coward. She reached the end of the corridor safely. When she passed the locked door, she heard some kind of noises. She stopped and cocked her ears.
Footfalls. She heard footfalls.
There are people inside this room, Niti thought, taking a step back from the door. But that was ridiculous. She decided to go back and tell that to others right away. Then she remembered that Mr. Mathews wanted something and decided first to go and see what he wanted.
She pushed the door open and found Mr. Mathews looking up at the ceiling with a dreamy gaze.
"Sir," Niti said, not going near to his bed, "you… want something?"
"Yes," he said, not looking at her, "I want to see my little friends."
Friends, Niti thought. Then it came to her that he was talking about caterpillars.
"Okay, sir,” she said.
"And after that I want you to sit by my bed and tell me about yourself," the man said and look at her, his eyes growing wide, "I hate water!" he barked. "Keep that thing away from me."
Niti hastily moved the bottle behind her back. "I'm very sorry, sir."
"It's okay," he said, calming down a bit, "Go and fetch my friends. You can tell me your story later."
Niti complied at once.
4.
"You’re kidding," Vicky said incredulously.
"No, I'm not," Niti said, "I heard noises from that room."
"But that's impossible!" Vicky shouted.
"Issh," Niti whispered, fanning her hands downward, "You'll wake her up." Vicky glanced over his shoulder, apparently making sure that he had not awoken Shruti who was sleeping soundly on the sofa. He turned back to Niti and said, "Then those shoes we saw must belong to the people locked in that room."
"Yeah," Niti said thoughtfully, "But why is the room locked?"
An expression of pure terror appeared on Vicky's face. "What if… the teenagers who came before her are locked in that room?"
Niti shuddered at the thought. "We should have never come here."
"Yeah," Vicky said ruefully. "I was greedy. I wanted money to buy a new cell phone."
"And I wanted to fix a goddamn scooter," Niti said.
"Goddamn scooter,” Vicky snorted.
Niti nodded and pulled out her purse, and showed him a faded photograph of a little girl in polka dot frock sitting on a brand-new maroon scooter with a man standing in the background. In the foreground, a diminished football sat by the rear tire.
"This scooter," Niti said.
"It looks elegant," Vicky said.
"It was," Niti said.
"That must be your dad," Vicky said, pointing at the man in the background.
"Yes," Niti said, fighting back a bout of dread. "He died five years ago."
"Oh," Vicky said, genuinely surprised, "Do you still miss him?"
Niti looked at him, a little bewildered. He was first the person who had not said that he was sorry on hearing the news of her father's demise--like everyone else. She was grateful for it. "I do," she said, "and sometimes I don't."
He looked at her thoughtfully. "You are slowly forgetting him. That's completely normal."
"I know," Niti said, "But I don't want to forget him. That's why I'm trying to fix that scooter… to keep him--"
"Alive," Vicky said, finishing for her. "What's up with that ball?"
Niti gave him a rueful smile. "He was my first football coach. "
"You play football?"
Niti nodded. "He introduced me to the game when I was seven." She was now on the verge of crying. "You haven't said anything about yourself. All I know is your name."
"Well," Vicky said, "My dad is alive," then after a moment of thought, he added, "he is a clerk in the railway," as if that explained everything about him.
Niti smiled despite herself. She liked this guy and wondered if they would ever meet again.
"What's going on?"
They looked at the sofa and saw Shruti gazing around absently and rubbing her head.
"How are you feeling?" Niti asked, walking over to her.
"A bit groggy," Shruti grumbled, swinging her feet onto the floor, "And also thirsty."
Niti stopped dead in her track. She was also feeling parched. She looked back at her shirt and then looked back over her shoulder at Vicky. They were not sweating.
The air here is dry, Niti thought, but that is impossible. The air outside is completely damp.
5.
Her wristwatch showed 1:55 A.M., and Niti sat at the end of the sofa, staring at the chandelier with a dreamy expression on her face. The dreamy expression abruptly vanished.
"Oh shit," she said.
"Now what?" Vicky remarked.
"We didn't eat the food that woman told us to eat."
He gazed at her, disoriented. Then the pieces started to fix themselves in his mind. "That means we won't get a single penny!"
"You guys are still worrying about the money," Niti said.
"Why shouldn't we?" Shruti said, "We--"
She was cut off by the alarm.
They all looked up at the second-floor landing then back at each other.
"He wants the food…" Shruti muttered, "see it's almost two..."
"But I already kept a bowl full of caterpillars on his nightstand," Niti said.
"You're saying caterpillars are his food?" Vicky said.
"Of course," Niti said, "the woman had said that his food comes from the different kitchen."
The alarm was now literally screaming at them.
"Let's go and see what he wants," Vicky said and started for the spiral staircase.
"I'm not having a good feeling about this," Shruti said but followed him just the same.
They clambered upstairs, crossed the corridor and were soon standing outside Mr. Mathews’s bedroom door.
"What's that noise," Shruti muttered.
"See, I was not making it up," Niti told Vicky.
He nodded and pushed the door. The strange noise of footfalls was strong in the room. Mr. Mathews sat bundled in the blanket, gazing comically at them.
"Sir, you want something?" Niti asked.
"Yes," he said, "It's my feeding time. I want food."
"We'll see--"
"No," he abruptly said; his voice seemed strong, "I actually want to hunt."
Niti didn't like the way the word 'hunt' sounded in her ears.
"Hunt what?" Shruti asked tentatively.
He grinned, brandishing his yellow, crooked, sharp teeth. He whispered: "You."
His voice curdled her blood, and the hairs on her nape stood up in fright.
Abruptly the man started growing tall, looming above them. Niti realized that he was not getting tall, but something below his bed was pushing him up. His eyes were now black pearls, and the lower jaw had dropped all the way down to his chest, skin paper-white. Two giant red pincers protruded out of his mouth. The blanket fell away and Niti, her heart filled with terror, saw the thing that was pushing him up: legs; Sanguine, crab-like Legs; So many sanguine legs. And it came to her that she was staring at a monster with many legs, like a huge caterpillar. Like a huge goddamn caterpillar.
"Let the hunt began," he croaked. His laughter not only echoed in the room but also in her heart.
She froze.
And someone behind her screamed.
6.
Niti thought about running, but her feet refused to move; as if they were glued to a heavy plinth.
Someone grabbed her shoulder and tugged her toward the door. Soon she found herself being dragged across the corridor. The creature howling behind her: "Yes, run. Run, you puny creatures! I give you two minutes. RUN!"
"Niti I can't pull you all the way," Vicky shouted in her ears, "move your legs!"
That snapped her out of her reverie. She ordered her legs to move, and they complied at once.
They thundered down the stairs and tore their way to the foyer.
"What is that thing?" Shruti asked, her lips trembling.
"I don't know," Vicky said, his shoes thumping on the marble floor. "And I don't want to know."
"Neither do I," Niti muttered.
They soon reached the bronze double-doors. Vicky grabbed the long handle and pressed the button on it. The doors didn't budge.
"Vicky…" Shruti said in a shaky voice.
"It's electronically operated. He… he locked it."
"What now?" Niti asked.
"One minute up!" An inhuman voice echoed across the foyer.
"We'll have to find another exit," Vicky said. He turned and ran back to drawing room.
"But where?" Niti asked, running after him. A few seconds later they were back in the drawing room.
"I don't know," he said, "there are so many doors. There." He pointed at a door that led to a long corridor. He started running toward it.
"I'm coming." A voice boomed across the hall.
Vicky skidded to a stop and looked back at them. "Go. Hide," he said, beads of sweat standing out on his forehead. He dove behind the knight's armor.
Shruti looked around hastily and clumsily slid under the sofa. Niti ran behind a pedestal and pressed her back against it.
The high-pitched laughter that didn't belong to a man or to a woman rang around the mansion. Niti peeked above the pedestal and saw a shadow--then something that looked like a cross between human, caterpillar, and crab appeared, hanging upside-down from the dome-shaped ceiling. The creature looked around, his pincers snapping the dry air. Then he started moving to the center of the ceiling. His legs were thudding against the ceiling, making white plaster drift down to the floor. Niti promptly cowered to the cold, marble floor, barely breathing.
"Where are my babies?" The creature asked. The chandelier clinked, making a sound of a hundred glass bells, as the creature brushed past it. He gazed at a pillar for a few seconds and then started toward it, his hundred legs clicking wildly behind him. He moved fast. Very fast. It was like seeing a huge, red ribbon flashing around the ceiling.
The creature stopped a few yards away from the pillar and gazed at it, hanging upside down on the wall. He abruptly looked behind the pillar and found no one behind it.
Slowly he alighted on the floor and gazed around. After a moment of thought, he started moving toward the pedestal--Niti's pedestal. She pressed herself to the floor, her heart hammering madly in her chest and her mouth as dry as cotton.
"I can't smell you," the creature said, edging toward her, "but I can detect motions."
You can smell us, Niti thought, I know you are just trying to fool us.
He stopped and looked at the sofa. A voice escaped his throat that Niti thought was a grunt. He continued to look at the sofa for a few more moments and then again began edging toward Niti's pedestal.
He was just a few yards away from the pedestal when a clatter rang around the hall. The creature looked back and started toward the source of the sound. Niti peeked and saw that the creature was moving toward the Knight's head that lay on the floor a yard away from the foot of the stairs.
The creature cast his eyes down at the head and then at the armor with a missing head. He began moving toward it. Niti's heart sank into her boots. He will soon catch Vicky, she thought, and only God knows what it'll do with him.
She heard a loud clang and saw that the Knight's armor was gone, its pieces littering the floor. But Vicky was not there. She sighed and looked around and spotted Vicky hiding behind the pillar the creature had just checked. She looked back at the spot where the knight had stood. It was empty. She looked around and found that the creature was also gone.
She was about to get up but felt a movement above her. She, her heart wrecking havoc in her chest, looked up gingerly and saw no hideous creature above her. She sighed with relief and gazed back at Vicky but didn’t saw him.
Instead, the large, ugly face of creature gazed at her.
Niti shuffled backward, screaming.
Advancing on her, the creature opened his mouth, and two blood-red pincers protruded out of his mouth.
"Hey!" Something lustrous whisked before her. And the next moment, one of the pincers had fallen to the floor. The creature let out a shrill scream.
Vicky raised the samurai sword again and brought it down. Missed. The creature thrust past him and thundered upstairs, sending Vicky flying to the wall.
Shruti clambered out of the sofa and ran over to them. Vicky sat with his back propped against the wall, rubbing his head. "I guess I hit his sensitive part," he said looking up at them.
Niti and Shruti helped him to his feet. "Thanks for saving my life," Niti said truthfully.
"There must be another way out of this place," Shruti muttered.
"Like some underground tunnel," Niti said. She had seemed something like that in a movie. It was more like a cellar with stairs leading to slanted doors that opened to a back lawn.
"Let's find an alternate exit," Vicky said, still grimacing and rubbing his neck. He quietly added. "Before that thing returns."
He led them down a forsaken hall that was filled with alternating patches of light and darkness.
"What is that thing?" Shruti asked to no one particular.
"A monster," Niti said, whimpering.
"A monster how is a millionaire?" Vicky said, "No I don't think so." He shook his head.
"Everything is weird here," Niti said.
"Yes," Vicky grunted, "but at least three things are now cleared."
"And what are those three things?" Shruti asked, hurrying to keep up with them.
"First, we now know why there were so many shoes," Vicky said, "Second; we now know the source of the sound of footfalls that was coming from the locked room. There was a hole in the bed that connected to the locked room; so his half or the monstrous part was hidden in the next room. Third, we now know what the woman had meant when she said his food comes from the different kitchen."
"But why did she want us to eat that food?" Niti asked.
"I guess," Vicky said, "she must have mixed something in them. You know, to make us sleep or something like that…"
"Yeah," Shruti said; her eyes wide. "I'm feeling glad that we forgot to eat it." Then for the third time, "but what is that thing?"
Somewhere above them, something crashed, and they all broke into a run. At the far end of the hall, a chrome door stood skulking in the gloom.
As they neared the door, Niti saw an electronic console mounted beside it. A message was etched on the door. It read: FOR AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. The door looked completely out of place.
They skidded to a stop.
"This door looks funny," Niti commented.
"Yeah," Shruti said, walked over to it, and pushed the door. Nothing happened. So, she yanked it. "It's locked," she said, disheartened.
More crashing noises reached their ears.
Niti went over to the console and began fiddling with it. "Hum," she muttered, "there nine numbers on the keypad."
She inserted random numbers and found that the console excepted passwords of six characters long. "We would never be able to open it. With nine characters and a password length of six--it could have more than 100 million combinations."
"Let me try," Shruti said, shoving Niti away from the console. She entered a random number. The door didn't budge. She tried again. Nothing.
"Okay, I guess," she said slowly, "we'll never--"
A loud crash rented the air. Very close.
"Let me try," Vicky said, pushing Shruti away. He didn't type any numbers instead he raised the sword and jabbed the console with it. There was a flash, followed by sparks, and smoke. Then a click.
Niti and Shruti stared at the door and then back at Vicky, astounded.
He shrugged. "Films don't always lie," he said.
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