[#10] Who is Ryu?

A tale told by Mohit Mamoria

The story begins at The Haveli.

Shreyansh couldn’t make sense of it. “But didn’t they die in a bomb blast?” he asked bluntly, still looking down at the floor, as if he was afraid of something.

“Exactly, that was my first thought too! It wasn’t really a conversation that was happening in the dream. It was more of she-telling-me. I didn’t ask anything. But if I think about it now, I was in Pennsylvania when they died. If anything I know is the one phone call from my father. He told me there had been a bomb blast in Delhi and that I had lost my grandparents”, Saafiya told what she knew.

Raghav was sitting without speaking and just listening to them. For some reason, he bawled, “WHAT THE HELL?!”

Everyone looked at him. He continued, “Saafiya, your grandmother had many secrets. I don’t feel we should poke our nose into them. Why don’t we go and stay in a good hotel somewhere and as soon as you are done with your talk, we leave this place?”

“Leave this place? Leave this Haveli? Not possible, sir”, someone who stood at the entrance of the Haveli said. The voice seems familiar yet different. All the eyes moved in the direction of the voice. The caretaker of the Haveli stood at the door.

“KAKA!” Saafiya shrieked.

“KAKA!” Ananya shrieked a moment later.

Ramu walked inside. He was no longer limping. He stood upright like no one had seen him in a long time. The shivering in his voice was gone. His appearance was still of a sixty-something man but the appearance didn’t agree with his posture and energy, which seemed to be of a man in his thirties. No one said a word. Ramu sat on the sofa and said, “Why don’t you guys join me here? What are you doing on the floor?”

“No, we are okay here. Who are you?” Ananya said. Raghav hit her with elbow to signal her to shut up.

“Come on, Ananya. You cannot forget me so soon. I brought everyone to you when you were attracted to the candle.”

“And then went inside the candle yourself!” Saafiya replied.

“But it didn’t let me go through, did it? It threw me back. Didn’t it?” Ramu tried making a point.

Shreyansh jumped in the conversation, “What do we know how candle works? You don’t seem to be him anyway. You just have his face.”

“Well… side effects have been observed in the candles that themselves had been moved from one time to another through other candles. And this one…”, he pointed at the candle, “…this one, has been moved way back in time. By your grandparents, of course. Your grandpa, to be precise. When I tried going through it, it threw me back out. But in the process, it got my body mixed with the energy of my younger self. Side effects, you know!”

“It was an accident”, Saafiya claimed.

“Uh… what?” Ramu seemed confused.

“When my grandparents traveled back in time. It was an accident.”

Ramu chuckled.

“Why are you laughing?” Raghav said in a stern voice.

Ramu stopped chuckling and adjusting his hair, whatever was left of it, said, “I am sorry. I am sorry. But it was an accident just to your grandmother. Your grandfather, he wanted to come in past — to fix something apparently. But your grandmother walked inside his lab at just the right, or perhaps at just the wrong moment and she too happened to travel in time with your grandfather.”

Saafiya squinted her eyes at Ramu and said, “Don’t stop.”

Ramu looked blank, “I don’t quite understand.”

“Don’t stop talking. Keep speaking. Whatever you know, say it all.” Saafiya was no more aware of the presence of her three friends in the room. She was engrossed in the conversation with Ramu.

“Keep speaking? What would I know to speak anything?”

“Everything. You know everything.”

“I wish I did.”

“Keep talking.”

“Um… ugh… okay. He, your grandfather, brought a candle with him so that he has a way to go back to his time once he is done here. But the candle never allowed them to go back. I think it broke when it was moved back in time. Or perhaps, this candle was defective already. I don’t know. I only know that when they arrived in past along with this candle, this candle emitted a bright Candlelight to engulf almost whole of the village. It happened some sixty nine years ago. At this same place where this Haveli stands now. Your grandfather was a scientist. He invented these candles. But even he couldn’t figure out what went wrong.”

Saafiya listened to every word that came out of Ramu’s mouth. Her three friends didn’t speak anything; they just listened. So did she. But she had to nudge Ramu every now and then to keep him talking. “What then? What did the Candlelight do to the village? When you knew the candle is broken, why did you try going back in your time using it? Momo said they made a grave mistake of having my father in this time — explain it.”

Ramu didn’t see any point in arguing and began speaking immediately, “What did the Candlelight do to the village? Haha. It changed the fate of this village, child. It changed the fate!”

“HOW?” Saafiya demanded an answer.

“The Candlelight didn’t last for minutes. Or hours. It lasted for days. For several days. During those days, everyone heard and saw nothing but voices and faces from future. It drove them mad. Hundreds of people got wiped off their memories, other hundreds got wiped off their senses, other hundreds went crazy, other hundreds began finding their imaginary friends, and many killed themselves. The village was never the same again. Whoever sensible was left in the village demanded to go in future to stay safe. Your grandfather took them for lab rats on whom he could run experiments. He tried fixing this candle and tested it by sending someone through it. Every time the candle would just stop glowing as soon as someone was sucked inside it. Candle must not stop glowing immediately. It should glow for hours at least. Whoever traveled through this candle, either they were stuck in some random time or they were thrown out emitting another Candlelight. Just like it happened today.”

“What about having my father in this time?”

“Haha. That question… your friend, Raghav would be able to answer better. Isn’t it, Raghav?” Ramu said with an evil smile, looking at Raghav. It was the same gaze that he gave him the last time they met face to face. Raghav got uncomfortable yet again.

Saafiya, Shreyansh and Ananya turned their faces towards him. Ramu’s voice was heard, “Or shall I call you by your real name, Raghav? What was it that Saafiya’s grandmother used to call you? Ryu, it was. In our time. Isn’t it?”

The story continues tomorrow… Follow Random Tales to stay updated.

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