I usually wouldn’t have posted this here, but things have gotten from bad to worse for me. I have no idea whom to ask for help. It’s not that I haven’t tried, but no one seems capable enough to help me. So, I am posting this story here. Maybe some of you might be able to help me. It’ll be a fairly long story because this thing’s been going on for a couple of months now. Also, English is not my first language, so pardon me if I make some grammatical errors.
I live in a small town in Maharashtra, India. I been living here alone for most of my adult life. My parents died in a car crash when I was 17. After their demise, I have no one that I can call my loved one. They left me this old house, which I am currently residing in. Even though I wasn’t academically brilliant, I passed my finals with fairly decent grades. And I got a job at some no name Bank as an accountant. So, this bank has statewide branches. We provide loans against the salaries of individuals who work for the government. Since there are government offices in the most remote places in India, our bank has branches there as well, so it can be convenient for government employees to apply for loans.
Still not many people are interested in this job here because after every 5 consecutive years you get transferred, and that’s the agreement you have to sign before showing up for this job. Since I have no one, it wasn’t much of a problem for me to sign it. PayScale there is pretty good as well. Even in the first world, it’ll be considered good.
About 6 months ago, I completed my 5-year period, and the very next week I got a transfer letter from our head office. I got transferred to Awashi. It is around 300 miles from my hometown. After some inquiries, I found that this small village has a population of around 500 residents. It’s not connected to any main highways connecting major cities and towns. The only way to reach that village is by train, which arrives every 3 days. Most of its buildings were built in the pre-British era. A Few years prior, that village finally got electricity, which has yet to reach every household. After hearing all these things about that place, I was in a bit of a dilemma. I had two choices. The first was to leave the job, because I got the job offer from a famed bank and the paygrade was equal. The second was to join the new office I was appointed to. Unfortunately, I chose the latter.
My boss gave me a 7 day joining period in which I had to sort a few things out. The first was my living situation there. I have rarely been outside of my house after my office hours, and most of my weekends I play video games. So, it was a foreign experience for me to do all that. Even though I was nervous, part of me was feeling the thrill as well. After sorting out a few things, like putting an ad in the newspaper for my current house for renting, returning the monthly coupons I had for a restaurant where I used to eat, and purchasing the essentials, including a battery, a small rope, leather boots, a hunting knife (I know, but I really thought it was an adventure since the place’s so remote), and a lot of power banks, I packed my bags, locked the door behind me, and rushed to the train station.
The train journey was quite pleasant, and I was in such a good mood throughout. It was around a 10-hour journey on the train. Awashi was the final destination. It was surrounded by dense forest. The population seemed scarce in those regions. The only people I saw were a couple of locals carrying firewood on their heads.
Finally, I got off. I was the only one who got off. The station seemed empty. I was the only one there, carrying my heavy luggage in one hand and another while blaming myself that I shouldn’t have brought so many unnecessary items. As I put the luggage down to rest my shoulders, I heard,
“We don’t get many visitors.”
The voice came so suddenly that I was startled. It was a tall, around 6.2 foot middle-aged person with a big moustache and a pleasant smile looking at me from the entrance of the station.
Judging by his clothes, he looked like a station master.
“Yes, I got transferred here for Noname Bank,” I said. “Yes, I have been foretold that by Mr. Aryan.” His smile widened. “I know you probably do not know who he is, he’s the peon in your office.” “You, sir, must be the station master.” I hoped my guess didn’t offend him. “Yes, I am the first person that a visitor meets when they lay their feet on Awashi’s ground,” he replied, removing his gloves. He brought forth his hand for a handshake. “Hello, my name is Ajan Ray. I have been station master of Awashi for the last 18 years.”
I removed my glove and shook his hand as well.
As we were walking towards the entrance, I asked him,
“Is there some place here like a motel or a lodge where I can crash for a couple of days until I find a place to rent?” With my question, his face changed. That broad smile slowly got retracted. With a serious undertone, he said,
“I think no one told you this, sir, but there are no motels in this village. If you don’t know anyone here who’ll let you stay in their home, you’re basically homeless in Awashi.” That made me nervous to my core. It was not something I expected.
Suddenly, that broad smile returned to his face.
“Fortunately for you, sir, you know me now. So you can crash at my place for a couple of days. I live here alone, I’ll get a drinking buddy and you’ll get a place to stay.”
It was so unexpected for me that I put my luggage down and stared at him for a moment. He was looking at me with the same unfazed look.
“I am really thankful, Mr. Ray. But I do not want to cause you any trouble.” I said this as I was lifting my heavy bag again. “Don’t be so formal, Mr.?” He gave me a questionable look. “Rivaan, my name’s Rivaan.” I said it with a smile. “As I said, Mr. Rivaan, don’t be so formal. And it’s been so long since I found a buddy to drink with. It gets so boring here sometimes, you know.” He said it with a laugh so loud that I almost dropped my luggage. Since the sun was setting towards the horizon I thought it’d be better to stay with this person, and since he was the station master, it kind of gave me a little comfort since he was a government official.
His home wasn’t so big just two rooms. It was probably built way before the Brits came to India. Mr. Ray was a pleasant person. Even though Awashi was so cut off from the rest of the world, he was well informed about the current socioeconomic events in the country and around the globe. We drank quite a lot of feni (locally produced liquor) that night. Since it got dark when we got to his home, I couldn’t take a look at the village. While hitting the deck, I decided to check out the village when the first sunray hit the ground.
I woke up early in the morning the next day and took a bath with a bucket full of water, which I had to draw from the well. I said my thanks to Mr. Ray, who just got up and was praying in front of the small temple he had in the back of his house, and I left the house. Now I had two things to do; first, sort out my living situation, and second, I had to visit my office. I didn’t ask Mr. Ray for directions since I wanted to see the village and figure things out on my own.
Now, this town was exactly what I expected. Old wooden houses were built from pure clay and wood, like I had seen in so many Indian movies. It was a trip down memory lane. I felt like I was in the 1800s. Only a few houses had electric wires connecting to them. Old folks were sitting here and there. Everyone was staring at me. I kept walking through these small, decrepit establishments.
So the map was simple to follow. You enter from the west where the old train station was located. From there, the village entrance was located around 400 meters away. When you enter the village, you are greeted with an old stone door that was probably around for hundreds of years. Later, I heard from Aryan that this door was built during the Gupta Empire.(320-550 CE). I mean, that’s really old. Once you crossed that door, you’d feel like you’d been teleported into the Victorian Era. Every building, every road, hell even the people reeks of that ancient smell. So, while I was in the middle of my final stroll, I heard a voice behind me. “Excuse me, sir.” As I turned, a man in probably his early 40s made his way towards me. “Is this Mr. Rivaan” he said. To which I just nodded my head.
“Sir, this is Aryan. I guess since you have nowhere to stay here, you must’ve have gone to Mr. Ray. He said you went for a stroll, and I been searching for you since all this time.” He said this while catching his breath. “I heard about you, Aryan. Since I am new here, can you show me our office.” I thought he’d be the one who’d solve my living situation. “Of course, sir. Also, I have arranged a place for you. So we can visit the office, take your stuff from Mr. Ray’s place, and head straight to that place.” Excellent, I thought.
Before that, I was thinking about staying with Mr. Ray and was thinking about asking him what his expected rent would be, but that place was really small, and I thought it’d feel like I was overstaying my welcome. But Aryan solved everything for me. I visited our office, which was in an old building, but it was fairly new compared to the other ones. After that, I visited Mr. Ray and thanked him for everything again, grabbed my stuff, and left with Aryan.
He took me outside of the village. A bit far, actually. After walking through some woods, there was a hill, and on the top of it was a huge palace. It was making a silhouette in the saffron sky. At the bottom of the hill, there were steps covered in leaves leading up to the palace. It felt so surreal when I laid my eyes on the heavy wooden doors of that palace. I rested my luggage on the floor, took out my camera, and clicked a couple of photos.
The carvings on the doors was nothing I had ever seen before. At the top of the door, there was a lady who was getting swallowed by a big snake like creature. I asked Aryan, “Don’t you think this place has an eerie vibe to it?” To that, he laughed and said, “Yes, it does, but this place is occupied by my granny. She’s the nicest lady in town. Rent will be cheaper here, and there is a lot of space as well.” After a moment, he said, “ She raised me, you know.” To which I just nodded.
You know I am not a superstitious type. I can be unnecessarily brave at times. There was no way to not trust him on this one. I had no other choice. Even Mr. Ray said that Aryan is a great guy and also we have to work together, so I rolled with it. After a few moments, the door opened. Outside, there was bright sunlight, but it wasn’t crossing the threshold of that palace. It was pitch black darkness inside. Aryan yelled into that darkness, “Grandma, it’s me, Aryan. I told you about the guest you’ll be having yesterday?!” Now I could see a lantern flickering in the darkness. Slowly, a figure came into sight.
An old woman with a lantern in her hand. She was probably in her 90s. Gray hairs were loosely tied behind her head. She was wearing all-white gown. Her hands were shivering while holding that lantern. First, I thought it was due to her old age, but then I felt it. We were standing in fairly humid weather outside, but a cold breeze blew from inside the palace. She was looking at Aryan and me with her blue eyes. When she spoke, I felt the authority in her voice, “Yes, you don’t need to remind me of that, Aryan. Is this the gentleman?!” She said. Without giving Aryan a chance to say anything, I rushed,
“Yes, it’s Rivaan, ma’am.” I introduced myself. She walked towards me a little, as if she were taking a good measure of me with those tired blue eyes. “You can stay here, son. But there are some rules you need to follow while living here with me.” She continued after a cough.
“Don’t stay out or up late, don’t smoke or drink while inside the palace, don’t bring any guests since I don’t like ruckus, I am quite old for that, you see.” She stopped. There’s one more rule, but for that, I have to invite you in.
She led us into the palace. First, it was that room, which was so dark. At the end of that room was a stone door, which led to the main palace. As I entered, I saw it was a huge place. It was illuminated by the sunlight coming from the ceiling. Things you see in those Soulsbourne games. It was a huge square with two big rooms in the middle. They were purely carved from stone. Stone pillars were connected to the ceiling. On both sides, there were rooms lined up. At the very end of those rooms, a set of stairs led to the upstairs. One thing that stood out to me was the cold. I was literally shivering.
As I dropped my luggage, the old woman turned towards me and said, “Yes, the final rule.” “Whatever happens, do not go near the rooms in the middle of the palace.”