Call from Mr D'Souza (Part 2)

The residents of Star apartments had gathered on the 4^th floor. They were surprised to see a stranger lying unconscious on the floor. The Watchman was also present at the scene. When Rajiv had passed by him earlier, it didn’t occur to the watchman that Mr. D’Souza was no longer alive. 

One hour had passed since Rajiv had fainted. The people gathered around and splashed some water on his face. No response. The residents decided that it was time to call a doctor when Rajiv started regaining consciousness. He was startled at the sight of so many strangers staring at him.   

One of the people enquired as to why he was unconscious. He didn’t remember at first but then he saw a person using his phone. All of a sudden he sat bolt upright just like a person does when he sees a nightmare.

  

“It was the phone call,” said Rajiv, “yes, the phone call.” The people were bewildered.

“I didn’t believe in ghosts and all the paranormal things but these things do exist in reality.” His voice seemed very shaky.

He pulled out the phone from his pocket. Pointing towards the phone which he was holding in his right hand he said, “I got a call on this very phone from a ghost.“ Two of the residents burst out laughing.

He was about to explain when the display screen was lit up with a message saying Bakshi calling. He hadn’t recovered fully from his last phone conversation and the phone was ringing again.

“Hello.”

“Where the hell have you been Rajiv?” asked Bakshi in an angry tone.                       

“It is difficult to explain. I experienced something which we usually don’t in our normal life.”

“What are you talking about? D’Souza tried to contact you twice after his call got disconnected but there was no response from your side. So he contacted us to know if you will still be able to give the demo as it was getting late.”

The name itself frightened Rajiv and with a stuttering voice, he added, “You won’t believe it but D’Souza is a ghost. He died five years ago.”

“Are you high or are you trying to play a prank on me?” Bakshi was annoyed.  He didn’t like his precious time getting wasted.

Rajiv recounted the whole incident. The residents were still around. Some of them believed his story, some didn’t and some were still hanging around for no obvious reason.

The conversation with Bakshi was still on when the address of D’Souza popped up. Rajiv said " Star building, Flat no. 7, 4^th floor, Bandra-East.”

“This is not Star Building, this is Star Apartments.” said one of the building tenants. Rajiv ignored the comment.

Bakshi on the other line said, “Can you repeat the last part of the address?”

“4^th floor, Bandra-East.”

“You wrote down the wrong address. The destination was Bandra-West and not Bandra-East.”

All the things now seemed to fall in place. He had done a major blunder in writing down the address because of the construction work which hadn’t allowed him to hear the last word clearly. Then the coincidences. The name Mr. D’souza , the location – Bandra, and finally the building name- Star Apartments.

He couldn’t believe that this series of events had led him to believe in ghosts.   

He started laughing at himself. His excessive laughter raised a question amongst the residents whether his soul was actually taken over by a spirit.