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"Shhh! Don't move. Stay still."- Deepu whispered and frowned upon Golu. Golu embarrassed of his tumble, hid behind his elder brother till the whistle of the distant security guard died down. Deepu felt the bag he was carrying once more, perhaps more out of nervous than necessity, and signalled Golu to resume crouching and crawling towards Professor's house.
Tonight was the night.
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The old creepy house got its name such because it used to belong to Professor Biplab Sarkar, who was some sort of a local legend around this sleepy town, located about 200 km away from the then Kolkata. During 1940s. Professor Sarkar was a renowned researcher and scholar, and was employed under the British India govt as the head of Botanical department at Jadavpur University. A well travelled academician and prolific expert in rare plants and trees, Professor had no time for his family though. His commitment to his work could only be matched by his firm belief that some plants do exhibit micro behaviours and we can train a certain desired behavior into some of them like a pet cat or dog. Just when he was at the cusp of a significant breakthrough, he was suddenly called back to his village. Professor's 13 year old son Ajit had contracted a mysterious brain fever, and despite the best efforts of local doctors, Ajit's health deteriorated drastically.
While 'Professorni', as his wife Sarita Devi was affectionately called, was occupied in visiting all sorts of houses of God, praying for her son to recover soon; Professor turned to the science he firmly believed in. And he stumbled upon a rare species of plant which could cure Ajit's symptoms. Professor spared no expense in importing that Latin American rare plant life from Colombia. But by the time it reached his village, Ajit had left his teary eyed mother and tearless father alone.
None saw professor ever smiling since then. He wasn't known for his sense of humour before also, but this shocking demise of his son just turned him bitter and devoid of any kindness whatsoever. Professor Sarkar quit the university job and set his workshop in that creaky creepy house in this old town, dragging his fruitless research to no conclusion till he eventually passed away 2 years later. 'Professorni' passed away a few month after that. An ordinary end to an what an extraordinary mind, some lamented.
But the real extra ordinary began happening 3 months after the couple had died. Since they had no relative, the house remained uninhabited, save for a couple of stray elements like thieves, burglars and addicts. Initially they thought something would be there at least, but sooner they gave up.
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One winter day in February 1946, things got nasty though. Scores of passerby walking past started complaining of a foul smell coming out of the house. Police was called in and when they stepped into, even some policemen slipped into unconsciousness due to the trauma of what they witnessed. Hundreds of semi-digested bones and carcasses of stray men and stray animals were scattered across the house, and blood stains on floor, walls, ceiling and where not.
Soon the rumour went viral that Professor's ghost still haunts the old house and kills anybody who dares enter it. Some rumours linked it to Professorni's ghost. To cut it short, the house got its reputation similar to one such customary haunted place in every town- "the professor's house" turned into the the house of horror. Scientists, Skeptics, Police and every non believer possible came and investigated the house their own way for any paranormal activity for many years. There were contradictory stories. Some accounted for a giant tentacled creature walking around midst of the night in the hall, while some found nothing but deafening silence. Some times men stayed there during the day as well as the night and found nothing, and sometimes the stench and remains of killed stray dogs were reported to be coming out from the house. After a while, people just stopped bothering and the Professor's house slipped out of popular memory.
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February 2018, some 70+ years later, a new neighbour family walked into a nearby house- the Aggarwals. The young couple had two sons Deepu and Golu, and a pug Booster. Booster was an inquisitive creature, and so were their 13 and 9 years old boys. Soon it became quite clear to Aggarwals that their call for discipline was of no use against this newfound freedom in the wilderness of an old town. And so, the gang of 3 adolescents were at their vicious most devices to enjoy fullest this phase of life they will never get back.
It wasn't long before they came across the Professor's house. With no knowledge of the abandoned house's history and not a soul to discourage them, shortly their territory expanded from around the house to inside it. Booster was the culprit to be honest, and unfortunately paid the price. It went into the house through a broken window in the front, and the boys heard its meek barking voice within a few seconds. That's the last they heard from Booster. Worried parents and sobbing children met their worst nightmare when a town elder told the family about the history of this haunted house. Deepak and Golu weren't convinced about the ghost part, may be too courageous for their own age. But they certainly were not going to let it go.
Out of vengeance or anger or may be with nothing else to do for an adventure, the brothers decided to take the matter into their own hands and hatched a childishly genius plan. They will go with a mobile camera and plant it in the house from the same broken window, while their parents are asleep tonight. Furthermore, they will release a remote car and operate it from outside the house. The ghost or whatever entity is there inside, would come out and get captured on camera while they would remain unhurt. After all, as per the old man visiting them, nobody was ever hurt outside the house.
Deepu clutched his bag once again as the Professor's house came within their sight. Golu mumbled- "Bhai, may be we should go back. Is it really needed? I am afraid." So was Deepu. But he didn't want to let his fear humiliate him in front of his only minion- Golu. Deepu glanced with a scorn and moved ahead, Golu trudged along with ever growing terror on his face.
As per the plan, they taped an old smartphone, fully charged, just above the broken window grill on the outer wall. As the next step, Deepu dropped the remote driven toy car ever so slightly through the same window.
Both looked at each other and into the hall. And with a clenched fist, closed eyes, and terrorizes heart Deepu pressed the forward button on the remote. The toy car whizzed past the clutter towards the center of the large hall. Against an expected fearful outcome, nothing really happened. The brothers heaved a momentary sigh of relief. Golu almost gave in to sobbing but went dead silent when Deepu started operating the toy car again. He circled the toy car across the hall for a few times. And all of a sudden, it seemed as if the house awakened. There was a crackling explosion followed by soft hissing. What Deepu and Golu saw next, would scar them for life. Their blood turned white and knickers wet. A huge shadowy figure with large tentacles came out of the adjacent room and filled up the hall. With a sudden jerk it lifted off the toy car wrapping those deadly tentacles around it, crushed it to pieces and dragged the remains to the adjacent room. A deafening silence fell over the house after that.
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Golu ran away first. Deepu followed back instantly. Not a single word was spoken. Both ran with winds in their sails but without a whiff in their lungs. Tired and traumatized, the brothers tried to sleep but they rather became sleepless, motionless and speechless. The next morning, they were found with burning fever and in shock. Relatives and well wishers started pouring in. Some speculated that may be it's the Professor's ghost chasing them even after their pug's killing. When the old man who had recounted the story earlier came, Golu couldn't control and uttered while sobbing- "I saw it. We saw it. It was huge, with claws and wings and it would eat me too. I don't want to dieeeeee." Deepu was a little more sane in his telling. But the adults still couldn't make a head and tail of it. All they could witness was a terror, as if the kids had seen a ghost.
But after hearing whatever they said, Pankaj, their father, took along a few friends to the Professor's creepy house. After seeing the mobile still taped on the exterior wall and recording the hall inside, just as was mentioned, they called up the police. Inspector Shekhar came, confiscated the mobile, took the account of witnesses and returned. That very night, Deepu and Golu saw though their window, a whole team of policemen returning to the old house with torches, sticks, rifles and axes. They entered the house and instantly the houses started shaking. Loud noises could be heard- "cut it down", "don't let it touch you" and "get out of there fast". The clamour only grew larger with sounds of chopping and occasional gunshot. Till the point it stopped completely altogether all of a sudden.
Next morning, Deepu and Golu woke up to a buzzing noise outside with hundreds of people gathering around. A barricade was erected and the house was sealed shut completely. They came down to the hall and saw their parents sitting with Inspector Shekhar. "Ahha! You both have got up. Let me just tell it all again from beginning"- the policeman recounted what he had been telling to the parents."
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"We took the mobile to forensic experts and after their analysis of the captured video, and referring to notes mentioned in the late Professor's diaries, we identified our ghost. It was a rare carnivorous species of a plant, found only in Amazon rainforests. It was imported by Professor Sarkar from Colombia when his son Ajit fell ill. This plant is so nearly extinct today that this might very well have been the last specimen existing outside South America. Documented history suggests that such plants used to grow up to maximum 3-4 feet tall with a box shaped trunk filled with acidic secretions. This species prowls upon insects, little birds and young baby monkeys around using its superior sense of smell and it's nasty tentacle shaped branches. Similar to how an Aloe Vera plant looks like, just very bigger in comparison. Once it feasted on it's prey, it wouldn't need to consume any thing again for a month or so. And it could survive without sunlight or water for periods unknown."
Inspector Shekhar paused for a moment, took up and slowly sipped the next round of tea and continued for the fixated eyes and glued faces upon him, "Other than these documented attributes, Professor's notes also revealed that he was successful in conditioning his plant into displaying a violent and insatiable hunger pattern if starved for longer than a few months. The stimulus it caught up the fastest was- the presence or smell of a small prey such as a dog or a cat within its 10 feet. So after his death, when this plant was starved for long enough, it started showing the instincts was trained for. Anything walking, crawling or flying within it's 10 feet or so fell prey to it's hunger. When it's hunger was satisfied, it would go dormant again for some time."
"All the ghost busters who came to the house for long, never looked keenly beyond supernatural forces or they could have seen through a large unusual plant hiding suspiciously in plain sight. For more than 70 years, this ghost plant existed ever so hungry within the house and hunted. If not for the unusual death of Booster and subsequent foolishness yet bravery by our two heroes here, God knows how long this hunter would have kept killing."
"How large it became by the time you cut it down?"- asked Pankaj Aggarwal.
"By our estimate in the night, its stem was about 10 feet tall and the tentacles had now a span of not lesser than 20 feet at least. We had three of our staff injured jousting with axes before we had to open rifle fire on it's trunk."- explained the policeman.
" But how did it grow so huge?"- asked Deepu, still bewildered and coming to terms with the horror.
"Who knows! As per Professor's notes, that's the fancy thing about plants. You never know what's the impact of the change in air, soil and atmosphere on their growth. May be, it grew larger because of the tropical conditions in this part of world. Or..."
"Or what?"- exclaimed Deepu.
The police inspector turned to the scared little boy, leaned closer and chuckled- "Or, for all we know, it might indeed have been possessed by the Professor's Ghost."
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