Trapped
Horror Short Stories in English on WordsAllMine
Synopsis: Horror Short Stories in English. A short story of a small missing child trapped in school before during Diwali Holidays.
It was 11 pm at night when I switched off the lights of my room and retired to bed. Irrelevant though it was to sleep early on the day of Diwali eve but for a tired journalist like me, it was not indeed. As I turned to my right, my gaze fell upon a sudden shimmer of light coming from behind the curtains.
Is it a short circuit? I threw a hunch. But soon my sleepy eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room helping me register that the glimmer was coming from the string lights hanging from the terrace of my house. They were running all the way down from the balustrade covering all the three stories of our house in beautiful shades of pink and blue. I recalled my brother telling me about the laborious task he performed this evening of decorating the house. He seemed to have done a good job I had failed to notice. But now when I kept looking at the lights, a recent event started melting in front of my eyes…
Last year during the same same, our newspaper had reported something as paranormal activities going on in Mr. Roger’s house. He claimed to witness a thick mass of black smoke disappearing inside the shaft of his house. But no one believed him. When he told similar things, people started to suspect that he had developed some sort of mental illness. He saw ‘help’ written with Diwali lights on the terrace of the building opposite to his. But just as he ran towards the building, he was immediately grabbed by wardens and nurses and was taken to a mental hospital. There, he kept screaming all the time, “Please forgive me. I would not be late this time.”
Eventually, he was found dead on the terrace of the hospital where he had been admitted for few days. The doctor postulated that all Mr. Roger’s observations were hallucinations created in his disturbed mind. But when few other people reported similar things, the case was studied in detail after which things became clear…
Exactly 5 years ago, a school situated in the city of Nagpur was buzzing with a vehement cheer. The reason for joy of the students was the 10-day long Diwali holidays that were going to start next day onward. It was the last working day of the school and the students were nowhere interested in studies. They were eagerly waiting for the time when the school bell would ring and they would be set free for a long spell.
But amongst all the children, 13 year old Avinash had a rather genuine urge to return home. He had been feeling ill since morning and with each passing hour, his condition was getting worse.
Eventually as soon as the class got started after the lunch break, Avinash approached the teacher and told her that he was suffering from fever and needed to go home. The teacher placed her palm over the boy’s forehead and feigned a pitiful gaze on sensing high temperature. Unfortunately, the only doctor in the school was on leave. Nevertheless, she asked the boy to stay in the medical room until he gets alright.
Not spared from school though, Avinash availed the relief of eluding the cacophony of the jubilant classmates and went to the medical room.
The room which was a few steps away from the class was a small compartment enough only to accommodate one bed and a chair. There was a small almirah on one side of the bed. The congested room was suffocating for Avinash, but the peaceful environment was still atleast better than the clamour of the crazy class. He tumbled onto the bed and closed his eyes.
Slowly, his body started to relax dozing him off into deep slumber. After what appeared to be an uncertain period of time, Avinash woke up out of his sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he realised that he had been sleeping for a long time and could not recall when he came from school and slept in his room. But what could be called as the biggest nightmare of his life came affront when he got the clear view of his surroundings.
The ventilation window which was carrying the bright sunlight inside was now bringing the dim white light of the night sky. He was still in the medical room of his school!
How could it happen? He wondered and recalled the entire incident. He must have been so dizzy to hear the sound of the school bell. Neither did anyone check in the medical room before closing the school. Obviously, no one would have expected to find a boy sleeping there when the doctor was on leave.
Avinash jumped off the bed in fright and switched on the lights of the room. He looked at the door. It gave him some solace to find it open. He would go downstairs and call home from the reception. Soon his parents would come to take him. The corridor was on fifth floor where he hurried along towards the lift.
But, the door of the lift was locked. As he turned towards the staircase, he was no less disappointed. The stairs were locked as well which meant no escape. His eyes fell upon the clock from the closed bars of the staircase which beamed 9 pm !
Muddled with intense feeling of panic, he started screaming. “Help help!” But no one heard. He banged on the door. He thumped the closed metal bars of the staircase. But no one came. He looked around in all directions. The huge empty building of the school appeared to be crashing down upon him and the dark place appeared as gory as an underground cellar. He was trapped in the school. Worse still, the very possibility of having to spend the next 10 days there was breaking him into tears.
He longed for his home, his parents, his small sister and wondered what they would be doing. He recalled the morning when he left for school. How his mom smiled while waving him bye. How she had asked him to have lunch on time. How eagerly she would be waiting for him to return home. And how worried she would be at this time.
Avinash thought had he not got the fever and gone to the medical room, he were with his mom, in his house, watching his favorite cartoon show. He found himself longing for the smallest of things which used to be the part of his routine.
He still had fever which was intensified by the overwhelming fear. He trudged to the class where he was studying in the afternoon and had fallen ill. As soon as he opened the door, he got petrified by absolute darkness. It was complete silence that he could clearly hear the sound of his heart throbbing aloud. Gathering some courage, Avinash’s shivering hands reached for the switchboard and pressed all the switches anxiously. Soon, all the lights and fans came into action. He moved towards the bench where he was sitting. His bag and bottle were lying at the same place. It must be 10 pm by now and Avinash was feeling both hungry and thirsty. He picked up his water bottle and gulped down all the water. Then he opened his tiffin.
But to Avinash’s greatest dismay, the sandwich that he had left in the lunch was eaten off. Perhaps his friend had stolen his food again. At this moment, he felt like the most wretched person on earth. Hunger was killing him. His stomach had started aching. With no option left, he started sweeping his hand inside the desks one by one in search of food. Finally, a small packet struck his hand. He unwrapped the foil paper to find few chunks of bread. Hurriedly, he devoured every bite of little food left over by someone.
He toppled down on the floor, shivering with cold and fear. His body was burning out of fever while the stomach was burning out of hunger. His head was thumping with pain as if someone was knocking it with a sledgehammer. Making efforts after efforts, he didn’t know quite when did he sleep.
Once again, Avinash woke up to the reality of plight he was undergoing. This time, as he opened up his eyes,he found himself lying on the ground. He saw the sunlight entering through the windows on top of the walls.
It was another day.
Atleast at this moment, the classroom appeared to be the way it would be on normal days. The only difference being, the school was closed and empty and shall remain so for another 9 days. Avinash got up with great difficulty. His headache had become severe by now. And the churning of the empty stomach was spreading weakness throughout his body. He realised his fever had not yet gone.
He sat on a bench, trying to compose himself, trying to tell himself that he would soon find a way and get out of this hell. Gathering his broken form, he got up and went outside the class. Once again, he tried to find an escape. He walked towards the other side of the corridor. The row of classes on both the sides ended in a plain wall which extended upwards upto the roof. Avinash then started checking inside each class one by one.
Everywhere, the windows were on the top leaving him no platform to climb. But giving up was not the solution. He pulled a bench and positioned it just below the window and placed another bench above the first one. The combined height of the staggered benches now seemed enough for him to reach the window. As he stood atop the bench, his eyes were still a little below the window sash so he had to lift his toes to sneak outside.
Only after this tiring exercise, he could see the wide playground that surrounded the school. There was no one to be seen in the vicinity. But lining the boundary of the ground was the road where traffic was passing by. On the other side of the road were residential buildings where he could meekly observe some movements.
He started to shout waving his hands. He jumped on the bench to catch people’s attention. But no one could notice him from a far distance. He kept making the futile efforts for quite sometime until his throat was chocked.
Life of the people outside continued to be normal, oblivious of the agony of the boy locked in the school. Finally, the boy stepped down having defeated in the effort which he thought to be the last possible.
His sickness was getting worse with time and now a sense of acute nostalgia started to hover over him. “Mom! Mom! Please come. Save me ! Someone please listen to me”. Please take me home”. His throat was worn out with the loud screams he made, but no one came to rescue him.
He put his head on the desk and once again burst into tears when suddenly his eyes fell upon the chalks lying near the blackboard. He got off the bench and walked to the blackboard. He picked a piece of chalk and chewed a small bite out of it. It wasn’t edible but atleast it was something he could chew and quench his hunger. He bit some more and then more. He ate up the whole piece and then another. Finally, he grabbed the entire box and ate away all the chalks in a while.
He then drank lots of water from the water cooler. It gave him a little solace quite for sometime. But he was still so famished that his little mind ceased to function anymore. Once again, Avinash fell asleep on his desk.
After few hours, he woke up to the sound of the fire crackers. As he rose up, the goofy darkness had taken over once again. The cheerful noise coming from outside was giving a feeling as if he has been transported to a secret hell far away from the world of glitter which once belonged to him. He was craving for one glance of the world where people were happy.
So he climbed on the staggered benches he assembled in the morning and sneaked through the window. In complete contradiction to the place he was staying in, the view of outside appeared like an elusive heaven.
Homes were shining in bright hues emanating from colorful lights and candles. The sky was glittering with beautiful fireworks and the air was crackling with the deafening noise of crackers. But inside the gory cellar was Avinash struggling for survival. Life was slowly leaving his body while he was trying his best to hold onto it.
Suddenly, his roving eyes caught the glimpse of the lights hanging from the buildings around. He recalled that his school building too was decorated with string lights on all the sides. An idea crossed his mind which according to him was invincible if he could reach the terrace. He got up with the energy of hope for the final step towards his rescue.
Since the stairs were locked, he went towards the opposite side of the corridor. He had come to this place before but now he wanted to use the minutest of opportunity which he might have ignored the last time. He noticed the wall in the end which had a small window. As he peeked through it, he found a cluster of pipes going up towards the terrace. On the roof was a small open space through which he could see the black starless sky. He was on the topmost floor of the building. What all he needed to move out was to make it through the tiny space which lead to the terrace.
Avinash pulled a stool from the adjacent class and placed it below the window. He stepped on the stool and placed one foot on the narrow sill of the window. He clutched the sides of the casement with both his hands as tightly as he could and started sliding his body through the sharp edges of the window. His stomach was badly hurt in the process but it appeared to be a small cost for the mission to succeed.
He jumped inside the shaft. There were small metal hooks projecting from the pipes, strong enough to support. Avinash strode on one hook, lifting his body against the pipe. He made a grip around the greasy stinking pipe with his small arms and pressed his other foot against the adjacent pipe and moved up. In a zig-zag fashion like this, he reached close to the roof.
At this point, a single glace downward could slip his hand off the small hook. Avoiding looking down, he pushed his body upwards with as much force as he could. A blow of cool air brushed against his face as his neck came above the opening. Clinging to the surface with both his hands, he pulled himself a little more. A little more effort, a little more energy, and finally he was on the terrace.
He was sweating profusely. His breath was heavy. His stomach was growling. His heart was pounding high. But he succeeded!
He walked towards the edge of the terrace and looked down at the the people walking the road. Once again, he waved his hands and screamed for help . But the road was distant and the tiny figures could not hear his frail voice.
It was now time to execute the idea that had pushed him to the terrace. He collected few bricks & wooden sticks and pulled out a strand of electric light hanging from the balustrade. Both time and energy seemed to be running out. Besides, Avinash was not able to withstand the intense heat of the sun that was burning his frail body. Some more time, and he could collapse out of hunger and exertion.
He eventually made an improvised structure of the sticks with support of the bricks. As soon as he started to wrap the strand of Diwali lights around them, his head started to swirl and he lost consciousness. But he ended up sending a signal which could not go unnoticed even from a long distance.
It was the giant word “help” glowing with the bright lights of Diwali.
In some time after the incident, the local investigating officer Mr. Roger got a call from Nagpur police station. He was asked to immediately reach the site where localites had observed the message ‘help’ on a school’s terrace.
Mr. Roger rushed to the spot and called his two subordinates as well. With the help of the school guard, the gate of the building was unlocked. By this time, the case of the missing 13-year old Avinash had also been reported by his parents. It all made it evident that it was their son who was trapped inside the school and was seeking help.
Wasting no time, the team started searching the boy everywhere in the building. Mr. Roger reached the class where he found Avinash’s school bag. Nearby were the staggered benches that he had used to look through the window. He unlocked the staircase and went to the terrace where Avinash was expected to be.
But he was nowhere in the vicinity.
In no time, this small tidbit of information spread like a grapevine and reached the media. Headlines started flashing in newspapers and channels of mysteriously lost Avinash.
Mr. Roger and the other two officers started to search for the boy more vehemently. If the staircase was locked, it was impossible for anyone to reach the terrace, thought Mr. Roger and inquired the guard about the possible ways to reach the terrace.
He said that apart from the staircase, there was only one way which led to the terrace and pointed at the narrow shaft.
Reaching there, they found a stool next to the wall of the shaft which helped them trace the way Avinash would have used to enter the terrace. It was a dark zone where light was frail. So they lit their torches.
Mr. Roger started screaming out, “Avinash, we have come to help you. We shall take you home. Where are you? Can you hear us?” But there was no reply.
Mr. Roger then called some more officers and started checking in every class calling out his name. They got exhausted and distraught with worry in their search until 4 am when suddenly Mr. Roger heard a loud scream of one of his team members.
He followed the voice which came from the terrace.
Finally, Avinash was found on the terrace, but in an unconscious state. Mr. Roger quickly put his inert body on his shoulders and called the nearby hospital to send an ambulance while making his way downstairs.
Unfortunately, no one picked up the phone. Perhaps much of the hospital staff would be on leave owing to the festive time. But the officer didn’t want to lose any chance of saving the boy’s life and decided to take him to the hospital by himself.
Laying Avinash on the back seat of his car, Mr. Roger asked his parents to follow them to the hospital. One officer sat next to him while the other with Avinash holding him. They reached the hospital in not less than couple of hours.
But what doctor said after checking Avinash’s pulse brought the officer to unbearable shock.
“I am very sorry. He is no more.” Said the doctor regretfully.
He remarked that Avinash had died of exertion. Had they brought him few minutes before, his life could be saved. But they got late because Mr. Roger could not find him in right time. It was a blame which the officer took on himself and went away…
That Diwali marked as the black event for all those who were connected to the dead boy in some way or the other. The next year after Mr. Roger’s mysterious death, a lady too was found dead on her terrace. She was recognized as the same teacher who asked Avinash to go to the medical room the day when he got locked. Many students of the same school have reported that they found ‘help’ written on the back of their notebooks and the classroom walls when they returned to school after Diwali holidays. The guard also claimed that he heard the sound of a boy crying and shouting out ‘help me! Help me’ during the night. Sometimes, the door of the medical room would too start banging on its own.
I got to visit the school to cover the story for my newspaper where I gathered all the data and traced out the associated events. In the article, I didn’t claim any of those happenings to be true nor did I object against any of the speculations.
[bctt tweet=”Supernatural phenomenon is a mystery which neither can science explain nor human understanding can transcend. ” username=”wordsallmine”]
It was 12 am now and I was still staring at these Diwali lights hung from my terrace, wondering at the strange connotation that belongs to them. As just I was about to close my eyes, I saw something that appeared on the dark wall of my room. It was a dim reflection of light filtering from the curtains of the window. In colorful letters was written…“help”.
