SHORT STORIES FRIDAYS (16)

GRACE’S WITCHY ADVENTURES : A PARANORMAL THRILLER BY ME

The Story so far:

Grace Royce accompanies her best friend and colleague, Sharmila Gupta’s wedding in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, India. When Sharmila shows her fiance’s photo, Grace is shocked because she has frequently seen him in her dreams forcing an innocent girl to suicide.

She saves Sharmila from marrying a criminal after nabbing him and his friends in a shameful act of trying to hang an innocent girl.

Grace has recurring dreams of Sharmila attempting suicide when the friends are holidaying in Dehradun. Her fear is about to materialize after their trip. Grace skilfully revisits the past and alters everybody’s memories to stop the wagging tongues of people from hurting Sharmila. She thwarts the attempt of a mad scientist X, in Australia, who is watching the proceedings, to kill Sharmila.

He stages small accidents which Grace is unable to prevent. Finally, he is able to cause a hit and run accident leading to Sharmila’s death. Grace is mourning the loss of her good friend while blaming herself for failing to protect her. She has a strange dream at night, where she finds herself in her bedroom in Australia. Her dead parents appear before her and they take her into the alternative future time zone, had Sharmila lived. Whatever she witnesses is awfully shocking to her.

She sees the evil side of Sharmila abusing her friendship and taking advantage of her. She is horrified to see her best friend kidnapping and sacrificing her with the help of a mysterious stranger. She comes back to her room with her parents and Sharmila’s soul pays her a visit. She explains how she was cursed by her grandma after she accidentally killed her grandfather who was bedridden with cancer. When she clarified that it was just an accident, her grandma realized her folly and offered a choice to die young before the curse could materialize or live a long cursed life. She had chosen the former. Sharmila warns her to be careful.

Grace decides to investigate Sharmila’s death and views the CCTV footage that shows the car which ran her over. She finds that it belonged to Vinod Mohan, Vivek’s ( Sharmila’s former fiance) younger brother. She approaches the police and hands them the evidence. Vinod claims of innocence and says that he had lent his vehicle to a friend who reported it missing. Grace is frustrated and prays to Sharmila for guidance.
Grace sees identical bracelets on the wrists of Vivek and Sharmila in her dreams. She requests Sharmila’s mother for the bracelet and discovers the hidden microchip which alerts X in Australia because both the bracelets were connected to his destiny machine. He orders Vivek’s death which leaves Grace completely stumped.

X is surprised to find his mentor Edward Fox’s son Stewart on his doorstep. Stewart is shocked to hear about Sharmila’s death. He takes X to task for acting in a haste and tells him about Sharmila’s past. Both of them are planning to bring her back from the land of death to wreak havoc on earth which Grace sees in her dream.

Grace questions Sharmila’s spirits and discovers the identity of her killer. Grace leaves to Australia with Sharmila’s parents. She requests Sharmila to infiltrate X’s gang to uncover clues and prevent him from carrying out the dangerous task of reviving her. She spots X and enters his body in the presence of Stewart. X gets into trouble after misbehaving with a waiter and Stewart slaps him. He drags him out of the cafe as they go back to their hideout.

Sharmila decides to have fun at X’s expense. She enters his body, snatches the phone from one of the guards and calls Grace with the update. X returns the phone with a thanks. His guard is pleasantly surprised. When X comes to his senses, his guard appreciates him for his good manners which X vehemently denies. Sharmila re-enters his body and X turns into a pervert. Stewart kicks him while the guard chuckles and gets fired. Sharmila possesses him and manages to capture the incriminating photos of the hideout. The guard visits the lab and blackmails Stewart to reinstate his job Or face the police. He has already forwarded these pictures to other men as a precaution and potential blackmail. Stewart and X are ready to merge their sinister machines as Sharmila is shocked and contemplating how to stop these villains from carrying out their evil plan.

Chapter 10

A twist in the tale.

Sharmila had to stop them from executing their dangerous mission. She re-entered X’s body and made him enter a wrong password thrice, much to the annoyance of Stewart. Both the machines stopped functioning after blowing out a fuse. Stewart slapped X and hurled abuses at him. He said, ” How dare you ruin our dream project? You idiot, how can you forget the password for operating your own machine? “

X rubbed his cheeks as Sharmila exited his body and entered Stewart’s to pull another prank. X groaned when he saw both the machines completely blown up. He asked, ” How did this happen, Stevie? Did you enter a wrong password? You could have referred to your notes rather than relying on your cleverness.” Something was wrong with Stewart. He tried to make a pass at X, adding with a sigh, ” Did anyone tell you how handsome you are, honey? I know you prefer the company of men.” He started stripping off his clothes. He was about to remove his underwear when X slapped him real hard.

Meanwhile, one of the guards happened to witness this incident and recorded everything on his smartphone. “I should have listened to Vinie before joining these lunatics. I should forward this recording to the police, “he thought. His comrade said, “Don’t do anything foolish now. First, we have to escape from this place and make sure we are safe. I have a plan.” He whispered into his ears and the guard smiled.

Stewart was stunned to find himself almost naked. He screamed, ” You fool! Were you trying to take undue advantage of me? You are a creep and a pervert. I have a good mind to call off this partnership.” X was stunned at his accusations. He retaliated, ” Let me make it clear, you jerk! I didn’t touch you at all. You acted like a sex starved maniac and undressed yourself. Why don’t you check the CCTV recording? How can you question my sexuality? Your behavior is questionable.”

Stewart replayed the CCTV recording. He was shocked to find that X was telling the truth. He had no idea what came over him. “Listen,” he said, ” I am sorry. I don’t remember doing anything like this. I feel completely zoned out. I think you experienced the same thing. It’s as if someone possessed our bodies. If I had to guess, the ghost of Sharmila is exorcising us.” Sharmila’s soul couldn’t believe that this idiot guessed it right. She feared what he would discover next but decided to remain a mute spectator and watch the proceedings.

X laughed at Stewart’s theory, “That’s an excellent joke, buddy. Ghost of Sharmila, indeed? I think your brain has cracked up after enduring the excessive work pressure. Why don’t you take a break for some time while I try to repair these duds?” Stewart replied, ” Laugh all you want. Can you explain your behavior in these videos?” X’s smirk was quickly replaced by a frown. Stewart also told him about the blackmail by one of the bodyguards, David. He happened to be X’s most reliable employee and could never think of betraying him.

X replied, ” Fine. Now that we have discovered a ghost playing truant in our den, what are we going to do next? Call a ghost buster.” Stewart was lost in thoughts before replying, ” I hate to say this but either we have a mole in our midst who has decided to be good and foil our plans or Sharmila must have an accomplice who discovered our secrets. Can you think over our past failures?”

X replied,” Stewart, you just happened to hit the nail on the head. I tried killing Sharmila several times after she reached India. She escaped most of the times until I finally had her dead. I had planned a fate for Vivek that went completely haywire. How could someone foil my plans ? Now that we joined forces to create a monster machine that would revive Sharmila, it seems her ghost isn’t interested in coming back to life. I wonder why? Someone has been ruining our plans. If I discover his or her identity, we will make sure to pack the person to hell. But who can it be and why?” X and Stewart asked their men to search their hideout for the presence of an electronic bug but it was futile.

“How the hell did he or she discover what we were up to?” X commented. Stewart asked him, “Do you remember if Sharmila confided in anyone?” X suddenly remembered, ” Yes, I remember seeing her with Grace Royce, my former colleague. They were as thick as thieves. Sharmila never went alone without Grace giving her company. But Grace isn’t that smart to get on to us. She looks like Plain Jane. There’s nothing special about her.”

Sharmila was petrified as she continued watching their exchange. ” This is where you are wrong, ” answered Stewart, ” Haven’t you ever heard of the proverb ‘ Don’t judge a book by its cover’? She must be having some sort of power like a gadget or so. Didn’t you tell me that she accompanied Sharmila to India and stayed there until her death? She must be the one stirring the hornet’s nest and made you kill our trusted partner, Vivek. It’s time to get rid of her before she spoils any of our plans. I suggest we kidnap her and find out what kind of power she possesses before ending her life.” X approved of this plan. Sharmila couldn’t wait to inform her friend. She possessed the body of David, the bodyguard, who resembled a gorilla.

Grace couldn’t sleep that night. She had a nightmare. She saw a masked man approaching her with a sharp knife and plunged it into her stomach.

” Help!” she shouted at the top of her voice as she opened her eyes. There was another bloodcurdling scream followed by a pin drop silence. What happened to Grace? Is she alive or dead? Can she survive this ordeal? Watch out for a stunning twist in the upcoming episode of Grace’s witchy adventures.

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