13

That was a foggy night. Karan, with utmost tiredness in his face, uttered “Hell with these works man! It’s better to quit my job rather than working for this worthless company.” He was a bit low for some days as he lost his friend recently. He meant everything to him. It’s with him, who he used to spend all the time. So that is why he could not digest it that quickly that his never bound to leave Friend has left him in sorrow. He booked a cab and was waiting for it to arrive. In the meantime, he sat in a bus stop. There he saw a sparkling woman with a bobbed hair who was dressed in a white lehenga. She drew his eyes by playing with her beautiful curls. He was so deep into her that for some time all of his thoughts and worries flew away in the air. He badly wanted to talk to her and was so interested to know about her whereabouts.  With all the excitement hidden under his face, he went to the woman and asked: “Is anyone coming to pick you up or you are on your own miss?” With a confusing face, she replied: “I have no one to pick me up and I am on my own.” He was excited to hear that and then immediately cancelled the cab that he booked a while ago. He then said, “such a coincidence! I am on my own too. Would you tell me where do you live if you don’t mind?” He appeared pretty decent to her which made her believe in him. With some trust inside, she replied “I live in a house just a few miles away. I am feeling dead tired to walk to my house and thought of relaxing for a while.” He said “oh that’ great. Let us sit for some time and then I would accompany you to your house.” “Thanks for that. That sounds warm. I have been lonely for a few days as I have lost everyone who used to be my everything.” She said in a dull tone. He then replied “I am sorry for your loss. I know the pain as I too lost a person who meant everything to me.” “I can be your friend from now on unless you hesitate in saying your name.” With a little smile on her face, she said “Thanks for those words. You seem to be a good man and I feel comfortable by being on your side. By the way, my name is 13.” He was startled by hearing her name. For a few seconds, he thought on what Earth a girl’s name would be 13? He thought that she was joking to him or she might be insisting on telling her name. With a bewildered face, he asked: “Is your name really 13 or you are kidding with me?” She used to hear the same question since childhood. She replied “Blame my parents for that. I was born breathless and took my first breath after staying 13 days in the incubator. Hence they named me 13. Don’t feel awkward about it because I have been feeling it since childhood.” “I do not feel awkward but instead felt startled by hearing such a strange name. But you know something? People say that 13 is the unluckiest number and more famously known as the Devils’ Number” he replied by waving his hands towards her. He tried to scare her. She was a bit frightened and closed her face with hands. Later when she removed her hands, she saw him murmuring some chants in a very low voice with closed eyes. She was scared by seeing him doing that and threw water at him. Then he opened his eyes laughing and said “hey just calm down. I was just trying to make some fun.” She was so scared that tears started to roll down her eyes. He apologized her for his lame act. 

She observed some bruises on his hand and asked about what and how they have happened. He replied “I do not know what’s exactly happening but I have been experiencing some strange things happening to me since the next day I lost my friend. I have been thinking that he is trying to communicate me with these bruises.” She said “Don’t start again. I am already fed up with your previous actions and don’t try to hit me with another one.” He said that he was being honest this time and also stated that he does not know the exact reason behind those bruises.

All of a sudden he started to hear some strange chants as if someone was sitting behind him and spelling them. He felt calm as he doesn’t want to frighten her again. They started to grow eventually. He started to tremble as he heard them before. She also heard those voices and said: “Please tell me that it is you who is making these strange sounds.” He replied, “I swear on the god that it is not me making those sounds instead I hear them too.” Both of them were frightened and he was more frightened as he has already heard those words before. He decided to find out what is the reason behind those voices and asked her to stay so that he could go and find out what’s happening. She agreed to stay but asked him to return as soon as possible. He searched here and there and found nothing. Neither his search nor the voices were stopped. Then he decided to go home and went back to her. He found her missing. He was worried to see her absence and thought himself as a fool for leaving a girl alone at that late night.

Then he heard her saying “Help! Somebody please help!” He was gone mad by hearing her saying that and started looking for her. She was held upside down by a man from the top of a clock tower. He was shocked to see her and ran to rescue her. Her white lehenga turned red with her blood all over it.  He ran to the tower and rushed to the top floor. When he reached there, he found no one. Now he was in a state of being more than surprised, in a state of being more than shocked that was in a state of being dead feared. He peeped through the window and saw her fell dead. Her jaw was broken and blood spilled all over. He immediately took his phone to call an ambulance and turned back to get down. He was trembled in fear and became a statue when he saw Tina. He was not able to move at least an inch though he wanted to run. He was literally out of words and his whole body was sweating after seeing Tina who was dead 27 days ago. 

Tina was a software intern who used to work in the same building but in a different company. Karan and his late friend Aadarsh saw her and had created a wrong desire among them. Aadarsh acted like an innocent and became close to Tina. One day he convinced her to come to his home as he said that there was nobody at home and she could leave within an hour. She lost her trust when she saw Karan in his house. She tried to leave the house but Karan pulled her over into the house. They have molested her and beat her to death as she was refusing. She could not control the pain and left her breath after 13 hours of experiencing hell. It was exactly 1 A.M in midnight when they threw her body in the garbage.

Right from the next day, Aadarsh started experiencing weird situations such as hearing voices saying “I trusted You Aadarsh! I trusted You.” He never told this to Karan. Every morning when he woke, he used to see a bruise daily. They used to turn bad day by day. Finally, on the 13^th day, he fell from her death, Aadarsh fell from his apartment and died. Post mortem report said that he saw something and started to panic. Right from the next day, Karan started experiencing the same. He didn’t understand till that day unless he realized it was Tina who was avenging them for their sins. All those sounds which he heard saying “I will not leave you. I will definitely come for you!” was the voice of Tina.

Tina, with the bruises all over her skin, said “It’s time Karan. It’s time to pay the price for your sins. The woman who was with you all this time is me. Now you will get what you deserve.” She came walking towards him slowly and he started to step back out of terror. His leg slipped and he fell from the top floor. His jaw was broken and his blood was spilled when his body touched the road.

He was dead after 13 minutes of suffering and the Clock Tower sounded 13.