CHASING AUGUST

CHASING AUGUST


Comedy comes easily to me. I don't know. Maybe its decades of sitcoms. I've never struggled to make spoofs, plays or just be an ass!! But there are genres I do wish I had the guts to try out - BROKEN ROADS cannot be classified under any such category as it was just a scream..but the one genre I'm almost scared to try because of the risk of falling flat is always Horror.

CHASING AUGUST is that attempt at a new form of story telling...for me atleast. While it appeared to be quite small when I started off,I quickly realised that in all the buildup, this was gonna get really long. Eventually I had to 'cut it down' to 5 chapters. This is as close as you guys get to dog-earing Godyears!
Anyway,Hope you enjoy it. And please post your opinions ..Happy reading. Or perhaps not.



SO HERE WE GO>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

CHASING AUGUST - CHAPTER 1



2006
Saturday
October 8
10.05 am

"We found someone!!" Inspectors Griffith and Strauss turned where they stood. They watched as the man was brought out.He may have been 50 years old, but the terror in his eyes spoke of 70. "Where was he?" "He was hiding in the basement. He looks to be in shock, Sir." Griffith turned to the man. "Sir, can you understand me?" The man looked around, his face registering everyone, then turning to Griffith. A nod passed through the shivers. Yes. "Sir, what happened here?" The man turned and stared at the house. He shivered in the heat of the morning sun.

14 hours back
8:o5pm
2006
"How much do you think I'll get for selling this house, Carruthers?" Peter asked.
"It isn't for me to tell,Sir."
"Oh,come now. You've been looking after this place ever since the family left this town,what, 18 years back? No modesty with me, man. I trust your judgement."
"Sir,your family has been the owner of this house since a century now. Wouldn't it be wiser to just let things stay that way. Especially given it's history?"
Peter frowned. This house had taken everyone he loved. There would be no escaping that fact when it cam to selling it. He'd have to explain it to ill fortune. His brother, sister, their families - they had been here 10 years back one winter in '97 to see the state of this place before deciding its fate. The house had remained when winter passed. There had never been any sighting ever of his family again.
Peter : What happened here, Carruthers ? Not in '97..in '64? You were the only one who survived, weren't you?
Carruthers : It was a night I would sooner forget, Sir. Your grandfather, Master August, was a good man to me. I was just a young child then, Sir. My father, as you know, worked for Master August. He was a nice man. I was a weak child in those days, forever alternating between hospitals and beds. Yet, he took care of me like I was his own son. He used to call me Alexander, after the ruler of the world,Sir, and tell me stories of how to be strong. You would never imagine it.
Peter : What happened that night ?
Carruthers : I was away that night,looking after Mom. It was what saved me eventually. A madness till then hidden erupted in your Grandfather that night. What provoked him noone ever knew. He went on a killing spree - he killed his wife & your youngest brother,Donald, then yet a small baby no older than young Alice upstairs. He then murdered his closest friend,the Indian Cherian and my own father too was not spared, before turning the knife on himself. All in one night, Sir. The deaths of your brother and sister have just furthered the belief, Sir. "
Peter knew what he was talking about. The story here in the village was of the ghost of his Grandfather August, still hungry for life and blood, still residing in the building now occupied by the Peters and Mr Carruthers. Idle talk. That's all.
There was a knock on the door.

8.17pm
1964
"Who is it?" August called. It was too early for the children to be back. They were only due to arrive tomorrow. Not that they would leave him alone, of course. They had left his and Mary's hands full. Young Donald, all of 3 months old, would be their guardian. He smiled at that. How do you have it in you to leave your child so young for a whole week, he mused. Kids today.
"Smithers, could you see who it is at the door?" "Yes, Sir." The sound of Smithers moving to the front, the door opening and a familiar guffaw passed his ears. He smiled.
"I'm in the dining hall, Dr Cherian." Cherian, when he entered was a walking puddle. The torn umbrella in his hand added to the tragic figure he cut. August couldn't help but smile.
Cherian: I see. You call me out in the middle of the night, telling me to bring the oddest of things,as far as your tastes are concerned, and now you mock me.
August : I'm sorry, Cherian. Forgive me.Smithers,get towels please. I'll wait. And, I assure you, there is something I need to discuss with you. It is of utmost importance.

8.30pm
2006
"I know what you need, Peter. The history of this place is known to everyone here" Johnathan remarked as he dried himself up."Yes, I am surprised that you too have finally succumbed to becoming a believer. As I recall, you were always a skeptic where ghosts were concerned.What..a brandy would be swell, Carruthers.Thank you."
Peter: I dont know how much I believe, to be frank. But I can't deny that something's off with this place.And I remember how everyone used to mention your..well,talents.
Johnathan :Hahaha. Talents. That's a swell term to describe it,I guess.
Peter: Do you really think the ghost of Grandpa August haunts this house ?

8.45pm
1964
Cherian : There is definitely something in this place, August. I feel it too. While I cannot pinpoint this evil till we begin, I am glad that you finally have come around to calling me in on this.
August : I hope I won't be wrong by the end of the night.
Cherian : If there is evil, we shall confront it, August. And we shall rid this house of it before the sun rises.
August and Cherian got up from their chairs.

8.47pm
2006 & 1964
"Very well, then. If you're ready, shall we confront the demon of the house?"



CHASING AUGUST - CHAPTER 2



9.15pm
1964
August looked at the array of items on the table. "I must be honest, Cherian. Seeing all this kind of makes me wonder. How can a Dr like you believe in all this ? You are a man of science."
Cherian: "There is so much that you fail to understand. Science does not stay still..only our understanding of it. I have seen so much over the years not to believe. It is through extensive training alone that I can now do this. Hand me that bag, will you ?"
August looked at the powders, the oils, the beads, the astrological board that filed the table, a feast for a necromancer.
August: Do I even want to know whats in it?"

9.18pm
2006
"It's a Ouija Board, Peter. Forget what you see in movies. Too many misconceptions have turned it into a dating game. The Ouija board is no laughing matter. This ( holding out an arrow shaped marker with a magnifying lens within ) is called a planchette. We hold it together when asking the spirit questions. He will guide us through the alphabets on the board to speak his mind. There, all set. "
Peter: Good. Shall we start ? Carruthers ?

9.22pm
1964
"I am here, Sir." Smithers walked down the stairway. "I made sure that Madam and young Donald were asleep. It wouldn't do, Sir, to have the Madam walk in on this."
August :"Thank you, Smithers. I'd forgotten about Mary in all this.Come, sit with us."
Cherian sat opposite them. A fire,fuelled by wood and bordered by bricks placed in a square separated them . With the beads around his neck and the vibhuti around his chest and forehead, Cherian couldn't have looked less like a Doctor, August thought. Cherian gave them some flowers mixed with the holy ash he'd brought with him, instructing them to throw it into the fire on his cue.

9:26pm
2006
They each placed a palm on the planchette. Peter could hear Johnathan mumbling beneath his breath. "Is there anyone there?""Is there anyone there?"
Peter and Carruthers looked at each other.
"CONCENTRATE!" Johnathan hissed.
But it wasn't his tone that scared the other 2. They all looked down at their hand. The planchette was moving.
Peter: Are you doing this, John?
Johnathan: It isn't me.

9.30pm
1964
Cherian: Something is here. I can feel it. Stronger.I sense it. Oh! What images! Oh God.
Smithers: Perhaps, we should stop this, Sir.
August : No, I must know what it is. What it wants. Cherian, can you tell us what it wants?

9.33pm
2006
They stared at the planchette. Johnathan was using his free hand to write the letters as the planchette stopped intermittently under their palms, before dragging them to its next destination.
It finally came to rest and they felt it slump under them.
Peters:"Well, what did he say?"
Johnathan turned the paper towards them.
GETOUT.

9.50pm
1964
"It doesn't want us here, August. I feel its rage. I feel its presence growing closer. "
Smithers: Sir, perhaps we should..
August : Quiet,Smithers. I must know who this evil is. Why is it in my house ? Cherian, can you find that out?"
Cherian nodded. Then taking another handful of vibhuti, he turned towards the fire which glowed a dark gold.

9.55pm
2006
Johnathan wrote down the letters as they came up across the lens, then sighed. AUGUST.
Peter: Grandpa. So it is him. Can you ask him what he wants?
Johnathan once more held their hands over the planchette and repeated the question. As if on cue, they felt the planchette tingle under them. Then start to move.
"L-E-T-T"
Johnathan stopped. Something had fallen on his palm. Another dark drop fell on the lens obscuring the next alphabet.

10.05pm
1964
August touched the drop that had fallen on his hand. Another droplet fell into the fire,a hissing sound as they merged. August tried but the words wouldnt form.
Cherian : It's..blood.
All 3 men looked up..and gasped.





CHASING AUGUST - CHAPTER 3



10.10pm
2006
Blood had stained the wall above them. It was now trickling down to them after having saturated the wood.
Peter tumbled over as he stood up : "Miranda! Alice !" turned to the others : "They're up there!"
Carruthers : We'll come up too, Sir.
Peter : No. No. Finish this. Find out what my grandfather has to say. I'll get Miranda and Alice."

10.10pm
1964
August ran up the stairs, skipping two for each step. Reaching up, he let out an involuntary cry. The blood stream was emanating from the master bedroom. Where Mary and Donald lay. He could hear Donald crying furiously within. There was no sound of his wife, his calls unheeded.
Cherian called out "What's going on?"
"The door's jammed. Mary's not responding either. I'm gonna break the door down. Finish what you started, Cherian."

10.17pm
2006
Carruthers and Johnathan heard him try his might on the door even as more letters ran across the lens. Johnathan kept adding the letters into the paper. A chill ran up Carruther's spine as the words began to make sense. When the planchette finally stopped at "R",both Johnathan and Carruthers looked at each other.
Carruthers : Oh My..

10.22pm
1964
"..GOD!!!Help me! Damn it!" He felt the door budge. August would look back on this moment as the time when he could have changed fate. Perhaps taken a different path. What ifs.. So many 'WHAT IFs' around. But then time was not an angel of mercy tonight. He raised his foot for the 7th time.

10.22pm
2006
"7th time's a charm" Peter thought as the door burst open. But even as it swung wide, his mind registered the inanimate strangers. The set of knives - he glimpsed the skewers, the butcher knives, the cutting set - released from the bucket that was held up in the air by strings placed to the inner door knob. There was no place to hide in the fraction it took for the knives to fall. He could not escape the path of the knives. IF. IF ONLY. If only they were meant to release back towards the opening door. But these knives were only falling as gravity ordained.

10.22pm
1964
And so, even as the swinging door banged against the wall, August could only watch helplessly as the knives fell down, into the cradle placed below the bucket. The cradle where Donald screamed. Where the sound of metal hit flesh, crunched bone.Where the screams of Donald ended. Was replaced by those of Augusts' as the cradle splattered red.


CHASING AUGUST- CHAPTER 4



10.25PM
2006
Hope is a wondrous thing. It can strengthen armies, conquer love, bring back life. But not for Peters who hoped for a miracle as he ran to the cradle. Tonight, hope was giving no freebies. Tonight, hope wore black.

10.30pm
1964
Forever. A minute. Timeless. A second. Time meant nothing to August as he gazed into the cradle. The scream that came from downstairs would have turned anyones blood to ice. But what of a man who has already been frozen. What becomes of him? The cry for help coming from below seemed miles away. Yet, in a daze, he turned back towards the door.

10.31pm
2006
He heard himself scream. Screaming and telling his eyes not to see. Not to believe. What his eyes were etching into his mind. But if you and I were there beside him, you would verify that from his lips, not a sound appeared.

10.31pm
1964
August took in the shape of his wife. He recognised the wedding ring he'd given her all those years ago at St Marys, the nightdress now stained a dark shade of unnatural crimson ( she would never approve of this untidiness, he reflected ). The gold chain around her neck - the last thing she removed before going to bed. He wished he could gaze into her eyes one more time and tell here everything that he could - every little thing and all the sweet nothings beside. But his wife sat propped up grotesquely on the bed, arms on her lap as if asking him to join her.

10.33pm
2006
He tried to stay conscious, but the effort seemed futile. As he fell and struck the floor and before he travelled to a land within his mind, he got his wish though - he gazed into her eyes. He saw where the first blow had struck her. Repeated blows necessary to rip her head off and place it where it now lay, under the bed.

11.50pm
1964
August awoke to the sound of silence. Under the circumstances, perhaps no other sound was more frightening. He was back downstairs again. In front of the same 4 bricks laid out as a square. The fire was long gone, ashes everywhere. Ony one thing remained constant here. The blood droplets a dead fountain from above.He got up. He had to get help.

11.55pm
2006
Peter tried calling the others. He hoped they were safe. He doubted it. He recalled where he had kept the mobile for charging. The kitchen plug. But when he arrived, it was empty. The mobile wasn't there. The empty knife shelves brought back a flood of memories he could supress no longer. He gagged as the bile rose. I cannot. I must not. I must live. I can't let it..him..August..kill me. There must be somewhere to hide.

12.09am
1964
The creak of the attic door shutting into place was but a whisper in these rains.But,for August, it was too loud. What if it had heard him ? He bolted the door again. Pitch dark. Never mind. He couldn't risk a lantern in here. Couldn't let on where he was.And so, in that darkness,hidden from both good and evil, he began to do the one thing that he had given up long ago - he began to pray.

12.14am
2006
Even in the darkness, something was visible though. Every breath came out a wispy blue exhalation. Silly as it sounded to him, Peter was sure that they were giving away his hiding place. Silly. After all, when his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness and he realised what he was sharing the attic with, his breath would be the last thing on his mind, now, wouldn't it?

12.20am
1964
It was finally the blood wetting his pants that alerted him. He didn't need light to know this familiar warm liquid's touch. This wasn't the rain water pouring in. Even as he lit the lamp once more, he knew, but Oh!! Isn't seeing believing ? For there, propped up in the corner of the attic was his old mates, Smithers and Cherian. Where their heads were was anyone's guess. If there was anything louder than his heart at that moment,anything more frightening than the race of thunders and streaks of lightning in those minutes, it was the fiendish roar as the attic door crashed wide open.



CHASING AUGUST - CHAPTER 5



12.24am
2006
Even as he pushed away the body of Johnathan in a bid to run, he could see through his tear blurred eyes, the apparition enter the attic. Darkness was its cloak in this play and it wore it well. Light. A glint of steel. For some reason, Peter couldn't shake the image of the Grim Reaper from comics. But this was not the time. He turned to run as he glimpsed the blade rise high.

12.27am
1964
August never finished his third step. The blade struck him on the concave arch of his back, severing his spinal cord almost instantly, leaving him paralysed below his waist. "I have to run.I have to hide." he willed his body forward. Ah! But what good the will when the body has long given up. For come now, had he not known his fate the moment he saw his wife ?
He turned to the figure in the darkness.

12.30am
2006
In the fields of futility grow the vines of clarity. Such was the case for Peter too. Even as he turned around, the lightning that surfed the skies gave him a glimpse of his Reaper. A
glimpse he would have loved to erase from his mind.
"Why" he asked. He tried to frame the question, but his voice failed him.
"BECAUSE THIS IS MY HOUSE!!!"

12.32AM
1964
"MY HOUSE!!" repeated Carruthers. August stared at the young boy, the sword in his hands seeming too large. "Alexander.." he called hoping, in vain, to see compassion in the boys eyes. But the trembling movement of his eyes was all that the eyes offered. What had the doctor called it? "During these episodes, he may suffer such trembling besides lack of judgement. These can be extremely frightful. But relax, the nystagmus of his eyes are just a temporary phenomenon. They'll pass as the episode passes. I'm confident with the right medication, this
boy will have no psychiatric deficiencies when he grows up."

12.32am
2006
"I GREW UP HERE!! THIS IS MY HOUSE! YOU CANNOT TAKE MY HOUSE AWAY FROM ME. ALL OF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.ALL YOU WANT IS TO RID YOURSELVES OF THIS PLACE. I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN. NOT WHEN YOUR GRANDFATHER WAS TRYING, NOT WHEN YOUR BROTHER TRIED AND NOT NOW." Carruthers bellowed.
Peters had no answers, no questions, no pleas left as the blade rose again. His last thoughts as he saw the blade descend were but an anti-climatic "Why are his eyes moving around like that?" He would never know.

2006
Saturday
October 8
10.03 am

"Sick bastard!!" spat Inspector Strauss. "There's a history of mental illness in the family." "I know.The grandfather too had done the same thing and then this freak comes along killing his wife and kid and his friend too.
Any sign of him?" Griffith asked. "No, but we'll catch him eventually. He can't go far."

"We found someone!!"
Inspectors Griffith and Strauss turned where they stood. They watched as the man was brought out.He may have been 50 years old, but the terror in his eyes spoke of 70. "Where was he?" "He was hiding in the basement. He looks to be in shock, Sir." Griffith turned to the man. "Sir, can you undertsand me?" The man looked around, his face registering everyone, then turning to Griffith. A nod passed through the shivers.
Yes. "Sir, what happened here?" The man turned and stared at the house. He shivered in the
heat of the morning sun. "He killed them..killed them all. I had to hide..OH GOD!!The cries of those poor people."
"You're safe now. He's gone. Hey, Mc Carthy, get this guy to a hospital. Just follow this man and we'll get you to a safe place, Mr.."
"Carruthers, Sir..I'm the butler."
"Of course. Relax. You're safe now.That monster is gone.
"Indeed he is, sir..indeed he is."

Griffith watched him escorted into the ambulance."Spooky shit, eh?"
Strauss : There's so much I just don't get ? What did he get out of killing everyone like
this ?And what do you make of this paper? They found it in the hallway ."
Griffith examined the blood stained paper." More rantings of a madman, I guess. Save it for
evidence. We'll ask Mr Peters personally when we find him."
Struass stared at the house,then back at the paper. "Just makes no sense, these words."
"GETOUT
AUGUST
LETTHEMLIVEALEXANDER"?
What does that mean?"