INTRO 00:00:00
Welcome to OBSCURUS, your weekly dose of paranormal fiction. Every Wednesday OBSCURUS features new short stories and serialized novels written by novelist, screenwriter, and voice-over artist Biswajit Banerjee. The realm of the paranormal stretches far beyond the usual horror story. So, while you will get to listen to lots of ghost stories on this podcast, there will also be many tales of lesser-known paranormal themes. To get us started, here's your host Biswajit Banerjee.
HOST TALK 00:00:47
Welcome, dear listeners, to another spine-chilling episode of OBSCURUS, where the shadows come to life and the unseen whispers secrets into the night. I'm your host, Biswajit Banerjee, and today, we embark on a new journey filled with suspense, mystery, and the supernatural.
I am thrilled to introduce our very first serialized novel broadcast on OBSCURUS. Over the next 29 episodes, you will be captivated by the story titled 'SHE WANTS TO KILL.' Tonight, we dive into the chilling first chapter, ' The Bloodless Girl.' Brace yourselves as we follow Ravi's harrowing encounter with a ghastly apparition that has turned his life into a living nightmare.
But before we dive in, I want to remind you to visit our website for more exciting content and updates. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find exclusive behind-the-scenes content, interviews, and much more. Your support on Patreon helps us bring you more thrilling episodes, so please consider becoming a patron. The links to our websites are in the show notes.
Also, for those looking to improve their English speaking skills, check out my training program, SPOKEN ENGLISH FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS. It's designed to help you gain confidence and fluency in English with tailored lessons and interactive sessions.
Now, back to our story. Ravi's ordeal begins in a desolate part of town, where he confronts a terrifying apparition. The girl, eerily white with bluish eyeballs and golden hair, appears to Ravi in the most unexpected places, filling his life with dread.
Ravi's life took a drastic turn after a near-fatal car accident. Though he survived, he discovered that his brush with death had awakened something within him – a sensitivity to the paranormal. Far from being a gift, this newfound ability has become a blight, tormenting him with visions and sensations that no one else can perceive. As Ravi struggles to hold on to his sanity, he delves deeper into the mysteries of his mind and the supernatural forces that haunt him.
Stay tuned as we unravel the mysteries of 'SHE WANTS TO KILL.' Each episode will bring you closer to the truth, with twists and turns leaving you on the edge of your seat.
Thank you for joining me on this eerie adventure. Let's step into the shadows together and uncover the secrets.
And now, without further ado, let's dive into the first chapter of 'SHE WANTS TO KILL' – "The Bloodless Girl."
SHE WANTS TO KILL 00:04:11
CHAPTER 01 – THE BLOODLESS GIRL
Written and performed by Biswajit Banerjee
00:04:36
As he moved deeper into the narrow lane sandwiched by stretches of rears of newly constructed buildings on its sides, he realized that moving too deep could be a problem. It was the middle of winter, and the light would soon dim. He could hardly do anything if that ghastly woman suddenly appeared in a deep and constricted part of the lane. Also, no help was available as the buildings were yet to be inhabited. These were some of the residential buildings constructed by the company he worked for. Most of the apartments in these buildings had been booked, but no one had moved in.
Ravi had come to this part of the town with Bikash, his dear friend and colleague, to inspect some of the apartments that reportedly had problems, mostly water seepage in the roofs and walls. The chief engineer was to take them around the place. Ravi wasn't feeling too well. So Bikash suggested that he stay close to the car while he went and checked up on the apartments. Ravi readily agreed. After Bikash moved into the building complex with the chief engineer, Ravi felt the place was uncanny! There was no one around, and the air was eerily heavy. He got back into the car and closed his eyes.
In a minute or so, there was a bustle outside the vehicle. He brought the window pane down and looked around. There was no one. He drew it up and tried to relax. There was a bustle again. This time, it happened inside the car at the rear. He turned around. There was nothing to be seen. The car didn't feel safe anymore. He pulled the knob and pushed the door open. The heaviness of the air appeared stronger, and he could sense something horrifying coming his way. Then, there was another bustle just behind him. He looked around. Even this time there was no one to be spotted. His forehead sweated even though the conditions were pretty cold. Ravi turned his face, and his blood froze! Right before him, she stood - that girl who had filled his life with miseries!
She was extraordinarily white, to say the least. Except for her bluish eyeballs and golden hair, she was all white. Even her lips were close to being white. The loose gown she wore exposed much of her bony body. Although she looked to be a young girl, hardly more than thirty, her skin was puckered in several places. It was as if there was no trace of blood in her. There was nothing she could be likened to other than a corpse that had come back to life.
Ravi was almost paralyzed. His body had gone cold. Then his head whirred as the girl smiled. It was a vicious smile, a smile that symbolized impending death.
"Ah … wh …" Ravi wanted to ask who she was and why she was after him, but his speech failed him.
As she raised her hand, Ravi got a closer glimpse of her slender fingers. There was hardly any flesh in her fingers, just skin wrapped around bones. The nails were long, and their top surfaces appeared grossly wrinkled, something one would expect to see in the nails of a corpse. He wanted to run away, but his feet didn't move. The girl moved her hand closer to his chest, and he soon felt sharp and cold nails on his skin.
00:08:43
If Ravi had to continue like that for a few more seconds, he would indeed have collapsed. But the savior came as an electric shock running through his spine. He was not sure what that swift wave of current was and how it suddenly emerged and moved through his spine, but it re-energized his dying body. He ran away from there without any sense of direction. Very soon, he found himself in that lane.
His streak of miseries could be traced to the car mishap that almost killed him and his wife, Kavita. It was a sheer stroke of good luck that both survived the crash. While Kavita's injuries were not severe, he sustained some major traumas. His head met with the severest of injuries, and the doctors had little hope of his survival. When he finally survived, it was held as a miracle by some of the doctors.
"O, I can't tell you how happy I am to see you fit again, my dear," Dr. Brian, a visiting neurosurgeon, observed with a large grin after Ravi was back in senses, "your recovery is one of the best medical successes of my career."
Recovery - Dr. Brian used the expression recovery. Even others often talked about his miraculous recovery. But had Ravi recovered? Well, initially, he had little reason to doubt what the doctors and his loved ones believed. Soon after, he knew that he wasn't fine. Within a month of discharge from the hospital, he was convinced that he was far from what is usually understood by the expression recovery.
While his physical condition might have improved, he had picked up this serious affliction of being sensitive to unusual phenomena. He could often sense something uncanny in circumstances that would appear perfectly normal to others. The heaviness of the air, strange smells, unexplained noises, and the sightings of that horrendous girl – his subtler senses had become active. The state of normalcy wherein only the gross senses work and subtler senses hardly ever have any role to play is such a bliss - he missed being normal.
00:11:19
After he was firmly convinced that his sublime faculties had become active, he undertook a study into the paranormal. He found that there had been many instances of normal people becoming receptive to paranormal phenomena after having sustained major head injuries.
One woman, for example, could hear the transmissions of the regional radio station inside her head after having had a terrible fall on the steep staircase of her office.
Likewise, another man got the power to see the future after surviving a bomb attack by terrorists in a busy marketplace; interestingly, this man made a fortune out of his powers to make near-accurate prophesies.
Then, there was this old teacher from the southern part of India who could speak thirty-seven languages after recovering from a head injury caused by the crashing of the poorly constructed ceiling of a classroom. Prior to her trauma, she knew only one language.
Again, an old man, after having been beaten by some hooligans because of challenging their leader's authority, could talk to the dead after recovery. Incidentally, the hooligans and their leader begged for forgiveness a couple of months after the old man had recovered, for the ghosts friendly to him had turned their powers against these ruffians.
After thoroughly studying such cases, Ravi was sure the car mishap had awakened his deeper faculties.
In the texts that Ravi studied, some commentators had gone to the extent of calling such abilities gifts. For some, arousal of subtler senses might have been gifts. Surely, Ravi didn't reckon his newfound sensitivities as gifts. Blights they indeed were - blights of the highest kind.
00:13:21
Ravi's state was peculiar – while his sublime faculties had sharpened up, his normal abilities had fallen badly. He was no longer the dynamic one-of-a-kind officer of his company who was a role model in corporate and governmental sectors alike. Before the accident, his words were virtual commandments for the company. And why wouldn't it be that way? After all, his ideas fetched unprecedented profits for the concern. Things were so different now. He hardly met the deadlines of the jobs assigned to him. His memory had become weak, and he often forgot what he was supposed to say while making presentations, causing terrible embarrassment to the company.
Ravi's analytical powers had also gone for a toss. It wasn't infrequent on his part to make incorrect deductions from the data about market forces painstakingly made available to him by his juniors after months of labor. He found his entire reputation, which he had built after years of dedicated work, close to being destroyed. His life had become unlivable. He would have taken his life long back if he hadn't had a sweetheart like Kavita and a true friend like Bikash. These two were the only ones who kept hopes alive for him.
Lately the sightings of the girl had become very frequent. A month back, he saw her in the basement of a mall where he had gone to buy some winter garments for Kavita and himself. Then again, Ravi saw her on the terrace of Dr. Malhotra's clinic. A couple of weeks back she appeared in the parking lot of his office. A few days back, Ravi came face to face with the ghost in a metro station. Apparently, no one but he could see her.
And now he was again confronting this girl. He moved further into the lane. Soon, Ravi felt a water droplet fall on his nose. He looked up at the sky. The cloud cover had spread in all directions. Rains looked certain.
As he wondered if he should walk further down the lane, he felt a hand on his right shoulder.
"Eeeeek … eeeek," some unintelligible sounds came out of his throat as he negotiated the shock.
He looked around with a jerk and found Bikash retracting swiftly under the influence of his reaction.
“Yo … you … Bik … ss … Bikash.” Ravi could hardly speak a word clearly.
"Are you okay?" Bikash responded, arresting his backward movement.
CONCLUDING REMARKS 00:16:30
And that, dear listeners, was the chilling first chapter of 'SHE WANTS TO KILL' – "The Bloodless Girl." Ravi's encounter with the ghostly apparition marks just the beginning of a spine-tingling journey that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Make sure to join us next week as we delve deeper into Ravi's unraveling world and the horrors that await him.
Don't forget to visit our website for more updates, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive content. Your support on Patreon is invaluable and helps us bring you more thrilling episodes. Also, check out my training program, SPOKEN ENGLISH FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS, designed to help you gain confidence and fluency in English.
Thank you for tuning in to OBSCURUS. Until next time, keep your senses sharp and your lights dim, for the shadows are never far away. Stay curious, stay cautious, and always be ready for the unexpected. This is Biswajit Banerjee signing off.
THEMATIC MUSIC – HIGHWAY TO NOWHERE, AN AI MUSIC COMPOSITION BY BISWAJIT BANERJEE 00:17:43
OUTRO 00:20:31
Thanks for listening to OBSCURUS. If you like what you heard, please subscribe and visit biswajitbanerjee.com for more information about Biswajit's books, movies, documentaries, and other creative pursuits. We shall see you next Wednesday with another episode of OBSCURUS. Till then, take care!
