Silhouette or shadow?

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**Next day morning**

"Haan pappa, everything is fine." I said to my father on phone, sitting in one of the rooms of downstairs in the guest house.

"You haven't called since you went and your mother is so worried here." pappa said.

"No, I'm not worried, she just forgets everyone at home when she's with her friends", My very furious mother complained, doing probably some work as I heard her words muffled. My father would have turned on the loud speaker.

"Mom, there was no signal here." I lied.

"There's no need to lie vinny," a familiar voice said from the other side. Oh! That was my brother Abhi. He continued, "As I don't think Facebook has a feature in which we can upload profile pictures even without signal."

Why do brothers do that? Well, I'd updated my Facebook profile picture atleast for two times since the first day of the trip. One was of our group at the railway station when we first reached the Ooty and the other was of me and Sushi at the Doddabetta peak which was captured by krishna, our guide.

"What are you doing in Facebook without reading your books?" I questioned him. This was my turn to book him.

"Did not i warned you not to use any social media till exams are finished, Abhi?" My father scolded him. This was nice.

I heard my brother explaining something but then he stopped when my father talked out, "Now go to your room and open the book". I chuckled which I don't think they heard.

"You know praveen right," My father asked, which I'd thought for my mother but then again he said, "Vinny?".

Praveen?

"Umm, no pappa. Who's he?" I asked trying to remember who was this new guy.

"She doesn't know him." My mother blurted in. "Vinny do you remember last month Abhi and I went to a marriage when you were preparing for your finals?" My mom asked, taking the mobile from my father I supposed, as her voice was clear now.

"Yeah. The marvadis! So what's up with him?" I asked as I watched Nikita climbing down the stairs setting her hair.

"They planned their honeymoon to ooty." My father said.

So I should pick them at station or what? I said in my mind without saying it out but then I froze as my mother said why they were talking about them with me.

"The bride just disappeared two days back in ooty."

What?

"Not asking you to find her or anything. Just be careful!" My Father warned me.

"Sure pappa." I hung up the call saying good-byes to them as Nikita walked into the room.

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"Hey Vinny. Who was on the phone?" Nikita asked entering into the room I was sitting, where I talked with my parents.

"Pappa and momma" I smiled.

She nodded and searched the room for a second, then turned to me and said, "where are others?"

"Sushi in upstairs, karthik and vishal in the garden or somewhere around the house." I said shrugging my shoulders as I was not sure about the boys.

"Seriously? Then who is the other one in this room?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"You." I said giggling.

"Other than you and me?" She snapped at me as if I teased her. Did I?

"No one. What's wrong?" I asked her.

She ignored my question and roamed around the room searching for something. There was a door connecting this room to the room adjacent to this. But it was locked and was so much covered with dust.

Nikita glanced at me for a moment and ran out of the room shouting. For a moment I did not understand anything but then I started laughing out loud remembering the way she ran out and then I froze. Why was she running? A wave of shiver ran down my spine.

I immediately stood up from the wooden chair I was sitting and squinted towards her. But a part of me was still trying to stop the laugh not knowing what was happening around me.

She ran out and then to the garden at the back of house where Karthik and Vishal stared at her while she was running to them and then they shifted their gaze towards me while I was following her behind.

"What's happening?" Karthik asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"Don't say that you both are playing out-out." Vishal commented.

"No. I don't know why she is runn...."

Nikita cut me off, "She was in that room and I saw a silhouette behind her. I thought it was Sushma or anyone of you guys,"

She stopped, swallowing and breathing heavy, "but you two are here and sushma is in upstairs."

She collapsed on the wooden bench which sat in the middle of the garden after finishing her explanation.

What?

Sushi came out into the garden. She would have probably heard Nikita shouting. She asked why we all were here and Nikita explained everything to her again.

"You are not kidding us right Nikita?" Vishal asked her for which Nikita rolled her eyes.

We all went to the room I was sitting previously. Karthik and Vishal checked every corner of the room. The room did not had much of furniture but a wooden chair, few cupboards, a window and two doors.

"Nothing's here Nikki." Karthik said shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm not lying." Nikita said with her eyes filled with water ready to roll down.

"You should've imagined something." Vishal tried convincing her.

"Or that must be the shadow of Vinny." Karthik told her putting his hand around her shoulder.

I glanced back at the room wondering if she was imagining or if she really saw something like that. If she really saw a silhouette behind me, then who was that? Karthik was saying that could be my shadow but I think there was so much differnce between a silhouette and a shadow. Or there should be some kind of ghost in here. I shivered as I thought about this.

Karthik checked the room for one more time. There was nothing. Also the door connecting the two rooms was dusted exactly like I saw it before.

He locked the room in which she saw or may be she imagined the silhoutte and all other rooms which we were not using so that it would not be so much frightening living in this house as also don't-know-who-locked-door-inside thing happened the other day.

Actually today we hadn't planned to any of the place as we decided it was better to sit inside the house enjoying the weather of hills. But as this happened, we decided to go out for a walk around the hill for fresh air.

Just as we were about to leave the house after getting ourselves ready, a thudding and then the knocking sound filled the air.

My eyes widened as I recognised where the sound was coming from. I turned back to see all my friends staring with wide eyes at the door we just locked, in which I sat few minutes ago, talking with my parents.

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