The Siren
It happened when I was in graduate school.
October 4, 2009.
We were supposed to go for a college trip to a famous beach in Maharashtra called Kelva. A night before the trip, I fell asleep while reading a novel, maybe sometime around 2am.
The next morning, we reached. There was a beautiful early morning mist around the beach; the weather’s neither too hot nor too chilly. With the gentle breeze blowing in our faces, my friends and I, immediately decided to take a walk and explore the beach. It was just perfect.
Suddenly, I heard a sweet but sad & melancholy voice singing in the distance. I checked around, it definitely wasn’t any of my friends. It was coming from behind us, from quite a distance. But the fog obscured my vision, I could only see a few feet in the distance. I thought maybe it’s just me, I’m imagining things. I turn around.
And that’s when things started getting weird.
Heyyy….Where’s Marcus & Nishant? I was just having a conversation with them. Fool of Tooks…always fooling around. Let them be, I’ll tell Rohit about this new exciting book series called the Gameworld Trilogy. Now where did that lazy-ass go? Would he still be sleeping in the bus? I can’t recall anything about that, but I’m pretty sure I just saw him 2 minutes back. What great friends I have…we come out for a trip & they are foolin … I stop in midsentence..midthinking..whatever…
Shitt…what’s with that voice again? I turn around to try to locate the source. It’s a woman’s voice and those words sound familiar.
Ahh…it’s an old Hindi song –
Lag jaa gale ke phir yeh haseen raath ho na ho…
(Come embrace me because this beautiful night may or may not come again in our lifetime)
I burst out laughing… It’s so clichéd…is this woman trying to play a prank? Maybe it’s Nishant & Marcus are trying to play a prank and playing this song on their phones to scare others…they had to pick-up this song… Thank God..atleast they didn’t choose the typical ‘Gumnaaaam haiiiii koiiiiii…..’
“Bhailog bahar aa jao (Brothers, come out)… like seriously…how dumb can you’ll be! Nobody’s getting scared of your antics. Right, guys? Guys???”
Wait!!! Now where the hell did EVERYONE go???
“Haa Haa Haa, very funny. I got scared, happy? We are not here to play stupid Hide-n-seek. Come on everybody”
I shout out loud. I thought everybody was taking advantage of the fog and hiding in it.
As if on cue, the fog started dissipating. I eagerly await to catch sight of my friends running or laughing away as soon as they’re caught. The fog’s cleared entirely. I can see far into the distance, in all directions.
There’s still NO ONE AROUND.
My friends are still missing.
I run around trying to spot somebody…but there’s not a single person in sight…
“Shaayad phir is janam mein mulaaqat ho na ho.”
(Maybe, in this life, we may or may not meet again.)
That’s when I hear her again. Coming from much closer this time. Crisp & clear.
And there still was absolutely no one on the beach except me. I could hear the voice quite clearly but couldn’t see anyone. It seemed to be coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. The song definitely didn’t sound funny anymore. It sounded eerie & sinister.
“Lag jaa gale…. gale…… gale…”
Wait, something was not right. I looked at the beach closely, it was just too beautiful, too clean and too perfect. Something was definitely wrong here. The woman’s voice kept increasing in pitch, coming nearer and nearer and it kept me rooted to the spot. Maybe it was the sad beauty of the voice that stopped me from running away… I just felt like listening to her more & more…
Then a lightning bolt struck me. No, not literally, but figuratively. I realized that it’s a dream. I’ve been a lucid dreamer for years, so this situation wasn’t anything new for me (when a dreamer is aware that he is dreaming, it’s called lucid dreaming. For detailed explanations, please Wiki). I sighed with relief. The woman’s voice was now starting to sound eerily haunting and I could feel she was getting closer.
“Shayad iss janam mein… mulaaqat ho naa ho…”
However, I wasn’t worried, I just had to wake up. I saw the beach ended in a small cliff in the distance. I ran towards it, the voice right behind me, following me. I increased my pace, so did she. Even her singing tempo increased. The song started sounding like a distorted cacophony, something malevolent and dangerous. I reached the end of the cliff-face, and jumped headfirst into the water… (yes yes yes… Inception got it right, the cold water splashing & hitting your face works) …
I woke up in my room with the novel in my hand. It generally takes a few moments to orient yourself after waking up from a lucid dream. I try observing things around me & recollecting my surroundings before sleep, to make me realize I’ve woken up. The lights were on. The fan was moving. The book I was reading had fallen from my hand. Everything was in its place, where it should be. The clock showed the time was 3:15 am.
I sighed with relief. I was safe, in my room. I decided to get a glass of water to calm myself.
And then…… I heard her singing once again. The same voice from my dream.
“Lag jaa gale….galee…. gale…..”
To be continued…
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.