The Whispering Seashells
With a bag in one hand, another on her shoulder, and a smaller tote bag on her right shoulder, Sakshi struggled to unlock her room. Coming back from home to university always meant returning with more bags than you left with.
The lock finally clicked, and she hooked it onto the door handle. Still carrying all the bags, she pushed herself through the door, causing it to swing wildly until it crashed into the wall.
Her eyes squinted like they always did on loud noises, especially now, considering it was almost 10 at night when she reached the room.
She stepped inside and dropped her bags unceremoniously by the door. With her hands finally free, she flicked on the light switch and closed the door.
Free from her burden, she turned towards her bed and had almost lowered herself to its welcoming folds when she remembered something. With a groan that echoed off the walls, she got up and went to her backpack. From its side pocket, she extracted a crumbled-up piece of paper. Then, carefully unwrapping it, she set its contents on her table. Two conical, Miter seashells now sat among a myriad of other things.
In her dreams, she was on the same bus traveling. She realized the bus felt crowded even though it didn’t look so. There were two other men. One sat two seats behind her, and the other man sat next to the former on the other side.
She began hearing voices.
‘We will march at dawn and attack the battalions gathered at Kelva from the north.’
Attack? Sakshi froze. She tried to turn in the direction of the voice but found she couldn’t. But she shouldn’t care, should she? The voice was in her dream, and the attack was also in her dream. But then another voice spoke.
‘We should fortify our stronghold on the north side. If the Terki's attack, it will be from that direction.’
Suddenly, Sakshi felt the sun shine down on her. She heard the distinct murmur of the sea and felt the sea breeze on her skin. It stuck to her skin and glistened like the first snow. She began sweating. But then suddenly there was shade, and banana leaves rustled above her. She stood on land, the sea at her side. She looked at her hands that gripped a sword. There was a hat on her head, and her white dress shirt had specks of gray on it. A black powder covered her hands. Cautiously, she sniffed it. The smell reminded her of the firecrackers she used to light as a child.
Out of the corner of her eye, something moved. She saw people scatter about, running; a few even jumping into the sea. That’s when she saw it: a fireball raining down from the sky, blazing the path for others to follow.
She felt the heat, the burning fire slowly creeping up her; stunned and gasping for breath, Sakshi sat up in her bed.
She mumbled that it was only a dream, her eyes still half-closed. As her eyes focused and the room came into view, the last fog of the dream dissipated. Once more, she rested her head on the pillow. Slowly, her eyes grew heavy, and sleep seemed within reach when she heard a voice. No, two voices.
She blinked, her eyes wide open as she waited to hear them again. Strangely, other than the creaking of her ceiling fan, no noise could be heard.
Maybe I imagined it, she thought, as she reached for her water bottle. Her hands, however, froze in mid-air, as she heard¡
‘Brave soldiers. It’s not our motherland we fight for. But the glory that lies ahead of bloodshed!’
‘Hold your head high, brothers, for at dawn, we fight! We are no cowards to surrender now, are we?’ Another voice bellowed. ‘The Battle of Kelva will go into history. And we will be immortals then.’
She sat up straighter, and her entire body went rigid. Cold crept over her. Images of a war-stricken land flashed in her mind before she realized something. The battle was fought and won years ago.
There was no danger. No one was plotting war near her. She was safe. But then the voices, where were they coming from? Or was she still dreaming?
Her brain, however, refused to focus on the question. In that moment, there was no differentiation, no separation and as such, nothing to be done. As if her body were weighted down, it relaxed into the folds of the cover.
Early next morning, the blaring of her alarm woke her up. With half-opened eyes, she squinted at her phone.
7:30 a.m.
NO! Sakshi groaned, sitting straight up in bed. She proceeded to get out of bed. But somehow, she managed to tangle herself in the blanket such that in the resulting struggle, she spilled her water bottle onto the table. A groan escaped her as the water cascaded down from the table onto the floor in a pool.
There was something in the room’s silence that Sakshi couldn’t quite place her finger on. But just then, the alarm blared again.
7:35 a.m.
No! NO!
That day, Sakshi won the award for getting ready in record time. She was only five minutes late for a class that began at a quarter past 8.
Half dozing, half zoning out, she breezed through the classes, catching up on assignments and the general gossip among her friends.
It was half past 10 when she finally had a moment to herself. Sitting in one of the canteen chairs, she waited for her tea to cool down a bit. As she waited, she checked her phone. No sooner had the cracked screen come to life than she saw three missed calls from her landlord. And just as she was wondering what he would be calling about, her phone rang.
Her mind was made up; whatever he was calling about, she could deal with it later. So she let the call drop. Placing the phone down on the stain-covered table, she took a sip of her tea, the warmth leaving her with a sigh. She was ready for another cup when her phone rang again. It was the landlord again. Groaning and grumbling, she picked up the call and put her best fake voice to greet him Good morning. But there were no hellos or how are you.
“How many times have I told you no boys over?!” her landlord yelled as soon as she had received the call. Sakshi distanced the phone a little from her ear.
“That is my only rule!” he continued to bellow, “And you agreed to it. Did you not? Disobeying that rule would mean expulsion. Was I not clear?!”
“Yes, you did…,” Sakshi stammered, unsure where this conversation was going.
“Then why are voices coming from your room?”
“What?”
“Oh, no need to act so coy now. Of course, your room! Loud, angry voices arguing like some radio drama about a war or something!”
The word war reminded Sakshi of her dreams.
Boys? She racked her brain. Of course, her friends knew where she lived. But even considering their antics, Sakshi was sure they wouldn’t break into her room. Then who?
“Did you see them go in?” she asked, hoping a physical description would jog her memory.
“No idea”, snarled the landlord. “They didn’t open the door when I went to check.”
Her mind raced. Who was in her room? She doubted anyone had broken in. But then?
“OH!OH!” she exclaimed and gave a small, nervous chuckle, remembering how the landlord mentioned the radio.
“What?” snapped the landlord.
“It’s a podcast clip!” she said, then stammered and stalled as an idea formed in her mind. “I was listening to a podcast clip, and the network wasn’t great. I must have left it on. And when the network restarted, maybe the clip looped.”
“So it’s a podcast?” asked the landlord.
Sakshi knew enough about the man to know that he wasn’t convinced. But she also knew that he would be leaving for his reading club soon. And that would give her time to race down and check what was up. A part of her was certain it was her friend’s idea of a prank.
As she had expected, her landlord had left by the time she got back to her room. As she raced up two steps at a time, she began to hear the voices. The same voices she had heard in the morning, and the same she had heard in her dream.
Carefully, she opened the door.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” She called, hiding behind the half-open door.
But no one answered. The voices continued as if they did not hear her.
“Hello”, she stepped inside cautiously. Dropping the backpack by the door, she scanned the room. The room was, of course, empty. She dropped to her knees and looked under the bed. Empty.
She went towards her bathroom; the door was wide open, and it was empty.
“We attack at the first sign of dawn!”
“All hands on board, land in sight! Lower the ropes now!”
In about fifteen minutes, she had rummaged through the small room. Nothing was out of the ordinary.
“Where’s the sound coming from then? Did I watch a movie and forget about it?” She wondered, despite her memory telling her otherwise.
Still, she checked her laptop. The screen wouldn’t turn on. And it was cold.
“Battery’s dead!”
Out of ideas, she collapsed on the bed. That’s when the sound became distinct. It was coming from her table.
She shuffled the books, gathering them up and tossing them on her bed. Then her stationery and water bottles. At last, she came towards the shells. And that’s when the voice became distinct. She put them one after the other to her ears.
Sakshi couldn’t believe her ears. The voices were coming from the seashells. With a clanking, she dropped them to the ground, yet the voices continued.
Then, as if the shells were dirty, she furiously wiped her hands on her t-shirt. And sat up on the bed, her legs drawn to her chest. As she continued to take in deep breaths to calm herself, she remembered her grandmother’s words, ‘Never take seashells home’, she had said, ‘they carry restless spirits that relive their deaths in your home.’
She looked about for her phone and found it under a pile of books. She dialed her grandmother, who picked up the call after Sakshi had given hope.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Aaji?” Sakshi began. “You were right about never bringing seashells home.” And immediately told her grandmother everything that had happened.
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“Aaji?” Sakshi asked, fearing the call had disconnected. “What should I do?”
“Sakshi, before I tell you anything, know that I never believed this was possible until now. Your mom and I kept saying this to stop you from bringing pebbles and shells home. You kept forgetting them in your pockets. And when you remembered your clothes were already in the wash!”
“But what now?!” Sakshi interjected.
“My mother had made the no shells at home rule.” Aaji said on the other line, “She used to say something…let me remember it.”
Sakshi could hear her grandmother mutter under her breath.
She had moved away from the table and stood outside where the voices were a little bearable.
She had already started considering a life with the voices when her Aaji spoke.
“Bring no shells home, dear one; beware of that. And should you disobey this simple rule and the spirits plague you, remember that silence resides eternally under the water.”
“What?! Aaji, this is not the time to solve puzzles!” Sakshi exclaimed, exhausted.
“Water…put them in water.”
“What? That’s stupid. I should just drop a stone on it.” She looked with longing at the stones scattered around the tamarind tree nearby.
“What of the voices has made sense to you? Do as I say. Put them in water.”
With a sigh, Sakshi obeyed her. She picked up the shells and then found a plastic cup from her hoard of takeouts. Filling it with water, she dropped the shells. As soon as they were soaked in the water, the voices stopped. The room fell silent.
“Did it work?”
“Yes”, Sakshi answered. She lay down on her bed. “Lesson learned.”
On the other side, she could hear her grandmother’s infectious laugh, and she too joined in.
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