The smile that extended from Gujarat to Arunachal on the map of his face said it all. Gautam Pandey
was beaming with pleasure and a sense of achievement at the inauguration of his dream project:
Pamperium – the Spa. Amid selfies and shutter clicks, friends and relatives marveled at the rich
décor and kept complimenting him and his wife Prerna.
The spa was located on the second floor, adjacent to some of the biggest brand stores in the Shoppers
City Mall in Mumbai. It boasted of offering multiple treatments for the mind and the body. The salon
room had five seats for facial beauty treatments as well as pedicure and manicure, and an enclosure
that housed a tub for a more luxurious therapy. The massage room had four table-beds and was
adorned with Himalayan rock-salt tealights which brought a positive feel.
By afternoon, the guests had left and Gautam had settled down on his executive chair at the front desk.
There was only one question in his mind — would he be able to break-even in six months? He and
Prerna, both 38, had been in the beauty and salon industry for over ten years. Their primary venture,
the Thane-based Prakrooty Salon had been doing extremely well. They had decided to add more
niche services and move up the chain, at their new establishment.
The past three months had been crazy, the most difficult part being getting the right staff. They had
managed to recruit six youngsters with one to three years of experience. Meenakshi, who had worked
for five years at a reputed spa chain, was hand-picked as the manager. In front of his desk, there were
two sofas that could accommodate six waiting customers on a good day and he was wondering as to
when he could see them fully occupied. To his left, there were four compact chairs which his staffmembers
could use if needed and, of course, they could also use similar chairs which were in the
other two rooms.
‘Everything seems to be in place, my staff too looks impressive in the newly designed uniforms.
The color combo and fitting also seems right. Prerna, you are amazing!’ he thought to himself with
a smile.
***
It was a Saturday afternoon and hence there was good footfall at the mall, especially on the top floor,
which had the multiplex, play-zone, and food court. Gautam had placed a large display screen
touching the glass wall which flashed high-resolution pictures of spa treatments and the 50%
inaugural discount offer. A few people stopped by momentarily to look at the screen and even peeped
in from the side, but no one really got in to show further interest.
‘Come on guys, step in, the spa is for you. You would never get such an experience at this price
anywhere.’
Gautam picked up the newspaper and as he flipped through the pages, the Horoscope section almost
winked at him to attract attention. His eyeballs sought the Libra sign and he instinctively began to
read. It read: Get ready for a rollercoaster ride as fate takes you through a series of unbelievable and
sinister events. Be brave and alert, and enjoy the ride!
‘Crap as usual! Already on TV, the news anchors keep shouting and scaring people. Astrologers
too seem to be following them!’
Unfortunately, what he did not know then was that the prediction was going to be true. In fact, it was
approaching him from just around the corner.
***
Just as he folded the paper, an elegantly-dressed curvy woman with a large round face and sharp
features, who seemed to be in her early forties, entered and smiled at everyone. Before Gautam could
make a pitch, she introduced herself as Maya Lalwani, a wholesaler of spa products. She noticed that
while her own smile got broader, the smiles of everyone else had gone narrower. “Just give me five
minutes - I will not only bring your smiles back, but also change the destiny of your spa,” she
announced. Like a magician about to perform a mysterious act, she had managed to create a bubble of
intrigue and had mesmerized everyone. The first thing she did, to the amazement of everyone, was to
pour a blue-colored liquid from a small bottle she was carrying in her purse into the aroma dispenser.
Within a minute, the heavenly effect of the pure aromatic essential oil became evident. She even
moved the dispenser closer to the gap near the opening of the door so that the aroma could escape
outside the shop. She then sank into the sofa, challenging everyone to wait and watch what would
happen next. There was complete silence and there was a thrill in the air.
Indeed, the aroma was making its magical presence felt — a lot of those who inhaled the fumes
seemed to step in with a smile. They appreciated the place and inquired about the packages. There
was another aroma dispenser at the corner, next to the seats for the staff. Maya took out another bottle
from her purse and poured red-colored oil in the dispenser cup. Just then, the CCTV technician came
to fetch Gautam to see the installations he had done at a couple of shops on that floor. Instructing
Meenakshi to take charge, Gautam began to step out, asking Maya to leave her catalog at the desk for
future reference, which she promptly did and left.
***
Soon a group of women passed by the spa, and one of them who liked the strong aroma stopped the
others. All five watched the slideshow for a minute and then walked in. Gautam noticed the ladies
and sprinted 30 yards from the opposite store to address them. After he explained the services
available, three of them decided to go for the package with facial, manicure, and pedicure. The other
two were adamant on continuing to the AceBaga store, where an unbelievable deal had been
announced on their premium purses.
Gautam handed over the three ladies to his staff with much joy, and that was when he saw the oddity
in his staff. Their expressions looked weird and there was a suspicious faint reddish glow in their
eyes.
‘Weren’t they all normal before the red oil in the dispenser started giving off fumes?’
Meenakshi ushered the three ladies into the salon room, as Celina and Neha also joined her.
Gautam waited for five minutes and then walked towards the salon to peep inside from the small
glass window on the salon door. There was nothing unusual. The ladies appeared relaxed as they
were seated on the reclined luxurious seats, the staff occupied in readying the creams and rosewater.
Back on his seat, Gautam glanced at his staff of two boys and two girls who were seated on the chairs
to his left. The fumes from the red oil kept travelling toward their faces and they seemed to be
enjoying them; in fact, they appeared to be on a high as they inhaled the aromas in unison.
Gautam felt a bit scared, as Ravi, who was seated about four feet away from him, tilted his head,
looked at him and grinned without any reason.
‘Are these the same folks from the morning? They seem so different, so quiet, so alien. Good that I
am seated away from those fumes, else who knows – I would have appeared to be one of them!’
***
A young couple that was lazing around caught Gautam’s attention as they got closer to the spa
entrance.
‘Come on, come on, walk in!’
They seemed newly married; the mehendi on the lady’s hands was fresh. She seemed keen on
checking out the spa, whereas the husband did not look as interested. But he followed her as she
opened the door and closed her eyes while she took in the aroma.
Gautam felt like treasuring that moment. The woman was stunning, with her radiant hair, beautiful
smile, almond-shaped eyes and colorful designer earrings that suited her oval face perfectly. Gautam
used all of his selling skills and in about three minutes, he managed to convince the lady for the
couple massage package. Ravi and Sona got up and led the couple to the massage room.
After controlling himself for six and a half minutes, Gautam felt the urge to check the proceedings in
both the rooms. He looked inside the massage room through a very small window on its door.
Although the thin white curtains blocked the full-view, he could capture the scene. The couple had
been stripped almost bare, and they appeared to be enjoying the masseurs’ expert finger movements
on their backs, even as they faced and looked in each other’s eyes.
The scene took Gautam back by nine years, when his wife and he had first experienced such a
massage and had decided then, that one day they would offer such services at their own spa.
He then checked the salon room and saw the three ladies with their “whitewashed” faces now feeling
pampered as the staff carried out their pedicure.
‘Everything seems to be going well. I think I am unnecessarily getting stressed. Maya’s perfume oil
really saved the day; will have to check out her catalog later.’
Gautam returned to his seat and continued going over the morning photos on his computer screen. The
staff-members, Som and Neha, who were sitting idle on the chairs nearby, sniffing the fumes, got up
and slowly walked to the salon room.
‘Enjoy your free time, people. Very soon we will implement our promotional strategies and
hopefully you will stay occupied the whole time.’
***
When he had browsed through about two hundred pictures, Gautam heard a loud shout from one of the
rooms. It sounded like a combination of multiple voices. He got up and ran inside, first peeking in
from the salon door. He blinked a couple of times to clear his vision and for his mind to really
consume what he was seeing.
The ladies had been tied to their chairs, it looked as if they had their seatbelts on. The feet of all the
ladies had been severed and the bowls of rosewater were now filled with blood.
The five staff-members who were in the room, looked at the door, having sensed the Peeping Tom.
Their eyes had the creepy red glow and it appeared as if they would pounce on him if he tried to enter
and confront them. The three ladies looked at the door too, but for help, and they shrieked again.
Three girls from the staff slowly moved back and then behind the chairs. Holding the heads of their
customers in position by pulling their hair from the top with one hand, they looked at each other and
nodded. Sharp butcher knifes held in their other hands moved in tandem, horizontally across the
throats of the three terrified ladies, and within seconds, they lay motionless.
Gautam had not yet recovered when he heard the outer glass door being opened and saw Maya
barging in, coming directly at him. He heard the shop’s shutter being pulled down and closed by
someone behind her. He realized that following her was perhaps an assistant, who appeared more
like a bouncer. He was dragging behind himself a large black box, resembling a music speaker, which
seemed heavy and looked scary.
Before Gautam could question her, Maya pushed him with such force that the door behind him opened
fully and he fell inside the salon room on his back. The entire staff nodded at Maya and laughed
loudly as if she were controlling them. The bouncer, as Gautam called him in his mind, pulled him by
his collar, and thrust him on a chair next to that of one of the dead ladies.
Gautam tried to make a phone call to the police, but Som slapped him and tied his hands, while
Meenakshi brought a thick cello-tape which she wrapped angrily around his mouth. Gautam not only
felt horrified but also insulted, as his own staff attacked him.
‘What the hell! Have they gone crazy? Will they kill me next?’
Gautam did not know what would happen. He simply prayed. But he was distracted; the chairs and
the floor were full of blood and it made him nauseous. What happened next was unlike anything that
Gautam had seen in the thirty-odd horror movies he had watched. The bouncer opened the box to
reveal what it actually was.
It was a machine of some sort, and it was plugged into one of the electric points behind a chair. Maya
opened a side-door of the box and pulled out a few raincoats and a large plastic sheet, which she
spread in front of the chairs. Meanwhile a couple of staff-members untied the dupatta of the first lady
from the chair and laid her flat on the sheet. The three staff-members who had slit the throats, wore
the raincoats, brought their knives, and started chopping the body into pieces of about two feet length
each. Once they were done, the bouncer started the machine and one by one the pieces were fed from
the top partition into the machine. The machine did not make much noise but it was clear that some
churning and crushing was in progress.
Finally, after a minute, the machine stopped. The next two bodies too met with the same fate.
Meenakshi took the plastic sheet and the raincoats near the tub and washed them off.
The bouncer brought the machine closer to the tub and placed an end of a hose in the tub. Soon the
blood that had collected in a chamber of the machine gushed out into the tub.
The rest of the staff picked up the sponges that Maya passed on to them and over the next twenty
minutes, the place was decently clean. A few stains remained, over which Maya sprayed some kind of
a white foam and allowed it to stay for a few seconds. The staff then cleaned it up and, very soon, the
place appeared even tidier than the way it was in the morning. Having completed the task, Maya and
the staff raised their thumbs and began rejoicing.
‘Are these humans? They butchered three people and are now celebrating! I am surely going to
get them arrested. Even if it means bad publicity for the spa.’
Meanwhile, Som and Neha left and entered the massage room.
***
The sound of laughter was broken by a loud shriek from the other room. ‘Damn no! I hope they don’t
mess around with the lovely couple.’ Maya’s bulging eyeballs and mocking smile revealed her
intentions. She opened the door and gestured at the bouncer to get Gautam too. She first peeped into
the massage room, and then smiled. Gautam’s face was then forced on to the glass window and what
he saw almost brought tears in his scared eyes .
The staff had tied the hands and legs of the couple to the four corners of the massage beds. Ravi and
Sona were still massaging the backs of their customers, only this time the fingers dug deep into their
flesh. Som and Neha were gagging the couple, while Ravi and Sona continued the wild pounding with
their fingers. The couple shouted silently, and their heads turned vigorously as the agony continued.
The backs soon resembled a honeycomb with closely punched cavities but containing blood instead
of honey.
Meenakshi pushed Gautam aside and entered the massage room, and handed over the raincoats and
butcher knives to Som and Ravi. Maya and the bouncer also entered the room, dragging the black box
along. While Gautam cried and protested, his staff surrounded him and the look in their eyes,
especially with the red glow, prevented him from trying out anything insensible. At that point, he just
wanted his life to be spared.
Soon the treatment that had been meted out to the three ladies earlier was repeated on the couple. In
the end, the room was left more shining than before.
Having accomplished their mission, Maya and the bouncer put the box together, flashed a thumbs-up
to the spa staff, and began to leave. The staff occupied their chairs in the front office and the standing
spots next to them. Maya poured blue oil from her bottle into the dispenser next to the chairs.
Meanwhile the bouncer opened the shutter and they walked out as if they had just paid a normal visit
to the spa.
Gautam was about to call the police and report the incident but was still scared of his staff. They
were all looking at him with bizarre expressions. He decided to stay put for some time, as the aroma
from the blue oil created a pleasant and relaxing environment.
After closing his eyes for some time to help him think, he decided to step out of the spa for a few
minutes to first talk to his wife.
Just as he was about to get up, he saw the two ladies who had gone to AceBaga earlier standing in
front of him, flaunting their loot on their shoulders. Their purses were identically colour-coordinated
with their dresses, which made them look almost comical, but this was not the time to linger on that.
He realized that the women might have come looking for their friends. And he had no answer for
them. Despite the wonderful aroma in the room, he felt nauseated and short of breath.
‘I am sure they are here, looking for their friends. Will need to quickly think of some answer.’
He looked at his staff. They had lost the red glow and appeared normal now. But he was still scared
of them and wanted to avoid looking them in the eye. He began to say “Hello” to the ladies, when
Meenakshi chipped in and asked them as to what kind of treatment they were looking for, perhaps
something similar to what their friends had taken?
Gautam almost fell off the chair, imagining the plight of the ladies, being cut and fed into the machine.
Beads of sweat began forming on his face. The ladies nodded at Meenakshi and chose the same
package that their friends had enjoyed. Meenakshi smiled at Gautam, who knew the real intent behind
that wicked smile. She led the way and escorted them to the salon room, as Celina and Asha got up
from their chairs and followed them.
***
Gautam’s plans for the day had gone haywire. He was hoping to gather good written feedback from
the customers and use them in social media promotions. However, it was just a matter of time, before
the killings would become public, and no one would dare to step into the spa. While his staff was
busy, he gave his wife a call, dying to discuss the series of events. She picked up and without
listening to him, replied that she was trying to sort out a serious GST issues and would call back.
This added to his wounds, rather than healing them.
He was about to call the police but decided to check the salon room first. From the peeping window,
the scene looked very positive. The ladies were being treated like queens.
‘How I wish this scene continues for the next thirty minutes! But I know it won’t. The only
difference between then and now is the absence of the red glow in the eyes of my staff. Is it
possible that the event may not repeat? Should I wait, or will it be too late? Will I be able to
forgive myself if something happened to these ladies too?’
While he stood near the door in a confused state, he was stunned to see Maya and the bouncer enter
again. They had the huge black box with them.
‘What the hell! The murderers are back! Don’t they have any shame? They seem so casual as if
nothing happened earlier!’
Gautam blocked the way towards the salon, and before he could open his mouth, the bouncer had
already started opening the compartments of the black box, revealing various products. Maya
enthusiastically introduced each product as she pointed at the neatly laid out sets of bottles and
pouches one by one.
Gautam was hardly listening as his mind was still occupied with the thoughts of the killings. He kept
nodding as Maya tried her best to lure him. Finally, he lost his cool and asked her the question pointblank,
“Why did you kill my customers? What wrong had they done?”
Everyone in the room, including the staff, looked puzzled.
Maya said, “What are you talking about? Kill? Whom did I kill?”
“You poured the red oil in the dispenser which caused the dangerous fumes. My staff inhaled them;
their eyes turned red while their mind seemed to be under a spell. And then all of you as a team
brutally killed the five customers and ground them in this vicious machine!” Gautam retorted.
Maya lost her cool. “I challenge you to prove it – do you have any witness who saw this happen?”
“I am the witness and I have a very good memory.”
“I think you are either drunk or just had a bad dream. No one has insulted me this way. I will never
visit your shop again!”
Maya barged out of the glass door, almost hitting the bouncer as he followed her with the box.
Gautam threw himself on his chair. ‘What? Was I dreaming? How can that be? Well, I am pretty sure
it had happened, I can’t be remembering all the minute details otherwise.’
** *
Suddenly, the salon door opened and the two ladies happily walked out, followed by Meenakshi.
They couldn’t stop praising the way his staff had made them feel.
Gautam had been dying to hear such words. He had almost forgotten to smile in the previous few
hours. He requested them to express themselves in the customer feedback book. The two took a few
minutes each to fill out the feedback. The entire staff was in smiles and it was a happy moment.
Then, Gautam tried to probe Meenakshi by asking about the previous customers, but she maintained
that they had gone back, feeling equally satisfied just as the ladies did. She asked him to check the
feedback book, which she had managed to get filled out when they were leaving.
Curious, Gautam opened the book and the Gujarat-to-Arunachal smile was back on his face. The two
ladies had given them 5 stars and from the previous customers, there were three who had ticked 5
stars while two had ticked 4. Gautam finally accepted that he had indeed been dreaming and
something of the sort he had seen, was not possible at all.
‘What an eventful day indeed! Looks like the scary prediction came true, for a change! I need to do
two things now — apologize to Mayaji and get the CCTV installed at the earliest.’
Soon it was time to shut down and everyone started winding up. Just then, Celina brought his pen
which she had found from the salon room, lying between two chairs. Gautam closed his eyes and
recollected the scene when he was pushed on the chair and his hands were being tied. During that
struggle, the pen had jumped off his top pocket and landed between the chairs.
He observed it very closely and could even spot a tiny droplet of blood when he gently pressed the
push button. While he sat there in a confused state, Ravi walked to him from the massage room and
brought what he had found. It was a multicolored earring. The sight of the lovely lady swinging her
head around while being tortured came back to him. He could remember the earring separating out
from her right ear!
‘This cannot be a coincidence! I don’t think it was a dream. No matter what others say, I will
continue to believe that it did happen, unless I see one of those five killed customers again. If only
the CCTV on the second floor wasn’t down for repairs, I could have checked the footage to satisfy
myself.’
Over the weeks, the spa became highly popular and started doing good business. Gautam’s eyes kept
looking for the five initial customers, but they were never seen in the mall again. He treasured the cutout
of the horror-scope in his drawer and looked at it once in a while to remember the incidents,
which no one else knew about.
was beaming with pleasure and a sense of achievement at the inauguration of his dream project:
Pamperium – the Spa. Amid selfies and shutter clicks, friends and relatives marveled at the rich
décor and kept complimenting him and his wife Prerna.
The spa was located on the second floor, adjacent to some of the biggest brand stores in the Shoppers
City Mall in Mumbai. It boasted of offering multiple treatments for the mind and the body. The salon
room had five seats for facial beauty treatments as well as pedicure and manicure, and an enclosure
that housed a tub for a more luxurious therapy. The massage room had four table-beds and was
adorned with Himalayan rock-salt tealights which brought a positive feel.
By afternoon, the guests had left and Gautam had settled down on his executive chair at the front desk.
There was only one question in his mind — would he be able to break-even in six months? He and
Prerna, both 38, had been in the beauty and salon industry for over ten years. Their primary venture,
the Thane-based Prakrooty Salon had been doing extremely well. They had decided to add more
niche services and move up the chain, at their new establishment.
The past three months had been crazy, the most difficult part being getting the right staff. They had
managed to recruit six youngsters with one to three years of experience. Meenakshi, who had worked
for five years at a reputed spa chain, was hand-picked as the manager. In front of his desk, there were
two sofas that could accommodate six waiting customers on a good day and he was wondering as to
when he could see them fully occupied. To his left, there were four compact chairs which his staffmembers
could use if needed and, of course, they could also use similar chairs which were in the
other two rooms.
‘Everything seems to be in place, my staff too looks impressive in the newly designed uniforms.
The color combo and fitting also seems right. Prerna, you are amazing!’ he thought to himself with
a smile.
***
It was a Saturday afternoon and hence there was good footfall at the mall, especially on the top floor,
which had the multiplex, play-zone, and food court. Gautam had placed a large display screen
touching the glass wall which flashed high-resolution pictures of spa treatments and the 50%
inaugural discount offer. A few people stopped by momentarily to look at the screen and even peeped
in from the side, but no one really got in to show further interest.
‘Come on guys, step in, the spa is for you. You would never get such an experience at this price
anywhere.’
Gautam picked up the newspaper and as he flipped through the pages, the Horoscope section almost
winked at him to attract attention. His eyeballs sought the Libra sign and he instinctively began to
read. It read: Get ready for a rollercoaster ride as fate takes you through a series of unbelievable and
sinister events. Be brave and alert, and enjoy the ride!
‘Crap as usual! Already on TV, the news anchors keep shouting and scaring people. Astrologers
too seem to be following them!’
Unfortunately, what he did not know then was that the prediction was going to be true. In fact, it was
approaching him from just around the corner.
***
Just as he folded the paper, an elegantly-dressed curvy woman with a large round face and sharp
features, who seemed to be in her early forties, entered and smiled at everyone. Before Gautam could
make a pitch, she introduced herself as Maya Lalwani, a wholesaler of spa products. She noticed that
while her own smile got broader, the smiles of everyone else had gone narrower. “Just give me five
minutes - I will not only bring your smiles back, but also change the destiny of your spa,” she
announced. Like a magician about to perform a mysterious act, she had managed to create a bubble of
intrigue and had mesmerized everyone. The first thing she did, to the amazement of everyone, was to
pour a blue-colored liquid from a small bottle she was carrying in her purse into the aroma dispenser.
Within a minute, the heavenly effect of the pure aromatic essential oil became evident. She even
moved the dispenser closer to the gap near the opening of the door so that the aroma could escape
outside the shop. She then sank into the sofa, challenging everyone to wait and watch what would
happen next. There was complete silence and there was a thrill in the air.
Indeed, the aroma was making its magical presence felt — a lot of those who inhaled the fumes
seemed to step in with a smile. They appreciated the place and inquired about the packages. There
was another aroma dispenser at the corner, next to the seats for the staff. Maya took out another bottle
from her purse and poured red-colored oil in the dispenser cup. Just then, the CCTV technician came
to fetch Gautam to see the installations he had done at a couple of shops on that floor. Instructing
Meenakshi to take charge, Gautam began to step out, asking Maya to leave her catalog at the desk for
future reference, which she promptly did and left.
***
Soon a group of women passed by the spa, and one of them who liked the strong aroma stopped the
others. All five watched the slideshow for a minute and then walked in. Gautam noticed the ladies
and sprinted 30 yards from the opposite store to address them. After he explained the services
available, three of them decided to go for the package with facial, manicure, and pedicure. The other
two were adamant on continuing to the AceBaga store, where an unbelievable deal had been
announced on their premium purses.
Gautam handed over the three ladies to his staff with much joy, and that was when he saw the oddity
in his staff. Their expressions looked weird and there was a suspicious faint reddish glow in their
eyes.
‘Weren’t they all normal before the red oil in the dispenser started giving off fumes?’
Meenakshi ushered the three ladies into the salon room, as Celina and Neha also joined her.
Gautam waited for five minutes and then walked towards the salon to peep inside from the small
glass window on the salon door. There was nothing unusual. The ladies appeared relaxed as they
were seated on the reclined luxurious seats, the staff occupied in readying the creams and rosewater.
Back on his seat, Gautam glanced at his staff of two boys and two girls who were seated on the chairs
to his left. The fumes from the red oil kept travelling toward their faces and they seemed to be
enjoying them; in fact, they appeared to be on a high as they inhaled the aromas in unison.
Gautam felt a bit scared, as Ravi, who was seated about four feet away from him, tilted his head,
looked at him and grinned without any reason.
‘Are these the same folks from the morning? They seem so different, so quiet, so alien. Good that I
am seated away from those fumes, else who knows – I would have appeared to be one of them!’
***
A young couple that was lazing around caught Gautam’s attention as they got closer to the spa
entrance.
‘Come on, come on, walk in!’
They seemed newly married; the mehendi on the lady’s hands was fresh. She seemed keen on
checking out the spa, whereas the husband did not look as interested. But he followed her as she
opened the door and closed her eyes while she took in the aroma.
Gautam felt like treasuring that moment. The woman was stunning, with her radiant hair, beautiful
smile, almond-shaped eyes and colorful designer earrings that suited her oval face perfectly. Gautam
used all of his selling skills and in about three minutes, he managed to convince the lady for the
couple massage package. Ravi and Sona got up and led the couple to the massage room.
After controlling himself for six and a half minutes, Gautam felt the urge to check the proceedings in
both the rooms. He looked inside the massage room through a very small window on its door.
Although the thin white curtains blocked the full-view, he could capture the scene. The couple had
been stripped almost bare, and they appeared to be enjoying the masseurs’ expert finger movements
on their backs, even as they faced and looked in each other’s eyes.
The scene took Gautam back by nine years, when his wife and he had first experienced such a
massage and had decided then, that one day they would offer such services at their own spa.
He then checked the salon room and saw the three ladies with their “whitewashed” faces now feeling
pampered as the staff carried out their pedicure.
‘Everything seems to be going well. I think I am unnecessarily getting stressed. Maya’s perfume oil
really saved the day; will have to check out her catalog later.’
Gautam returned to his seat and continued going over the morning photos on his computer screen. The
staff-members, Som and Neha, who were sitting idle on the chairs nearby, sniffing the fumes, got up
and slowly walked to the salon room.
‘Enjoy your free time, people. Very soon we will implement our promotional strategies and
hopefully you will stay occupied the whole time.’
***
When he had browsed through about two hundred pictures, Gautam heard a loud shout from one of the
rooms. It sounded like a combination of multiple voices. He got up and ran inside, first peeking in
from the salon door. He blinked a couple of times to clear his vision and for his mind to really
consume what he was seeing.
The ladies had been tied to their chairs, it looked as if they had their seatbelts on. The feet of all the
ladies had been severed and the bowls of rosewater were now filled with blood.
The five staff-members who were in the room, looked at the door, having sensed the Peeping Tom.
Their eyes had the creepy red glow and it appeared as if they would pounce on him if he tried to enter
and confront them. The three ladies looked at the door too, but for help, and they shrieked again.
Three girls from the staff slowly moved back and then behind the chairs. Holding the heads of their
customers in position by pulling their hair from the top with one hand, they looked at each other and
nodded. Sharp butcher knifes held in their other hands moved in tandem, horizontally across the
throats of the three terrified ladies, and within seconds, they lay motionless.
Gautam had not yet recovered when he heard the outer glass door being opened and saw Maya
barging in, coming directly at him. He heard the shop’s shutter being pulled down and closed by
someone behind her. He realized that following her was perhaps an assistant, who appeared more
like a bouncer. He was dragging behind himself a large black box, resembling a music speaker, which
seemed heavy and looked scary.
Before Gautam could question her, Maya pushed him with such force that the door behind him opened
fully and he fell inside the salon room on his back. The entire staff nodded at Maya and laughed
loudly as if she were controlling them. The bouncer, as Gautam called him in his mind, pulled him by
his collar, and thrust him on a chair next to that of one of the dead ladies.
Gautam tried to make a phone call to the police, but Som slapped him and tied his hands, while
Meenakshi brought a thick cello-tape which she wrapped angrily around his mouth. Gautam not only
felt horrified but also insulted, as his own staff attacked him.
‘What the hell! Have they gone crazy? Will they kill me next?’
Gautam did not know what would happen. He simply prayed. But he was distracted; the chairs and
the floor were full of blood and it made him nauseous. What happened next was unlike anything that
Gautam had seen in the thirty-odd horror movies he had watched. The bouncer opened the box to
reveal what it actually was.
It was a machine of some sort, and it was plugged into one of the electric points behind a chair. Maya
opened a side-door of the box and pulled out a few raincoats and a large plastic sheet, which she
spread in front of the chairs. Meanwhile a couple of staff-members untied the dupatta of the first lady
from the chair and laid her flat on the sheet. The three staff-members who had slit the throats, wore
the raincoats, brought their knives, and started chopping the body into pieces of about two feet length
each. Once they were done, the bouncer started the machine and one by one the pieces were fed from
the top partition into the machine. The machine did not make much noise but it was clear that some
churning and crushing was in progress.
Finally, after a minute, the machine stopped. The next two bodies too met with the same fate.
Meenakshi took the plastic sheet and the raincoats near the tub and washed them off.
The bouncer brought the machine closer to the tub and placed an end of a hose in the tub. Soon the
blood that had collected in a chamber of the machine gushed out into the tub.
The rest of the staff picked up the sponges that Maya passed on to them and over the next twenty
minutes, the place was decently clean. A few stains remained, over which Maya sprayed some kind of
a white foam and allowed it to stay for a few seconds. The staff then cleaned it up and, very soon, the
place appeared even tidier than the way it was in the morning. Having completed the task, Maya and
the staff raised their thumbs and began rejoicing.
‘Are these humans? They butchered three people and are now celebrating! I am surely going to
get them arrested. Even if it means bad publicity for the spa.’
Meanwhile, Som and Neha left and entered the massage room.
***
The sound of laughter was broken by a loud shriek from the other room. ‘Damn no! I hope they don’t
mess around with the lovely couple.’ Maya’s bulging eyeballs and mocking smile revealed her
intentions. She opened the door and gestured at the bouncer to get Gautam too. She first peeped into
the massage room, and then smiled. Gautam’s face was then forced on to the glass window and what
he saw almost brought tears in his scared eyes .
The staff had tied the hands and legs of the couple to the four corners of the massage beds. Ravi and
Sona were still massaging the backs of their customers, only this time the fingers dug deep into their
flesh. Som and Neha were gagging the couple, while Ravi and Sona continued the wild pounding with
their fingers. The couple shouted silently, and their heads turned vigorously as the agony continued.
The backs soon resembled a honeycomb with closely punched cavities but containing blood instead
of honey.
Meenakshi pushed Gautam aside and entered the massage room, and handed over the raincoats and
butcher knives to Som and Ravi. Maya and the bouncer also entered the room, dragging the black box
along. While Gautam cried and protested, his staff surrounded him and the look in their eyes,
especially with the red glow, prevented him from trying out anything insensible. At that point, he just
wanted his life to be spared.
Soon the treatment that had been meted out to the three ladies earlier was repeated on the couple. In
the end, the room was left more shining than before.
Having accomplished their mission, Maya and the bouncer put the box together, flashed a thumbs-up
to the spa staff, and began to leave. The staff occupied their chairs in the front office and the standing
spots next to them. Maya poured blue oil from her bottle into the dispenser next to the chairs.
Meanwhile the bouncer opened the shutter and they walked out as if they had just paid a normal visit
to the spa.
Gautam was about to call the police and report the incident but was still scared of his staff. They
were all looking at him with bizarre expressions. He decided to stay put for some time, as the aroma
from the blue oil created a pleasant and relaxing environment.
After closing his eyes for some time to help him think, he decided to step out of the spa for a few
minutes to first talk to his wife.
Just as he was about to get up, he saw the two ladies who had gone to AceBaga earlier standing in
front of him, flaunting their loot on their shoulders. Their purses were identically colour-coordinated
with their dresses, which made them look almost comical, but this was not the time to linger on that.
He realized that the women might have come looking for their friends. And he had no answer for
them. Despite the wonderful aroma in the room, he felt nauseated and short of breath.
‘I am sure they are here, looking for their friends. Will need to quickly think of some answer.’
He looked at his staff. They had lost the red glow and appeared normal now. But he was still scared
of them and wanted to avoid looking them in the eye. He began to say “Hello” to the ladies, when
Meenakshi chipped in and asked them as to what kind of treatment they were looking for, perhaps
something similar to what their friends had taken?
Gautam almost fell off the chair, imagining the plight of the ladies, being cut and fed into the machine.
Beads of sweat began forming on his face. The ladies nodded at Meenakshi and chose the same
package that their friends had enjoyed. Meenakshi smiled at Gautam, who knew the real intent behind
that wicked smile. She led the way and escorted them to the salon room, as Celina and Asha got up
from their chairs and followed them.
***
Gautam’s plans for the day had gone haywire. He was hoping to gather good written feedback from
the customers and use them in social media promotions. However, it was just a matter of time, before
the killings would become public, and no one would dare to step into the spa. While his staff was
busy, he gave his wife a call, dying to discuss the series of events. She picked up and without
listening to him, replied that she was trying to sort out a serious GST issues and would call back.
This added to his wounds, rather than healing them.
He was about to call the police but decided to check the salon room first. From the peeping window,
the scene looked very positive. The ladies were being treated like queens.
‘How I wish this scene continues for the next thirty minutes! But I know it won’t. The only
difference between then and now is the absence of the red glow in the eyes of my staff. Is it
possible that the event may not repeat? Should I wait, or will it be too late? Will I be able to
forgive myself if something happened to these ladies too?’
While he stood near the door in a confused state, he was stunned to see Maya and the bouncer enter
again. They had the huge black box with them.
‘What the hell! The murderers are back! Don’t they have any shame? They seem so casual as if
nothing happened earlier!’
Gautam blocked the way towards the salon, and before he could open his mouth, the bouncer had
already started opening the compartments of the black box, revealing various products. Maya
enthusiastically introduced each product as she pointed at the neatly laid out sets of bottles and
pouches one by one.
Gautam was hardly listening as his mind was still occupied with the thoughts of the killings. He kept
nodding as Maya tried her best to lure him. Finally, he lost his cool and asked her the question pointblank,
“Why did you kill my customers? What wrong had they done?”
Everyone in the room, including the staff, looked puzzled.
Maya said, “What are you talking about? Kill? Whom did I kill?”
“You poured the red oil in the dispenser which caused the dangerous fumes. My staff inhaled them;
their eyes turned red while their mind seemed to be under a spell. And then all of you as a team
brutally killed the five customers and ground them in this vicious machine!” Gautam retorted.
Maya lost her cool. “I challenge you to prove it – do you have any witness who saw this happen?”
“I am the witness and I have a very good memory.”
“I think you are either drunk or just had a bad dream. No one has insulted me this way. I will never
visit your shop again!”
Maya barged out of the glass door, almost hitting the bouncer as he followed her with the box.
Gautam threw himself on his chair. ‘What? Was I dreaming? How can that be? Well, I am pretty sure
it had happened, I can’t be remembering all the minute details otherwise.’
** *
Suddenly, the salon door opened and the two ladies happily walked out, followed by Meenakshi.
They couldn’t stop praising the way his staff had made them feel.
Gautam had been dying to hear such words. He had almost forgotten to smile in the previous few
hours. He requested them to express themselves in the customer feedback book. The two took a few
minutes each to fill out the feedback. The entire staff was in smiles and it was a happy moment.
Then, Gautam tried to probe Meenakshi by asking about the previous customers, but she maintained
that they had gone back, feeling equally satisfied just as the ladies did. She asked him to check the
feedback book, which she had managed to get filled out when they were leaving.
Curious, Gautam opened the book and the Gujarat-to-Arunachal smile was back on his face. The two
ladies had given them 5 stars and from the previous customers, there were three who had ticked 5
stars while two had ticked 4. Gautam finally accepted that he had indeed been dreaming and
something of the sort he had seen, was not possible at all.
‘What an eventful day indeed! Looks like the scary prediction came true, for a change! I need to do
two things now — apologize to Mayaji and get the CCTV installed at the earliest.’
Soon it was time to shut down and everyone started winding up. Just then, Celina brought his pen
which she had found from the salon room, lying between two chairs. Gautam closed his eyes and
recollected the scene when he was pushed on the chair and his hands were being tied. During that
struggle, the pen had jumped off his top pocket and landed between the chairs.
He observed it very closely and could even spot a tiny droplet of blood when he gently pressed the
push button. While he sat there in a confused state, Ravi walked to him from the massage room and
brought what he had found. It was a multicolored earring. The sight of the lovely lady swinging her
head around while being tortured came back to him. He could remember the earring separating out
from her right ear!
‘This cannot be a coincidence! I don’t think it was a dream. No matter what others say, I will
continue to believe that it did happen, unless I see one of those five killed customers again. If only
the CCTV on the second floor wasn’t down for repairs, I could have checked the footage to satisfy
myself.’
Over the weeks, the spa became highly popular and started doing good business. Gautam’s eyes kept
looking for the five initial customers, but they were never seen in the mall again. He treasured the cutout
of the horror-scope in his drawer and looked at it once in a while to remember the incidents,
which no one else knew about.
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