Hostel Murder

Hostel Life

"Wake up Raghav, it's already 12! ", screamed his Mom banging the pillow on his head.

"You are already late to go to your new hostel. College starts tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah Mom, let me sleep for another 30mins, please!... ", exclaimed Raghav after spending the whole night watching Netflix.

"Ok, whatever, I will tell Shilpa to go then, she was waiting for you so that you can get a lift to college."

Raghav jumped out of the bed as if he was stung by a wasp, flashing the blanket into the air, and ran straight outside. His eyes widened as he saw Shilpa in a scooter, wearing a churidar, looking beautiful as usual as her perfume smell.

* Honk! Honk! *

" What are you staring at, come down Raghav, I'm already late, " shouted Shilpa.

"Sorry, will be down in a sec". Raghav ran inside to get ready.

His mom was surprised as he finished brushing, bathing, eating, dressing within 10 minutes.

"Bye Mom!", Raghav kissed her forehead. Ran downstairs to Shilpa.

Well, where are my manners, Shilpa is Raghav's neighbor. Her family had moved in last year since she had got a new job in IT, Mumbai. Even though she is elder than him, Raghav always had his eyes on her, god knows where he is looking.

" What took you so long, Ragu", shouted Shilpa raging at him.

"Relax, I just had a bad sleep, come on, let's go!", said Raghav jumping back on her scooter. Raghav has always wanted to sit this close to her since the day they met.

"So college ha? , its time for you to experience college life, romance, ragging.." started Shilpa bragging about her college days and how she enjoyed it.

But Raghav was busy praying to God for a hump to pass by on the road so that he can collide with her and act sorry. Yeah, I know what a p*****t.

"Hey, you listening? ", exclaimed Shilpa looking back at Raghav due to his no response.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm still here, you better look straight at the roa...."

*WATCH OUT FOR THE DOG, SHILPAAAAAAA!*

Those were the six words Shilpa heard from Raghav before the scooter crashed. Well, let's have a replay, shall we?

The dog jumped onto the road. Shilpa didn't get control of the scooter and applied the breaks quickly. The scooter began to fall. They both were yelling. This impact allowed Raghav to hold onto her body. He closed his eyes and grabbed onto her. They both fell off from the scooter rolling onto the ground like bales of hay.

"Ouch, my back!" acted Raghav, slowly opening his eyes.

"Take your hands off, Raghav", shouted Shilpa as she felt something grabbing onto her for a while now.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was scared to death back then, I thought we died", said Raghav in an awkward tune, releasing his hold on her cups.

"It's alright, Are you okay Ragu?", wondered Shilpa.

"I'm fine, what a fall, wasn't it?", he replied wiping out the sand, dust, and dirt from his hands.

"What about you, any injuries Shilpa?" he added.

"I'm just fine, let's go to your college, you wouldn't want to miss your first day in college. Come on let's go!", said Shilpa without hesitating.

To their luck, no one was there to witness the accident and fall. They cleaned their clothes and they walked onto the scooter slowly. As they were about to continue the ride, Shilpa asked,

" Well, how was it? "

*AWKWARD SILENCE*

"How was what?", replied Raghav, shocked.

"You know what I mean", said Shilpa in a funny voice.

Raghav turned onto Shilpa. She was staring at him already. His heartbeat started pumping thinking she didn't forget about gripping onto her. He was scared if she might say this to his Mom or someone. Instead, she said,

" I know you enjoyed it!"

"Now, it's sure, she is referring to the grabbing incident", thought Raghav.

Raghav was about to reply to that when she said,

"The pickles...the mango pickles, I brought to your home yesterday, Did you enjoy it?"

"Oh, that, oh it was delicious Shilpa", replied Raghav.

"What a relief!", he thought to himself.

"Chal (come on), let's go! it's already late.. " she said.

They both continued the journey to college. Raghav couldn't stop thinking about the incident, as to whether she had really meant the pickles for a moment. He was also worried about Shilpa if she might tell this to his Mom. His thoughts occupied the time, and soon they had reached the college.

"Thank you, Shilpa, for the lift", said Raghav getting out of the scooter with his bag.

"Yeah, anytime, Ragu.... and listen, Don't worry about this fall alright? No one will know about it, it's just between us!", she replied funnily.

"Ok, cool!", answered Raghav rubbing his hair, making a cringe face.

They departed saying goodbye and he ran out to the front gate of the college.

Raghav got his admission to Mohan Institute of Technology aka MIT, a fine university in Mumbai. He had ranked top 50 and had got a scholarship too. Yeah, I know, what a nerd!

"You are already late son, Run along! ", shouted the security.

Raghav ran straight to a big whiteboard placed in front of the entrance of the college. It was titled "The hostel rooms allotted". He took out a paper from his bag and looked for his admission number on the board. Took him almost a minute to find his number,

"Yes, 102, Gotcha! ", he shouted and ran straight for the stairs to the first floor. Ran past the whole corridor making sandal noises, and finally found his room. Well to his surprised, it was locked. He started banging and turning the doorknob too hard when suddenly he heard a sweet voice,

"Everyone has gone to the auditorium for hostel orientation!", said the women.

"Oh, thank you! ", replied Raghav and took off without even looking at her. He ran straight to the auditorium.

He understood that someone was giving a speech and followed the voice that led him to the place. It was filled with lots of students. Everyone was seated and they were all staring at him. Raghav was sweating and was curious to find a seat...

"Looks like we have a late-comer, Here, come to the front, there are lots of seats!", said the man who was giving the speech.

Raghav lowered his head awkwardly and took his seat in the front. He could hear lots of students grinning and laughing at the back.

"So yeah, where were we?...., said the speaker.

"About bringing girls to the hostel!", replied a boy from the back.

*EVERYONE LAUGHS*

"SILENCE!", how dare you reply to the Principal like that", shouted a teacher who was sitting next to Raghav. She stood up and stared at a bunch of statue-like students, not uttering a word. Well, Raghav now understood that the man who was guiding him to the auditorium was the Principal and the angry woman next to him was the Vice-Principal.

"It's fine mam, sit down", said the Principal politely.

"This is a highly reputed and top college in Mumbai, and we follow some strict rules to maintain that. No usage of drinks, alcohol, drugs, or any sort of such things on campus as well as in a hostel. If found out will be given a fine. If he/she goes beyond three fines, he will be suspended from college. Also, I don't care if you love, romance, or enjoy on campus, but I hope you don't take that to your hostels. Let's not cross our limits!"

*EVERYONE STARTED LAUGHING SOFTLY*

"Well, have I made myself clear? ... " asked the Principal.

"Yes Sir!.......", replied the students knowing that they would never obey these rules. Come on! it's college, where else can you enjoy your life.

"That's it for now, All the best students, hope you have a wonderful time. You may leave ..", said the Principal.

Everyone started jumping and started to leave the auditorium. Lots of chair noises here and there. Raghav was still sitting there thinking about what he had missed in the speech. His thoughts were interrupted by a small hit on his head,

"Hey, Raghav!... said a manly voice that sounded familiar to him.

Raghav turned around to see who it was and was shocked. His eyes widened.