by Ramon de Lavera

The silent morning left its trace of dewdrops on the winter leaves and flowers. It was a pleasant morning for Joshua and his family. Joshua is a civil engineer, who has honed his skill since his college days. His dreams were always grandiose with wide wings through the air. His dream was to get a beautiful home for his mom. This became his dream from his childhood when he was played games at home. Every day after school, he would run into his room and start building this dream home. In reality, he and his brother Michael, who is a software engineer, faced lots of trouble in building this dream home. Nevertheless, today they were in a home they could afford, and though it was different from the one in their dream, it was of course well furnished, stylish, and a possessed a modern touch. Even though this morning seemed to be very gloomy, it was bright in their home; and it would always be full of decorations and celebrations. They were waiting for their mom who is on her way to the new home that her sons were going to give her as a gift.

Ms. Amelia lost her husband an accident at construction site two years back. There had been a void in her heart since that time. The entire building was left undone, and she had to endure a huge financial loss. Her husband Peter’s dream had been to make his son a civil engineer and build the nation just has he dreamt to do it himself. Joshua loved his father and that was his motivation in becoming a civil engineer to fulfill his father’s wish. Though in today’s economic recession he could not mange to get a land and build this dream home, he just got a flat for his mother, even this made his mother so happy. He also got her a car and named the flat “Ms. Amelia’s Home.” It was the biggest and the loveliest birthday gift she ever got.

Now Amelia got out of the car with lots of enthusiasm. The two daughters-in-law also got down, Emily, who is the beloved of Joshua, and Mary, who is wife of Michael. Michael and Mary had two cute children. They were very smart both in their speech, and in their studies. Jose was the elder of the two; but the younger Kevin was the naughtiest boy. Joshua also has a sister who is at college studying medicine. Her name was Sofia and she was the college queen. She had good ethics and morals. She loved her brothers just as she loved her dad. Her brothers fostered her and helped her go to medical school as per her wish. She wanted to do medicine just because her father died of cancer. She was very intense to start her research on cancer and somehow find a cure to it. It was her dream too.

One of the burdensome works in a new home is to arrange all your belongings in a suitable position. Two days since they came to the new home, they were all busy in arranging their rooms and materials. Joshua did not go to the site for the past two days. It has been so lucky for Joshua that he got a loan to get his mother a home and his family a car. He also decided to get him a good mobile and got one sooner. Days were brighter and things were going very good. They got a home theater fixed and still only one thing was left over to be done to make the flat a real haven of their dream. They din’t get their prayer hall corrected. They had to hammer some nails to hang the photos.

Joshua was much disturbed for the past two days apart from being happy because, right from the day they entered the home, he could see some troubles. These troubles though were accidental they were not of course good signs. It was likely an unlucky charm. Every day when they got the milk from the store it was, fresh enough but when boiled it gets spoilt. This happens not one day or two days, it has happened for nearly more than a week, and he is worried a bit regarding this event. He found a hammer and then went to the prayer hall to hammer nails. He felt that at least this would get him peace of mind and he at least temporarily stay away from the disturbing thought.

His brother left to office and the kids left to school. Ladies were busy with the kitchen. Now he started the work, he tried to hammer on and on with a sharp end on one side and blunt on another, but could not make a hole at all. He was a bit confused regarding this. He then checked whether there was a beam and there was one. Now he chose a different location to hammer the nail, but even this time he could not hammer. He again checked whether a beam was present, and there was one. He checked the entire room and found that the entire room had beams. He was very confused of what is happening around him. He then relaxed saying that he would not worry anymore and call up his assistant from the construction site to do all these works. He then informed Emily and left to work. His flat was on the thirteenth floor, and hence he had to use a lift. He got to the ground floor and got into his car.

When about to start his car, he saw a blind man with a dog asking for help. He got down from the car; the blind man neared him and asked him to drop him near the shop around the corner of the street. The blind man introduced him as Maddy. The blind man said that he had a dog, which guided him all the way. However, today the Tommy was ill, so he left him at home, and hence he wanted Joshua to drop him near the shop to get some medicines for his dog. In the car, the blind man was investigating about Joshua and his family. They got very close and Joshua invited the blind man to his home.

On reaching the construction site Joshua asked his assistant Fleischer to go home and complete the prayer hall. Fleischer left to Joshua’s home with a machine. Joshua continued his day’s work. John a very close friend of Joshua, is a sergeant, came to the construction site and asked a treat for the new home, car and a hi-tech mobile. Therefore, Joshua and john moved to a restaurant late in the evening. John was congratulating him and he asked his mobile phone to check the photos of his new home. When he looked at the photos, his eyes widened in awe showing excitement in his face. He immediately exclaimed, “Wow, Joshua your home is incredible!”When he was looking at the photos of his family members, his eyes suddenly shrunk, and he asked Joshua you his photo was whirled. Joshua inspected the mobile phone and remembered that the photo was taken by little Kevin and said that it might be because it was not flashed properly. John then checked out once again the flash by snapping Joshua the photo was perfect.

When discussions were getting intense between Joshua and john suddenly, Joshua’s phone rang. It was his mom Amelia. She was much tensed and he could feel the tension in her voice. That sense of tension sent a chill into his spine. He was shocked hearing what she said. He and john rushed to Joshua’s home and took Fleischer to a nearby hospital. He would have died if they were a bit delayed. As john was sergeant, he investigated regarding what happened to john. Amelia was explaining the situation. She said he got a shock when he was trying to punch a hole in the walls to hang the photos and set up the prayer hall. Joshua felt something somewhere wrong. As this was, an accident case john told Joshua that there was nothing to worry. Joshua shook his head but he knew this cannot relax him, because Fleischer has been his father’s assistant and he was in this field or more than twenty years. He has not experienced a shock all through his working years. This thought made him feel clumsy, and he left the hospital asking the nurse to take care of him. He informed Fleischer’s family and they were on their way to take care of him.

Joshua was very perplexed regarding the events that are happening in his home continuously. He just went to a nearby bookstall to relax. This is what he usually does. Books and his wife are the sole way for him to relax. Emily could just drain him out of his tension very easily. However, this is not the issue that should be discussed with Emily. He felt that she might be tensed and this is something absurd too. Therefore, he just wants to leave this somehow and entered the bookstall. The first book he came across was the “Relationship in different positions”. To divert his attention, he just got the book and left home in a romantic mood. However, Amelia noticed that his son was disturbed for the past one week. However, she guessed that this was because of the spoilt milk, and he would return to normal. Today he entered home with such a happy and romantic mood that he has not before. Looking at the parcel in his hand his sister sprang on him and got it from him. She was running away with the parcel, he chased her and got it from her. She was on and one inquiring about what the parcel was. He giggled and said it was cookery for her sister-in-law. Then he straightly entered the kitchen and pulled his wife to their bedroom. He then presented her the book, and they soon got into romance that they both even skipped their dinner.

Joshua was relaxed a lot, and he was lying on Emily’s breasts. It was the place where he almost dropped all his worries and dive into love and only love. Just like diving into a swimming pool where you may feel lighter than anything object in the world, he felt very light by heart. The clock struck two in the morning, and slowly he raised and kissed Emily, who was fast asleep with her hands hugging Joshua around. He freed himself from her embrace and got down from bed, suddenly the bathroom light was switched on. He thought that he would have forgotten to switch it off. He got up and went to the bathroom to switch off the light, but to his shock the switch was in off condition and the light was still glowing. He switched on the switch the light was still on. He switched it on and off again and again it remained glowing for all states. Hearing the tapping sounds of the switch Emily got up from her bed asking what happened. Just the moment she entered bathroom the glowing bulb burst and Joshua was a little hurt on his forehead. Emily got backed up with the accident. She rushed to get the first aid box and gave him a first aid. She asked him what the problem was; Joshua did not want to say anything. He simply stated that there was some problem in the power wiring. Emily lied on his chest, and they were soon asleep.

The next day Joshua left to his office, he was now with a change of mood, and his mind was not also waving. He returned home again with a romantic mood. However, when he got to his lift, there was something irritating waiting for him. The lift did not work and he called the security guard for help. The security guard checked it and found that it was working on fine and left the place. Joshua again found that when he entered the lift, he could not go in the lift, it did not work. The blind man, Maddy was with his dog Tommy approaching the lift and asked Joshua, whether they could join him. Joshua replied that the lift did not work. Maddy replied that it did work just two minutes before and asked Joshua to get in. When Joshua got in along with the blind man the lift worked normal. This was creating the slow crawling fear once again in his mind. Now Joshua entered with a perplexed mood into his home thinking of what is happening to him after the blind man left to his flat. He entered his flat and his family members were celebrating something. When they saw him entering their face glowed to the brightest light. It was once again a notable moment in their life. Michael got a promotion and it was now their time to live life happily. As per the loan terms, they need at least fifteen years to repay the loan of a home and a car. Now with this promotion they can repay the loan in five years. This again changed Joshua’s home. Night was very terrible for him. His wife and his mother was watching anew serial in the TV. Of course, women are fond of watching TV and serials.

Amelia liked to watch a lot of family sentiment serials and Emily was interested in sports. Mary was interested in news. One could see the remote flying from one end of the room to another and the three used to fight for their favorite channels. This time Emily won the game, she got the remote, and she changed to her favorite sport hockey channel. However, to her surprise, the channel would not change, and it switched on to thirteenth channel where some family serial was going on. Amelia asked her to leave it as it is, but both Mary and Emily retrying on and on to change the channel but in vain. Later they found that the serial is just now starting its first episode, and they accepted to their mother-in-law’s words. All three got onto sofa and they started watching the new “Family in 13th floor and 13th Flat”, they were naturally attracted to it because they were of course in the 13th floor and 13th flat. In the first day of the serial, the actors were introducing themselves.

In the serial, there was a family of two boys Daniel and Jacob. Daniel was a construction engineer and Jacob was a software engineer. Lily and Julia were their beloved. Julia and Jacob had two cute sons, the elder was William and the younger is jack who is very naughty. Daniel became a construction engineer, because his father was a construction engineer, and his dream was to get a good home for his family. His father Mathew’s inspiration made him to become a successful engineer today. Today they are so happy because Daniel got a loan to get a new flat at the 13th floor and 13th flat. He also got a car and a mobile. This was his birthday present to his beloved mom Merlin, who loved them so much and struggled very hard to bring them up in life. They got a sister who is a newsreader called Rose. The day’s serial ended with their family photo, which had the same number of people, just the same as Joshua’s family. Slowly, destiny starts to play in Joshua’s life through this serial.

It was Monday morning; Michael left the apartment to office. He also said Amelia that he would be on a tour to attend a conference. He also said that it may take either two or three days for him to return to home. Amelia packed all his clothes and sent off him. Amelia, Emily and Mary were about to attend a marriage party out of town, and they could return only on Tuesday morning. It was Joshua, who was alone in his apartment. As usual, he locked the door and left to work. When he got into lift, again the lift would not work. It had been nearly a month they came to the new apartment and the lift did not work if he is alone in the lift, he had to climb all the thirteen floors. He knew definitely that it was not the mistake in lift and something is going around him. Therefore, he never complained the security guard about the lift. He just continued his way all around the stairs. He used to adjust sometimes to get some company so that he could go in lift. Today he got no one and hence passes through stairs. Tommy and Maddy came around the corner of the stairs towards him. He wished him and he in turn wished Joshua. Maddy has actually come for the dinner as Joshua long time back invited him to come home. Joshua felt sorry for forgetting it, and he also said that his wife, sister-in-law and mother went out and there was no one to prepare a dinner. He was very sorry for the situation. Maddy did not take this a great issue. He was sometime terrifying with his huge dog and dark specs to hide his blindness. Sometimes Joshua thinks that it was Maddy, who creates all troubles to him; because, whenever he gets trouble with the lift it was Maddy, who came to take him in the lift. He was little tensed and he tried at most to avoid Maddy in this situation because he was alone at home. However, Maddy was very interested to come home. He mentioned that this was the situation, he was expecting for long time, to speak in loneliness. Joshua was a little tensed with such a statement. He took him to his flat, called up Fleischer, and said that he would not come to the site today. He also mentioned him about certain important work that should be completed and asked him to complete the job and consult him in case of doubts. Now all three Maddy. Tommy and Joshua were in the third floor. They took the lift to thirteenth floor and Joshua was stammering and exclaimed, “Welcome sir”. This changed his life into a great horror.

Maddy entered his flat and pulled in Tommy. Tommy refused to enter the flat, and it kept barking at the flat. Maddy tried to pull him out of his full effort but in vain. Tommy just pulled his master, got himself released from his master’s old, and ran towards their flat. It never turned back to Joshua or Maddy. Maddy felt sorry for Tommy’s reaction. He also mentioned that Tommy had never behaved so violently and it seems vague that his behavior is like this. After saying this, he left the flat and said that he would come some other day. Now Joshua was in great trouble. Suddenly, he remembered the photo that Kevin once took in his mobile. It was whirled. However, when the same photo was taken out at the hotel by john it was normal. Now he tried the same. He turned the camera to focus him, sitting on a chair and snapped. When he saw the photo, he was very shocked. It was again whirled. He snapped many shots and all resulted in the same whirled fashion. Now he snapped TV, speakers and many other things. They were normal. He snapped a wall hanging, which was their family photo. The photo was normal but his face alone was whirled in the photo. This was very confusing. He just could not take it anymore and he did not know whom to share with. Getting tensed and feared, he left the flat and closed the door. When he was about to move down the stairs suddenly a thought struck his mind. He took the camera and now snapped him, it was perfectly clear without any whirls.

He opened the flat door, stepped in, took a snap it was whirled, stepped out, and took a snap it was superb. He confirmed that something was in his flat. He just sat down in the sofa very tired of thinking all about the problem. He was in confusion, whether everything was accidental or everything was occurring with some purpose. With the irritation, he just hit his hands on the sofa, and accidentally it touched the TV remote and the TV was switched on. It was the thirteenth channel which telecasted the program,”Family in 13th floor and 13th Flat”. He tried to switch it off, but it would not off he tried to change the channel and it did not change. Therefore, he left it as it is. The serial telecasted as follows…

The family of Daniel shifted to their new home, and they got a new TV too. It was for their sister Rose. Because, she is a newsreader in TV so all of them wanted to see her in TV. Therefore, they got a good TV, and they were very happy watching their sister reading news. One fine day Jacob came with a sweet box and shared that he got a promotion and that the loan that extends to nearly 15 years could be paid with the term of five years. These were the very familiar words that Joshua was hearing; yes, they were the same words that his brother told him. This sentence got Joshua’s attention. He turned and sat upright and saw the serial. The serial continues to telecast…Daniel’s wife, sister-in-law and mom left for a marriage party and his brother left regarding the office work. His sister went to college to see her results. Once he saw the scene Joshua was awestruck, the situations were very similar. He could even remember his sister was saying that she might get the results by today, and she is going to college to see whether they have come. Joshua got shocked along with excitement of what is going to happen next. Rose called home and informed everyone that she has cleared her exams in first class, and she is also a university ranker. At the moment, this was telecasted in the serial Joshua’s mobile was called. Joshua picked upon the mobile, and he was frozen to see the caller’s number.

It was his sister who was calling him. When he picked up, she said very excitingly that she cleared all the subjects in first class, and she was a university rank holder. Joshua was just watching the serial with a widened eye and a deep gaze. Rose came home with the sweet box, gave to Daniel, called up all her friends, and said her results. By the time he saw the scene, Sofia came home, and she gave sweet to her brother, called up all her friends, and said that she has been the topper of the institute. The serial ended with “to be continued”.

Joshua was just struggling hard unable to digest what was happening in the serial was just the same thing that was happening to him. Except the troubles that he was facing in his apartment. Now the next morning his wife, mother and sister-in-law returned, and he had to go to the office. He was not able to see the serial for another three days because he was on his job. In addition, he used to tease his home people that they always watch serials. Now if he sits and watches the serial, they would inquire him what the reason is, so he did not want to discuss the things that are happening. However, he used to ask Amelia if anything serious has occurred in the serial. One day he came from the office sooner, and he also joined the people to watch the serial. The serial telecasted as follows…Daniel’s friend Sidney was getting ready to go to his office and when he was about to prepare a coffee, they showed the gas valve opened and the impending danger of the gas leakage. Immediately, Joshua called john, john was about to light the stove when Joshua called, he then kept the lighter down and attended Joshua’s call. Joshua asked him to check the valve of the gas cylinder and to his shock john found the danger that would have killed him. He then inquired Joshua, how he knew things, Joshua explained all what happened to him.

The next day serial showed that Daniel’s wife conceived and when she was celebrating the gift she got,  she got hurt badly, and she was admitted in the hospital and she was very serious. Joshua was tensed seeing this, because morning his wife said the good news that she was conceived. Just after seeing this, he rushed into see where his wife was, but the time he reached kitchen cooker burst and his wife was badly hurt. Immediately, they admitted her in the hospital. She was admitted in hospital and Joshua just wanted to know whether she will face any difficulty in becoming normal. To know that he has to see the serial. He walked down to the billing counter in the hospital and looked at the TV. It was Sunday and hence the serial would again in telecast on Monday. Therefore, he could not know what will happen to his wife. He bought a newspaper, saw which location the shooting was taken, and went to that location to meet the director of the serial. He rushed through the traffic to the location and the shooting of; “Family in 13th floor and 13th Flat” was going on. He was waiting to watch what is going to happen. A woman appeared, took a mike, and she was interviewing a personality. He got confused and asked one of the crew members of when is the shooting of “Family in 13th floor and 13th Flat”. The member said that this is the shooting of the live program, “Family in 13th floor and 13th Flat”.

The whole world went reeling before him. He now realized that serial was running only in his home and no such serial existed ever. It was just telecasting in his home and in no other homes. This gave a chill through his spine. His wife was still serious in the hospital. The next day, Monday he was waiting until evening and rushed home to switch on the TV, the program was telecasting, the doctor said Daniel not to worry and his wife is safe now. Joshua seeing that just fell on the sofa and started crying. He thanked god a lot of times. His wife got better and she was discharged the next day. He brought her home and took care of her. A week went by, and he just asked his mom, whether there was anything special in the serial, his mom said yes Joshua, someone comes in with a hammer to kill all of them. Joshua got tense again. He was wondering why such thing is going to happen to his family. The next day he saw the serial without fail. He saw a man who hit everyone in the family with a blunt hammer. Joshua’s nerves rushed with blood his heart was pounding, he did not know who that was and why such things should happen to his family. He was waiting to see who the killer was. However, before they show the killer it was labeled, “to be continued”. Joshua did not know what to do now.

He just slept an owl sleep, as usual resting his on his wife’s lap. He felt insecure. He fastened all latches and warned everyone not to open the door, unless he tells to. The next day he went to his friend who could solely help him and told about all what was telecasted. His friend asked him, if everything had happened as per the serial in his home. He was slowly recollecting everything, and he said yes everything had happened, except that his sister was a doctor and that girl was a new reader. In addition, the kids used to hide something in their garden and Joshua’s kids did not hide anything as such. John thought this could get a good point. He said that checking garden might prove to be of some help. So both went and checked the garden and found an album. It was the album that the children in the serial hid in their garden. Now they both opened the album and found all the actors in the serial were there in the album. They saw that the album was fifty years old. Now Joshua got that it is a true story and all what happened in that story happened to him to. He then checked the address that was on the back cover of the album and found it was the same address in which he is living now. Now he understood that all those characters lived in his apartment, and hence he is influenced by them.

Now he remembered Doctor Neil, who knew all about souls and their existence. He was the one who saved his mother during the second attack. Now he went and inquired whether such things were possible. The doctor said yes it is of course possible because a soul will need some media to say its feelings. It has used your TV to telecast its feelings. Joshua and john went to check out all the newspapers and collected the full history of the family. Here is how the story of the serial family ends. A man loved rose, but rose did not accept his love. Daniel and Jacob fixed some other person for rose. Getting raged with this, the man who loved rose blackmailed her that he would commit suicide. No one took it serious. However, the next day the boy committed suicide. On the very day, everyone who belonged to the happy family of Rose was killed with a hammer. Joshua checked the newspapers with the stills showing the sharp hammer and the photographs of the dead body in a smashed state. He could not control the fear and tears. He could not even imagine his family dying this way.

Now Joshua needs to know who the man with the hammer was. Therefore, he bade good-bye to the doctor and rushed to home. The serial began… The man was turned with his back to the screen with his hammer in hand with blood dripping. His heart was pounding faster and faster waiting for the man to turn. Clock was racing toward the serial’s end time. It was just a minute to end that day’s show. Last two seconds to display” to be continued”, yes the man turned. Joshua’s heart just stopped a moment and started racing just like fire. He could not believe what he saw. The man with the blood-dripping hammer is none other than Joshua himself. Joshua could not imagine of the situation, he saw in the serial. Now he made up his mind that it might be true and left home immediately. He called his friend, said to him about this, and went to the doctor’s home. He explained the situation to the doctor and asked his friend to book flight tickets for all his family members so that they go safe abroad. He asked the doctor to give the flight tickets and ask all of them to leave tonight. He also requested him not to say about this situation and just urge them to leave the country tonight. He asked his friend to lock up in a room and never let out. Joshua got promise from john that he should not open whatever the situation may be.

Now Joshua was locked him in room waiting for the night to pass by. When he was staring in one corner of the room, he saw a hammer, confirmed that he is the one going to take the hammer, and killed them. The hammer was blunt and he could remember the one, he saw in the serial. It was the same one. Now he prayed god that he should not get into any situation of doing this. When he was crying thinking about this, he just got a point that struck his mind. When he and john looked at the newspaper clippings, it had a sharp end on one side and blunt on the other side. However, the one he saw in serial was blunt in both the side; the hammer, which was in front of him, was blunt on both sides. Now his heart started racing, he called out to john to open the door. John heard what he said, but did not open, he asked Joshua to relax and not to come out until dawn. Joshua desperately tried to explain but john thought it was all lies, and he had to save Joshua’s family. Joshua got high to his temper and climbed through the cupboard to escape through the window.

He accidentally fell from the cupboard and all the newspapers on the cupboard fell on him. One of the newspapers had the news of the death in the serial. It had the photo of the boy who loved rose. Joshua was shocked to see it, because it was the doctor’s brother. Joshua now understood the entire plot. It was the doctor who killed everyone with the sharp hammer. Joshua’s heart was racing. He escaped through the window and took the blunt hammer to break the glass. He took it with him and ran towards his apartment.

Doctor reached Joshua is flat, gave his family members the ticket, and told them that they should urgently leave the country and said that there was no time to explain why. He asked everyone to pack their belongings. When everyone was perplexed and started packing their belonging in the room, the doctor alone in the hall switched on the TV. Rose was now reading news, the doctor got shock looking at it. Rose was reading the death news of her own family and said that she was waiting for this moment to get the doctor to her place. The doctor just took the sharp hammer, which was nearby and hit the TV. Hearing the noise, everyone came out of their room. The doctor could not see Sofia, Emily, Amelia and others. He could only see the people whom he killed. He just raised the hammer towards them and said he would kill them all.

He just raised the hammer towards Sofia to slash her to death, before which Joshua arrived at the spot, and hit the doctor in his head with the blunt hammer. He was now holding the blunt hammer with blood dripping. John now realized what the scene actually was. It was Joshua killing the doctor. John was the sergeant and hence he made all efforts to relieve Joshua out of the case.

Joshua and his family had a happy living forever then. They never had the serial back in their TV, and they construed their journey to bring their dream come true.

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