Sleep was far and Rajat kept tossing in bed. He kept thinking of a hundred reasons as of what it could be but came up with a blank. He was scared and did not want to look like a fool ,talking about this incident to his teachers. Thinking about all this he managed to fall asleep. The same noise woke him up again. He looked at the time...3am . " What the hell " he thought. He turned around and patted Ritik gently. Ritik opened his eyes sleepily and asked ' what now ? have you seen the ghost again ? ' Rajat motioned him to be quiet and slowly they got out of bed. This time they had kept the night light on in the room so Rajat did not pick up his phone for the flashlight. On tip toe they reached the balcony door and removed the curtain to look outside. There was nothing . They waited . The sound kept coming but no shadow like thing could be seen. Now Rajat was sure it had been his imagination all the time and saw a sleepy Ritik giving him an angry stare. As they turned around to go back to bed ,they heard some muffled voices . It seemed as if someone was talking in whispers and then suddenly Rajat heard a ' giggle ' and a long ' shhhhhh'. So ,this is it .Now the whole scenario became clear. He realised the boys in the room above theirs were playing a prank. In sign language he told Ritik to go back to bed. In the morning they were going to find out who was in that room.
All gathered in the restaurant for breakfast and Rajat went to the receptionist to enquire about the occupants in the above room. As soon as he heard their names,he understood the whole plan. An incident about a month back came to his mind. It had so happened that Rajat had caught two of the boys cheating in a class test and he had complained to the teacher. Since then a rivalry formed between them. Rajat knew they were paying him back by enacting a ' ghost encounter '.He smiled. " I am two steps ahead of you . You just wait and watch. ".
The day passed by happily and Rajat and Ritik came up with a plan. At 2.30 am they quietly walked up to the second floor. Rajat covered himself with a white sheet and Ritik stood near room 204 and pressed the bell. Rajat ,very slowly ,making low howling sounds started walking in the corridor. Since the lights were dim ,the shadow of something in white walking was visible only. The door opened and they could hear voices " who is it "? someone called from inside. Ritik rang the bell again and quickly hid himself. As the door opened wide ,Rajat who was near the door ,slowly walked past it . Seeing a shadow pass by ,covered in white the boys screamed and ran back to their room ,shouting ' bhoot ,bhoot '. Rajat and Ritik smiled and went back to their room. " Now we can sleep peacefully" ,they thought and went to bed.
No one mentioned or complained about the nights incident and rest of the " Days " and " Nights " went by happily.
' Mussoorie ' Queen of Hills we will remember you for many ,many years ' said the happy boys of 104 and scared ones of 204.

© Rhyme with Ruchi