Honoka's Piano

 ‘In the beautiful hills of Shimla, there is unknown darkness, gloom and sinfulness.’ 

A girl named Devi was a thirteen-year-old who studied in Loreto Convent, an all-girls school, in the year 1980. Devi was clever, friendly and a bully. She used to bully younger children and play pranks on them which were disturbing. Like locking them in the bathroom, scaring them by wearing a scary mask and many other types of tricks that led to profound perturbation in their minds. The whole school was scared of her and had to fulfil everything she wished for….

Loreto was famous for appointing Irish nuns as teachers. Those nuns were known to be extremely strict and no-nonsense. No one could speak a word in front of them. They were thought of as a nuisance because there was no friendly banter between the students. In short, they destroyed all the fun of school. They used to hit students with a wooden cane, make them stand on their desks for hours and harass them. Students used to shiver by just listening to their footsteps, ‘tab-tab-tab-tab’. They used to wear a veil and habit, from which only the face was visible. All of them wore a cross and black heels.

They spoke with a heavy Irish accent “Students, take out page number 45 of your science textbook, right now! Ms Divanshi! I said…. RIGHT NOW!” Hearing this Divanshi would jump out of her skin and start shivering. They were that scary.

But an exception was made once! Instead of an Irish nun, a Japanese Nun was hired. She was the complete opposite; sweet, supportive and friendly. Her name was Honoka, Sister Honoka. She didn’t wear a veil and a habit, instead, she wore formal trousers and a shirt with puffed sleeves. She used to play the piano and she played it skillfully and elegantly. Most of the nuns stayed on the school premises only. Sister Honoka also stayed there. She used to play the piano for everyone during their dinner time. She was in love with the piano, for some strange reason. She loved playing ‘Mozart’ on the piano. 

After being a part of the school staff for around three months, she started feeling like a family member. One day she was not present in class mentally. Divanshi asked whether she was okay, but she didn’t reply. The next day she was found dead in her room. Her wrists were cut. Everybody was devastated. The students were not informed as it was extremely disturbing. They were told that she went back to Japan. Devi had never been a student of Sister Honoka that’s why she was not affected. She was still doing rebellious acts and she was the only one who was scared of the nuns. She used to make fun of Honoka’s piano, her character and even her nationality. Devi was emotionless and cruel. She had three friends or her partners in crime. Devi had an obscure idea to trespass the school at night, alone. Her friends were not in favour of the idea. So, she went alone...

 She was roaming around silently as the nuns were present there. The weather was cloudy. She went directly to the piano room. She was making fun of it. “HAA! This silly piano!! What’s so special about it? I just see a piece of old rotting wood! Honoka was useless!!” Devi exclaimed. When she was going back she heard the sweet melody of a piano. She thought it was some other nun. So she didn’t stop. But then she heard ‘Mozart’ playing. She was petrified. She went back to check and saw a nun playing the piano. She was tip-toeing there and she shouted “Who are you!? Step away!!!” Then the lady started playing the track vigorously and the sound was earsplitting. Devi started screaming “HEY!! SHUT UP!! OK!!!!! DO NOT TRY TO SCARE ME!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM!!!” She was shivering with fear. Then the lady turned around, slowly and looked at her, smirking. She said, in a sing-song way, “What were you saying about me? Hmmm!?” Devi asked, “Who are you!?” Then there was a spark of lightning and her face was visible. She was Sister Honoka……

Devi was trembling with fear and cold sweat was breaking on her nape. She was flummoxed and fearful to her soul.  She started running towards the door. She kept running and running and running, through the corridors of horror. After a while, she heard a nun’s voice which was different from Honoka’s voice. So, she stopped and looked around. But, Sister Honoka had been following her and tricked her. She raised her with her neck, Devi was levitating! She was feeling choked….

The next morning Devi’s body was found stuck to the wall of the piano room. There were scars on her arms, legs and neck. There was 666 written on her forehead, which is the devil’s number. Seeing this, the nuns immediately cleansed the whole school. But they never answered the question on everybody's mind, why did Sister Honoka kill herself and who killed Devi !!

They sprinkled holy water everywhere, on the piano as well. The next day they saw the piano’s wood splintered and it was deep red. They immediately understood that it was Sister Honoka’s spirit. The piano was thrown out. After a long time and lots of prayers, the school became peaceful. 

On cold winter nights, sometimes they still hear the piano playing ‘tang-tang-tang-tang…’