It’s a rainy day. Jhinuk stepped out of her home knowing that she was going to get drenched in the rain on the way to her school. As a part of her regular routine, as a school teacher, she had a cup of hot tea with some biscuits and started for her school. She cycles every day towards the ferry ghat where she crosses the river and takes a bus to her school. The day was a little bit different, water logging in the streets delayed her daily routine followed by the irregular movement of ferries and buses. Still, she reached her destination by 07:30 am. The start of the day showed her a trailer of how her day was going to end. The day kicked off very badly as the biometrics of her school didn’t work and all the teachers had to show up without knowing if their attendance would be noted.

Being the Head Mistress of Class VII, she had a lot of pre-planned work to do before starting her daily class schedules. That day, being completely drenched in rain, she instantly changed her dress to avoid getting sick and as she was going to start with her activity logs for the whole day, a student namely Roshan came to her and asked, “Good morning mam, I am really worried regarding something. Can you help me out?” The way he spoke highlighted his uneasiness. In a very calm and composed way, she replied, “Good morning dear, is everything alright? Share with me.” In an unpleasant tone, the student replied, “Mam, there seems to be some mischievous activities in our classroom. During the morning assembly, while all the students were leaving for the assembly hall, I noted the window curtains were moving. As I left the room, there was a creaking sound on the door, and the door closed. But, there was no one inside the room.” Although, it was something that couldn’t be believed at once, still the eagerness of the student while explaining the complete situation couldn’t be ignored. Trying to understand the depth of his anxiety and ease him down, Jhinuk showed concern and replied, “I understand. But, are you sure? The thing you are trying to explain doesn’t exist in real life. Be assured, it was your flawed assumption.” Although, he nodded his head and moved out acknowledging her words. Somewhere from the bottom of her heart, she knew that she couldn’t convince Roshan. All day amidst her class sessions, this thing flashed in her head as a shockwave. As she went to Roshan’s class for the Bengali Literature Session, she tried to observe the movement of the curtains, but there was nothing noticeable.

The recess time had just started and all the children were busy playing on the school grounds after finishing their meals. The teachers were in the staffroom talking to each other while having their food. The morning incident was still fresh in her mind, though she was not able to share it with her colleagues as they would never understand the seriousness of the mental state of the student she had seen in the morning. Suddenly a care-taking staff of the school rushed into the staff room and screamed, “Please come fast to Class VII, a student is lying unconsciously on the floor!!” In a moment, all her fears turned into reality as she knew she was the only person who knew the past of the incident and she was quite sure who the unconscious guy was. After minutes of silence, as everyone rushed to the spot, she also followed and was terror-stricken seeing the scene of the class. Students were surrounding him and there was a chaotic ecosystem in the classroom. One of his classmates told a teacher, “Mam, we went to the ground and he was alone in the classroom during the recess. Suddenly, a loud noise followed by a scream brought us here and we found him lying unconscious on the floor.”

The local doctor was called immediately and his parents were informed of the whole incident. Jhinuk still couldn’t figure out a way to convey this message to her colleagues. The seriousness of the incident was suddenly high and a dramatic change of the twist left her dazzled. Within a few hours, her father came rushing to the school. His face was faded and there was a sense of fear running through him. He was assured that his son is now stable and he doesn’t need to worry. Jhinuk showed a little courage to call her father personally as she wanted to convey the whole situation to him. As she was informing him of the incident that happened in the morning, he spoke up, “I know the current mental state of Roshan. My wife died in an accident last week and he is in a state of shock. He has been hallucinating things recently. And maybe, this is just another phase of hallucination. I have taken him to a psychiatrist and he has suggested some medicines and has termed this as a post-shock of her mother’s unfortunate death.” After the conversation, he left.

Things went well for the next couple of days. It was a Saturday. The last day of school before the winter vacation. The students were waiting eagerly for the classes to end as it will be a holiday of 15 days before they return to school sessions again. Jhinuk was taking her last Bengali Literature class of VII. Suddenly, she felt Roshan was inattentive in the class and was blankly looking at the window pains. It was around 11:oo am in the morning. Suddenly, her eyes went to the window pain and she noticed a shadow on the glass window pane. A cold shock went through her whole body as she observed the glimpse of a woman in a red saree. Was it a moment of hallucination for her too, or something more? She completed her class and returned home for the day. Amidst the vacation, the most shocking news came as her colleague, Ipsita called her to inform her that Roshan died last night while he was sleeping. It was a day she still couldn’t forget. All the incidents were moving through her veins. She was still trying to recollect the whole incident. The following night she couldn’t sleep followed by the series of incidents that were running through her mind. His face was constantly bulging through her memories. The last words of her father struck her like a thunderstorm.

Sitting lonely, she imagined what the boy felt as his last breath passed, was it fear or helplessness or a strong feeling for her mother? As the winter vacation came to an end, there was an indefinable sadness in the whole community of her school with the loss of the little boy. Jhinuk went to her closest colleague, Bhagyashree, and told her solemnly in a trembling voice, “Sometimes, we need to remember that the strongest warriors are also fighting their own battles in solitude!! It’s very important we stand by them in this time and support them.” As she spoke, tears rolled down her eyes. The mystery of window pane still remained unsolved.