vacancy

Vacancy



“The head office sent me.”

The young man standing in front of Mr. Kedare had an air of arrogance about him. His
hair was curly black, complexion wheatish and eyes shiny like those of a cat. He also had
a mischievous smile that made Mr. Kedare feel a bit uneasy. A little voice at the back of
Mr. Kedare’s head constantly told him that this stranger was here to snatch something
from him; something that Mr. Kedare should stop him from taking away at all costs.

“Do you have a letter from the head office?” Mr. Kedare asked in a stern voice.

The young man casually pulled out an envelope from his folder and threw it on the table.
Maintaining a calm façade, Mr. Kedare opened it and went through its contents. It said
that the young man had been appointed for the position of a stenographer. He was
supposed to start immediately.

Mr. Kedare was puzzled. There was already a stenographer in the office. There weren’t
any transfer orders for her. Nor were there any complaints about her work. And in that
small office of twenty five, there was never a need two stenographers.

“There must be some mistake,” he told the young man. “We don’t have a vacancy at the
moment.”

“You inform that to the head office.” The young man said with a smirk.

“That I will,” said Mr. Kedare trying hard to keep his cool. “Now you may leave.”

With an annoying chuckle, the man snatched the letter from Mr. Kedare’s hands and
walked out of the cabin. Mr. Kedare didn’t take his eyes off him as he walked down the
aisle towards the small reception area and out of the main exit.

The moment the man was out of sight, Mr. Kedare felt relieved, as if some of kind of
pressure had been taken off his heart.

----


Next day, when Mr. Kedare entered the office, he heard a familiar voice wish him good
morning. Since he was in hurry he greeted back even before seeing who it belonged to.
But the moment Mr. Kedare saw the wisher he couldn’t help feeling a bit irritated. It was
the young man again, sitting cross legged on one of the chairs at the reception, a mocking
smile on his face.

---

“What are you doing here?” Mr. Kedare asked.

“Waiting to take charge of the job.” replied the young man.

“You’ll have to wait a while for that,” said Mr. Kedare with a scowl. “I have dictated a
letter last evening. It’ll get typed today and dispatched after I sign it. The head office
usually takes about a week to get back.”

“But I’ve already got my orders from the head office.” said the young man insolently.

“I have told you, there’s no vacancy here!” said Mr. Kedare, his voice a bit louder with a
tinge of anger.

“Alright, then I’ll wait,” said the young man. “I’ll wait till there’s a vacany.” And with
this he picked up a newspaper and began reading it as if Mr. Kedare wasn’t even there.
Mr. Kedare felt a bit insulted but he was in no mood to get into an argument with that
rude fellow. So he just pretended to ignore him and walked towards his cabin, wondering
what the young man had meant.

The man sat in the reception area all day. Every one in the office thought he was waiting
for someone. But no one observed that he just kept staring at Sarita the stenographer who
sat at the far corner of that little office; no one except Mr. Kedare and it disturbed him a
bit.

Next day, when Mr. Kedare entered the office, the man was already there at the
reception. This time he didn’t say good morning. Just sat there reading the newspaper
with a smirk. Mr. Kedare felt like calling the security and throwing him out of the office.
But he decided against it.

That afternoon, Sarita the stenographer started experiencing a sharp pain in her stomach.
The whole office gathered around her. The pain had become unbearable and she was
almost crying in agony. Soon someone called a doctor. He came in a jiffy but couldn’t
diagnose the malady. He suggested taking her to a hospital and soon an ambulance was
summoned. Later that evening, news came from the hospital that it was a case of massive
food poisoning. By night, Sarita was vomiting blood. By midnight, she was in a critical
condition. By morning, she was dead.

A few employees attended her funeral. Those who couldn’t, paid respects to a photograph
and observed a minute of silence. But in a few hours, Sarita the stenographer was
forgotten and it was business as usual at the office. Her seat was now occupied by the
young man. He was busy punching away on the typewriter, completing jobs which had
been held up by her sudden demise.

Mr. Kedare watched the young man nervously from his cabin. Though he didn’t like the
man, there was nothing he could do about it. The young man had a letter appointing him

---

as the new stenographer and now there was even a vacancy for the job. But Mr. Kedare
wondered how the man could have known about the vacancy in advance? Who had
appointed him? Was he in any way responsible for Sarita’s horrifying fate…..?

----


“The head office sent me.”

In a week’s time, another new recruit was standing in front of Mr. Kedare. He too had a
letter authorized by the head office and had been appointed for the accountant’s post. But
Mr. Kedare already had a very good accountant in Mr. Kundalikar, one of the senior most
employees in the office. He told the man there was no vacancy at the moment.

“Then I’ll wait.” said the recruit blankly.

Mr. Kedare just kept looking at him. The man looked a bit crude with his dark rugged
face and thick eyebrows joining above his nose. He continuously kept tapping his fingers
on the table. The sound irritated Mr. Kedare.

“I can’t say anything in this matter until I get a clarification from the head office.” said
Mr. Kedare, trying to keep his face as expressionless as possible.

“Then what should I do till then?” the man asked coldly. “We can’t go against head
office’s orders, can we?”

Mr. Kedare didn’t have an answer for that.

“Alright, you can start. I’ll find some other work for you.” he told the man reluctantly.

“But the head office appointed me as an accountant.” the man persisted.

“Fine,” Mr. Kedare gave in, “Just pull a chair next to Mr. Kundalikar and help him out
with the books.”

----

Mr. Kedare pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He lit one and took in a deep
drag. But he realized that today even the cigarette couldn’t calm his nerves. There was a
strange heaviness in his chest. His head was filled with thoughts about the new recruits.
His hands trembled. Somehow he knew it was not the high blood pressure that had
plagued him for the last few years. It was fear.

He thought of calling the head office. But that would have been against protocol. All
correspondence had to be in writing. So he opened his letter pad and put pen to paper.
Mr. Kedare had stopped dictating letters since the new stenographer had taken over. The

---

last letter he had dictated had been to Sarita and it had been similar to this one. But the
head office had never bothered to reply to it. What if the head office didn’t reply to this
letter too? Mr. Kedare found himself sweating profusely at the thought.

For the next few days, whenever Mr. Kedare looked out of his cabin he would see the
new accountant sitting next to Mr. Kundalikar. He seemed enthusiastic about his work
and Mr. Kundalikar didn’t seem bothered by him at all. But the man did bother Mr.
Kedare.

A couple of days later, on his way to office, Mr. Kedare saw a mob gathered around
something in front of the office building. A few employees from the office were also
there. More people were running towards the spot to see what had happened. Out of
curiosity, Mr. Kedare too joined in. Somebody told him that an old gargoyle from the
neighbouring building had given away and crashed into some unfortunate guy on the
street. It had smashed the guy’s skull and killed him on the spot.

On close scrutiny, Mr. Kedare discovered that bloodied corpse belonged to no other than
the accountant, Mr. Kundalikar.

Though his death disturbed Mr. Kedare, it didn’t disturb the functioning of the office.
From the very next day, the man with the rugged face took charge of the books. After all,
the letter from the head office had clearly said that he had been appointed in the position
of an accountant.

----


The unexpected chain of events had shocked Mr. Kedare. He felt as if something beyond
his comprehension was taking over his world, corrupting it like an incurable disease. It
seemed tenacious in its approach, voracious in its appetite and somehow he knew it
wouldn’t rest easy until it had devoured everything around him.

He was restless. The head office hadn’t responded to his letters. But he had to do
something. Coincidence or not, a couple of employees were dead after the head office
had sent new recruits. He had to inform the head office about it. He had to tell them that
they shouldn’t send new recruits if there weren’t any vacancies, that in some weird
unexplainable way, it was lethal for the employees already occupying those slots.

Finally, he just picked up the phone and called the head office. To hell with the protocol!

“Hello, this is branch manager Kedare.” How much ever he tried, he was unable hide the
tension in his voice.

“Yes Mr. Kedare… What can I do for you?” asked the heavy voice on the other side.

---

“Sir, why is the head office sending new recruits to my branch even though there are no
vacancies?”

“Manager, are you trying to question the decisions of the head office?”

“No sir… No at all… Please don’t misunderstand me… But I was just wondering…?”

“Mr. Kedare, the head office is under new management now. And they don’t think it is
necessary to share their policies with mid-level officers such as yourself. The head office
has more important things to do than give you justification for their actions.”

“But…”

“Aren’t the new recruits doing their jobs properly?”

“That they are sir…. But I am afraid something is not right - Can you please send
someone here – the head office might get a better idea of what I’m talking after that… I
suspect that these new recruits…. They are not human!”

“Mr. Kedare, don’t talk rot! Have you gone insane? Do you even know what you are
talking? Any way…. There’s no need to stress yourself too much…. I’ll send someone to
assess the situation there.”

“Thank you, sir… Thank you… You don’t know how relieved I am to hear this….”

----


“The head office sent me.”

The middle aged man standing in front of Mr. Kedare had silvery hair and a pleasant
smile. It had been a couple of days since the call to the head office and as promised they
had sent someone to take stock. Mr. Kedare welcomed the man enthusiastically and
asked him to have a seat. But the man just kept smiling and handed him an envelope.

The moment Mr. Kedare read the letter inside a wave of terror passed over him. It said
that the man in front of him had been appointed for the post of the branch manager. He
looked up in shock. The man with the silvery hair was looking straight into his eyes. Mr.
Kedare suddenly felt a piercing pain in his heart. His Feet gave away and he crashed to
the floor. The last thing he saw before the light left his eyes was the man walking towards
his empty chair.

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