Decoding the Secret of the Sudden death of a Young Medical Student in a Riverside Dormitory

Yousuf Ali, a first-year medical student at Welfare Medical School situated in the suburbs from the center of the city, decided a few days ago to leave his privately rented room in the city hostel and move to the general student dormitory. He did not have too many belongings; just a bag containing all his clothes, a wooden bed with other necessary things like pillows, bed sheets, blanket and so on. He hired a local van at a cheap rate to transfer all these to the main building which was a little bit distant from the main campus and near the riverbank. There were a lot of trees all around and so were the chirpings of birds. The columns of trees were so thick that it remained cloudy and dark even in the broad daylight. The mighty Padma river added something more to the serenity of the whole area. Every afternoon, a huge number of city folks used to visit the riverbanks and disappear just before the evening when the hell of utter silence engulfs the whole area. As the area is located a bit far away from the main city, very few people are found to be roaming around in the area during the afternoon and through the night. During the rainy season, the river used to turn into a devastating and fierce one which seemed to destroy the only age-old embankment and flood the whole city anytime. The horrific crying sound of the waves at midnight used to create an atmosphere that nobody used to get out without any urgent necessity.

The student dormitory had two blocks; one is the five-story old building and another is the under-construction new blocks which were supposed to be completed in a few months. Yousuf was allocated a room on the 3rd floor of the old building. The problem was that not too many students chose to stay here. Most of the rooms remained vacant throughout the years. But Yousuf had been undergoing financial hardship for the last few months. His father was a farmer and due to poor harvest this season, he failed to continue sending money to his youngest but the most brilliant son. Yousuf had no option available except to choose the cheapest one to move to the institute's residential place.

Yousuf was a nice adorable guy from his childhood. He was very humble and talked very little. Most of his daytime was spent taking part in usual classes at the institute. In the afternoon, the lengthy practical sessions were started which used to last till the evening. The dormitory was around 30 mins walk from the main campus. Some days, he used to take electric rickshaws to get to his place.

He was allocated a single room, which was neat and clean. He set up his bed, a bookshelf and a wooden box for keeping his clothes. As a usual medical student, he purchased a skeleton from a nearby market a few days ago. The human skeleton had always been hanging in front of his study table. Sometimes, he used to separate all the parts for his study purpose. There was also a distinct box to keep all these parts. His room number was 35.

He was fortunate to find a friend named Reaz Rahman who took room no 27, a little far away from his room. Both of them had had a lot of chats every evening. Sometimes they studied together.

It was on the 29th of July 2015, Yousuf returned to the dormitory after the classes in the evening. It was a very hectic day. The next day, there was a tutorial exam. So, he planned to take shower and concentrate on the study shortly. He knew that he had to study till midnight this day to cover all the topics. At 8.30 PM that day, Reaz came to his room to have some chitchats but he did not stay for long, considering Yousuf's tough exam.

The following day, the tutorial exam started at 10 AM but Yousuf was not present. It was for the first time he was absent from the class. His class teacher called him but his cell phone was turned off. Nobody has enquired too much that day. Reaz after finishing his classes returned to his room and got fresh. In the evening, he came to Yousuf's room and was surprised to discover that his room's door was dark and locked from inside. It was very unusual because Yousuf never used to sleep in the evening. Then what happened? Was he sick? Reaz started to shout, calling his name. No response from inside. Fear deepened. His hair started to raise. He knocked on the door a few more times but there was no sound. Pinpoint silence. He began to sweat and hardly kept him patient. Immediately, he called the curator of the dormitory, informing him that something wrong had happened here and requested to come to the spot at the quickest.

The dormitory curator, Jomshed khan, 45, a healthy medium-height bearded man, rushed to the place in 15 mins along with a few more staff from the Institute. All of them knocked on the door and called Yousuf multiple times. Utter silence. There was no option available then but to call the Police. The nearest police station was situated some 3.5 kilometers away. However, they did not take too long to reach the spot. In the meantime, it had been 10 PM.

Rather than trying any other means, police officers broke into the room. It was a really horrific scene on the bed. The mosquito net was still hanging. Yousuf's dead body was lying under a blanket on the bed. That morning he had not gotten up. He had been sleeping in the same way how he went to bed last night. Probably he studied till late at night. The skull of the skeleton was lying on the floor. While the officers were moving towards the bed, one of them stumbled with the skull. There was a medic with the team who took the dead body's temperature and purse and opined that Yousuf might have died last night. Everything looked so puzzled. They sent the body for autopsy.

After all the legal formalities had been done, the dead body was sent to his ancestral house. There was a tragic scene at that place. His parents became fainted a number of times and their crying did not stop. The burial took place the next morning. Lots of people from the nearby community gathered for the last farewell.

On the other hand, the police authority and Medical administration were shuttered at the severity of the incidence. None could predict what had happened and find out anything. The autopsy report came to light after two weeks of the incidents. It declared that the death took place because of a heart attack that was triggered by extreme fear and panic.

The investigation officers were in real puzzlement. They did not find out anything unusual. After almost 20 days of the occurrence, the investigation team again visited the spot, Yousuf's room. They searched every nook and corner and took each tiny detail. The officer stumbling the human skull on the floor remembered something and he instantly approached his boss, asking that how the skull fell on the floor that day. The skull was supposed to be on the table. Probably on that day, Yousuf studied till late at night and forgot to put the skull in the bag. But a valid question is who made the skull fall on the floor? It was almost late in the evening. Officers did not want to stay anymore and called it a day.

The next morning, the officers started early. They were in utter frustration. The whole country got shocked at the incident and in confusion about whether it is normal or abnormal death. On This day a few local age-old men were called to visit the place who knew the place for years. They opined something very strange, which might evoke anybody's interest and throw into the realm of horror. They indicated a big banyan tree which could be seen from Yousuf's window. On the night of the incident, the window was open. There was a hair-rising legendary regarding this mysterious tree. The most prominent one was that there were five ghosts living in this tree which was just on the bank of the river. Two years ago, a boy came to the river for taking bath and soon after, he drowned tragically and his body was never found. The old men told that it was occurred by these ghosts. However, before the sunset, the group was relieved by the investigation officers.

It was no doubt that Yousuf's death was caused by an extreme level of fear, resulting in a fierce heart attack. But the question was what triggered that fear and panic? Suddenly, investigation officers remembered the box of books, that was placed under the bed. They brought out the box and opened it. Almost all the books were torn apart and destroyed. They noticed a number of rat holes here and there. Probably, the rats might have destroyed all the books. Nearby there was another box containing all the skeleton parts. The rats certainly entered that box as well. But the skull was not kept in the box. A few days ago, while investigating, the officers put the skull on the table. One officer went to take the skull from the table into the box. While approaching closer, he sensed something very strange. The skull was moving. He called his fellow officers and showed it. They all got more interested. What was inside the skull making it move? When they got a bit more closer, now the skull started to walk faster before it fell finally off the table after a few seconds and a big rat came out of it, making a screeching sound. Suddenly, The officer stumbling the skull on the very day of Yousuf's death shouted and declared that the mystery got solved.

He narrated his findings to the whole team in brief. That very night, Yousuf went to bed late because of studying for the next day's tutorial. He did not keep the skull in the skeleton box. It remained on the table. At midnight, a rat got out and entered the skull. The rat was struggling hard to get out of the skull but it could not. But from the outside, it looked like the skull was moving on the table. Yousuf probably noticed that incident and got extremely panicked before he succumbed to a heart attack. He probably could not explain the incident to himself instantly and got lost in utter silence forever. After a few minutes, the rat with the skull fell off the table and it got relieved while the skull remained on the floor.

What a tragic ending of a brilliant young man! The officers submitted the complete investigation report to the administration in a few days. Yousuf's parents still can not forget the loss although Yousuf would never return again.

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