Mysterious Death

17-👻Neighbour👻

Alisha being my toughest competitor, I had a feeling that she would win. But it didn't mean that I was happy with my hunch coming true.

"You still won a second place and that's good enough," Drishti's Dad tried to cheer her up.

Her mood which was already ruined by coming second had fallen even more when the winner was announced.

She nodded but still looked like someone killed her puppy. After lots of encouraging words from everyone, she finally cheered up when Coach came to praise her.

I knew that feeling all too well. When the person who constantly scolded you for mistakes, all of a sudden praised you, it certainly felt like an achievement.

"Well, I was informed that we would be receiving the certificates today and other prizes would be given on a later date," Coach informed and then left as something came up.

"I will get going now. Drishti, congratulations once again," saying this, Aman left too.

"How about we all celebrate after Drishti gets her certificate?" Her Mom suggested.

"Mooom, how can we?" Drishti looked guiltily towards my parents.

"Oh no no, dear. Maira wouldn't want you to stop your celebrations and sit idle just for her sake," Mom said, understanding Drishti's plight.

"You two should also join us," Drishti's dad suggested.

"Actually today was a special day for Maira and Drishti made it more special by winning second place, so we were thinking of going to temple and then distribute sweets to poor people, to take blessings for both of our girls," Dad said.

He looked so rough and tough, I never knew that he was so emotional.

"That's really sweet of you Uncle," Drishti said sweetly.

"You enjoy, okay? We would take our leave now," Mom said, running her hand through Drishti's head in a caring way.

"Drishti, listen. As much as I want to be a part of your celebration, this is a great time to see the reactions of the competitors. They might blurt out something in happiness or rage, depending upon their win. We might get something solid. I will directly meet you at your home later. Bye."

I hurriedly left after Drishti hummed lowly, so that no one would realize that she was talking into thin air.

                         ~~~•~~~

Drishti's home. Evening 7 pm.

Plopping down on her bed, I looked at Drishti who was scribbling something on the diary.

"How was the celebration?" I asked with a small smile.

As much as I was happy with Drishti winning this competition, it also hurt knowing that this was supposed to be my dream and my achievement.

Still, I wasn't going to move with a sad face when Drishti only did this for me. She even dedicated her dance to me. She spoke about me on mike in front of the whole auditorium even when public speaking gave her chills.

"Celebration is still pending. We will be doing that later tonight," Drishti informed, looking at me with a wide smile.

"Then what did you do till now?" I asked curiously.

Something must have happened for her to look this happy when she was looking so down in the afternoon.

"This happened," she said turning the diary, she was scribbling on earlier.

The neighbour's name was cut off from the suspect list.

"What?...how?" I asked incoherently, not understanding what happened in few hours.