I could once again feel the cold breeze.
Someone was standing right behind me.
I turned behind as a reflex.
"Geeta ?"
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you", she said.
"What are you doing here ?"
"You know, I was just worried about you.
Here is your tiffin. You haven't eaten anything since morning", she said as she handed a tiffin over to me.
"Ok. But..."
"Bye Raghav, see you around", she had already left.
I turned my attention towards the earlier picture. It was gone...
I had my dinner early today. The fact that I'd seen a creepy person right in front of my eyes stressed me. I couldn't sleep.
The deserted house haunted me.
Finally, I gulped up some sleep pills.
Zzzzzzzzz.....
I was having some wierd dreams of Varad's childhood and then boom.
I woke up. I was on the stairs. I could see the clock at the entrance. It
was sharp 2am. Some wierd chemical odour suffocated me.
What the...
Varad stood before me.
"Varad ?", I cried out.
His face was full of some red creepy stuff dropping on his T-shirt. He started screaming as he saw me, and began to run away. I chased him, but I fell down from the stairs. My head hit the edge of one.
The thing I saw before my blackout was Varad coming towards me with an arrow. An arrow dripping with the same red stuff that he had on his mouth. I heard some faint voices. Maybe I was just dreaming. I couldn't
say.
***
I woke up all sweating. I was still on my bed.
Just a bad dream. Just a bad dream I convinced myself. It was 9am
already, 7 hours ahead.
That's when I saw my phone. 10 missed calls from unknown number. Now who could this be ?
I called back. "Hello, who is this ?", I questioned.
"Dr. Raghav, it's me. Arjun.
"Oh hello Mr. Arjun. Sorry last night I took some sleep pills and..."
"Leave it, as for now just come to the HQ quickly", he buzzed. I left the home in a fussy state. I'll take care of it when I get back, I thought as I drove across. I checked the Revolution app again. No countdowns this
time.
***
"Where is Srivastav ?", I asked.
"That's what I've to talk about", Arjun continued.
"I think he's hiding something from us. Till then, I got him suspended because I feel he's connected to this case somehow."
"Hmm. Mr. Arjun, I had to talk about something else too", I said.
"It's it related to this case ?"
"Yes, definitely. There's this 4th person in our house I'm concerned about."
"Aren't there only 3 of you ?"
"Exactly, but quite from some time, Varad has been telling us about this 4th person..."
"He's just a kid Dr. Raghav. You are just missing him. We'll find him soon..."
"I think I saw this 4th person yesterday."
"What !?"
"Yes, just before Geeta appeared out of nowhere."
"Geeta at your house ?", Arjun sounded suspicious.
"Yeah, she gave me a tiffin. I think this is more complicated than we think. I think we should re-examine my place."
"Yeah, something tells me you had a rough night yesterday. Your forehead
has bruises", Arjun said as he pointed towards my head. I touched my forehead. I hurt.
"It wasn't a dream then. Varad, he's still there."
"Varad. Where ?"
"I know why you can't find him. He's still at my home. With that 4th person. Let's hurry Mr. Arjun."
***
We got home quickly, and started checking.
There indeed was a sticky red thing on the stairs. Arjun smelled it using his finger.
"It's Jam", he said.
Varad, where are you ? That's when we heard the knob turn. Arjun put his hand over his
revolver. I stood cautiously.
The main door flung open. I saw a lady standing near it.
"Geeta ?", I said.
"Yah, I thought you needed help. Anyways I got you your tiffin", she replied with a smile.
Why Geeta why ? Why are you acting so good ?
It hasn't been this worse in my entire life. Someone is trying so hard to help me get through all of this. And I'm suspecting her and her brother for all this mess. Why is it always that you get to be so good that
everything about you appears to be bad ?
Buzzzzz.
"Hello", Arjun's call distracted me.
I collected the tiffin from her.
"Thanks Geeta. Like really thanks", I said, as I looked into her eyes. Her eyes had an unknown affection for me, something I had known for ages.
"You're always welcome, Vajra"
I smiled back, but wait. Vaj...
"FREEZE !!", Arjun shouted as he pulled his gun towards us.
"What the hell Arjun ?!", I said as I put my hands up, confused.
"Not you, doc. It's her", he said with his gun pointed towards Geeta.
"Hands up lady. I hereby arrest you on the suspicion of murder of Mrs. Sarita."
She put her hands up and started crying. She fell down due to her sudden shock. I tried to hold her as she fell and calmed her.
"What are you doing Mr. Arjun ?", I enquired.
"Doc, I just got a call from the investigators assigned for this investigation. It was her. It was Geeta, Srivastav was trying to protect."
"What do you mean ?"
"When Srivastav and the others came to the crime scene, Geeta was already present there."
She was already there ?...
The entire crime scene enfolded next to me.
[ WHAT REALLY HAPPENED -2 ]
I entered the house and didn't remove my shoes.
I felt the cool breeze because Geeta opened the door behind me, to enter.
I was hit with a metallic thing by Geeta. I fell down unconscious.
Geeta exits doing her part to get me unconscious. She tries to escape from the crime scene but she is found by the
investigators and Srivastav.
Srivastav suspects Geeta. And hence, to cover it up, he sent me to the village even though it's against the general protocol.
But, If Geeta just exited the door and was found by the police within mere
seconds...
There lies a CONTRADICTION.
The skillful and time consuming technique of such a murder requires a sufficient amount of time. Hence, that won't just happen in a few
seconds.
[ THE MURDER HAPPENED BEFORE I CAME IN ]
YOU ARE READING
IGNOMINY
Short Story[ Completed ~ around 12k words ] Raghav, a rookie surgeon goes against his seniors to save an old lady from an odd illness. But he soon regrets doing so as this starts a vicious cycle of events affecting the life of his own and that of his loved one...
