Sun Moon & Stars Volume II Call Of The Skull Men

CHAPTER 7

Oishi, the youngest Malakar sister was busy working on her homework. Her curly hairs fell all over her face which she kept pushing back. The tip of her tongue slightly hung out as she sketched the human digestive system on her biology workbook. 

She was deep in studies when the light went off. "Mini? Maa?" she rushed out of her room looking for her sister and mother but none of them answered. She assumed they were downstairs and hence couldn't hear her. She stood near the stairs to call them again. A sudden gush of wind opened the window in the second-floor drawing room startling her. She quickly went towards the window to close it but a faint whisper made her shiver.

"Oishi..." someone called her. 

She turned but couldn't spot anyone. She gulped in fear and then asked, "Sunita? Is that you? I thought you were gone."

"Oishi?" her name sounded like a soft murmur coming from far but her instinct said otherwise. She guided her legs towards her room again and slowly entered. Oishi stiffened. Her eyes widely staring in front and her hands clenched the hem of the frock she was wearing. 

She saw Sunita's pale skinny figure perched on top of her bed. Oishi had never experienced fear of death and believed strongly that Sunita would never harm her, but recent happenings in Bose Villa had somehow instilled that fear in her innocent hurt. 

She took slow steps towards Sunita who sat on the bed rocking gently and kept muttering something. Oishi concentrated on understanding her words. After much struggle, she figured out what Sunita was telling.

"The first storm was for Mini, the second will soon consume Ela, but the third and most dangerous would be for you, Oishi. Be prepared, be prepared!" she spoke as if to make a prophecy, a reminder that something was about to happen. Something very bad.  

"Wh-what s-st-storm?" Oishi stammered now shaken by her words. Sunita stopped swaying. She slowly raised herself from the bed until she was floating in the air. She walked backwards leaving a misty trail in the air and said, "Death."

Oishi gasped and Sunita screamed turning and running in mid-air and she jumped straight out of the window. Oishi rushed to catch her but her foot caught the string of a bag lying on the floor and she stumbled.

Phalguni and Mini came rushing into the room hearing the scream and by then the lights were back again. Mini helped Oishi get up from the floor and asked her what happened. "Why are you lying here  with windows wide open?"

As Oishi narrated what Sunita had said Phalguni's body stiffened. It didn't bother Mini anymore; she had already seen death very closely innumerable times. But for Phalguni it was like a call tricking towards their doom.

Mini noticed the bag lying on the floor. She picked it up, "isn't this yours, maa? Why is it in Oishi's room?" She brushed off the dirt and handed it to Phalguni. Mini was about to walk out of the room when something came under her feet. She saw a piece of paper was lying where earlier the bag was. Thinking it must have fallen out of the bag she picked it and saw it was a postcard from Birbhum's orphanage. She turned and a certain line of the small letter, which was from their head sister to Phalguni, shocked her.

Before Mini could read further Phalguni took it from her hand. Phalguni was a music teacher living at Bose Villa with her three adopted daughters. When Ela had first learned about her lineage it was hard for Phalguni to accept it and confess to Ela. However, this average-looking woman was now thrown into a greater crisis. She had never thought she would have to tell Mini and Oishi so soon. She was still hoping that there was time. Her disguise as a music teacher was about to end soon. She tied her hair up in a bun and adjected her heavy figure on the small chair Oishi was sitting before. There was a look of panic on her face.