Dreamy Red

Episode 36 - The Dark Dungeon

Karan called me back within 10 minutes. He told me that he was in the bungalow with the van. I asked him to come upstairs to his grandpa's room. "I have never been there", he said hesitantly. "But you have to now", I told him seriously. When he entered the attic he was as shocked as I was. "What the heck?", was all he could utter. He was dumb-struck. Samantha was unconscious but was still breathing. He quickly picked up Samantha by the shoulders while I held her by her legs and we pulled her to the attic trapdoor. "Now how do we get down?", Karan asked. "You get down and I'll push her from here. Then you catch her", I told him and then we did the same.

Together we lifted her and brought her to the main door. But the main door was locked from the outside. "How could this be possible? It was open when I came", Karan said. "It was open when I came too. Your killer grandpa must have seen us here and might be trapping us", I commented. Karan felt sad. "I never thought he would be such a whore", he said disappointed. "I never thought your grandpa was Samarstan baba", I commented. "It's not something I'm proud of", he retorted. "Okay, no time for chit-chats. Is there any other exit?", I asked him.

Then we walked to the back entrance behind the kitchen. Gratefully, it was open. Or was it a trap? My mind had a wavily thought. Karan had parked the van beside a big banyan tree. What was it with rich people and banyan trees in their garden, I thought to myself. While I was thinking, I heard the leaves rustle behind the tree. I turned to look. It felt like we were being spied on.

We were almost near the van when I saw someone behind the trees. I couldn't make out who it was. Before even I could react, the ground below us shook and trembled. I let go of Samantha's legs to hold onto something else on the ground. But before that, the ground crumpled throwing us down into a dark pit. The rubble fell over us. I had a strong feeling that Samantha would have died due to the heavy fall because even my body hurt very badly. The next moment, the open visible patch above us also closed with a thud. It became pitch black. I heard Karan mumble something. It heard a little like he was better off having coffee at the agency.

I dusted the rubble from my body and stood upright. I looked around and it was getting a little brighter due to the faint light rays from the ground above. We were in a large dungeon. Thankfully, I was able to spot wooden torches on the wall nearby that were not lit. So I used my lighter from my sling bag to light them. And the place became bright at once. The dungeon hall where we fell was made with stone bricks and a narrow tunnel ahead which went deeper inside. I heard voices from deep inside the tunnel. It got closer and louder minute by minute until it became clear.

"Who is it? Who is it?", asked a rough yet weak voice. "I'm Bibbitha. Who are you?", I asked softly. Karan stood up too. "She might have died, right?", Karan asked without relevance. "Hmm", I nodded sadly. "Who died?", the voice asked as the figure got into view. It was Sidhanshu. Behind him was a much weaker Christy. It appeared like they didn't have any food or sleep for a few days.

"Sid? Christy?", I asked with concern. "How do you know us?", Christy asked in a husky voice. "I'm Bibbitha, a detective. We were looking for you. Actually, your family is also looking for you. How did you end up here?", I asked them anxiously. Sid sighed and pursed his lips. "Last I knew we were boarding the flight and the next moment we were inside this dark place with no food or light and afraid of dying any moment. Welcome to the club", said Sid downheartedly.

"And I'm Karan, her associate", said Karan greeting Sid. "You don't seem frightened at all. There is no way out of this place. Seems like you brought light and a little hope to us", said Sid looking at the light. "By any chance, do you have food in your bag?", he asked me. I pursed my lips and shook my head. "Sorry", I told him. He looked at the body of Samantha on the floor and asked me about her. Then I recited to him everything he needed to know. "So you know the killer now. But unfortunately, you are going die", said Sid pathetically. I scowled and told him, "There must be a way out, Sid. Don't worry". But he shrugged and said, "Good luck with that".

"I know this place. This is our great grandpa's dungeon built by him and his father", said Karan excitedly. "We used to play here when we were young. You are in luck because I'm stuck with you as I remember the exit ways", said Karan giving a mocking laugh. I felt glad when I saw hope in Sid and Christy's eyes.

"So there are three exits, one from where we fell down. Nana would have removed the ladder so that we can't escape. So one exit is down. Another leads straight into the house. It is in the wine cellar deep inside", told Karan pointing in the direction where Sid and Christy had come from. Nana in Hindi meant mother's father.

"Ya, we were in the cellar until we heard you. We survived this long only because of those wine. Christy couldn't bear it, but she had to drink to live. She lost all hope and stopped drinking hours ago. Thanks to you, we can hope to live again", said Sid bowing to Karan. "Yes, please save us. We are just starting out our life. Sid had made mistakes but is ready to start over. How do we tell Samrahul that?", grieved Christy with tears rolling down her eyes. "And he is punishing my poor Christy for my mistakes too", said Sid sadly.

Christy stopped crying. "No, Sid. I had a copy from Samrahul too. Pink. I had a crush on Rahul", she confessed, "your brother", she said looking at Karan. Whoah. That was a great twist. I felt a little awkward because I fell for the same man too. "But I didn't do anything about it", she added. But Sid didn't look disappointed or angry at all. So I asked him, "And what's your mistake, Sid?" "I made a move on Arpitha. But she was the one who came to me first", he said putting his head down.

"Enough talking, let's go", said Karan and walked towards the cellar. I pulled the wooden torch from its holder and walked behind him. Sid and Christy followed. We had to leave Samantha there. I didn't even get the chance to check on her or at least remove the debris from her body.

The wine cellar was the third room on the right side of the tunnel. The left side of the wall didn't have any rooms. The other two rooms had wooden doors with big padlocks. The cellar was a tiny room filled with barrels of wine and wine shelves stacked with wine bottles. "This much wine?", I asked Karan shockingly. "Yep. Very old ones. My great-grandpa used to party here. After his death, no one comes here. Actually, Sid, you shouldn't have had them. They might have gotten rotten", he said sarcastically. "No, they have not. This cellar is very perfect, any wine can last even a century", Sid replied. The smell in the cellar was appealing. Even I felt like taking a shot.

"There will be a barrel with a tap. We need to empty the barrel and turn the handle inside to the right position and the latch will open behind the wine shelf", said Karan. I turned to look for a barrel, but on one side of the room, there were almost 20 barrels stacked on top of each other. And all of them had taps.

"Which one, Karan?", I asked him innocently. "No idea. Trial and error only", Karan answered. "Can we be able to turn the handle without wasting the wine?", Sid asked. Karan laughed and replied, "Maybe. But we always used to empty it before turning the handle." "Maybe because you were kids", Sid retorted. "Enough, Sid. You are not going to come back here if we escape, then why do you want to save the wine?", questioned Christy. "What if we don't escape?!", exclaimed Sid.