Dreamy Red

Episode 40 - Accidental Suicide

At the party, there were people from the media as well. They were filming the entire dramatic arrest of Rahul. I thought he would escape, but instead, he allowed Ravi to handcuff him without protesting. The media guys tried to interview me, but I tried to stay out of sight as much as possible. Ravi too did not allow them anywhere near him or Rahul. However, they interviewed Karan and his family. Samarstan Baba was completely defamed. His entire thirty years of career went kaboom, as Karan had said. All the premonitions he proclaimed had been carefully devised plans. People even started throwing stones at the ashram. The police were finding it very difficult to manage the crowd and protests. So they sealed down the Ashram with only the inmates allowed inside. However, many packed their bags and started leaving the Ashram. Only a few true devotees and a few orphans who had nowhere else to go stayed back.

It was almost late evening. My stomach was rumbling in hunger and my head was aching severely. As everything was sorted at the Ashram and I had no work other than documenting, I left home to take some rest while Ravi took Rahul over to the police station. Karan went along with Ravi. He and the rest of the family except for Samarstan Baba were proven to have no connection to the crimes done by Rahul. And as for Samarstan Baba, his Ashram was seized from him and donated to the devotees. He was also taken into custody for further investigation. Meanwhile, Karthik was going to be released from custody while Arfaaz and Chaitanya were to be remanded for their crimes.

*****

I reached home around 5:30 PM. Dad had turned on the television and the news channel was running on it. The news headlines showed Rahul being arrested and Samarstan Baba's image being shamed. "Great work, Bibbi", dad told me while patting my shoulders. I gave a proud smile. Maa had prepared good lunch. I ate heartily but I missed Mamu's tea. He would always know my mood and would have prepared a strong tea that would relieve me of all the stress in an instant. So I decided to go to my old home sweet home, Sawanth Villa. I had to meet Viku too and make sure he was okay.

On the way, I thought about several things like how Rahul concocted dreams in my mind, how he fooled me by making it seem like he loved me, how he cheated on Samantha, how he killed all the victims and how I had been a victim all along. Somehow a few glitches in his plans made me survive the misfortunes. I made a note in my mind to read the book written by him which had the title, 'How to induce dreams'. I still could not believe the fact that he was behind bars. Maybe he knew that there was no way out from there as Ravi had guarded the area well. Perhaps, he was planning to escape from jail. I had already hinted to Ravi to make sure Rahul was fortified well.

Then it occurred to me that we were yet to unravel the mystery behind the car I had chased and captured. So I pulled my Vespa over to a side and called Ravi. I asked him to gather information about the car that got crushed in the car accident from Chaitanya because I didn't want to leave any mystery unsolved. Another unsolved mystery was the buttons on Karthik's shirt. But as far as I had researched, it didn't have any correlation other than the fact that they had both bought their shirts from the same store and they both were not aware of the fact that a similar shirt was bought by the other. So it was just a mere coincidence. Yet another unsolved mystery was the phones being covered in colourful translucent cases and even Arjun was not able to crack it. So we didn't bother much about it as we didn't find any connection with the murders.

*****

When I reached home, mamu, chachu and Vichu welcomed me. Viku was not to be seen anywhere. Mamu told me that he hadn't come home from the ashram. I started to get worried and nervous. We all tried calling him, but his phone was switched off. My heart was beating heavily. I remembered that in the attic in Rahul's bungalow, there were photos of Viku and me as well on the board along with the photos of the victims. Did Rahul inconspicuously plan something while he was being caught? An intriguing thought in my mind was whether there was a third person involved whom I missed detecting. After all, it was clear that I was a terrible detective and everything I solved was out of sheer luck.

Then my sight fell on a booklet under the coffee table. It had a mustard green-coloured cover. The title was 'Mustard Green' and the author was Samrahul Shabafaaz. My head started to spin. I closed my eyes and swallowed my fear. I asked mamu if he saw Viku reading this book to which he replied with a yes. I at once, opened it and started reading it. Mamu asked me in surprise, "Are you not worried about Viku? Why are you wasting time reading a book?" I lifted my head and saw that he seemed upset. He continued in his bold voice, "We should go out and look for him. It's been too long since he has gone". I replied coolly, "This book will guide us where to look for him otherwise where and all could we go and search?" Mamu sighed on hearing it. I did not waste time and was immediately submerged in reading the book.

The book had so many details regarding our relationship. It taunted Viku to break up with me. It even taunted him to kill me. He had almost parted ways with me. But he came back to me and he didn't try to kill me too. So, there was a chance that he didn't get provoked by the book. But in the last pages, it taunted him to suicide on the same cliff where he fell down years ago trying to rescue Vichu.

When I finished reading and closed the booklet, I realised that mamu and chachu had already gone off searching for Viku. I told Vichu where I was going and strode off to the highway with my Vespa.

*****

On the roadside, I noticed Viku's car parked exactly in the same location where he had parked years ago. I parked my Vespa beside his car and walked into the forest towards the cliff beside the waterfall where I fell a few days ago along with my raft. Viku was standing at the edge and seemed to be thinking hard. I shouted at him, "Don't do anything foolish" "What?", he exclaimed in surprise. "How did you find me?", he asked in surprise. "I read your book", I told him.

He laughed and walked towards me away from the cliff. "Do you think I'm so stupid to do things that a mere book tells me to do??", he questioned. I heaved a sigh of relief and hugged him tightly. "I love you", I told him. He laughed again with a flashy smoulder on his face. Ah, I got my Viku back with very little guilt within me.

"Then why are you here?", I asked him doubtfully. He laughed again, kissed me on my forehead and said, "My head was bursting in pain, so I wanted to relax in a serene place like this." I smiled and just then, I got a call on my phone. I broke off from the hug and picked up the call. It was Ravi. Viku understood that the call was important and gave me space by leaning on a tree nearby with his hands folded and whistling. Ravi told me that Chaitanya's car which got shattered in the accident was not his and was his friend's Audi car. Chaitanya's Volvo was stolen a day before the accident. "Before he could file a complaint, he met with the accident is what he told me", said Ravi. So the car must have been stolen by Rahul or Arfaaz and must have been used later for staging the shooting. That was a wonderfully creative work done without arousing any suspicion. And then I immediately realised that it was around the same time when the misfortune happened to Vichu. Rahul must have captured Chaitanya and must have made him do the horrible stuff that he did.

I cut the call and just when I was about to turn, I realised that I was on the edge of the cliff standing on a single piece of rock. I hadn't realised where I was going while I was on the phone. Viku was looking elsewhere too. Before I could move, the rock under my feet got loose from the ground and began to fall. All I knew after that was that I was screaming while falling and hitting hard on the rocks on the cliff and drowning in the lake at bottom of the waterfall. I felt light as a feather. Everything blacked out and I slowly lost consciousness.

*****

I opened my eyes and saw that I was back in the land of the Aathma. "Welcome back, Miss Bibbitha Chatterjee", said Moksha warm-heartedly and Nirvana hissed from behind.