Sense & Sensibilities

Cheh

Chotu don't interact with the forensic Dr. Much, so it was partly surprising, partly comical when she arrived one morning in the conference room with urgency in her steps and slammed her hand on the desk. Shree jumped out of his chair a bit and looked around nervously- the seniors weren't there. Riya looked up from her Hallucination book at her arrival, frowning at the agitated expression of the other Dr.

"I am done being scared." Liza started, eyes roaming over them as she spoke, "The floor where I work is empty, you know? You do this." She tossed a pen over desk, "And it bloody echoes. These days, I am scared that a dead body lying on a table will jump at me. Me, who have dissected them for years, late at night with none in sight." Exhaling, she paused, "I don't like being afraid. Especially of some stupid . . . bloody thug, who use chemical mist to scare people. I am thinking to visit there, who's with me?"

There was dead silence after the speech and the Dr. Probably was expecting a better response. Riya came to rescue, casually saying, "I will go."

The former beamed, slightly relieved, "I knew that."

"Ri!" Shree's tone was chastising, and he had picked on the nickname as well, "You want to go?"

"She wants to go." Chotu nodded.

"She wants to go?" Shree was in disbelieve.

"She wants to go." Liza clapped her hands in happiness, then arched an eyebrow at the men, "What about you? Too scared to return there?"

"Excuse me?" The former had a stern tone, "I am scared of nothing."

"I was thinking to go with her, she was planning it." Chotu mused. "Going together would be better. But before dark, I want to search that place. There has to be something."

The team settled on a time and met downstairs for the journey after hours. If Rathore noticed, he did not comment- it was a slow work day. Arjun kept staring at them till they left, and the feeling coupled with paranoia made them uneasy. There was a dead silence in car as Shree drove, nobody bothered to lighten up the mood. The sun was still up by the time they reached, and they made two pairs- Shree with Liza, Chotu with Riya. The men silently agreed on gun as well, just in case. Riya was looking at the castle, and by the time she turned, the other half of team was vanished.

They found the 'machine' used for mist in no time, hid behind a stone statue covered with leaves and sticks. They had to step foot inside the building, hyperactive as they stepped on dry leaves and dead carcasses, pushing aside spider webs. They split when a turn came with two separate roads, and Chotu lent her his mobile phone with torch light on. He cautioned- whatever she sees, whenever she feels she is in trouble, just scream. Kick something, make some noise.

Chotu vanished around a dark turn, and Riya started moving again. She was fascinated by the stone work inside, the statues, albeit broken and dirty. There were spaces up in the wall where marshal used to be put for lighting, just like she had seen in old books. She was lost in those, until she saw a skeleton, clothes still on and leaning against a wall as if sitting. There was a hand over her shoulder and the phone fell from her hand, just when she was about to scream a hand covered her mouth.

Arjun Rawte stood there with undecipherable look in his eyes, a lighter in his hand. The panic subsided instantly, and she frowned at the lighter. Realizing her focus was diverted, he slowly removed his hand, fingers barely brushing over lips. Startled, she looked at him, but his attention was somewhere else.

There was a dead body- rather, skeleton here.

It was a private property, but not like the owner was going to charge anyone with trespassing. Riya sat on a stone and looked on as police, media and forensic swam around the place. It was dark now, she had given statement and put her name on documents, minus any mention of ETF. Like Rathore sir had said before, there was no FIR or complaint for this haunted castle. There will be now, and they were not sure where this will head.