"I am going to lose all of my brain cells," Ishaan groaned, leaning back from his seated position beside Radhika in Mr. Das's office room. It was not just a normal shock to them.
Rishav and Keshav were sitting on the opposite side, their eyes fixed on Radhika who was blankly looking at her hands, and Ishaan looked like he would die of restlessness. It was pretty normal in their case.
Not everyone gets to know that their father is alive when they thought he was murdered nor find that whom they had been calling their father from childhood is not his biological father.
"When will they come Dhruv?" Ansh groaned from beside him who was trying to see through the peephole on the door whether the elders were coming or not. "If no one in this room talks I will surely fossilize."
"Ansh, shut up! This is not the time." Vaarsh hit Ansh on the arm gesturing for him to keep quiet.
"Did you just-," Ansh got interrupted as Mr. Das entered the room along with Radhika's father and uncle and Mr. Aditya Sen.
"I know there is a lot to explain and probably both my children are more than just angry with me but I swear there was a reason." Mr. Vikram Sengupta let a long sigh before taking a seat. "I did this to protect my family."
Everyone in the room quietly listened to everything that the Sengupta's and Mr. Sen said, the hairs on their skin standing up as the mystery of the Arc kept on unveiling......
Radhika's and Keshav's parents and Mr. Aditya used to learn magic from Mr. Chandra Shekhar Roy, as in Radhika's grandfather. On the occasion of Durga Puja, they went to Siliguri for a magic show, and there Radhika's mother met a lady named Dhriti who looked completely the same as her.
She happened to be her long-lost twin sister who got lost in the hospital during their birth. She was adopted by a poor family and they were also abusive. Mr. Roy brought Dhriti back home and with her came the long-gone happiness from Mr. Roy's life.
He taught her everything he knew along with his other students. Everyone was happy for the next two years but after that everything started to fall apart. Keshav's parents didn't get permission to marry from their respective families but they loved each other too much to marry someone else so they fled away from Kolkata.
Radhika's father tried to find them along with the others but there was no news. At the end of that year, he got married to Radhika's mother. Three years passed and Mrs. Lily Sengupta conceived. But five months before Radhika's birth, somehow a fire broke out in Mr. Roy's house burning down everything.
Mrs. Lily lost her father and her sister in that accident. She couldn't save them and it took her a long time to overcome the trauma. Radhika had already grown five then. Slowly their life started to return to an l pace but maybe Mrs. Lily never found the peace back in her mind.
There were repeated quarrels between Radhika's parents, leading them to separate when she turned eight. Her mother got married to Aditya Sen, eight months after Ishaan was born. Everyone thought he was Mr. Aditya's son but the story behind was not at all that simple.
About six years later Mr. Aditya came to Radhika's father and revealed the complete story. It happened to be that, Dhriti; the twin sister of Mrs. Lily didn't die in that accident in their house. It was a stage she set up to kill her father and make others believe that she died.
Dhriti never was able to love her father and her sister. She was jealous of the happiness in Lily's life and wanted revenge for the fact that she was abandoned, and left to suffer while her sister got everything a child needs to grow up happily.
She was determined to destroy everything Lily ever had and she wanted to start with Radhika and Vikram. Somehow Lily found out about this and to save them and show Dhriti that she was not happy with her life, she requested Aditya to help her.
They got married but there was no such romantic relationship between them. Lily was already pregnant with Ishaan before marrying Aditya.
The only problem was that they were unaware of Dhriti's black magic practices.
Six years later Aditya noticed some serious changes in Lily's behaviors. Sensing something was wrong, he came to talk with Radhika's father. And their doubt proved right because the person who was at the Sen's house was not Lily, it was Dhriti.
They started searching for Lily but they didn't get any clue about where she could be. In the meantime, Radhika's father found out about Keshav's parents and went to meet them which he would regret forever. Due to that visit, Dhriti found out about their whereabouts and Keshav met with this ill fate.
Dhriti was trying to remove everyone who knew about her existence and that's why she killed Keshav's parents and tried to kill Radhika's father. Aditya and Mr. Jairaj Sengupta found him in a very bad condition.
Hearing everything from Aditya, Radhika's uncle decided that they can't let Dhriti know about Vikram Sengupta being alive. She could harm him again and they didn't have any evidence too to catch her so they were compelled to recreate the murder scene with a dead body they brought from the morgue.
Jairaj Sengupta hadn't retired then from the police force and therefore was able to change the evidence so that everyone thinks the body was Vikram Sengupta's only. He knew he could get suspended but for the protection of his family, he had to do that.
Radhika's father was in a coma for five years. After recovering he changed his identity to Azad Ahmad and lived in Radhika's house for a few years so that he could see his family and kept on searching for Lily and evidence to prove Dhriti.
He knew he would not be able to do anything to Dhriti until he finds Lily. And then she started causing these murders again.
"But why again after so many years?" Dhruv interjected.
"To gain complete power." Mr. Vikram Sengupta replied. "She had found out about Radhika being a true psychic.... a true ipsissimus."
"A what?" Radhika asked, speaking for the first time in the whole conversation.
"I thought she would never talk again. I almost forgot her voice." Ansh whispered to Dhruv, getting back a look that clearly stated, 'Are you serious? Is it the time to joke??'
"An ipsissimus or what we say the highest mode of attainment." Mr. Aditya replied instead of Radhika's father. "A person with the highest level of psychic ability. The powers can be taken from them by sacrificing them using ritualistic magic."
"That means Radhika's life is in danger. It's a trap." Keshav stood up worried.
"Nothing will happen to her." Rishav and Ishaan spoke at the same time getting up as well.
"We will protect her and catch the culprit too," Vaarsh said as the others nodded.
Radhika smiled seeing how everyone was ready to protect her. It was not only her family, Keshav, and Vaarsh who wanted to help her but Ansh and Dhruv were also there. In such a short time they went from co-workers to friends. Mr. Das and Mr. Aditya were also there.
She knew if everyone was with her, she will be able to catch Dhriti. She had another important work now....to find her mother.
"Thanks, guys," Radhika earnestly announced. "For staying with me."
"Sir, what are you doing here?" Asmita's voice came from outside the room ruining the moment.
Dhruv opened the door and found Asmita and Mr. Aabheer Chatterjee standing. Seeing Mr. Chatterjee fiddling with his phone, a sudden thought crossed Dhruv's head and he quickly snatched it from him.
"What are you doing Dhruv?" Mr. Chatterjee yelled. "How can you behave with a senior like this?"
Instead of speaking anything Dhruv went through his phone and taking out a certain page, held it in front of Mr. Chatterjee's face. "What do you have to say about this, Mr. Chatterjee? Will you tell everyone or I will expose you as the mole???"
YOU ARE READING
The Lines of Fate
Mystery / Thriller"But that smile on your face, that's the real magic." Radhika Sengupta had spent most of her life studying and training to be in the Criminal Investigation Department of Alipore, Kolkata so that she can solve her father's murder case. When she is fa...
