The real Killer

Zero

Arnav had bought Sheesh Mahal, through another business friend from his uncle and threw him out. The fashion show was over.
(There was no Khushi incident, Everything went well)
He was planning to turn that old palace into an Heritage hotel. It was getting old and was feeling haunted. It's better for a historical sight to be used well. He had decided to stay for one month in Lukhnow to start the process as the interior designer,the builder would have a better idea if they meet at the sight itself. He was working from home. He had choosen Anjali's old room. He could not handle his parents'room,or his own room. Only Anjali's old room was bearable. Though it haunted him with the girly pink paints his uncle's daughter had made. He still felt the warmth of his sister as the bed, furniture was same. His uncle didnot have the resources to buy anything new for his only daughter after she grew up,thanks to his drinking and gambling..

Workers were found and the cleaning process had started. He was also busy with his back to back meetings. The place that was the most neglected was the store room. He knew his family had the habits of throwing unused items,be it jewellery to albums inside it. So he wished to clean it personally. There were  few more storages where broken antiques, furnitures were kept. But that one was only for family. And it seemed his Uncle had not dared to open it,int he fear of his parents' spirit haunting him..

Arnav took the old bunch of keys. They were more than hundred year old. May be his great grandfather had made those locks. He looked at the old lock,stood few moments in silence. Donot know why,he was feeling something strange. Like something was calling him from inside. Yet his mind was warning him to be careful. He as usual dared. He was ASR. What can harm him..

He opened the door. The old lock opened with a loud sound. And the giant single door was creeked open. Dust particles made him suffocated. It must have been more than twenty years since the door was open. So he rushed out. Waited till the dust settled. He knew there was a full window in the room. He had observed it from the outside. Yet he had to take a light,creat some noise so that if there was any snake,lizard,they would leave. He was sure it was impossible to have snakes there as it was on the third floor. But the ground floor ones had quite few large venomous snakes inside. The workers were extra careful. So he was too..

He took the large light,fully charged and walked inside. He knocked the floor loudly with a large stick he was holding. After few minutes he was sure,there was nothing..

He saw the old coloured glass window. It had cracks. May be due to time or wind and storms. Still it was intact,so there were not much insects. He walked towards the window. The room was very big. It took him several minutes to reach the window. He searched for the lock. And slowly he pushed the window open. Thankfully it opened. No glasswas broken. It too needed to be replaced,he observed. It's better to replace it with wooden ones as the store room would remain locked,for Raizadas.Actually the third floor would remain theirs for private use. Still it needed renovation..

There were a lot of old wooden cupboards and iron and bronze trunks. Some were sets,some were different. There were few old antique jewellery boxes too. He knew the boxes with priced things had locks and the Keys were often in the cupboard they were closer to. And the cupboards Keys were int he bunch he had. It was a secret that only family knew.. His grandmother had told his mother and his mother him. No one else knew it. Not even his father and sister..

So he walked towards the first cupboard and found its key. Then he looked inside. There were many old books,and in a small box there were several keys. He took them,opened the boxes one by one. Some boxes had some antiques that were priceless,like tea sets from the era of his forefathers. Some had jewelleries. Some had pearls,of different shapes and sizes. Some had diamonds too. But less in numbers..

It took him two days to understand the amount of things his family had,it might cause a storm if it's let out. So he closed the boxes. Decided,the renovation would be done by themselves,him Akash and Anjali,with HP and Op.

But there were few boxes whose keys he didnot find. They were little different. They had beautiful flowers painted with colours on them. It looked hand painted. And on the smallest one there was written SSR..In beautiful handwriting..He had never heard anyone of that name. Infact except his grandmother Subhadra Singh Raizada,no one had S in their names. So it must be his grandmother's. He was very curious what the cunning old lady had stored..

So he studied the boxes. And found a way to unlock them. He took one to the old key maker in town and he somehow opened it. He made a key. And surprisingly every box opened with a single key. He had thought he would first see the smallest one,then slowly take the boxes and open them. Yet miraculously all the seven boxes opened with one..

And what he found inside surprised him..