TALAASH - Reliving the Past

3. Illusions

The jeep reaches the hospital's parking lot. The trio step out of the jeep and BU locking the jeep heads out of the parking lot. Girl 2 who was walking behind BU, side by side to Girl 1, was searching for their coach's dabba among the dozens of vehicles that were parked orderly in the underground parking lot. Girl 1 observing her friend's restlessness asks
Girl 1: Kya doond rahi ho?

Girl 2: Aapne uss jeep ko kaha khadi ki thi?

Girl 1: hai na va......... (pointing somewhere to an empty parking space) arey.. yahi toh humne park ki thi .. kaha gayi.. (in a worried tone)

BU standing at the exit door,
BU: What you guys are doing there? I don't have an entire day to spare on this Ms.Ajn...... I mean this unknown biker's case (said in a strict tone correcting herself at the middle) Come fast!!

Girl 1 & 2 in unison: Ji.

The trio entered the hospital and BU headed towards the receptionist.
BU: Hello.. I'm ASI Barbie Upadyaya, Mahila Police Thana, Janpat, Lucknow. I am here to investigate the case of Ms. Ashok Kumar. May I know her ward number and name of the doctor handling her case? (asked politely as per the protocols)

Receptionist: Just a minute Ma'am.. let me check the records...... (browsing through the computer screen) ..... Sorry ma'am.. there is no patient by that name in this hospital..

BU turns her face to the duo with a questioning expression. Girl 1 and girl 2 being confused themselves at the first place, steps forward to enquire directly with the receptionist.

Girl 1: (in a pleading tone) Could you please check it once again?

Receptionist nodding to the polite request, gets busy with her desktop once again. After few minutes..
Receptionist: I'm afraid.. there are no such entries in the patient records..

Girl 2: How is it possible miss.. we ourselves admitted her to this hospital a few hours ago, in the midnight, filling tonnes of paperworks.. wait a minute....... You are not the one we spoke to yesterday.. where is that khadoos.. (Girl 1 pinched her arm) Ouch.. (rubbing her arms, looking at girl 1 with a frown in her face) I mean where is that strict receptionist? (BU shook her head in disbelief)

Receptionist: Do you mean Ms. Camila?

Girl 2: Haa.. yes yes.. where is she?

Receptionist: It was her night duty yesterday. She is off-duty now. And you said you had filled paperworks. Let me check those files that had been updated yesterday. Do you remember the entry time by any chance?

Girl 2: Uhm.. (thinking for a sec) It was 12:50 AM today.

Receptionist: Fine.
Saying this she gets up from her chair and strolls towards the file rack situated at a corner of the counter and starts checking the files one by one cautiously. The trio waits patiently praying for a positive response from the other end.

After 2 minutes,
Receptionist: Whose name did you give as an emergency contact while registering the patient?

Girl 2: Our friend and batchmate, Ms. Divangana Upadyaya!

Receptionist after checking an entire row of big fat files, comes to her desk and sits in her chair fully exhausted saying,
Receptionist: I have searched the entries of past 2 days starting from today's. I could find neither a patient named Ms. Ashok Kumar nor an emergency contact named Ms. Divangana Upadyaya. In fact, there is no single entry in that time period, I mean between 12 AM to 2AM today. So please spare me ma'am. (In a tired tone)