Blood And Blossoms

Chapter XXIX

09/08/23
It's still raining heavily. But the roars of thunderstorms are less audible inside the interrogation room. The room is dark. Grey painted walls and two chairs. One wall is made up of glass from where Mr. Martin is keeping an eye on them. The light hung low between the wooden table. On one end, Anaya is sitting on the chair opposite to Mr. Dark, mortified but trying to keep herself composed. You are a fighter, not a weeper she kept reminding herself. She knows how to deal with rejection. Her own uncle and aunty reject her when she just lost her parents. Not that she remember the details, she was too young to understand what was happening to her. But she knows the feeling. She knows how to deal with rejection. Karan has taught her that too. Life has been preparing her for this since beginning.

Apart from the training, what else will a normal person do in such case? Cry? Sob harder to prove his point? Or will he become numb? Well it's the latter case for Anaya. She unable to feel anything.

There is a theory which says that after a certain point, a person cannot feel anymore pain. No matter how hard the impact or the sensation is. This point at which the person can tolerate maximum pain is call pain tolerance. And Anaya had reached that point.

Mr. Dark started speaking or 'accusing'.
"Okay so Ms. Anaya Banerjee, yesterday you tried to prove your innocence. Sorry to inform you but you've failed in it. Though your another partner came to my office to destroy evidences, but before he could do anything, I was there."
"My partner?"
"Yes. The one you thought had accomplished the task and were so confident about it that you are not even stressed out or flinching. Didn't he come yesterday to destroy some evidences? Take away the photos or anything else?"
"I don't know what you are talking about." She looked confused now.
"My my! Isn't it difficult to pretend for so long?"
"You have a better experience in pretending."
"Touch!"
"Please elaborate your theories instead of accusing me again."
"Well... your partner-"
"He's not my partner. Whosoever it be!"
"We'll look into it. But a person came into my office and I caught him off guarded. But he luckily managed to escape."
"And how are you so sure that he was my partner?"
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Meanwhile, Ishika and Parth are rushing to the court to get a bail for Anaya. It wasn't her mistake afterall. She didn't run away from police custody. Anaya may have lost many things in life. But she definitely earned two lifetime supporters. "Needed friends who would raise the bar, got ones who are behind the bars." Ishika said to Parth and herself. "Don't worry Ana. We are here!" She promised, though Anaya can't hear her promise. More like a promise to herself.
_________________________________________

Skipping to the 'Sehgal's Mansion'
"Nitya, our son is about to get justice. Ahaan made it till there. Because of Anaya, we lost our son. Obviously it was Anaya's turn to lose everything."
Mrs. Sehgal or Nitya Sehgal didn't move.
"I lost my one and only child because of her. She had to pay for it. That's the reason I supported Ahaan in this. Bold of her to assume that she, a mediocre middle class woman would manage to get away so easily after targeting us. The Sehgals."
Still no reply from Nitya.
"You know you are so lucky. You didn't have to attend the celebrations which I attended where she was present. The office celebration and Ahaan's birthday celebration. Though she invited you too, but how's that possible when you are here like this."
Nitya didn't show any sign of replying.
"Everything changed after 26th March. We were so happy before. Everything was perfect. But that girl, she destroyed it all. Because of her, we lost Ayaan. And I lost you too. She's repaying now Nitya. I made sure that she repays!"
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Back to the interrogation room:
"You know what's your problem Ahaan? You are so determined to prove me guilty that you overlook other facts. You are not as smart as you think you are. Neither are any of the qualities that I heard about Mr. Dark present in you."
"You-"
"Let me finish it first." Her voice was rasing by a few decibels. "You thought that I'm the reason Ayaan.... is no more. And you started plotting against me. Have you ever tried to find something else? Have you ever looked upon the other possibilities? Just because this case is personal for you?"
"The other possibilities speak themselves out after you see these two photos."

Ahaan brought up two photos from his pocket and kept them infront of Anaya on the table. The light from the lamp fell on the photos.
"Look. You partner from the jail. You were paying him money. For what? Yesterday you said that you don't know him. Then why were you paying him? This makes it clear that you had some kind of connection with him."
"You can be a better writer than me. You said that all of this was my story that I made up? It's yours! You are making things up." There was a tint of sarcasm in her tone. Who can be sarcastic in such a situation. A person who knows what's coming ahead or a person who's experienced.

"Don't deflect from the topic." He said in straight voice.
"I'm not deflecting. Think rationally. Not just to blame me. Look at this again. This man is wearing gloves when I'm handling him a note of just ₹500. Do you think someone would murder for 500? Secondly yesterday, if you recall I recognized him due to his tattoo which isn't visible here. And look, he's wearing Zomato's shirt. I thought he was a delivery boy. I never saw his face before yesterday. And who remember all the delivery person?" Anaya looked irritated. She is trying to explain herself to him. But he is not ready to think anything else. How hard should she try?

"Make sense. But yesterday you said you came to file a complaint against him. So why you came just once? Didn't you think that Ayaan deserved justice? Or it was just for the show?" Mr. Dark questioned while arching his eyebrow.
"I came second time too. I wanted him to get justice but the police said that he belong to an upper class family. And the family didn't want this news to break and be the headlines. This would be scandalous. He said that the case will solved by higher authorities silently. And see, here you are! Came silently into my life to 'solve' this case. May I ask you where were you before? When Ayaan was shot."
"None of your business." He said in an arrogant voice.
"Tum to 6 mahine sath rahe ho na mere. Apne imaan se puch kar batao, kya tumhe sachme lagta hai me esa kuch kar sakti hu?" (You lived 6 months with me. Do you really feel that I can kill anyone?)
Nahi (no) he wanted to say but refused to give her that privilege. So he just turned her face. He's no more. Anaya killed him. The words echoed in his head for the millionth time.

How can someone be so calm after this havoc. Imagine a normal person who's convicted for a murder. For many murders. Will he be really this calm? Lana Myers was this calm after killing Boogeyman because she had murdered people before. Is Anaya inspired from her? I don't think so. What are your opinions? This calmness if Anaya is irking me now.

Hey readers! It's time to reveal the second twist. It will be revealed soon possibly in the next two chapters. I guess you must have started guessing the killer now. You may be right this time! Wait for it. Until then, stay tuned.