NIHAR ( HILL OF DEAD )

14-1

On the floor, there was a pool of blood
And in between the pool of blood, there was Alida.
A dagger sticking out of her throat.
" Alida! "
Ira shouted and tried to run to her but I grabbed her hand and shook my head.
"Don’t Ira "
I said and she broke down on the floor
Everyone was in a pure shock state but someone had to take charge now.
“ Tarush call everyone from the bhavan”
Understanding my line of thinking he went out and sprinted toward the Bhavan
Everyone else was on the floor or either taking support of the wall.
I closed the gap and saw the body
Alida who was alive a few minutes ago is lifeless now in a pool of blood
Her thighs bore brutal scratches, and the muscle fibers were floating in her blood.
Her hands were each pierced by two big nails, one pointing upwards while the other pointing
downwards.
Her face was devoid of any expression, only marred by splashes of blood, with no sign of life or
agony.
Her left hand and arm appeared brushed as if someone broke her hands before nailing it to the
floor, while the other hand had a nail piercing it, facing upwards but there was no blood on her
right palm.
Soon everyone reached the crime scene and the real trail of our lives began.
…
…
…
"What... What HAPPENED HERE!?"
Aparna was the first to shout as she rushed to the dead body.
She was in tears.
Everyone, except for me, Ayudha, and Aashwith, was in tears.
They grieved the loss of their friend who would no longer greet them every morning, complain, or
lead them like before. The Alida we knew is now lost, and only her remains linger in this mortal
world.
“ What exactly happened?”
Rai after wiping off her tears asked, her detective instincts kicked in.
Tarush, who led them all here, recounted everything he knew, from our initial meeting outside the
door to breaking down the gate and discovering the horrific scene.
Everyone listened to it very carefully and was drowning in the moment. They all felt hopeless.
Ira was still on the ground and Iva was consoling her.
To my eyes, it seemed both were hugging each other
Like some wild animals who are injured and just robbed of everything they had. Now they are
licking each other’s wounds to subside the pain.
While I was seeing this Ayudha closed the gap between us
“ This sure looks like a tragedy.”
He whispered to me while I was leaning in to check the corpse.
“ Are you looking for something?”
I asked him
“ Not really but I have a feeling that if I stick to you maybe I’ll find the truth.”
Ayudha said with a broad smile on his face.
What kind of truth is he talking about?
Is this a suicide? Someone like Alida who was leading us very well until this, Just committed
suicide without anyone noticing anything?
I think there’s something much deeper in this mystery and I have to dig it out myself..
My chain of thoughts was broken when someone clapped their hands.
I looked up to find Rai standing close to the body
“ Everyone please listen to me.”
Everyone turned their attention to Rai still weeping for their dead friend.
“ I know this is a hard situation for all of us but
There’s something more important than weeping.”
The weeping subsided for a moment...
Rai took a deep breath
“ I know it’s not easy for everyone to see their close friends pass away. As someone who saw
many dead bodies and solved countless cases even the passing of Alida is hard for me. But this
is not a normal passing away, this happened here in Nihar and this isn’t natural at all as you can
see the gruesome traces on her body.
For her sake, we need to find the truth and for that, I need help from all the people gathered here
whether you believe in yourself or not.
Believe in us, believe in the time we spent with each and find the truth behind this together”
Rai gave a speech to everyone.
The crowd that was weeping moments ago now stood up.
“That was effective,”
Ayudha said to me while Rai attended to everyone else.
“Shut up, or they’ll cancel you,”
I said to Ayudha, who seemed carefree in this situation
“ So what should we do ?”
Tarush who was farthest away from the body asked
“ First we have to wipe out tears and secure the crime scene, then we are going to investigate in
groups so that no one can destroy any evidence.”
Rai said.
There was anxiousness in their eyes. Investigating the case and suspecting each other Is hard
for them.
" Don’t worry I’ll lead the investigation. "
Rai tried to calm everyone.
“ So it’s true that someone from us killed her?”
Ayudha opened his mouth to say unnecessary words
“ It’s not written on stone. We have to first investigate.”
Rai said this but the anxiousness was still lingering in the air.
“ So we have to make a group of 3 people so that we can keep an eye on each other while
investigating.”
Tarush said after Rai explained everything to them.
“ Yes, choose the people you have to keep an eye on.”
After this, everyone started pairing up
Aashwith was approached by Nitya and Aparna.
I saw Iva and Ira approaching me but Ayudha nabbed me before that.
“ Hey! We three should form a group.”
Ayudha dragged me to Rai and asked her to form a party
“ You two? I think that’s fine.”
Rai agreed to the proposal.
I saw Iva and Ira pouting in the corner of my eye while Ayudha smirked at them.
Soon the groups were formed.
Aashwith, Nitya, and Aparna
Tarush, Iva, and Ira
Me, Ayudha, and Rai
Ranav, Diyan and Aadya
We went our way to investigate the case.
Rai asked us to investigate the body first.
She leaned on and made the same observation as mine.
“ Hmm this sure is strange”
Rai said it out loud.
“ What’s strange ?”
Ayudha asked
" There are so many wounds but no sign of agony on her face. Not just that there’s no sign of
struggle too. "
Rai explained.
“ What if she died instantly and then someone did to her ?”
Ayudha gave his opinion
“ That isn’t possible, the cause of death sure is blood loss. Neither is there a fatal injury besides
this dagger sticking out of her throat. Even if you stab someone in the throat, the person wouldn’t
die immediately, a blow to the spinal cord can do it but this dagger isn’t big enough to reach the
other end.”
Rai explained to Ayudha
"As well as the injuries inflicted on the bodies were purely for making the victim suffer but a no
the expression on her face sure is a contradicting fact as well as there is only one clean cut on her
throat which proves that someone inflicted the wounds first and then stabbed her throat "
I added to Rai’s explanation and leaned down towards the dead body to check it again.
“ That’s a keen observation skill you got there Ayama.”
Rai complimented me but I didn’t hear as I found something far more worse.
I move my hand forward to touch the body but Rai stops me
“ Hey! What are you doing ?”
She asked me with a confused and angry look on her face.
“ Look at her patella, they are crushed. I just wanted to touch them and see if they were 
crushed or not.”
I told Rai and Ayudha
“ Creepy.”
Ayudha tried to tease me but with no reaction from me, he only met with disappointment.
Rai, who grabbed my hand, let go of it and I touched the body's kneecap.
I moved around my hands and was able to feel the crackled patella and the broken pieces that
were moving inside it.
“ Yep, they are crushed.”
I said to Rai and Ayudha who were waiting for my report.
“ So someone crushed her kneecaps to not let her Escape? "That’s brutal "
Rai commented.
"You’re speaking as if suicide isn’t a possibility in this case. The door was locked if you didn’t
hear what Tarush told us. "
Ayudha.
“ I’m certain this isn’t a case of suicide; it’s a cold-blooded murder. Wounds like these
can’t be inflicted by yourself and if you even tried then you are going to pass out due to pain.”
Rai backed her theory of not a suicide case with a logical answer.
“ I wonder about that. Ayama do you have any opinion on this ?”
Ayudha asked me
“ Not right now but soon we are going to know,”
I said and focused back on the investigation.
“ Can I take this dragger out of her throat?”
I asked Rai and Ayudha who were close by.
At first, they were surprised and reluctantly but then they agreed.
I put my hand on the handle and pulled it out.
The dragger was soaked in blood,
Dripping the already wet floor.
" Be careful with it, it looks sharps "
Rai said but I didn’t heed her warning
I take my finger and touch the tip of the dragger.
It is easily pierced by skin with ease.
“ This sure is sharp.”
I said and put the dagger to the side.
“ So where did our murder weapon come from ?”
Ayudha raised a question which I replied
“ Well of course the only place one can get a hold of something like this is the secret room.”
“So you are saying that someone took the dragger from there and used this to kill Alida?”
Ayudha decipher it
I nodded
“ But one thing that we can’t grasp is why there was no sign of agony on her face and why didn’t
she try to shout.”
“ Maybe someone stuffed her mouth with something that made her incapable of shouting?’
Rai raised a possibility.
" We gotta keep our options open. "
I said this and they two started searching the library.
I was still checking the body.
Alida, who was in the library, is attacked by someone and then tortured.
Tortured for what reasons? That remains unknown.
Was there any reason to torture her?
Maybe installing fear in us.
The body lies on a carpet.
If someone had tried to leave, they would surely have left bloody footprints, but there are none.
Does that mean there was no one else in the room besides Alida?
Probably.
So is it suicide or murder?
That’s still unknown, but based on my current thinking, suicide seems very likely.
But what about pain?
That’s unknown.
There are still so many things I don't know about.
“Ayama!” Ayudha shouted from one corner of the room
I looked at him and made my way towards him
“ What happened?”
I asked
He pointed at something on the ground
I looked down to see a vent,
Large enough to fit people through it.
“ I think that’s how the culprit entered the room, locked it from inside, and left.”
Ayudha said with a confident look
I open the iron shutter of the vent and see inside using the flashlight.
It was big enough for someone to crouch and walk through it.
“ Do you know where it is connected to ?”
I asked Ayudha
With a confused look on his face, he said
“ Maybe the kitchen, it’s just adjacent to the library.
“ Take Rai with you. I’ll be there in a minute.”
I said and grabbed a stick nearby when Rai and Ayudha left the library.
I used the stick to stir the base of the vent
And what came out with it was a huge mass of moss and mud.

I quickly put the stick aside and rushed to the kitchen...
In the kitchen,
There were already Aadya, Ranav and Diyan.
“ Did you find anything, Rai ?”
Diyan asked her.
“ Few things, we’ll get close to the truth don’t worry”
Rai assured him and saw me coming through the door.
“We found the other end of the vent,”
She said, pointing towards another closed-off vent in one corner.
"Come Ayama help me to lift it"
Ayudha was trying to lift it alone but didn’t succeed.
I put my hands on the gate,
Ayudha and I both started to lift it up and soon it opened.
There was nothing noteworthy about it. It smelled like dead Lilly.
I was able to see the moss just like how it was in the other vent...
“ So this is connected to the library.”
Rai rubbed her chin.
“ Guess we are done here, let’s search somewhere else.”
Ayudha suggested.
“ Let’s move to the secret room. We have to confirm that the murder weapon came from there.”
Rai said and asked Aadya, Ranav, and Diyan to summon everyone in the Bhavan
With this Me, Ayudha and Rai made their way to the secret room.