WAR IN THE CURSED LAND✔️

3

Mythri : where is vihana ?

Amukta : she is at my mom's place. I didn't want to disturb her in the middle of her academic year.

Mythri : that's a good choice. Where's my brother then ?

Amukta : Dev !

Dev : coming !

Dev came outside and stood beside amukta. 

Dev : hi ma ! I am Dev.

Mythri : hi Anna . Nice to meet you !

( typically in south India girls /boys will address their friend's husband / wife as brother / sister )

Dev :  me too.

Mythri : By the way ! He is my husband.

That is when Dev and Amukta noticed a man of their age standing outside talking with someone on his phone.

Mythri : he is always like that. He is the SI of this area. So, he have lot of responsibilities.

Amukta : ok !

Mythri is unaware of Dev's profession. Mythri and amukta are school friends. They kind of lost touch when they were in college. Amukta  studied medicine whereas mythri studied MA in English literature. She is working as a teacher in government school.

Mythri's husband is done with his phone call.

Mythri : what happened ?

Rajat ( mythri's husband ) : tomorrow a new DCP is going to take charge. 

Mythri : why ?

Rajat : I don't know. I have to meet him today. I got a call from higher officials. 

Mythri : why you have to meet him today ? Can't you meet him tomorrow ? We came to meet my friend.

That is when Rajat looked up and saw amukta and dev. He saluted by looking at dev in police style. Mythri looking at everyone's faces with confusion. Amukta have a small smile on her face. 

Dev : namasthey ! May i know your name ?

Rajat : Rajat naidu sir ! 

Dev : ok ! I want the details of every single police who is working in the areas that are near to the forest. I want that by tomorrow morning.

Rajat : okay sir ! 

Dev : that's the reason why I asked them to send you to my place. But now i got to know that we are connected through our wives.

Rajat smiled.

Dev : don't be formal. This is house.

Rajat gave a nervous smile.

Mythri : shall we have the dinner first ? I thought of eating with you guys. Even we didn't eat.

Amukta : ok ! Are you fine with sitting on the floor. We didn't fix the  dining table yet.

Mythri : sure ! I am okay with it.

Amukta : fine then ! 

They had their dinner in silence. Later amukta and dev arranged the books and files in their study room whereas rajat and mythri arranged the furniture in the living room. Within 2 hours they are done with arranging everything. They decided to have a casual talk before mythri and rajat go back to their house. It is a simple yet classy 3 bhk house with lawn and backyard. The house also have a seperate office room included in it as it is a officers community. They placed a table and chairs in the lawn . It gave additional aesthetic to their house. Mythri is very much impressed with amukta and dev's taste in picking furniture and decoratives.

Amukta : I forgot to ask. Where are your children ? How are they ?

Mythri : they are good. They are at home along with my in laws.

Amukta : which class they are in ?

Mythri : my son is studying grade 5 and my daughter is studying grade 1. Your daughter ?

Amukta : same ! Even she is in grade 1.

Mythri : wow ! Our Riya is going to get a new friend soon.

Amukta : yes .

Dev : rajat !

Rajat : yes sir !

Dev : tell me something about jara ! Did you see him anytime ?

Rajat : yes sir ! I saw him once.

Dev : when ?

Rajat : 4 years ago . Back then he was just a petty thief sir. The main reason why he got into our eyes is because of the robbery he had done in a foreigners camp. They are scientists. They came for a research.

Dev : what about Mukundan Nambiar sir ? Did you help him out ? Even he was a scientist right ? 

Rajat : as he was dead after few days. Old DCP asked us to close the case.

Dev : Do you have an FIR copy of that ?

Rajat : I can't assure you sir. But i will try to find it.

Dev : ok !

Amukta : rajat ! Do you know anything about his family ?

Dev is waiting for rajat to answer. He is listening curiously.

Rajat : yes ma'am. He have a mother , a sister and a brother. But his mother is not in touch with him. He will treat all of his workers as his family . That is the reason why it is hard to catch him. Not even a single person is willing to give information to us. We lost almost 30 policemen because of Jara. 

Dev : can we meet his mother without letting him know that ?

Rajat : yes sir ! But you have to do that before you take charge as DCP. People over here will remember our faces clearly. His mother sells flowers outside the temple. People from across the state and few people from other states also visit the temple. If we go to the temple early in the morning you can meet her without getting noticed.

Dev : let's do that then. 

Mythri got a call from her mother-in-law saying that riya is crying for her.

Mythri : I think we should go home. Riya can't sleep without me. She will sleep only if i tell her a bedtime story.

Amukta : ok ! Do visit us when you are free !

Mythri : sure ! You to visit us when you get time.

After they left amukta and dev went inside and locked the door.

Dev : make sure that you are locking the door properly. Don't trust anyone. Don't open the door during night time if i am not  there at the house. The security cameras will be fixed in 2-3 days.

Amukta : ok !

Amukta went for having a relaxing shower as she is extremely tired with this shifting. Dev went into guest room for having his bath. After he is done with his bath he came into the living-room and thought of closing the windows that they have kept open for letting the odour to go out. As the house is closed for few days it developed a woody odour. He was about to cloe the window in the dining room and that is when he saw an oldman staring at him. He covered himself with a rug and he is holding a petromax lamp. Dev took a photo of that man and kept on observing him.

He felt someone tapping him on his shoulder. 

Amukta : what happened ? What are you staring at ?

Dev : nothing ! 

Dev closed the window and sat beside amukta. He helped her to dry her hair.

...........

How's the chapter ?

Do you guys think that the old-man is harmful ?