The Weeping Stars

Wee Hours

Indra did not quiet plan to enter Isha's room. But he did want to check how secure the room is. With his infinite knowledge of opening closed doors, opening Isha's door was not a problem. All he needed was a wire to insert between the cracks in the door to hook around the door latch, and a thread to pull it down. Still it was a shock how easily the door opened.

His trip to the forest has been quiet disconcerting. They had found evidence of people camping and digging around areas near the village. It is not uncommon to find wood gatherers or honey collectors camping for the night. But in these case, it was people with sophisticated equipment and expensive shoes. All these indicated the presence of intruders who are, for some, reason looking for something.

'Can it be the treasure?' or something else.

On his way back, he had given the situation some thought. The Banerjee mansion was huge and had many hidden entrances. The layout made it impossible to make it completely secure. Till there has been no worries, but now Indra felt he needed to tighten the security of the house. This had led him to investigate Isha's room. 

Without any conscious thought, his steps took him to Isha's bedside. He could see one long leg emerging under the bed cover, luckily uncovered and a tiny hand clutching a teddy-bear somewhere around her chest. Indra slowly took the teddy-bear out of the owners clutches. It had seen better days. It was tattered but looked well-loved.

'Lucky bear', thought Indra, while tucking it in his pocket.

Isha was sleeping like a baby. 

Indra was about to leave when something else caught his eyes. An old book. It looked exactly like the book he had in the library. Where did Isha get that?

Back in his room, Indra set down to finish the book. In the pale light of the morning everything became bleak. A load of suspicion crept.

'Where did Isha get this book? Why was she reading it? Is she too trying to look for the treasure?'

With the questions came come uncomfortable conclusions. He already suspected that the new -comers, headed by Rudra were responsible for the scenes they uncovered in the forest. 

'Is Usha's family behind this?', and more importantly, 'Is Isha part of this scheme?'.

It can't be a co-incidence that both Isha and Rudra came to the village near-about the same time. Was the meeting he interrupted that day a chance encounter or a pre-planned rendezvous?

None of these thoughts did anything to quell the storm in his heart. 

'Did Isha make a fool out of me', thought Indra. All that innocence can't be an act. 

Among these thoughts another more sinister. Is Rudra the man Isha was talking about that day? 

Indra wished he had never found the book. For the next couple of hours, Indra sat brooding. His reverie was broken with the calls for breakfast. He got up more resolved than ever. He did not care about the treasure. But he will not let go of Isha. Willingly or unwillingly, she will be his.