Hadh...Out of Limit

Chapter 20 : Murderous Mind

The police was informed and the property was seized. Shiza was terrified. Shiza had not seen police up-close and personal before in her life. This was very big. A murder, and this hideous. Shiza also was blaming herself for this cruel act. She loved Nazia. Nazia's graceful personality and shining eyes were haunting Shiza. Zuhaan was standing by her side. Shiza did not speak; she was sitting in the main hall while the police investigations were on.

"We would like to talk to Mrs. Seraj. We have a couple of questions for her", said Sub-Inspector Mahesh Mehta.

"I understand that she plays an important role in the investigation, but I don't believe that she will be able to answer your questions right now", replied Zaid.

Just as they speak, Rauf and Anjum entered the house. They saw Shiza sitting shocked. As soon as Anjum reached there, Shiza broke into a trail of fears and tears. She grabbed Anjum and just repeated, "He is here ammo, he is back"

Mahesh Mehta was listening carefully and he took this opportunity to question Rauf about the meaning of the statement. Rauf stared blankly at the officer, his eyes filled with tears as he broke down on the sofa beside him.

After a while of silence, he finally narrated the horrific incident that had been the darkest page of their lives. A few years back, when Shiza was in her 10+2, giving her pre-boards. It was her last exam, she was returning home when she was abducted.

"My baby was in horror when we got her back. All I saw was that she was terrified. She never spoke, ever, of what that animal did, said Rauf, I am so thankful to Zahid. I will never be able to payback what he did for me. He saved my baby"

"Zahid?", interrupted Mahesh

"Family friend", replied Zaid

"So, how did you get her back?", asked Mahesh

"I don't know, all I know is that he brought Shiza home"

After a couple of more questions; the inspector with his team left the villa leaving another team for the guard. Zuhaan, took the window and talked to Rauf.

"Did she ever tell you what happened to her?"

"Never. She never talked about it", said Rauf, "After she came back, as a part of the process, we did all the medical tests, and nothing came up, but.."

"But?",

"But she was terrified, she use to lose her cool, whenever we questioned her about those 3 days, she used to be terrified", said Rauf.

Zuhaan sent Rauf and Anjum home and took Shiza to the room. He knew that Shiza needs to talk about what happened, what happened in those three days. Who is Avaan. Zuhaan also thought that Shiza had not spoken about it to anyone, he doubted that she would speak to him. Zuhaan upon entering his room, found Shiza sitting quietly; she was silent, tears falling, her eyes were closed. Zuhaan stood their for a while staring. This was uncomfortable him. Till two days ago, it was okay for him to just ignore her and do his work, her actions or behaviours did not effect Shiza, but not today. Today, it made a difference. he again had to 'talk'.

"You okay?", asked Zuhaan, with as much empathy has he can possibly show.

"No", she replied. Zuhaan just looked on, as if waiting for Shiza to continue and avoiding formulating another question. "Nazia. What was her fault?"Why did he kill her? She had nothing to do with anything. How can this happen? How can I let this happen? how can I let anyone else get hurt because of me?" with this, Shiza started to hyperventilate, when Zuhaan sat by her sided and tried to calm her down, "Shiza, Shh It's not your fault. None of this is. I promise. Sometimes we don't have control over things. What I can say is that monsters are capable of anything", replied Zuhaan. "And I am not saying this to make you feel better, you know that I am not very good at that. It's the truth."