The Window

54 Hours After...

Déjà vu. That's what I was experiencing. The same feeling that'd consumed me two nights ago when I'd set my eyes on Luna Chan's corpse as the blood spewed out of her body in streamlined motion. I felt my breakfast rising in my throat, and tried my best to stop my palm from quivering. It was probably in my head, but my menstrual blood flow seemed to be getting heavier at the same time, and I wondered if my tampon would be able to soak it all.

I looked to my left to notice a look of abject horror on Manik's impeccably sharp features. Manik had always maintained a poker face even in the toughest situations. In fact, his ability to mask his feelings was something that I'd been envious of since the day I'd met him. However, I could see that the picture of me on the bulletin board had done the impossible. It had succeeded in shocking even him.

I waited for him to say something as he stared at the picture.

Maybe he'd offer some sort of consolation...something that would bolster my confidence. I really needed it at the moment.

"You shouldn't have accompanied me." He muttered under his breath.

"What's that?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"You shouldn't have accompanied me." He repeated in that same stoic and emotionless voice he used all the time.

Honestly, his words annoyed me further, instead of giving me any sort of comfort.

"Not this again." I huffed as I folded my arms together, crossly.

"Never mind. Let's just take what we came here for and get out before someone sees us." He said, as he walked out of the sparsely lit enclosure after keeping the camera back in place, and gestured me to follow him.

The topic was undeniably closed for discussion. Never mind that our blackmailer, who might I add, was also responsible for abducting and torturing several women over the last few weeks, was planning to target me next. From Manik's reaction, it seemed like I was just supposed to take this blatantly terrifying revelation in stride and just move on.

"Help me put the clock back." Manik said.

I shrugged and walked forth to give him a hand with the ridiculously heavy grandfather clock, which needed some pulling this time round.

Maybe this was the best way to deal with what I'd learned-to just distract myself with other things.

"I'm going to try and open the drawer in the cupboard. Maybe we'll find a laptop or something. It's imperative that we delete all copies of the video. I've already deleted the videos from the camera's memory as well as the recycle bin..." Manik said, as he walked towards the cupboard in the bedroom.

As Manik tried to crack open the drawer with the same bobby pin he'd used earlier, I decided to check my work mail and see if my leave had been approved already.

As soon as I unlocked my phone, I noticed a string of text messages from an unknown number.

Hey Nandini.

It's Liam.

Please don't block me.

I'm sorry I lost control that day. I feel really bad about it.

Can we please go back to the way things were?

Why aren't you at work today?

Are you unwell?

Nandini?

Please answer!

I couldn't believe it! Seeing the slew of messages only aggravated my temper! Did Liam really think that I'd forget the way he almost forced himself on me the other day?!