The Talatal Tale

Part 4: Missing Mira

Kyra still holding Coco's leash walked down the stairs from the terrace and went around the palace. There were several doors one can enter from. She went in through the first arch styled door and there was a long corridor that went through the mid of the wall left to her, the doors that connected the corridor were small such that one has to bend down to go through them and they grew smaller as one goes farther. Kyra started to enter the corridor when Coco started whining. Kyra stepped
back and came out and walked towards the grass that surrounded the palace assuming Coco wanted to pee again but Coco just sat on the grass still whining. Kyra dug in her backpack and brought out a small dog food tray and put water in it from her bottle of water. She slid the tray towards Coco who
just ignored both the tray and Kyra and just kept on whining.
'What do you need?', asked Kyra in the hope that Coco would reply. She didn't obviously but continued with her whining.
Kyra again dug into her backpack and took out a packet of dog biscuits, she took a few out and offered Coco who sniffed them in her hand and then turned away and pressed her face in the grass still whining.
Parth looked at his wristwatch, it was ten past one.
'We should go have lunch now and then we can return home', he said to Bani.
Bani looked around the terrace and did not see Kyra or Mira.
'Let me call the girls', Bani said and took out her phone from her lavender handbag and dialled Kyra's number.
Kyra felt a vibration on her back and searched her backpack for her phone. She took the phone out and answered.
'Kyra, we are going to have lunch now, meet us at the gate', Bani said.
'Is Mira with you?', Kyra asked.
'No, I thought she was with you. Is Coco with you?'
'Yes she is, I mean Coco, not Mira. I will call Mira then', Kyra said and ended her phone call with Bani and instantly dialled Mira's Number. The call was not connected. All she got was the automated message that Mira's phone was out of coverage area. She called few more times and she got the same message. She texted Mira saying she needs to come out of whatever hole she has gone down and meet them at the gate.
The message was not delivered.
Kyra pulled on Coco's leash to walk towards the gate, but Coco would not get up. She was still lying on her stomach whining. Kyra pulled a bit harder commanding her to get up. Still did not work. So Kyra picked Coco up and carried her in her arms walking towards the gate.
Parth and Bani smiled seeing Coco being carried by Kyra assuming Coco was being lazy again.
'Where is Mira?', Parth asked realising Mira was not there.
'I called her up but her phone was not reachable and the texts, wait let me check, nope, have not been delivered yet', Kyra said with a slight frown staring at her phone screen.
Parth called Mira and he got the same automated message Kyra got.
'We will have to go find her', he said looking at his wife. 'You take terrace and the top floor, I will take the ground floor'.
'What about me?', Kyra asked.
'You stay here with Coco; we don't want you to get lost searching for your sister'

'But I want to help'.

'Help us by staying here, if Mira comes back you can tell her to stay put and call us', and saying so Parth and Bani went on to search for Mira.
After forty five minutes which felt like hours to Kyra her parents came out of the palace. There was no sign of Mira. Parth and Bani exchanged a look of disappointment and fear. Where could Mira be? Did she go away someplace else? Parth could not imagine Mira doing something like that. She was not the one to take impulsive decisions. There was no way she would go away without telling anyone.
'I will inform Rubo, he can give us some idea' Parth dialled his brother, Rubrat Handique, who was the SP (Superintendent of Police) of the district of Jorhat.
Kyra heard her anxious father saying, 'Rubo, I need your help, we all came to the Talatal Ghar today and I can't find Mira anywhere, it has been more than an hour now we have no idea where she is'.
She couldn't hear anything that was spoken at the other end of the phone. There was a lot of 'Okay' said by her father all through the phone conversation.
'Rubo is going to talk to the in charge of the nearest Police Station and hopefully they will send someone to help us find Mira' Parth disconnected the call and informed Bani, Kyra and Coco, who was staring at him that made Parth feel as if she understood what he was saying.

They waited for the police to arrive for around half an hour, sitting around in silence continuously trying to call Mira or checking if she replied to their texts. When a police personnel showed up they jumped up to their feet and ran towards him forcing him to step behind a few steps. Coco wagged her tail and started sniffing his shoes and pants which made him nervous.
'Are you Parth Handique?', he asked looking at Parth.
'Yes', Parth replied a bit disappointed seeing a young boy rather than an experienced and older officer, he was barely in his late twenties Parth thought to himself.
'I am sub-inspector Raj Gogoi, We received a call from Rubrat Sir, he told us you were missing someone from your family',
Parth nodded, 'It's my daughter, younger one. We cannot find her anywhere'.
'Where did you see her last?', the officer asked.
'We all were at the terrace, I and my wife were sitting together at the top of the stairs and after sometime we looked around and saw Kyra with our dog but we did not see Mira. We thought she might be inside the palace exploring it, but then when we all decided to go for lunch we could not find her. Her phone was out of coverage and she did not receive any of our texts', Parth said in one breath.
Raj nodded and turned to Kyra.
'Did you see where your sister go?', Raj asked Kyra.
'No, I was with Coco and I was talking to some other visitors, I did not see where she went'.
'Mmhmm. Please give me your sister's number', Raj said
Raj noted down Mira's number and called, he got the same response that Parth mentioned.
Raj dialled another number and gave them Mira's number asking it to be tracked.
'Is it possible she went out, to buy something or to meet anyone?', he asked looking at Kyra expecting her to answer the later part of the question.
'What would she probably have to buy that takes her hours? And anyway she hates carrying bags and she keeps her purse in my backpack', saying so Kyra opened her backpack and took out Mira's black circular purse. 'Here, see? and as far as her meeting anyone is concerned, there is no one she was planning to meet that I know of, which is not possible. She tells me Everything', kyra replied.
'And we were facing towards the entrance, there is no way she went outside without us noticing
her', Bani added calmly.
'Well, we will solve this mystery as soon as her phone is tracked', Raj said, 'Parth, let us go in and search for your daughter' , he looked at Kyra, 'You and your mother stay
here'.
Kyra nodded slightly.
'Don't worry, we will find your sister', Raj said to Kyra.
Raj and Parth went inside the Palace, they peaked in every corner of the first floor, and soon went down to the ground floor following the narrow stairs. They reached the room where Mira stepped in a few hours ago. The light that came through the small window was fading with the gradual setting of the sun. They soon noticed the unusual opening in the wall, Raj stepped towards it and shined light using his phone. He peaked in the hole and reached out with his left hand, the opening was deep so he leaned in more extending his hand as far as he could and then he felt it. It was the end of it, a wall at the other end of that portal. 'Why is it so cold?' he thought. It was cold and felt colder the longer he touched it yet he did not want to stop. His hand ached due to the icy coldness of the wall but he just could not bring himself to move his hand back out. He groaned in pain he felt in his left hand, every muscle, every nerve feeling the coldness along with the strain and it rapidly growing all through his
shoulders , spine and ribs. He could no longer feel his fingers and all he could think of was pushing his hand in more, closer to the wall.
Parth pulled him back holding him tight with his arms around his hips from the back, pulled him so hard they both fell down on the stony floor.
'What the hell were you doing?' Parth snapped at Raj.
'I... I don...don't know I just could not pull back my hand', Raj replied still groaning in pain. His left hand fingers were red and looked as if he dipped his fingers in blood red paint.
'What was that wall made of that burnt my fingers in a minute', Raj thought aloud.
'A minute? You were in there for there holding on something for more than twenty minutes, I was trying to tell you to stop it but you were giggling like an idiot, I tried pulling you out until I pulled so hard it
felt like your body is going to rip into two pieces'.
Raj could not process what Parth just said and he was trying to make sense of it all in his head when his phone started ringing. Raj answered the call, and Parth saw his face turn tense.
Raj disconnected the call and turned to Parth.
'Mira's phone has been tracked', Raj said.
Parth felt a bit relieved and a lot more scared. 'Where is she?'
'Here' Raj said, 'They tracked her phone and it is inside this palace'.