Sleep Well Fighter

Chapter 3: The beginning of melancholy days

In my deep sleep, I hear my phone ringing, I look at my phone, it's 1 am and why the heck is Akash calling me this late.

He screams "Bro, t-there is a huge fire in the town, I think it's most probably somewhere near Riya's favourite place. Can you please hurry and look into it?"

And I quickly wake up, from the sluggish state and rush towards the window, it's true, I can see huge smoke.

I hurry and wake my dad up and in about 10-15 mins we were alerting the whole town and scrambled towards the fire.

is that a tree? A human? Omg! What the hell, who is it?

Everyone is shouting and trying to put off the fire, everything is moving so fast and the whole thing seems unrealistic. I can't move my feet; I stand there frozen looking at the horrific scene.

"It's a human"

"hurry"

"bring water"

"stay away, the fire is huge"

I hope it's not what I think it is, just then I hear a voice-

"Someone let me in, is that Riya? RIYA!"

When I hear the name Riya, my mind goes blank, the voices start vanishing, and everything turns to pitch black.

I wake up "Ouch! my head is on fire," I think I need some paracetamol. wait! How did I end up here? then it suddenly hits me, the horror which I saw yesterday, it wasn't a dream, I saw Riya burning, my beloved Riya, God!, why did this happen, why her, she is just a kid. All the memories of her come back one after another and I sit there crying nonstop until my mom comes and comforts me. I skip breakfast and lunch and just lay on my bed all day.

In the evening, Akash visits my house, the moment I see him, I start crying even more "I should have helped her bro, I knew something was wrong"

"I'm sorry bro, I don't know what happened, it's really terrible, I am not sure what to say. Just yesterday only we were laughing and having fun and suddenly things turn out this way. It's not your mistake man, it was mine too, I thought everything was normal" puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Dude, I am really pissed at myself but how the hell did this happen in this town, who would even think of doing such a horrible thing to her? She is such a good person, God I hate this feeling, I don't know who did this to her, but I am gonna find him and make him pay, you will help me right bro?" tears run down my cheeks.

"Bro, just calm down, I know you are angry at what has happened, there are police handling the issue, I am sure they will find the culprit and bring him to justice. There is nothing we can do bro" he replies looking at the floor.

"What the hell man? Aren't you bothered? you do want to find that scoundrel, right? Why are you talking like this, she is our friend bro! we gotta find him and make him pay, do you think police can solve this? they are ignorant idiots who just try to close everything quickly" I say fuming with anger.

"I can feel your pain bro, but let's not get into this mess dude, the guy's bad news, you know what he did to her. Let the adults handle this stuff, you will only get in their way,"

"Shut up" I yell "Just shut up! I don't know why you are behaving like this man, but get the hell out of here, I don't want to see your face, I don't need your help. I'll find the bastard on my own, now please leave me in peace" I join my hands requesting him to vacate.

"I am sorry bro, please don't do anything rash, bye" he replies and leaves.

I feel as if my tongue is filled with bitterness, my stomach grumbling with hunger, and my head loaded with horror. It's fine if he wants to act like a loser. I am not going to rest until I find that devil who killed her.

I get up from my bed and wash myself up, get dressed, and ask my mom to serve me food. If I keep acting like a cry-baby the killer's, chances of escaping keep on increasing.

I go back to my room, take a few important pieces of stuff for the investigation, stare at the poster of sherlock for few seconds, and leave the house.