Sleep Well Fighter

Chapter 6: A Day of Reconciliation

Holy moly! It's 8:30, that's what you get for thinking about them the whole night. Am I jealous of him? crap, there's no time, I better hurry to school.

Again, as usual, there is another uproar, today the report of Autopsy had come. Damn, I missed reading the newspaper today. Someone was reading out the news in the class, it said: Riya Chopra was strangled to the death between 12:35 and 12:50 and then later she was burnt with kerosene. There were some wounds on her body, which indicate that she might have been raped, although they couldn't find traces of semen in the body due to the body being heavily burnt.

Hearing this, I banged my desk in a fit of anger and go out to the washroom. I knew this might have happened but didn't want to accept it, I keep washing head with water so that it would cool down. Then Akash comes in with a furious face, "Bro, I am also equally pissed about hearing what happened to Riya, it must have been a horrifying ordeal for her by going through all that, I am done playing coward, let's find that motherfucker," and I don't know what happened, I hugged him and start crying franticly.

After calming down, he says "I am really sorry bro; I wasn't there when you were working so hard to catch the bastard. We will not rest until that monster is hanged"

"Yeah, let's go back to the class at once and continue investigation at our home, the teacher is going to be furious at us now"

Once we are home, I show him all the notes I've collected in the past 3 days. He isn't surprised at hearing about the boyfriend but kinda gives a little gasp once, while reading about the information given out by him. "Wow man, you have put such detailed notes. Today morning when someone was reading the autopsy report, 3 people reacted to the news dreadfully. The first one is obviously you who created havoc and the other two to my surprise were Shweta and Sumanth."

"Really? That's fascinating, I mean they both have bad circumstances with Riya but that doesn't mean they would rape and kill her right?"

"I don't know, alright from all this information we currently have 4 suspects," he says and throws me the paper with the list.

"Sumanth, Shweta's boyfriend, Uncle Sam, and Manish, whoa you haven't left out Manish eh?" I ask looking at the list.

"Well unless we have strong evidence or alibis supporting them, we can't eliminate anyone"

"That's awesome! tomorrow is the cremation day and also Sunday, shall we attend it?" I inquire.

"Well.... alright let's do it, I'll just watch from far, I don't want to go near though"

"Yeah even I am not ready to say Riya goodbye yet, I am only going there as a sign of respect and also to find any clues" I reply woefully.

The next day, not many people attend the funeral, everyone is wearing white clothes as it's the Indian tradition. There is the temple priest, Riya's mom and dad, Riya's boyfriend, class leader, some of Riya's relatives, few women in the town, and finally us watching from afar. So when she is burnt in the incinerator, I hear some wailings from the people, whoa Riya's mom doesn't shed even a single tear, even her dad is crying, maybe she and Riya weren't really close enough to develop the feelings?

Hold on, there are some new ones coming, the police? What are they doing here? Seems like they are waiting for the funeral to complete. They seem to offer condolences to the family; they want to talk with Manish? The inspector goes back to the car and brings a fuel can out and shows it to Manish.

Suddenly Manish's face lits up and asks "Where did you find it? I thought it was missing for many days"

I kinda feel angry at the police for interfering with a funeral procession, I turn and look at how the family is coping up, just then I see a faint reaction of surprise in Riya's mom. Maybe she imagined how this same can was used to burn her daughter?