Song of the chapter is All The Things Lost by MS MR

-19-
-Himanshu Arora-
-Present-

___________

Arora Residence
15 November, 2030
12:34 pm

"What?"

Her question landed on me with an impact that I had been fearing for the past few hours. I knew she wasn't going to be easy to convince, not after what she had witnessed.

For me, it was the repetition of a nightmare. For her, it was something out of the blue.

"What do you mean you're not gonna go back to Mumbai after all that's happened in the past 12 hours?" Dhrashti asked, her words laced in disbelief. She sat across from me on the leather couch that my mom had replaced the old ottoman with.

Naturally, I had expected this kind of a reaction. Her being angry or flabbergasted at the idea of not leaving town despite having a killer on the loose was not wrong.

"Himanshu, are you out of your damn mind?!" She asked, glowering at me. "Did you not see what happened to those four men yesterday?"

I sighed, drawing in a deep breath.

"Dhrashti, you know.... it's nothing I haven't seen before."

That was partly true. While I had seen my fair share of mutilated bodies and bloodshed, the killings of yesterday had left a deep indentation on my mind. That was something I could never unsee. It was such a graphic picture, that even if I did want to forget it, I wouldn't be able to.

"So? How does that make it better?!" She raised her voice and now it sounded all loud and squeaky. She crossed her arms around her chest as she kept her glare on me. "If anything, you should not wanna be here after everything you've been through in the past. Doesn't it bring back all those memories?"

It did. But I was too proud to admit that.

"I'm not saying.... I wanna stay." I paraphrased. "I'm saying is that.... unfortunately, I'm left with no choice but to not leave town."

"For what?" She stood up, annoyance etched on her face. "Is it because your friends? Cause they wanna play heroes once again and save the town?"

"Dhrashti, I already told you they don't have a choice either. They're being framed by someone and can't leave town until the suspicion gets off them." I explained.

"Exactly! It's a 'them' problem, not a 'you' problem." She retorted, taking a step towards me. "Why are you insisting on this so much, Himanshu? You aren't a suspect, you're free to leave town! Why won't you take that chance?"

"They're my friends, Dhrashti." I deadpanned, slightly taken aback by her lack of empathy for anyone around her. "And even if not for them, I can't leave my parents here alone.... knowing that there is a killer on the loose."

She huffed, looking the other way.

"Please, this is not about your parents! You can take them to your Mumbai house and have them stay there for as long as you want." She snapped back. "This is about those so-called friends of yours! Especially the one you refuse to even talk about in front of me."

I cocked my head in her direction.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh please, stop acting all surprised, Himanshu." She returned. "I saw the way you two looked at each other yesterday. It's like I wasn't even there."

No one ever was. When we looked at each other, even the presence of a million people didn't matter. It was me and her, just us ; like we were the only two people left at the end of the world.

My face softened as I felt the guilt gripping my senses. "Dhrashti, I-"

"Save it." She looked away, scoffing. "I don't wanna talk about it."

I licked my lips. Clearly, this conversation had taken a sharp turn elsewhere.

"How can you be so selfish so as to not even think about me?" She turned to look at me, a solemn expression etched on her face.

"I'm not being selfish, Dhrashti. I already told you to leave for Mumbai if you want to. I'm not gonna stop you and make you deal with this nightmare. You are free to go back to your dad's house in Mumbai." I explained, getting slightly annoyed. "All I'm saying is that I'm not gonna leave town right now."

"So I can just sit at dad's house and worry about your well-being day and night, while you slum it up with your ex-whatever it was?" She raised a brow with scepticism. "Nuh-uh, not happening."

"For the last time, Dhrashti, I'm not slumming it up with anyone, let alone Veronica." I elucidated. "And second of all, don't you even trust me that much?"

"Well, do you blame me? The way you were looking at her yesterday-"

"Was because I saw her after a long time!" I intervened before she could go on. "We....have history.. alright? Sometimes, you can feel overwhelmed by seeing someone you had history with, after a long time. That's all that it was, alright? Nothing more. So you can stop your imagination from running wild."

A frigid bitter cold lie.

Her face softened for a moment before setting on a shade of dubious scepticism.

"I'm just mad you never told me about her." She retorted, this time a bit softly.

How could I ever? How could I ever talk about her without having my heart rip apart in half each time she crossed my mind?

"There was.... never anything much...to say." I lied, biting the inside of my cheeks. "I didn't think it was....that relevant to tell you."

A moment passed before she uttered, "Yeah, I thought so too."

I looked up at her. Had I convinced her despite my heinous attempt at lying?

"I didn't think there was much to talk about either. She seemed so....plain." She elucidated. "There wasn't anything about her that struck me as charming. And god, the dressing sense? Just not it!"

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, to try to prevent myself from jumping into defense mode.

"Anyways, I don't wanna waste my breath, talking about her." She said, taking a step towards me and wrapping her arms around my shoulder. "If she's irrelevant to you, she's irrelevant to me. I just want to know for sure that that really is the case."

I blink twice.

"Is it, Himanshu? Are you truly over her?"

I blinked profusely. My mind started fidgeting on it's own, malfunctioning just when I needed it the most.

"Of...course, I'm over....her."

Once again, an austere lie.

She smiled at me. "And you only have eyes for me and me only?"

I simply nodded. My lie quota of the day was almost filled to the brim and it was only 11:30.

She grinned, kissing my cheek. "Good. I love you."

I gave her a weak smile in return. Just then, fortunately for me, my phone started ringing in my pocket. I took the opportunity to move back from her and looked at the caller id.

Kartik was calling. My brows knitted. Had something happened again?

After yesterday's entire fiasco, I hadn't expected any of them to contact me that soon. Especially not Kartik, considering his wife seemed to have a big issue with me even being in their vicinity.

I picked up the call without a second thought.

"Kartik, hi...."

"Himanshu, there has been another.... murder." He uttered, his voice shaky and terrified. My eyes widened at that. "What? Where?"

"In the hotel, where we are staying. Delmore Inn."

"Are you guys alright?! Was it one of-"

"No, it wasn't one of us."

I breathed a sigh.

"Although.... Saina did find the body....so she's a bit shaken up." He continued.

"Oh my god."

"Yeah...uh...would you mind coming to the Inn? Only if...you want to." He hesitated.

"Yeah, of course. I'll be there in ten." I said, hurriedly grabbing my dad's car keys. Dhrashti gave me a puzzled look.

"Okay. See you then."

As soon as the phone disconnected, Dhrashti questioned, "Where are you going?"

"There has been another murder.....at the hotel where my friends were staying." I explained in hurry, putting on my jacket.

"And what? You're going there right now?! At the murder scene?" She seemed almost flabbergasted.

"Yeah, Dhrashti." I stated in an obvious tone. "Stay in the house and keep the windows and doors locked. I'll be back by evening."

She opened her mouth to utter her next words, but before she could, I hurriedly opened the front door to my house and closed it behind me.

And for a split second, a complacent feeling washed over me.

_____________

I looked up as the wail of ambulances grew louder. Flashing red and blue lights became visible as I neared the Inn.

Stopping the car at the curb, I turned off the engine and stepped outside. The October winds had made the atmosphere chilly, making me dug my hands into my jacket's pockets. As I walked towards the crime scene, many police officers and medical officials came into view, rushing from place to place and talking into their walkie talkies.

My stomach dropped as my eyes caught sight of Saina and her, sitting at the back of an ambulance. Two doctors were trying to talk to an unresponsive Saina, who was staring down at the ground.

And she sat beside her, with one arm around Saina, comforting her.

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat as I walked towards the ambulance. The enforcement officers, trying to investigate the crime scene, seemed too exhausted to care. There had been five murders within the span of 16 hours in Delmore, and it looked like they were nowhere near closer to find out who had pulled them all off.

"Saina?"

She, along with the two doctors, looked up at the sound of my voice. Her eyes had a surmount of panic in them, as they met mine. Her gaze held mine for a moment, not longer, and then flickered down.

I moved my gaze to look at the doctors standing beside her. "Is everything.... alright?"

"Are you one of the witnesses?" One of them asked.

"No... uh.... I'm a friend."

The two doctors exchanged a look before one of them spoke again, "We'll leave you to it."

I gave them a nod. The doctor motioned her partner and they exited the back of the ambulance. I took Saina's hand in my own, looking into her eyes. "Saina, can you hear me?"

Saina's eyes met mine before she looked away, nodding. "I can hear you."

Veronica breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright." I did too. "We're gonna head over to someplace else, alright? You don't have to stay here anymore."

I then moved my head to look at Veronica. "Where are the others?"

"They're in the lounge, giving their statements." She answered, looking at me.

I nodded and as if on cue, the rest of the group slowly walked out of the main entrance gate, followed by two police personnel. They all looked up at me and Kartik gave me a weak smile.

I gave a small wave.

Fifteen minutes later, we were seated at the same booth as yesterday in the Paper Lantern. None of us had a word to say, but several questions clouded our minds.

I took the initiative to speak first, since I knew everyone else was probably too traumatised at the thought of the killer being in the same place as they all were. "How did....you guys find Saina and the....woman?"

Zoya shifted in her place uncomfortably, while Kartik looked up at me. "We heard her screams." He answered.

"Her room was on the floor above us so we were all downstairs when she found...." He trailed off, looking at Saina. She still hadn't spoken one word.

"Saina.... I know...this is hard for you." I began, gently resting my palm over her hands. "But I need you to try, alright?"

She looked up at me, a solemn scared expression etched on her face as she nodded.

"Did you see anyone....leave the room or jump out the window?"

She nodded negatively.

"Did you get....any texts....before or after?"

She took a deep breath, before nodding in negative again.

"How did you find....the lady?"

She sniffled, her hands tensing under my touch.

"I...was going to my room....when I heard the baby crying.....from the room next to mine." She began, her voice shaky and quivering. "The door was slightly ajar so I peaked in and found.... the baby on the floor,... crying. As I got close to it, I realised...there was blood on his clothes. I looked around....and found the closet... slightly ajar. When I opened...it,.....her body....it-it fell out."

My eyes widened.

"There were stab marks on her body and she....she was bleeding." She uttered, her lips quivering slightly. "I immediately knew.....it was him. He did it.....he was there...at the hotel."

I closed my eyes in frustration.

"Guys...this is... getting out of hand." I voiced my concerns. "I mean....five murders...in 16 hours? This is a new level of psychotic. Even more than-"

"Yash." She completed. I stole a glance before looking at everyone else.

"What do you suggest we do, Himanshu?" Kartik asked, his brows creased. I looked at him and then at Siya, who sat beside him, staring blankly at the table.

"What we do best." I uttered. "Find out who's doing this and end this nightmare,"

"....once and for all."

______________

and we officially have our sleuths back in action!

it's gonna be fun to see the change in the dynamics! stay tuned for more :)

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love,
Bosedisha