Song of the chapter is
NDA by Billie Eilish

-28-
-Siya Malhotra-
-Present-

____________

Delmore County Road
24 November, 2030
5:45 pm

Resting my head atop his shoulder, I breathed in his familiar scent of raindrops and cinnamon.

Twilight was starting to descend upon the gloomy little town now. I watched the last bit of the sunrays disappeared behind the clouds and a solemn cobalt blue spread through the sky. The streetlights zoomed by fast, as the car gathered more pace after being stuck in traffic for a while.

"You think we'll find anything there?" He asked, as the car took another right and entered a narrow by-lane.

I moved back and glanced at me. "I hope so."

He gave me a tensed look. "I mean... it's been a while since they were there. What if we don't find anything?"

"Well, we'll just have to seek other options then." I said, caressing his arm. "Hey, don't be so dejected alright? I have a feeling we'll find something there."

I had no such feeling. What I had currently was an overbearing amount of anxiety.

But sometimes, we had to pretend to be each other's pillars, even if we didn't exactly feel strong enough.

As the car swerved to a different direction again, I sat up and rummaged through my bag to find my chapstick, in order to dampen my chapped lips. Just when I got it out, it accidentally slipped from my hand and fell between the gap in the middle of the two seats in the front.

"Shit."

I leaned forward to pick it up and felt the driver shift slightly in his seat. As I fished my hand to reach it better, my eyes accidentally fell on the driver's hand, which had a huge scar on it. Not paying much head to it, I reached for my chapstick and retrieved it but before I could move back in my seat, the driver moved his head in my direction, giving me a good look at his face.

And when I saw it, I froze.

My hands felt like icicles, frozen in place while my throat dried up. A scream rose to my throat but died there itself.

It was none other than the guy at the Paper Lantern. The one clicking pictures of us.

The one stalking me.

His ice cold gaze remained trained on me for a solid moment before he suddenly applied the brakes, causing me to stumble back. Kartik caught me before I could hit my head on the headrest.

The car had come to a standstill in the middle of nowhere.

My lungs constricted at the thought of us being alone with the guy there. Even if I had Kartik by my side, I still felt unsafe in that moment. A gurgling feeling rose up like bile in my throat.

I stared at him with bizzare eyes as he put the car in the parking gear and shut off the engine.

I clutched Kartik's hand tighter while reaching for the door handle with my other hand.

"Why did you stop the car?" Kartik asked naturally, glancing between me and the driver.

"We've reached the destination, sir." The driver replied, without so much as deeming us a look. I could see his eyes trained in the stearing wheel from the rear view mirror.

Kartik looked around. "Really? This just looks like a deserted neighbourhood."

"Well, that's what the location in the app says." The driver replied, not looking at us again.

"Alright." Kartik said dubiously, narrowing his eyes at the driver before reaching for his wallet.

I breathed heavily as I waited for Kartik to pay him and get the fuck out of the car with me. Once he was done, I took no time in pulling the door handle open and leaping out. Almost pulling Kartik out of the car, I moved back further as if the car had some sort of a bomb that could go off any moment now.

Kartik stood confused as we watched the car back out and drive off the way we came. Once it was out of eyeshot, I finally felt like I could breathe.

"Okay, what the fuck was that?" Was Kartik's first question, obviously.

I kept breathing in and out, trying to compose myself and process what had just happened.

"It's not-"

"No. Don't you dare tell me it's nothing, because I've been noticing the change in your behaviour for a while now and I know something's bothering you. So spit it out." He interjected, giving me a warning look.

"Kartik." I tilt my head slightly.

"Siya." He crossed his arms in front of me like a dad.

I sighed, looking away. "It's nothing. It's just.... I've been seeing this guy everywhere since we came back to Delmore."

"What guy?"

"Remember during our first night in town, I told you that I saw a mysterious figure in the shadows but then it disappeared?"

"Yes, I remember." He said after pondering for a moment. "But then, we dismissed it thinking it was nothing."

"Yes. Well, I saw that guy once again. At the paper lantern,.....he was clicking pictures of us from afar." I confessed.

"What?" His eyes widened.

I nodded. "Initially, I thought it was just because people in this town knew who we were. Even though it creeped me the fuck out."

"But then, today...."

It took him a moment before he realised. "Don't tell me...."

I nodded. "The driver. It was the same guy."

His jaw clenched in it's place as he breathed heavily.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Because I didn't wanna worry you. You were obviously too wrapped up and stressed out about this entire fiasco. I couldn't impose another thing on you." I empathized.

He sighed, a worried look etched on his face. "Siya, I understand you're worried about me. But we're all in this together. So if something's troubling you, you need to tell me. How else am I supposed to protect you?"

"I don't need you to protect me." I gave him a tight lipped smile. "I need you to stay safe."

"Same goes for you too." He said, cupping my face with his hands and rubbing his thumb against the crevice of my jawline. "We're in this together, you and me. Till infinity and beyond. Remember?"

My smile slowly reached my eyes as I recalled our wedding vows. Nodding, I repeated, "Till infinity and beyond."

He gave me a small smile and touched my forehead with his. In that moment, I felt like I could breathe properly again.

"As soon as we go back to the house, we'll figure out something to do with the stalker." He assured, moving back. "In the meantime, let's check out this barren wasteland and see if we can find anything."

I nodded, feeling relieved at having told him the truth.

We both spent the next fifteen minutes knocking on seventeen doors, asking if any of them knew about Yash and his family but to no avail. Due to the fire incident, the house has been destroyed completely and in its place, now stood a huge graveyard.

The neighbours around too didn't have much idea about his family. It seemed like most of them had moved in a few years after the entire situation had happened and had no idea who we were talking about.

I felt envious of them.

After knocking at a few more doors, we finally came across a rusty old brick house at the far end of the by-lane. It had an old Delmorian look to it, giving us a hint that maybe the owners were locals.

I knocked thrice on the rusty wooden door of the house before the owner, a middle-aged man in his mid-fifties, opened the door. After introducing ourselves to him, and asking him if he was a local, to which he replied positively, he invited us to come inside.

Even the interior of the house was made out of old Victorian touch to it, mixed with a little french styled architecture. We sat on the leather couch in his living room, while he sat across from us on a velvet ottoman.

"Yes...so you were asking....?" He asked as he shifted in his seat comfortably. "About the Sehgals, right?"

Kartik nodded. "Yes, sir. We just wanted to know if Yash had any extended family other than his mother."

"Ah! That family....was truly a happy one. It's truly sad....the tragedy that fell upon them." The old man feigned sadly. I watched as Kartik's head hung low with shame. I slowly reached out and held his hand. He gave me a soft look.

"That's true, sir. And we definitely... can't be more sorry for that. But...you do know.... what he did....after that, right?" I asked, headstrong.

"You mean the 2019 murders?" He asked, glancing between me and Kartik. "Yes, I heard about it on T.V. But I just.... couldn't believe that...a sweet boy like that....could do something that heinous."

"Well, he did." I said, pulling my top slightly to show him the scar on my stomach that was caused by Yash. "And we have to live with the scars of it forever."

His eyes widened as he realised the truth. "You...are..."

"We were the victims then, sir." I said, pulling my top down. "And we are being targeted once again. You must've heard about the recent murders that has been happening in town right?"

He nodded, slowly. "I saw the news. It truly is devastating....that the past is trying to repeat itself..........But what does any of that have to do with the Sehgals?"

"We're just trying to remove suspicion, sir. It'd be a real help if you could tell us whether Yash had any other family member other than his mother,.... someone who could be wanting to take revenge for him..." Kartik explained. I glanced at him and then back at the old man.

The old man pondered for a solid moment before saying, "The Sehgals were a nuclear family. They were quite religious, especially his father. They often attended hindu conventions out of town. But after their house burned down, there was no other news about them. The mother died, the kid disappeared and I have no idea what happened to the father. He seemingly wanted nothing to do with his family any more."

I nodded, exchanging a look with Kartik.

"Are you absolutely sure that there was no one else? No one who could be doing this?" Kartik asked.

The old man nodded negatively. "I don't think so, boy. I mean.... I don't think there's anyone in his family who'd want to avenge him after what he did."

Kartik sighed disappointedly.

I gave the man a small smile. "Thank you for your time, Mr....."

"Mohit. You can call me Mohit, dear." He answered with a smile. I returned a similar one.

"We'll get going then. Thank you for your time, sir." Kartik stood up and headed towards the door, obviously dejected by the turn of events. I followed him a second later.

As I was passing through the living room hallway, I noticed two family portraits. The man was in both of them, one with his wife and kid and another one with just his kid. The kid, looked like he could be four or five years old, had a smiley badge attached to his shirt and it mirrored the smile he had on in both the pictures.

I smiled to myself, and proceeded to look at the other picture.

The man looked way more professional and serious in the picture with his family as compared to the one with just his kid. And for some reason, the wife's face seemed oddly familiar.

"Did you forget something, dear?" The man's voice broke my chain of thoughts and I looked at him startled.

"Oh...no, sir. Nothing. I was just looking at your portraits. They're really good." I said, admiring. He gave me a sweet smile and thanked me for the compliment.

"My son was an amazing artist. He painted these himself." He said.

"....um... I'm sorry....was?"

"He passed away two years ago due to a chronic illness." The man answered sadly.

I immediately felt guilty at having asked the question. "I'm so sorry..... about your loss. I'm sorry... I shouldn't have asked..."

"That's okay....how would you have known? It's fine." He replied with a polite smile. I took it as my cue to leave.

As I walked down the porch steps, I took one last look at the house and at the man standing in the doorway before joining Kartik on the road.

"Well, that was a total waste of time." Kartik sighed as we started walking towards where our cab had first dropped us off.

"It's alright, Kartik. We'll figure something out." I reassured him, not knowing myself what we were going to do.

"Let's just hope Himanshu finds something concrete to help with the case." Kartik said and I nodded.

As we reached the end of the by-lane and were just about to turn the corner, a bright pair of flashlights beamed at us from afar. Blinded by the light, both of us immediately covered our eyes.

"What the fuck-"

Before we could react anymore, I heard the car engine start and the car roll towards our direction. Managing to block the light piercing my eyes, I looked at the car and realised it was the same cab that had dropped us off earlier.

Only this time, there was someone else in the driving seat.

The same black cloak. The same ghostface mask.

My eyes widened with horror as I watched the person rush the car towards our direction.

"Kartik run!"

But before he could comprehend why I was yelling, the car zoomed with a faster speed and as the light got closer and closer, until it was inches away. I felt a force on my arm as Kartik pushed me out of the way.

"Kartik!"

A scream ricocheted off my mouth as I watched the car zoom and come to a halt inches away from his leg. He stood frozen in his place like a deer caught in a pair of headlights.

I ran to him to see if he was okay, not caring about the killer being right there. As I shook him out of his trance, he looked at me with terrified eyes. I hugged him immediately.

The car slowly backed away and zoomed away into the distance, leaving us in a cloud of dust.

As we parted, I put my hand on his chest to calm down his breathing. He looked at me and then towards the direction where the car had disappeared off to when suddenly, our phones buzzed in our pockets.

I retrieved it from my phone, so did he.
And as expected, there was a new notification from the very familiar UNKNOWN.

I tapped on the message and as I read it, the blood froze in my veins. Exchanging a similar terrified look with my husband, I read,

'I know what you did last summer.'

_____________

epic chapter and epic movie reference at the end, am I right?

man! i don't know about y'all but i liked this chapter and how i wrote it :)

anywho, don't forget to vote, comment and share the book as much as possible!

love,
Bosedisha