"You look like a serial killer." 

A squeaky voice echoed down the hall. He was tapping his fingers on the dining table at a pace faster than a cheetah's legs hunting for a mass of flesh. 

"Ugh. Bug off." The second voice retorted while coming down the stairs. 

The tapping of the Mary Jane shoes on the wooden stairs got louder with each step.  

The sofas behind the dining table were covered in white sheets while the ceramic vase was still wrapped in decrepit newspapers. A few brown boxes were scattered near the plastic-wrapped television as the shiny glass table housed dust particles atop. 

Most of the wood used in constructing the house had swollen up due to the continuous rain. The windows were closed to thwart the mouldy smell from getting in.  

Nivedita's brown eyes rolled back in annoyance over her brother's silly sense of humour. She put her leather handbag on the dining table beside the paper-wrapped crockery.

Jay kept his copy of 'The Martian' aside as he ruffled his hair to bring out the loose strands forward.

She sounded jaded as something else occupied her mind at that moment.

And before she could get any remark in return from her brother, a voice barged in from the kitchen.

"Nivedita, do you even hear yourself? I'm raising him in the exact same manner I raised you. If he's like this now, then don't forget that you were also like this when you were his age. You both have eaten up my energy equally. Not more not less. Now come here and take your breakfast to the table." Mrs Rai's scolding voice was enough to make Nivedita realise her mistake as she muttered the apologetic word under her breath. 

It never actually mattered if she was fifteen or twenty-five, the respect she had for her mother was never going to lessen at any point of her life. This respect was gained by her mother after she single-handedly managed to provide the best to her children after her husband divorced her some ten years ago: to associate with another woman. 

Another young, unmarried woman. 

"Coming, Ma." She kept shuffling things in her handbag as there ran a speed check of the list of things she had put inside. Or forgot to put.

All shades of a ball pen. Check. Bandage and bandage scissors. Check. Hand-sanitizer. Check. Notepad. Check. Scrub watch. Check. Scrub uniform. Check. Umm...yes. Documents. Check. 

"Why can't we have a conversation like normal siblings?" She got up from her chair while hitting Jay's head one more time and ran away before he could retort. 

"Hey!" It was all he said before sailing in his vast ocean of metalcore again. The journey that was provided by his headphones for a ship.   

Nivedita swirled around to pass down the narrow space between the table and the boxes to reach the kitchen. Her pastel concealed placket shirt was almost ruined by the dust on the table in the process. Her black slacks complemented her long legs perfectly. 

Each and every strand of her long black hair pulled away from her face and secured at the back of her head, dazzled her oval-shaped bronze coloured face.    

"Good morning, Ma." She side-hugged her mother while picking up the two plates of scrambled eggs and a bowl of porridge. 

"Morning Nevy." Mrs Rai kissed her cheeks while picking up the two coffee mugs and the newspaper from the kitchen slab. 

But both of their hands fell short in number as the glass of milk still laid on the slab. "Jay, come here and take this. We only have two hands." She shouted while leaning towards the door.

The callings faded in thin air as there was no reply from the other side. Ugh...his headphones again. 

"I'll pick it up, Nevy. You take the newspaper please." She offered to do the extra work which she had been doing from the past ten years.

The extra work.

That had been the reason why she looked older than her age. That had been the reason for those prominent thin wave of veins running on her shiny reddish-bronze forehead. That had been the reason for the numerous strands of grey hair dominating her natural blacks. 

But she never cared to show it. Not to her children. Not to anyone.

"What's with this messy hairstyle of yours, Jay? Are you trying to look like one of those screamers you keep listening to?" Mrs Rai pulled back the loose strands from Jay's face and set his hair in a perfect wave.

"Mom. They are not screamers. That's metalcore. Not everybody gets it. They scream so that I don't scream. They take away my rage as I feel relaxed and lost in their music. And you know what, it's actually a play of technique. It takes a huge knowledge of technique to scream in a perfect tone with the perfect music." He ran his fingers in his hair to unsettle them one more time. 

"Stop right there! Don't try to convince us to join your cult of screamers. We ain't doing it." Nivedita pulled his hair back again and settled them for the last time. "Don't you dare to touch your hair now." Her eyes averted as a wave of anger rushed through her face.

He let out a long exhale as he shook his head in disappointment. 

The steamy and mouth-watering breakfast was served on the table but the local daily's headline was what had captured Mrs Rai's attention. 

 "Did you read this news, Nevy? 'Another mutilated body was found this morning near the lake deep in the woods. It is a girl again, with her tongue and both hands getting cut-off from the body. It's the fifth death in the last 2 years. And even this death shares the same connection as the previous ones: The Hospital.'" The last sentence of the headline froze her blood as her eyes grew wide in shock.

"What the hell is this?! We just shifted here last night and this is how the town welcomed us? People are getting killed here. And what's with this hospital thing?" Mrs Rai's last sip of coffee didn't even make the way down her throat as it got mixed with her saliva to form a lump. 

Her brows furrowed as deep folds appeared on her forehead. Her nose shrunk with the unwelcoming shock. Her one hand on her head and the other holding the newspaper.

"Woah! That's some crazy stuff going on in here. A serial-killer? Nevy, you got your soulmate here." Jay finished his glass in one go as he picked up on her sister while hitting her with his elbow.

"Jay, shush." She jerked his hand away as a layer of beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She tried hard to not sound scared or nervous as she gulped her saliva bit by bit.  

"And Ma, please. I'm already scared for my first day and you are reading this! This town...it's so ghost-quiet and it almost never stops raining. But I'm trying so hard to shrug all of that feeling aside. Can you at least cooperate?" She dropped her fork on the table as she picked up her bag and car keys in a hurry. 

"Jay, get in the car as fast as you can. I'll drop you to the school and then go to the hospital. It's my first day. I don't want to be called a latecomer." She rushed outside after bidding a soft goodbye to her mother. "Bye Ma. Take care and drive safely."

Jay followed her like an obedient brother. Which he never was. 

The engine revved up as the ignition fume got mixed with the atmosphere. The sweet mustang screeched ahead on the wet road, exiting the porch of the house. 

"Take care, kids." Mrs Rai shouted from the door as she saw her children fading away on the road. Her visibility lessened for obvious reasons.

The rain was coming back.

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