The windows of the black car were misted up with droplets. 

A soft hand pressed the button on the door to lower them down. And the first thing that fell in their sight was a building. A huge building. 

It was visible how its amber-orange colour had slightly washed off to look peach. The rainwater sat on the iron fences as minute grey crystals. The overgrown shrubs around the walls had covered most of the entrance area. If the entrance door was not wide open, one would have to peak in through the fences to have a look at the walls. But that sight would have disgusted anyone as the smears of some unknown greasy substance were distributed on some parts of it. 

It was still beautiful. As beautiful as a crow painted white.

A cacophony of squealing and laughing noises from the main ground filled the dead air with liveliness. And that building held a huge signboard on the top of its neck.

"Chestwood high." Nivedita worded out the letters written on the board. "Although we did come here yesterday for the admission procedure, it gives the same feeling of strangeness." She opened the door of her black mustang and let her shoes get ruined in mud.

"Yeah, I hate to agree with you. It looks like one of those schools where only bad things happen. You know things like drugs, gang bullying, lecture bunking etcetera." Jay also came down while dragging his bag and headphones out of the seat. "What has Mom got us into? Something is definitely strange here."

Nivedita's hands involuntarily got folded across her chest as her palms massaged her forearms. "Strange and cold." The atmosphere still held the water droplets captive as the cold smoke got intertwined with it. "Now don't go the 'detective Jay' mode. Just focus on your studies."    

"Yeah, fine." Jay coiled his headphones around his neck as if it was his pet python. "See you later, Nevy. Hope you don't get any of your patients killed on your first day." He lifted his hand to wave at her when she abruptly took it in her grip. 

"It's not funny, Jay. How many times have I told you? You don't joke about this stuff." The sudden change in her tone was not new for Jay to witness. His words, although said jokingly, had often hurt his own people.

"Okay, okay. I was just joking. Which...I shouldn't have. I'm sorry." He jerked his hand off and slyly ran his eyes around him to check if any of the kids saw him getting embarrassed. His shrunk eyes caught a group of guys laughing at him from afar.

What the hell is wrong with them? He cursed under his breath and moved his eyes away while wishing not to face those guys in school again. 

"Better. Now get inside and study. I'll make a round check on Friday to talk to your school counselor and teachers about your performance. Try to be interactive and polite." Her dominant eyes were speaking louder than her angry voice. 

He dumbfoundedly looked at her index finger, which was being flashed in front of his eyes as if it was replaced by Hitler's target stick.

"Okay fine. Stop yelling at me"—he plugged his headphones in his iPod—"I'm seventeen for god's sake." And finally turned around to enter the school building after wearing them.

"And one last thing." 

"What now?" 

"Take care." The smile on her face would have surely melted his anger.

"Whatever." 

He turned after rolling his eyes on her.

She sat silently in the car until he entered the school corridor. 

She did not expect his hot-headed adolescent brother to turn around and check if his sister was still there or not. 

But he did. 

She smiled back and ignited the engine as he finally disappeared from her sight and mingled in between the fifty other kids. 

Her tires almost skid against the wet road and sprayed some water in the backward direction. Soon, she had entered the road running along the woods. As the count of people on the road decreased, the number of coniferous trees around her increased. 

It was hard to calculate if her car's speed was more or the shadows of trees running along with it. The lonesome road had low visibility as the mist was being formed on the faraway trees. It all looked like as if the mist were trying to cover up the deeds of those huge sinister trees. 

And yet, it all made her strangely calm. 

She might say she hated this town from the very first day of arrival, but she could not deny the fact that she was going to enjoy these precious twenty minutes of the lone drive every day. She never got the chance to admire nature from such closeness before. She would be looking at the rain falling on the ground that actually held trees instead of getting converted into car parks. She would be passing from the trees that sway around when the cold breeze collided with them. 

She would any day prefer listening to the chirping of thrushes and cawing of crows instead of the noise created by a creature that was a disgrace to nature: humans.

Missing the hiss and the hustle of New York City was a different thing. And liking the strangeness of Chestwood was different.

'Ten minutes of a straight drive.' The automated voice disturbed the quietude of the atmosphere all of a sudden. It brought her back to the world as she geared up and plugged the AUX cable to her phone. 

A few buttons were pressed and the amplifier worked its magic as a soft hum hit her ears.

'Lag jaa gale, ke phir ye haseen raat ho na ho. Shayad phir iss janam me mulakaat ho na ho...' The nightingale's sweet melody seemed to captivate her as her eyes calmed in response. (Embrace me for who knows if this beautiful night will come again. Maybe, in this life, we may or may not meet again.)  

Her lips moved in sync with the song sung by the legendary singer. Music was one of the few things that managed to calm her whenever she was anxious. Especially the old classics. 

But the song seemed to fade into the background as her eyes grew wide all of a sudden. 

Who is...? She hurriedly paused the song and slowed down her car. The deserted road had another visitor. 

Her car window gradually lowered as she struggled to have a clear view. What is this lady doing here alone? And her clothes...

The car halted in front of a huge, old iron gate. A signboard was seen to be hanging as the nut might have fallen from the loose end. The tall hedges blocked the inside view but she collected whatever could be captured from peeking through the locked iron gate.

Headstones? 

She moved her eyes to read the signboard. 

Chestwood Graveyard. The red and black paint was smudged due to continuous raining but it was still readable. 

Her eyes darted back to the lady standing in front of the gate, who held it in her grip as if her life depended on it. Her back faced the road. She was standing still and would have easily won a competition against a wax statue.

Her short light blue collarless dress was tied in the back. It was skimpy and ill-fitting. Her long, roughened brown hair hindered the view of her backside that was ignominiously exposed because of her dress. 

A hospital gown. She affirmed to herself. 

"E-excuse me. Can you hear me?" She shouted while denying to leave her car seat at any cost.

The lady was still like a living fossil. Nivedita's voice created no sort of vibrations in her ears.

She decided to honk this time. 

Once, twice, thrice... No response was given to her.

If this was an ordinary person standing on the side of the road, she might have let it pass. After all, she could not afford to get late on her first day.

But it was a lady in a hospital gown. And Nivedita was a dutiful nurse. 

It was her duty to check up on her and see if she needed any kind of medical help. She just couldn't let it pass. She opened the door and took her bag - which had all the essential items - along with her. It was slightly raining but an umbrella was the last thing one would think about in this situation. 

She stepped forward and set her feet on the pavement. She extended her right hand to tap on the lady's shoulder. But before she could tap, the lady turned around.  

A squeal escaped her mouth, unbeknownst to her. It wasn't because of her sudden turn. It was because of the burn mark around her black eyes. Her wrinkled face had several other burn marks too.

"I-I'm...sorry. I didn't mean to squeal. Do you...need any help? You are in a hospital gown and also have a tag around your wrist. I'm a certified nurse. I can help you." She got a hold of her breath and struggled to speak fluently. Her hands were pasted to her chest.

"I..I" The lady tried to open her mouth but her voice was hardly audible. 

Nivedita had to bend a little bit to clearly hear what she was saying.

"I am here to meet Jane parker. I have heard she's brought here. Can you...open the door for me?" The words that left that lady's lips were like a foreign language to Nivedita. She found it hard to decipher its meaning.

"I'm sorry. Jane parker? Is that your relative? And what are you doing in a hospital gown?" She asked, an incredulous look plastered on her face.

"She is -" Before she could complete, a loud siren was heard from afar.

The road welcomed another vehicle. 

Nivedita turned her head on the road as an ambulance was coming in their direction from the opposite side. The words written on the ambulance read 'Chestwood Psychiatric Hospital.' 

She got alert and was now easily decoding the past few instances that happened here. The hospital gown. The tag around the wrist. A physically hurt face. And the eerie and strange behaviour. 

"So you broke out of the hospital?" She held the hand of the lady gently, not to alarm her that she was holding her forcefully until the ambulance reached. 

But the sound of the siren had already frozen the lady. She need not be held forcefully. "Jane. I want to meet Jane. Help. Please." She only moved her lips while keeping her body still. 

"I will. Don't worry. I will help you meet Jane." Nivedita massaged her hands and back as the lady hugged her in response. 

"Thank you. Thank you very much." She almost let out a tear but shushed down as soon as the van halted in front of them.

The back door opened as a nurse and two security guards came out. 

"Vilana, I hope you realise what will be the consequences of your actions. You broke out of the hospital. And now, they will be more strict with you." The nurse came forward with a tranquiliser.

"Anna, you promised you would help me. But you didn't. Instead, you were making me meet a detective. That detective freaks me out." She held Nivedita's shoulders and hid behind her while shouting at the nurse. 

"Detective Ezio was doing his work, Vilana. It was necessary." The nurse signaled the guards to get a hold of Vilana.

"Um, can we talk gently? She's just scared. I don't think there's any need to tranquilise her. I'm sure she'll listen to you." Nivedita offered to help as she could feel how scared Vilana was as the guards also charged towards her.

The road was no longer quiet. The cawing and chirping were overpowered by the loud conversations taking place on the side of the road. They were unintentionally disturbing the eternal sleep of the souls buried inside the ground of that graveyard.

"I'm sorry but she is a very violent patient. We don't want to tranquilise her but if we don't then she can harm anyone." The nurse forwarded ahead and was expecting Nivedita to hand the lady to her.

And she did. She did not know the medical history of that patient. They did. So, she had to listen to them.

She saw Vilana getting tranquilised forcefully as if they were trying to control a wild animal. She was crying, shouting, weeping. Her eyes fixed at Nivedita's face. Asking for help that she had promised.

But Nivedita zoned out. Her deep buried memories started playing in front of her eyes on a loop. She could not see Vilana being thrashed inside the van and taken somewhere to be locked inside for life. 

She needed to leave. Moreover, she was getting late for work.

She stole her glances from Vilana as she still expected her to help. She said nothing. She shrugged the thoughts out of her mind and got inside her car. With a straight face right on the road, she sped ahead.

Focus, Nivedita. Focus. You are late for work. Focus on your work.

She pressed the accelerator as she gritted her teeth and gripped the steering wheel tightly. The tires kept spraying water from all sides as the engine heated up. There was no one on the road. It favoured her decision of a rash drive.

'Eight minutes drive.'  The GPS read again.

'Five minutes drive.' 

'One minute drive.' 

'Reached the destination.'

The car decelerated and finally came to a halt. 

She parked it on the marked spot and took out her key. She let out a deep exhale and gave herself a minute to calm down. Things got too clumsy in the past ten minutes. She needed to be back at her sane self.

She picked up her handbag before stepping out. The car door opened as the deserted road was now replaced with a huge building. However, the chaotic noises outside the building were relieving her somehow. The black of the car was sprinkled with brown at few places and her tires were completely ruined by the mud. 

She stood still and had a look at what she thought would be her workplace. 

That building that connected all the dots of the mayhem breaking out in the town, as claimed by the locals.

The hospital. 

֍