"What are you talking about?"
"So people are going missing around the town, and 2 boys around the age of 8, 4 women around the age of 20, and a 45-year-old male have been reported missing since the last week "
"Well, that's concerning, so what should we do? lock our doors and windows and don't step out of our houses after dark", says Kabir, not giving it much thought.
"No, what we should be doing is the opposite"
"Why", says Kabir and Kundan in unison
"As you know, whose presence you are under, the greatest detective of all time, Arajan Bedi"
"And who gave you that title, or are you thinking that finding Kabir's stolen bike makes you a crime detective?"
"Well, that's one of the reasons, but I have read every mystery novel and watched detective movies."
"Whatever you say, bro, so are you gonna play Sherlock Holmes now?" says Kabir while taking the last bite of paratha.
"Yeah, not me, but we ..."
"We are going to investigate this case and catch whoever is behind this"
The bell marking the end of lunch rings
"Well, we have to talk about your detective role play later,I have to get to our class"
After parting ways with Arjan, both of them go to their class.
After attending his classes, Kundan comes back home. He locks the room from the inside and takes out both of the keys from his school bag.
The green key looked the same, but some strange carvings had appeared on the black key. It didn't have these carvings, strange snake-like symbols in it before; maybe I couldn't see those carvings before due to the dark.
I have to search the house before Dadu comes back.
Kundan changes into a casual T-shirt, jeans, and white sports shoes.
"Ma, I am going to Kundan's house"
"At least eat something before going there. I have made Dhokla for you"
"I will eat at his house and leave some Dhokla for me, I will eat it later"
"Try to come back before dark, you know, people are going missing these days"
"ok"
Kundan takes his bicycle out and sets off.
Obviously, I am not going to Kabir's house.
He arrives at the old house and parks his bicycle outside.
The house is surrounded by a 7.5-foot-tall wall with a rusting metal gate. Kundan uses the keys to open the metal gate, but it won't open.
Looks like the keys are not for this gate. I have to find another way in,
He takes a stroll around the wall, trying to find another way, but after looking at every edge of the wall, there is no other way around.
Looks like I have to climb the wall.
Kundan takes a long run-up and then jumps as high as he can, but he couldn't even touch the top of the wall.
Then again, he runs toward the wall and jumps again, but this time he reaches higher, but not high enough to reach the top.
I am not giving up that fast. I have to find my answers today.
After 15 mins of running and jumping, he finally grabs the top of the wall and exercises his full strength, then pulls himself up.
Kundan stands on the wall, gasping for breath. He sits on the wall to rest and takes a look at the land before him and sees a 1.5-acre land with tall wild grass bushes and all kinds of unwanted plants.
He jumps down the wall, and the grass is tall enough to block his vision, but Kundan walks through it carefully, stepping forward.
He finally reaches the centre of the property, a single-story house in front of it was a long veranda with some old-style rusted benches and chairs.
Then, Kundan rushes up some stairs and reaches the wooden gate of the house. The wall of the house is covered in moss, and the plinth or base platform of the house is full of dirt and dried leaves.
But oddly, the wooden door and the windows are still in good condition.
The door lock is fully covered by the mauli(red thread); he can't even find a keyhole. Kundan tears off all the maulis from the lock and uses the green key to unlock the door.
He pushes open the door with a loud thud that echoes through the whole house, as Kundan steps foot into the house, an eerie feeling creeps into his body.
The hall looks like a common room, filled with dirt, dried leaves, and cobwebs.
Now that I have entered the house, I have to find clues about Dad.
Kundan enters the room in front of him, which is fully empty, no furniture, no bed, no chair, nothing, and then he checks every room, bathroom and even the kitchen. The whole house is empty, nothing but a collection of doors and walls. Why bother even locking it
After half an hour
This house has nothing to give a clue about Dad. What should I do now? I can't wait till Dadu tells me about him, fuck, what do I do now?
Then suddenly he hears the sound of rustling.
Is someone here, shit, is Dadu here? He's going to be mad big time that I have come here, even after him restricting me.
But I have to confirm.
He then follows the trail of the sound quietly; it is coming from the backyard.
Kundan peeks at the source of the sound from a wall; it was just two squirrels fighting.
"Haah, I nearly freaked the hell out".
Kundan then approaches them and scares them off. "Hey, Shu Shu, fuck off, you should not fight, ok".
Looks like they fight over this, a grape-sized pink crystal. He bends down to pick it up.
And the squirrel jumps at him; this time, it is bigger than before. It has a weird red glow in its eyes, and its claws are sharper and larger, with a pair of large fangs sticking out of its mouth.
With this sudden attack, startled Kundan stumbles back and falls on the ground. The Squirrel jumps at him and bites the fingers that is holding the crystal.
He grabs it with the other hand and throws it toward a tree.
He stands up and puts the crystal in his pocket. The squirrel runs at him again. Kundan squashes it with his leg before it can reach him, making it spit the guts out.
What the fuck was that? Some kind of weird mutation is going on here; that squirrel was larger than normal.
Anyway, one good thing is Dadu is not here, may be is should get out of here, the sun is going to set soon, I should be getting out of here.