Into The Shadows by Aayush Borulkar (smart ebook reader txt) 📗

“I will talk to the couple again and try to sort it out, sir,” said Vibha sheepishly.

Vibha just sat there for two minutes only to realize that she had no other option than to stand up and leave. As soon as she exited the room, Prashant joined her.

“Kaisa tha? Achese grill kiya na usne?” said Prashant laughing.

“Arey vo kya grill karega. Maine bol diya, my way or the highway,” said Vibha foolishly smirking, leaving behind a puzzled Prashant.

Vibha entered her cabin and sat on her chair with a thud, exhausted by the unpleasant start to her day, which had started with the heavy rains and was worsened by the recent briefing. She began rotating the chair, and while she was doing so, she saw an envelope right on her laptop. She picked it up. It had her name, a address, and a note saying, “Truth be told.” She immediately rang the bell, and a peon ran in hurriedly.

“When did this letter arrive?” asked Vibha.

“It came in this morning ma’am. I had it put on your desk. It had your name on it, so kept it in your cabin,” answered the peon.

Vibha just nodded, which was a signal for him to leave. She took a pair of scissors and tore open the letter. There was a small gift card. It had a picture of a beach and her name written on it. Below on the right-hand corner, there were a few numbers that seemed like coordinates for a place. But then it had nothing more on it. So Vibha just rolled her eyes and thought somebody was playing a prank on her and threw that gift card into the trash can.

“The couple that you counselled the other day is back, ma’am,” said the peon peeking through the half-opened door.

“Send them in,’ said Vibha.

The couple entered the room and sat on the couch. Vibha took out their file from the drawer and sat on the opposite couch.

“So I would like to start by apologizing for my act the other day and the little drama that we witnessed, which was uncalled for.” apologized Vibha.

“It’s okay, we understand. As a matter of fact, that little fight we had was like a ventilating moment for both of us and cleared out many misunderstandings,” said the wife. “In fact, we would like to apologize for creating such a drama and chaos in your cabin,” added the wife.

“After that we even went out on a small date. More of a casual dinner but we tried to rekindle our relationship, and it felt perfect!” interrupted the husband.

“Oh! Okay. That’s a surprise!” exclaimed Vibha, a little puzzled. “So now I guess we are on the right track, and we should proceed. And somebody please tell about this to the old man,” murmured Vibha.

The couple was a bit surprised to what was Vibha saying but then eventually ignored it.

“So now, proceeding with the…

Vibha was suddenly interrupted by her phone vibrating. She ignored it. Within two seconds, the phone rang again, and once again Vibha ignored and muted it.

“You should receive the call. It could be something important,” suggested the wife.

“Oh no, it’s fine,” said Vibha.

Five minutes into the session, her phone pinged, and she received a text message from the same number. This time she opened the text, which read.

Did you receive the gift card too? If you did, please call back as soon as possible.

–Abhimanyu.

This message took her by surprise and even more so because it had come from Abhimanyu. Now Vibha was getting anxious as to what Abhimanyu had to say to her so urgently and was now thinking of ways to end the session.

Keeping the phone aside, Vibha said, “Mr. and Mrs. Hasan, I am sorry for the interruption, but you were right. It was something urgent. My uncle is a paralytic patient, and he just had an episode of convulsions. So I might have to rush there now. So is there any chance that we could carry forward this meeting to next week, and I assure you that the office will adjust your appointment accordingly. It’s just that this is urgent. Hope you understand,” said Vibha in an apologetic tone.

“Okay, no problem. We understand,” said Mrs. Hasan getting up from the couch. “Hope your uncle gets well soon and you take care too,” added Mr. Hasan.

Vibha walked them to the door and shut the door as soon as they left. She locked the door behind them and walked to the dust bin and removed the thrown card. She again examined it but found nothing peculiar on it. She then called back on the number from which she had received the message.

“Hello! You finally called,” said Abhimanyu on the other side of the phone.

“Abhimanyu. What is all this about the gift card?” asked Vibha.

“Did you receive one, too?” asked Abhimanyu curiously.

“Yeah, but I thought someone was playing a prank on me, so I threw it in the dustbin,” answered Vibha.

“Okay, you did not see it then. Could you flip the card and look at the top right corner of the card,” said Abhimanyu.

“There is a date written there, 23/09/2020,” readout Vibha. “But I find nothing peculiar in that.”

“Vibha, It’s 23rd, my birth date. The same date we had the house party at my farmhouse 20 years back, remember?” said Abhimanyu in a sharp tone.

Listening to this, Vibha was stunned for a second and then replied in a crackling voice, “What about that now?” “Why would someone send a gift card with that date on it?”

“I have no idea Vibha...

“Wait a minute. So the numbers are coordinates to some place. Did you check those Abhimanyu?” asked Vibha hurriedly, interrupting Abhimanyu.

“Yes, I did, and they are for someplace in Panaji in Goa,” said Abhimanyu. “Isn’t the 23rd of September five days from now? That’s odd,” said Vibha, still staring at the gift card.

“Yes, it is. I guess whoever sent us this, wants us to be there on this particular date only,” guessed Abhimanyu.

There was a