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

weird silence on both the sides, and breaking this silence, Vibha said, “Do you think all six of us might have received it?”

“I guess so. We both have received it, so probably they might have received it too,” replied Abhimanyu

“Yeah, right.”

“How is Richa? Heard from her lately?” asked Abhimanyu

“I did visit her in the behavioural centre about a month back. She seemed fine to me” “We did not talk much. But she kept on murmuring something. After all, she was the most traumatized of us all. She did not take it well,” said Vibha

“It was traumatizing for all of us Vibha. It was just that she got the most affected,” said Abhimanyu

“Okay. All right. I will get in touch with Kaajal and check if she has received this gift card too,” said Vibha.

“Yeah, you do that. I will check on the others,” replied Abhimanyu hanging up the call.

Chapter 7

“Tick Tock! Tick Tock!” a woman murmured continuously, sitting on a chair in a brightly lit room filled with people babbling. The chattering in the room had numbed down the television’s sound, which had become nothing more than a background noise. The people in the room wore a uniform, and every uniform had a serial number. Everybody was busy in their own world, but this woman sitting on the chair stared at the television and kept on murmuring, “Tick Tock! Tick Tock!” The commotion around, did not bother her a bit. She sat so steadily, that even an earthquake could not have shaken her and displaced her from her position. And right then the steel door buzzed, and in came the warden and walked up to that woman.

“You have a visitor today. Let’s go,” said the warden tapping her electric rod on the wooden chair. The woman still sat there without moving a muscle and was still murmuring.

“All right, Let’s go!” yelled the warden.

This time the woman suddenly stopped with the murmuring and looked up at the warden with a poker face. She stood up and started walking stiffly towards the steel door, murmuring continuously while she walked.

Through the corridor, she walked with heavy steps, continually looking down at the floor. At the other end of the hallway was one more steel door. The warden buzzed the door open, and they walked into a big, well-ventilated room with sunlight pouring in from the three big windows, illuminating the whole room. Everyone sitting in the room was talking with their visitors. Some were laughing, some just fighting, and some just sitting there without having a conversation.

The guard took the woman to table number 22, where a lady was waiting for her. She stood up as soon as she saw the warden coming in with the woman.

"I want the chains removed. Here is the token for it,” said the lady to the warden. Without saying anything, the warden took out the handcuffs and the chains and left.

“They are treating you well here, huh,” said the lady.

“Kaajal could you do away with the greetings and get done with this,” said the woman in a hoarse voice.

“I am just here to look upon you, Richa, that’s it,” replied Kaajal.

“I don’t need you!!” added Richa raising her voice this time.

“Richa, that unfateful night had an impact on all of us in different ways. It’s just that you started behaving a little odd when all that we were asking you to do, was to get over it and put it behind you,” said Kaajal leaning forward and clenching her teeth.

“Get out and leave me alone!” exclaimed Richa slamming her fist on the table. This time she was loud enough to catch everyone’s attention as everyone turned towards their table.

“Calm down, Richa! exclaimed Kaajal. “You went to the police Richa! And you had started getting hallucinations. We did not do this to harm you, but rather, to do good to you,” whispered Kaajal. “You think we wanted all of this? Especially me?” she added.

Richa was half-listening to her as she was busy sharpening her nails and looking down at the table. Just then, Kaajal bent down and took out a small gift card from her bag.

“Here, open it,” said Kaajal sliding the card towards Richa. Richa just stared at it for a while only to pick it up and open it. She read the gift card and looked up at Kaajal.

“Look at the date written at the top right corner…

“It’s Abhimanyu. It’s the same date” she said unclearly, now staring at Kaajal in disbelief.

“Yeah its Abhimanyu’s birth date, but I have no idea what it means, what I do know is that whoever sent us this wants us to be there at that location on the 23rd, which is three days from now,” said Kaajal, pointing at the coordinates on the gift card. “So I am here to take you out for a few days.

“I checked with the reception and you have not received any such gift card. That’s the reason I am here to pick you up. I just thought it would be best to take you along for your safety,” said Kaajal consoling Richa, who was incessantly rocking to and fro on the chair.

“It’s a right turn from this side road, I guess. Yes, that’s the one. At least that’s what the map says,” said Vibha instructing Abhimanyu.

They were in the middle of a countryside road with dense jungle on both sides of the road. There was a dusty milestone on the left side that read Panaji 25kms. The sun was beaming down. A small crooked side road led somewhere into the jungle and was the subject of the debate between Abhimanyu and Vibha.

“Are you sure this is the right way? I don’t think this leads anywhere,” asked Abhimanyu, a little confused.

“Yeah, take this right. Surely this is the one,” assured Vibha.

“Doesn’t even qualify for a road,” said a disgusted Abhimanyu, as he took the right turn.

“How are Akansha and Anuja?” she asked.

“They are fine and at home,” he replied

“You should have brought them along. For