The Blue Moon

Chapter – I

I Wish

Friday, 1950 hrs…

“PRARTHANA…. PRARRTHANAAA…..”

There she starts again. ‘Why did you put this here? Why did you put that there? Why did you touch my laptop? Why did you use my stuff?’ phew! God! Why is that I never get an adjustable room mate ever? I’m Prarthana. I work in TechSys, Trivandrum. I’m from Chennai and I stay here in a hostel near Kaniyapuram. Sandhya and I are room mates for the past 3 months. She too works in the same organization, but different unit. We hardly spend time together. A few hours before sleep and a few hours before leaving to work... that’s when we talk or rather quarrel. I wish that girl leaves soon and I get a good roomie.

“Yeah what’s your problem now, Sandhya?”

“How many times have I told you never to touch my things?”

“I didn’t count. But anyway, I don’t remember using your plate or cosmetics or anything else”

“You used my tea spoon to stir your milk, didn’t you?”

God! She is picking up a fight for using her tea spoon!!! I can’t believe this.

“Oh! Is it? I’m so sorry Sandhya. I just didn’t notice. I’ll make sure I don’t use them next time.”

“This is what you always tell. If you aren’t counting, start now. This is a million plus one-th time I’m telling you, NEVER touch my stuff.”

*Cell phone rings*

Thank God! Someone called her at the right time. It must be Sanjay. Let that poor guy suffer for sometime. Sanjay is her boyfriend. She never said so, but she always hangs out with him and everyone says they are in a relation. I never bothered to ask her much about that. Every time he calls, they start with a quarrel and end it with a quarrel. That’s all I know. This time they were quarrelling a little longer. I had to wait till she finishes talking. I was watching TV until then.

There was silence for sometime. I guess she had finished talking. I went inside the room and she was crying. I didn’t know what to do. I went near her to console her.

“Hey, what happened Sandhya?”

I don’t know if I had asked something wrong. She immediately started crying loudly. She hugged me and cried for a long time. I tried to console her.

“Hey whatever it is, it’s ok. Why do you have to cry for that?” She did not stop. She was still crying. “If you are gonna keep crying like this, you might get dark circles around your eyes woman! Stop crying.” That usually works with lot of girls. But this time it didn’t.

“I never wanted to hurt Sanjay. I tried to be with him forever. But I know I can’t. I thought he would understand that himself and leave me. But he never did so. I had to hurt him so badly. Poor Sanjay.” And she started sobbing.

‘Break-up’ was the closest thing that I was able to understand from whatever she had said.

After consoling her for some more time, she slept and I too went to my bed.

Saturday, 1000 Hrs…

It was 10 AM when I woke up. I slept late yesterday but still woke up early as usual for a weekend. But she hadn’t waken up yet. I started up with my weekend chores and got myself cleaned by some 1 PM or so. I went inside the room to pick few of my stuff. She was meddling with her laptop.

“Hey… morning! When did you wake up?” I just asked for being formal.

“Just now.”

“Ok. I’m gonna cook for me. Shall I make something for you too?” On a normal day I wouldn’t have even bothered. But today she looked pathetic and horrible. Thought of just helping.

“It’s ok Prarthana. I’ll get ready and cook myself.”

She meddled with her laptop for some more time and then went to bath maybe around 2 or 2.30PM. Then she cooked something, ate and was getting ready to go somewhere.

Saturday, 1620 Hrs…

“Hey, Prarthana. I’m going out. I may come late at night. I’ll take a key and go. You don’t have to wait for me. Sleep if it gets too late.”

“Yeah, Okay.”

Saturday, 2310 Hrs…

As she said it was getting late and I was sleepy. I called her once. But she didn’t pick the call. Maybe she was busy. I locked the door and went to sleep. I was a bit happy that through out the evening I was at home peaceful without her. I’ll be happy if she never comes back.

Sunday, 0725 Hrs…

*Calling bell rings*

“Yeah I’m coming”

*yawn* It was not even 8 AM and I was not able to guess who would be at the door. That girl, she hadn’t come yet. Probably it was her. She had a key anyway. She might have missed it somewhere. Whatever.

When I opened the door I was shocked to see two policemen standing, a constable and a head constable.

“Ms. Prarthana?” asked the HC.

“Yes. I’m Prarthana.”

“Madam, can you come with us for an enquiry?”

“What enquiry? And where should I come?”

“Sandhya is your room mate right? It’s a small enquiry about her. Can you come with us?”

“What happened to her?”

“We will tell. Please come with us”

“Huh… hmmm… yes ok.”

“Do you have a vehicle?”

“Yeah, I have my scooty.”

“Fine, you can come in that”

“Okay. Please give me some time. I will get ready and come”

“yeah sure.”

I went in to get ready. I saw my phone and it showed 8 missed calls from unknown numbers. I usually put my phone on silent while sleeping. Probably they had called me. I took a quick shower and went along with them. They were going in their bike and I was following them in my scooty. I kept thinking about what had happened. I couldn’t conclude.

They took me to a small hilly place near Kulappaara. There was a small bunch of localites crowded and the inspector was standing there. I was able to guess what might have happened.

“Sir, she is Prarthana, Sandhya’s room mate.”

“Hello Sir.”

“Yes, Prarthana. Do you know why you are here?”

“No, Sir” I said with a broken voice.

“Hmmm… A suicide was reported early in the morning. We recovered the body. But we were unable to identify the person. We found a hand bag and a mobile uphill. We found the identity card of Sandhya inside the hand bag. There were around 15 missed calls to her mobile. 2 from ‘Mom’, 3 from ‘Daddy’, 1 from ‘Prarthana’ and 9 from ‘Sanjay’. So we tried to reach you first. Can you confirm if it is her? We didn’t want to panic her parents before confirmation”

I started crying. I hated her very much. I even wished she should never come back. But this is not what I meant. Everyone used to say I’m a bold girl. But today I knew I wasn’t. I was too scared to look at the body. But I had to. And it was her. I started to cry badly.

“Are you sure, it is her?”

I nodded my head saying yes. I was not able to talk. I was weeping for a long time. The police were carrying out their usual investigation. They informed her parents who were in Vijayawada. I called few of my friends who knew her too. I was too scared to be there alone. After some time, the policemen asked me and my friends few questions. They were keen about her relationship with Sanjay. Everyone said whatever they knew. Few even said a lot more than whatever they knew. I said it was only yesterday that Sandhya broke up with Sanjay. The policemen gathered information from all us and said they would get back to me for a detailed investigation if needed.

They took her body for other formalities. After sobbing and talking a lot we returned back. I decided to shift my room. Who knows? I might even get a better room mate. But I wish, I never had wished.

*****

Chapter – II

Requiem

Friday, 1925 hrs… (Inside TechSys shuttle)

“You haven’t done anything at all? Have you at least kissed her?”

“Nope”

“You’ve been to movie theatre, park or beach with her, rite?”

“Hmmm… yeah. I’ve taken her to few movies, beach and accompanied her in her shopping too.”

“What were you doing in a movie theatre?”

“huh… watching the movie.”

“What? And what was she doing?”

“How would I know that? I was watching the movie.”

“Damn you! Then how the heck do you think that girl… just get lost man. It’s an absolute waste of time talking to you.”

He might be right. He has had 18 successful relationships, out of which 6 have already been taken to the next level and he is toiling every bit to take the other 12 to the next level as well. But for some stupid reasons I never fit that kind. But anyway, I’m not a jerk to let him know of my intimate moments with her.

Hi, I’m Sanjay. I work for TechSys. Sandhya and I had our training together in Mysore. We were the only two from our college to attend the training. I never knew her much in our college days. But here, we both were together most of the times. The more and more we were together we got to know a lot about each other. She started to like me. She started to look at me like some super hero. Hmmm… like The Dark Knight. And that was more than enough a reason for me to fall for her. I never hesitated to tell her that. I always found it a lot more comfortable even when people hated me for what I am rather liked me for what I’m not. So I decided to tell her immediately.

I looked straight into her eyes and said, ‘Girl, I think I fell for you already. And I’m not a jerk to hide it in the name of friendship. Do you think it would work out between us?’ She wasn’t sure that if that would work out or not. But she was sure there was no harm trying. And of course she liked the way I told her. She likes everything about me, I never knew why. So it was like I was in a love relationship with her and she was in a not-sure-what-is relationship. But eventually we were in some relationship. That went on for quite sometime and we were posted together in Trivandrum. She stayed in a women’s hostel and I stayed along with few North Indian friends in a rented house.

Our relationship in Trivandrum was not as good as it was in Mysore, because I always pressed her for a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Though I wasn’t ready to take a ‘No’ as a reply it was frustrating to go on without knowing what it was. She was scared to tell a ‘yes’ and didn’t want to tell a ‘no’. And that started to make our lives miserable. Because, I know for sure that her parents would have already started to look for a groom. At least once a day we quarrel on this issue and this continued for the past few months. She believed in living the day which is not wrong but this was too much.

I was made to sit on ‘bench’ for a long time during which she was asked to join in 3 projects. She picked one and got herself busy. I was jobless and I kept bugging her every time. Eventually we end up fighting. Few of my friends who knew me tried advising and one such guy was Raghav, the man with 18 girlfriends. Of course, I can never emulate him and I never dared to try. Raghav got down at his stop and my stop was the next. It just took 2 minutes to reach my stop. The moment I got down I called her.

“Hey hi…”

“yea.. what is it, Sanjay?”

“Huh… hmmm… nothing. I just got down and I just called to make sure you reached your hostel safe.”

“What would you have done if I hadn’t reached safely, huh?”

“Hey, why do you talk like that? I don’t think I asked anything wrong.”

“Listen I already have a terrible head-ache. And this girl, my room mate, she won’t even let me have a cup of coffee. And you… you won’t even let me suffer peacefully.”

What? She is angry for a coffee. But whatever it was, she started talking a lot and I started talking a lot more. We had very huge quarrel. I did not walk to my house. I was wandering in the streets randomly, shouting at her without minding anyone around.

“Listen Sanjay, I never regret the days that I spent with you, but this can’t go on anymore like this. It’s so deteriorating. My head and heart can’t take anymore of this. Just leave me. Get lost. If at all there was any relationship between us, it is no more. Bye.”

And she hung up.

“Hey dude… ” that was Raghav. I had walked all the way back and reached his place. Perfect. “What are you doing here?”

“I guess… I uh… came…. to see you.”

“huh? What happened?”

“I think she broke up with me”

“Is it? Hmmm… That’s ok. Come we’ll go have some beer.”

That was the first time I had beer. Usually I drink only whiskey and my first time beer was like having a cool drink. Raghav started to talk with his usual tale that he keeps telling everyone – ‘The Adventures of Raghav with his 18 Girlfriends!’ Unfortunately again, I had to listen because it was he who bought me the beer. Every time after a quarrel it would be me who goes for a peace talk. This time I decided, let she come to me. I decided not to call her until she calls me or texts me.

“And that is how you should deal with girls, dude. You got it?”

“Huh?” I guess he had been telling a lot. But I wasn’t listening to him even a bit.

“You got it or you want me to repeat from the beginning?”

“Yea.. of course I got it. You are the man. You rock, dude!” I saved myself from the misery. Raghav, contempt with his tale telling, landed on the bed to sleep. I don’t remember when the last time I slept peacefully. I wish I could sleep peacefully someday. But I know it isn’t today.

Saturday, 1000 Hrs…

“Hey Sanjay… you woke so early? You slept very late yesterday, right?” asked Raghav because just as he woke up he had to see me with his laptop.

“hmmm… yeah man. That’s ok.” I was meddling with his laptop all night. I tried to sleep for sometime and I did succeed between 4 AM and 6 AM.

“Dude… Sai, Krishna and I are planning to go to movie afternoon. You coming with us?”

“huh… mmm… ok man.” If I’m alone I’ll keep thinking about her and at last I would have called her. I didn’t want to do that. Not so early, at least. So I too got along with them for the movie.

We got ourselves ready, had lunch, then movie, then went to few places, bought dinner and at last we bought liquor and reached home. Half whiskey and 2 beers for me and 2 beers for Raghav. Sai and Krishna are spectators. This time I bought the drinks and decided that only I should talk today.

Saturday, 2220 Hrs… <<While drinking>>

“She told me so much man. So fucking much. And now she comes and says she wanna break up. -- What the heck does she think huh? -- if she knows already that she loves her daddy, she loves her family and she cannot hurt them why the heck did she hold my hands at all? Why the heck does she have to say that she loves me? -- Dude, do you know that loving, being in a relation and marrying are three different things independent of each other? At least for a woman, it is. Very lately I got to know that man -- You know something, men are always bound to their words. I'd rather die than taking back my word. When I said I loved her I meant it. You think I would have let her go giving her dumb reasons like family and stuff? Or does she think that I don't have a family at all? But these women... GOD... They think that they are not bound to their words. They think they can just say anything and get away with it. They don't even feel guilty when they break a word. And their promises... A woman's promise is worth rat shit dude. Fuckin’ rat shit.”

“Come on man. Don't be too harsh on women”

“Shut up man. Shut the fuck up. Who's buying you drink?”

“You”

“Hmmm... So who's gonna talk?”

“You”

“I didn’t hear you, mate”

“YOU”

“Hmmmm... Who's gonna listen?”

“Me”

“Yea... Do that… -- Man with 18 fuckin’ girlfriends... Stay down and listen...”

“Hmmm”

“Why doesn't she understand that I'm the right person for her? -- anyway she knows that I'm the right one. – ‘Soulmates’ ... FUCK. I love her so much man. Fuckin bad truth is that she loves me more than that. Damn her.”

“Maybe you should let her go...”

“Dude, If I let her go, I’ll be the dumbest loser ever in this world. I know what she is and I know what I’ll lose if I let her go.”

“Maybe you should call her then…”

“-- You think I wouldn't have? I’ve tried to call her at least 10 times, since evening. She doesn't even pick my call.”

“Man, she is being such a…”

“One sec, hold on… before you say anything, if you’re gonna say single word badly about her you will be killed. Now go ahead.”

“Uhm… Nothing”

Sunday, 0835 Hrs…

“Hey dude, you gotta wake up.”

“Uh... Hmmm... It's not even 9 man. What’s wrong?”

“There are a few cops waiting outside. They're here for you.”

“Cops? For me? Are you sure?”

“Yeah... They went to your house. Your room mates have said you are here and they have come.”

“Did I get myself into any trouble last night?”

“Not sure man. Me and Krishna slept early and Raghav too slept before you. I think you were awake for a long time and were blabbering a lot. Did you go somewhere out last night?”

“I don't remember man. I remember I was talking with Raghav and then I think I slept. I’m not sure.”

“Ok just go and talk to them. We'll know what it is.”

I washed my face, put on my shirt and went out. There were two policemen standing. They were talking with Raghav and Krishna.

“Sir, that is Sanjay” Raghav directed the cops towards me.

“Sanjay, we need you to come with us for an enquiry” asked one of the policemen.

“What enquiry?”

“You know Sandhya right? It’s about her. We want you to come with us, immediately.”

“OK sir, you get going. I’ll follow you in my bike.”

“That’s not needed. You can come with us in our jeep. It doesn’t mean we are arresting you or something. It’s just an enquiry anyway.”

I was puzzled. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t even remember what I did. Did that woman complained anything about me? Like, I’m giving her some torture or something? She wouldn’t do that. I was confused. Raghav signaled me to just go along with them and he will follow us and know what has happened. I hopped on to the rear seat and went along with them.

The person on the front seat was talking with someone on the phone. “Sir, we have got Sanjay with us sir. – We are bringing him there – Oh… --- Ok sir --- Ok sir. We will take him directly to the station.” “The inspector asked us to go the station and wait for him. He will come there in some time and start the enquiry.” He was giving a general announcement to the rest of the cops in the jeep.

I was taken to the station and was made to wait for a long time. I was sitting on a bench. I didn’t know what had happened and why I was there. And none of the policemen over there gave a damned thought that I even existed. That inspector guy, who was to ‘enquire’ me hadn’t come yet. I was even thinking, for making me to sit without asking questions for so long, they could have brought me here later. Damn it.

Sunday, 1045 Hrs…

I was waiting for more than two hours. I was already hungry. That was when Raghav rushed in.

“Dude… Don’t worry. I’ve brought us a lawyer. We could bail you out if in case there was an issue.”

“Come on man… what’s going on? Why would I need a bail?”

“Haven’t they told you anything?”

“Who? They? They just keep walking here and around. Never said anything. What happened?”

“Sandhya is dead man. They are holding you as a prime suspect. <<muffled voice>>…. “

I choked. I didn’t hear whatever he said more. “What?”

“She is dead, man. She jumped off a cliff near Kulappaara. They think either you might have killed her or it’s because of you she committed suicide. Whatever it is they’re gonna hold you responsible. Few of our friends are over there. The inspector had been enquiring them. Her body has been taken to hospital for post mortem. I guess the inspector must be there. He would return back soon. You don’t worry man. We will testify and prove that you were with us the whole day, yesterday.”

She is an idiot. She is such an idiot. Why would she do such a thing? I know I was being stupid, adamant and selfish but… argh… I can’t forgive myself damn it. All that I wanted was to be happy with her. Damn it. I shouldn’t have put her in that goddamned situation. What a fuckin’ moron I had been. Damn it. How much ever I cry or lament, I’m never gonna get her back. I’m such a sick asshole. God. <<Chuckles>> For a moment I even thought why the heck she died and put me in trouble. Damn myself. Even today I might not sleep peacefully. Maybe never will I sleep peacefully again.

*****

Chapter – III

Truth

Sunday, 0545 Hrs…

<<Cell phone rings>>

“Hey dude Ramesh, where are you?”

“Somewhere… tell me what it is.”

“There is some suicide case near Kulappara it seems. Can you go there and cover that story.”

“I’m already on my way dude.”

I’m Ramesh. That was my friend Ashwin. I wanted to be an investigative journalist. I tried my luck with all news companies. But no avail. Finally I convinced Ashwin to start a news paper company. He had money. It is for him I work in ‘The Phoenix’. I’m from Chennai. But Ashwin is from Trivandrum. So, I’m here. I wanted to make big. Not this. I still hope to make it bigger in future.

Sunday, 0600 Hrs…

I reached the spot where the suicide was reported. It reminded me of the 3 other deaths that I previously covered. To me those 3 deaths were suspicious. But to the police, it isn’t. They just closed the case writing reports that it was either suicide or accident. I was taking pictures of the body. I knew I should keep off the scene. I should not contaminate the evidences, if there was any. As I was taking the photographs, the police men came. They should have been here before me.

Sunday, 0635 Hrs…

After some observation, I saw the inspector sending the HC somewhere. Maybe he had cracked something. I immediately went on to question him.

“Sir, What have you concluded about the death of the girl?” the inspector looked a bit annoyed.

“It looks like a woman of age around 23 to 25 yrs killed herself jumping off the hills. We are still to confirm the identity of the woman. We are still in the preliminary stages of investigation. We will let you know once we made any progress.”

“Sir, this is the fourth case in the last 15 months. Do you suspect it to be more than just a suicide?”

“Don’t ask some stupid questions already. We are still in starting stage. Only after thorough investigations we will come to know of anything.” I knew he was just trying to evade.

“It seems as if you are too complacent about these cases. Your department has closed the 2 cases as accident and one as suicide and it looks like you are gonna close this again as a suicide.”

“Who do you write for?”

“The Phoenix”

“Is that a daily or a weekly?”

“It’s a local daily, sir”

“You small time local newspaper writers would raise any kind of baseless speculations and suspicions just to increase the circulation of your paper. I don’t have to answer your stupid speculative questions.”

I was left embarrassed. I did not know what else to talk. I just left the place taking some pictures and making a few more observations I fled from there.

Sunday, 1035 Hrs…

“Dude… are you still looking at those pictures?” asked Ashwin.

After taking the pictures, I came down here to write the story. I wrote it for some time and I searched for the other 3 news that I covered. I was having all four pictures together and looking at them. Those pictures were irresistible. I was always able to find some connection with them. But I never understood why the policemen aren’t doing anything about it.

“Here Ramesh, you have done enough for the day. Have rest man.”

“Hey Ashwin… just come and have a look at this. Don’t you find any similarities between there murders?”

“Come on man, you already concluded it to be murder?”

“Ok just tell me… don’t you find anything?”

“Well to me, all are woman that’s all. Come on dude… open your eyes… one is school girl, another CA, other is housewife and now an IT girl. The school girl and CA woman, they tripped and fell. And the other woman, she was cheating on her husband and when he came to know she killed herself. And the police and you too said there were no evidences to associate the deaths to murder. What connection do you want me to see?”

“Ok, let me tell. First connection is all are women. Their age group, between 17 and 24. They are all sophisticated woman who have easy access to outside world. They have all been dead falling from heights. The school girl from the school terrace, that CA from her office and the other woman from her home. And this girl from a hill top. All these woman, they just come in the same circle with a few kms radius. On top of these, all women have died on full moons. Isn’t that weird?”

“Yeah weird, dude, if I start drawing connections, I can connect every death to another. Stop being stupid. I know you desperately want to make it to the big news companies. But you can’t go there with these tales.”

“What? You think so?” Ashwin did not understand how much ever I tried.

“Well, because there is no logic. There should be at least some reason behind the murders right?”

“Do you think you need logics and reasons to kill a person? Listen, It is now 6 PM. Imagine, I wear ragged clothes. I board on some random crowded bus or a train. I don’t buy ticket. I just get down at some unknown place. I hide somewhere in the darkest and loneliest place. I kill the first man or woman that I see. Before anyone knows I flee from the place, reach my home at least before 1 AM. Have a good sleep. Wake up and come to the office tomorrow. What do you think is the probability that someone might find that I killed a person. Hmm?”

“But why would anyone do that? That sounds totally ridiculous.”

“OK. What bike do you have?”

“Huh?”

“Just tell me.”

“Yamaha Fazer.”

“Hmmm… Bike is meant for commutation right? I know for sure that you are not a racer, not even a street racer. Don’t you think, any other 100CC bike will serve this purpose? You might even get better mileage. Then, why do you have to get a Fazer? Just for the looks huh?”

“Uhmm… not just for the looks. Hmmm… Driving pleasure…”

“Yes… the shear pleasure. And that is what I’m talking about. We have a psychopath, maybe with a very bad childhood, probably deeply wounded or hurt by some woman, who is on a killing spree just for shear pleasure. When you fall from height, your body becomes stiff. You would want to move your body. You would try to do something. But you cannot. It’s just like the drop of water falling from skies. How much ever it tries it can take only spherical form. And if you jump from 30m or 40m height, it would take 2 seconds to reach the ground. Those 2 seconds will be the longest 2 seconds of your life. For the 2 seconds you know you are going to die, but you can’t do anything about it. And you will hit the ground at 20m/sec. That’s gonna have huge impact. These women they fell directly on a concrete floor or rocks like this girl Sandhya. This guy, he gives them no chance of surviving. He just looks in their eyes. Their fear of death in their eyes and has pleasure in that.”

“Man, only you can spin such tales so easily. As long as you bring me a front page article that improves our circulation, I’m fine with it. About this case, I don’t care whatever it is.”

“But whatever it is, I’m gonna unravel the truth.”

*****

Chapter – IV

Investigation

Sunday, 0540 Hrs…

*Cell phone rings*

“Hello..”

“Hello.. Sir this is head constable, Ganesan. ”

“yes Ganesan tell me.”

“There is a suicide reported near Kulappara hills. It seems like a woman from TechSys jumped off the cliff and killed herself.”

“OK. I’m coming there.”

I’m Vasanth, Inspector of Police, Kaniyapuram Region. I have been waiting for my transfer from this small town for a very long time. I just want to move out of this place and now come comes another suicide case. Damn it.

Sunday, 0605 Hrs…

I reached to the station as fast as I could.

“Where is Anand sir?” Anand is our sub inspector.

“He hasn’t come yet, sir.”

“OK ask him to come directly to the spot. Ganesan, get four constables and ask the driver to get ready the jeep. We will leave to the spot now. Also make sure if an ambulance has been called.”

Suicides. This has become common here. Fourth in the last 1 and a half years. For some reason we always blame the IT industries no matter what. But ever since they came in crime rates have gone high either up against them or by them.

We reached the place in few minutes. The first thing I saw was a guy with a camera moving everywhere. The sub Inspector had come there on his bike.

“Who is that guy, Ganesan?”

“Looks like some reporter sir”

“How the heck do these people come before we even get to know of what has happened? I want him out of there immediately. Make sure he doesn’t come anywhere near me.”

“OK sir.”

There were localites gathered. They just get amused about everything. I had a look at the woman. She looked young. She had fallen right on her head. Her face was full of blood.

“Ganesan, have someone check what we got uphill”

“Yes, sir.”

Sunday, 0635 Hrs…

“Sir, we got this hand bag and mobile phone.”

After having a check on the hand bag and mobile, we found that the woman was Sandhya who works for TechSys. IT woman, just as I expected. Her mobile had 15 missed calls. ‘Mom’, ‘Daddy’, ‘Prarthana’ and ‘Sanjay’.

“Ganesan, I want you to go to her office, get the details about the girl. If she had some room mate or some one who knows her bring them here. We need to confirm if it is her. Take a PC with you. Go in our SI’s bike. Ask the person to come in auto or some other vehicle.”

“OK sir”

We called for the forensic team and they were on their way. I was having a look on everything around to get some clue.

“Sir, what have you concluded about the death of the girl?”

It was that reporter guy. Didn’t I ask some one to keep him off me? Damn it.

“It looks like a woman of age around 23 to 25 yrs killed herself jumping off the hills. We are still to confirm the identity of the woman. We are still in the preliminary stages of investigation. We will let you know once we made any progress.”

“Sir, this is the fourth case in the last 15 months. Do you suspect it to be more than just a suicide?”

“Don’t ask some stupid questions already. We are still in starting stage. Only after thorough investigations we will come to know of anything.”

“It seems as if you are too complacent about these cases. Your department has closed the 2 cases as accident and one as suicide and it looks like you are gonna close this again as a suicide.”

Ok, this guy has gone too much.

“Who do you write for?”

“The Phoenix”

“Is that a daily or a weekly?”

“It’s a local daily, sir” the reporter guy couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

“You small time local newspaper writers would raise any kind of baseless speculations and suspicions just to increase the circulation of your paper. I don’t have to answer your stupid speculative questions.” I had to put him off. He was gonna talk more.

The reporter guy left the place after that.

Sunday, 0750 Hrs…

“Sir, she is Prarthana, Sandhya’s room mate.”

“Hello Sir.”

“Yes, Prarthana. Do you know why you are here?”

“No, Sir” she said with a broken voice. She looked frightened.

“Hmmm… A suicide was reported early in the morning. We recovered the body. But we were unable to identify the person. We found a hand bag and a mobile uphill. We found the identity card of Sandhya inside the hand bag. There were around 15 missed calls to her mobile. 2 from ‘Mom’, 3 from ‘Daddy’, 1 from ‘Prarthana’ and 9 from ‘Sanjay’. So we tried to reach you first. Can you confirm if it is her? We didn’t want to panic her parents before confirmation” She started to cry. Maybe they both were good friends.

I took her to show her the body of the woman. The girl started crying immediately after seeing the face.

“Are you sure, it is her?”

She nodded her saying yes. Immediately we collected details about her parents and informed them. They were in Vijayawada. There was a thorough routine of investigation during which Prarthana told that Sanjay was her boyfriend and they broke up Friday only. I could only laugh at the new generation loves and break-ups. After enquiring her and her friends I came to know that their relationship was rough.

“Anand Sir, can you please get the details of that Sanjay and get hold of him?”

“Yes sir.”

Forensic team had done their analysis. It looked to me more like a suicide only. But we have to wait. The ambulance had come already and we were taking her body for post mortem.

Sunday, 0835 Hrs…

<<Cell phone rings>> It was Anand sir.

“Yes Anand sir, tell me.”

“Sir, we have got Sanjay with us sir”

“Ok that’s good”

“We are bringing him there”

“You don’t have to bring him here”

“Oh… “

“I’m going to the hospital. I will wait till the post mortem is done and I will come to the station.”

“Ok sir”

“Take him directly to the station. I’ll meet him there.”

“Ok sir. We will take him directly to the station.”

Sunday, 1105 Hrs…

The post mortem was getting late. I left a PC in the hospital to collect the report and I had come to the station. I saw Sanjay waiting over there. The guy was already having a lawyer with him. So he already knew that he would be held responsible. We started our enquiry with him and his friends. They didn’t seem to lie. He accepted that it was only on Friday they both fought and maybe she was depressed. He tried to call her, but she never picked up. He felt very sorry and he was continuously speaking with broken voice. It was unlikely to suspect him for her death. May be he drove her to commit suicide. After investigations I let them go.

Sunday, 1435 Hrs…

“Sir, the post mortem report has come.”

I had a look at the report and it said the girl landed directly on her head. Her skull was opened. She died of serious hemorrhage and head injury. She would have lost her life around 1830 Saturday.

“Anand Sir, I think we can close this case as suicide. Ask them to hand over the body to her parents once they come here.”

“Sir?”

“Tell me Anand sir…”

“Are we being too fast on this case?”

“What is this sir? We should feel good that the case is not dragged.”

“What if that reporter guy was right? What if these four deaths have some connection in them?”

“Even if there was some connection, we can do nothing about it Anand sir. The post mortem report says that the girl’s clean. She was not robbed. And there were no traces of any other evidences over there. Do you want us to press murder charges against that Sanjay? He is just another sick pathetic lover guy. Maybe we can wait for the girl’s parents to say something. If they doubt their daughter’s death we reopen case.”

Monday, 1635 Hrs…

“Sir, we made our enquiry with the girl’s parents. They too are unsure about anything. They say they know nothing about this guy. But he said on Friday he talked to his daughter about her marriage.”

“Ok so do they doubt their daughter’s death?”

“No sir. But they wanted to complain against Sanjay for driving their daughter to commit suicide.”

“Oh! Come on men… who’s gonna give complaint against her parents? They too have their part in the girl’s death. Whatever.”

I was wrote the report. The girl died because of depression. Her father talked to her about her marriage and the same night Sanjay forced her to marry him. The girl was confused, unable to decide on anything, she chose to die. We will press charges against Sanjay. But the case won’t be strong. He will come out easily. Or we can negotiate with her parents to consider about the future of that guy. But what if, it was not just a suicide. Something more than that. Something that the reporter guy and Anand sir were talking about. Whatever it is. Who cares? I’ve got to close the case.

*****

Chapter – V

It’s Her

Friday, 1915 hrs…

*Cell phone rings*

“Hello”

“Hello Sandhya dear.. It’s daddy.”

“Yes daddy… tell me… how are you? How is mom? How is Ramya?”

“Everyone is fine dear. You sound so tired. Are you eating properly? Take care of your health dear.”

“It’s nothing daddy. I’m just returning from office in shuttle. Just a little tired. I will go home and take rest daddy.”

“Yesterday your ammama came here, Sandhya. She seems to have looked at few prospective grooms for you. She is so keen to see you getting married before next year. I consulted with our pundit too. He too suggested that your stars are good for next 12 months and it will better if we start looking for groom and finish off your marriage before next year.”

“Daddy please. It was only mom who used to talk like this all these days and now you too have started. Let me work for some more time daddy.”

“Yes baby, I understand that. You keep working while we keep looking for groom. By the end of the year we wish to get you married. Till then you can work.”

“Daddy…”

“Sandhya dear, don’t you know that daddy will always give you what is best for you. You are just a kid Sandhya. I know what to do for you and when to do. I will take care of everything dear. Your sister is gonna finish her studies and I will soon have to find a groom for her too. You just have to relax and listen to what we say. Understand baby. I will send you the profiles of the grooms to your mail id. Have a look at them. Take time. Choose anyone that you like and we will proceed further.”

“hmmm…”

“Ok Dear. Take care. Go home, eat something and sleep. Good Night.”

“Good night daddy.”

I’m Sandhya. That was my father who I was talking to. We hail from Vijayawada. But I live here in a hostel near Trivandrum TechSys. I work there. I think I got few text messages while talking with my dad. I checked my mobile. 3 messages from Sanjay.

7:20 PM: ‘I got into my shuttle. Where is your shuttle? Have you reached your place?’

7:22 PM: ‘You there?’

7:25 PM: ‘Idiot can’t you even text me back. What r u doing?’

Idiot. <<Chuckles>> He keeps fighting with me for all silly stupid reasons. My dad… I thought he would at least let me be free for some more time, but he too has started to bug me. I love Sanjay. He is my fantasy guy. My Dark Knight. A man so strong and so damn intelligent. So strong in his heart too. When he said he loved me, I immediately wanted to say a yes. But something had always prevented me say that. And now I know, that’s my dad. I love my dad so much. He has always been for me all these days. I had once indirectly told dad about Sanjay and he indirectly said no. I know he will never accept Sanjay. He will surely convince me too. And that’s why I had never said Sanjay an answer. But I let him know that I too love him. I want to live with him forever. But that can’t and will not happen at all. He will remain my fantasy guy who I lost foolishly. Now I have an answer for Sanjay. It is a ‘No’. Sanjay isn’t gonna accept my no. And it was never easy for me to choose. And it is even more difficult to say to him looking at his eyes. I know what I’m going to lose.

Friday, 1930 hrs…

I reached my home having made a tough decision. That girl was already there watching TV. My head was already starting to ache. Caffeine has always been my refuge. And this time too I’m gonna fall back having a cup of coffee. I went inside the kitchen to make coffee. I started to search for my spoon that I always use. It wasn’t there where I kept yesterday. I kept searching for it and found it left in the sink unwashed. That girl she had used my favourite tea spoon. I had never let anyone else use my spoon except Sanjay. She could have at least washed it and put it back in place so that I wouldn’t know. How many times should I tell her not to touch my things?

“PRARTHANA…. PRARRTHANAAA…..”

“Yeah what’s your problem now, Sandhya?”

“How many times have I told you never to touch my things?”

“I didn’t count. But anyway, I don’t remember using your plate or cosmetics or anything else”

“You used my tea spoon to stir your milk. Didn’t you?”

“Oh! Is it? I’m so sorry Sandhya. I just didn’t notice. I’ll make sure I don’t use them next time.”

“This is what you always tell. If you aren’t counting, start now. This is a million plus one-th time I’m telling you, Never touch my stuff.”

<<Cell phone rings>> It was Sanjay. God. Somehow I have to tell him that it’s over.

“Hey hi…”

“yea.. what is it, Sanjay?”

“Huh… hmmm… nothing. I just got down and I just called to make sure you reached your hostel safe.”

“What would you have done if I hadn’t reached safely, huh?”

“Hey, why do you talk like that? I don’t think I asked anything wrong.”

“Listen I already have a terrible head-ache. And this girl, my room mate, she won’t even let me have a cup of coffee. And you… you won’t even let me suffer peacefully.”

“Oh is it… I’m not holding you baby. Go suffer as much as you can for a single cup of coffee.”

“Sanjay…”

“Cut the crap, you idiot. You’ve been the prime reason for all my misery all these days and I still come back to you again and again and again and again. You haven’t even told me an answer. And you shout at me for a cup of coffee. Just tell me this and I’ll let you suffer peacefully.”

“What is it?”

“Will you marry me?”

“And you call this a proposal?”

“Well, I’ve done it better many times but still to get an answer. This time I need an answer.”

“Luckily for you, I have an answer today. It’s a NO”

“Whoa, hold on. I’m not ready to take ‘no’ as an answer. Not after all that we came across together.”

“That’s not my problem, Sanjay. You wanted an answer, you have it now.”

“No, I can’t take it.”

“Stop being childish Sanjay.”

“Oh yeah… and I’m being childish and you are the matured one eh?”

“Of us two, I’m the matured one, Sanjay. We both know that.”

“Did you even talk to your dad about me?”

“I spoke to my dad just now. He has started to look for a groom. I tried telling him about you. But I couldn’t. I don’t want my dad to be hurt. He will get hurt if I talk about you. I have to consider my family as well.”

“You don’t want to hurt your dad? So you chose to hurt me. Great. And what about the days that we were together? That’s all nothing.”

“Listen Sanjay, I never regret the days that I spent with you, but this can’t go on anymore like this. It’s so deteriorating. My head and heart can’t take anymore of this. Just leave me. Get lost. If at all there was any relationship between us, it is no more. Bye.” I just hung up the phone. He would be hurt. I was too rude to him. God. I was not able to control my tears. They were gushing out of my eyes.

“Hey, what happened Sandhya?” Prarthana asked. We just have a hall, a kitchen and a bedroom with 2 beds. She probably came into sleep. But I couldn’t stop crying. I badly wanted to hug someone and she was just beside me. I hugged her and started to cry out.

“Hey whatever it is, it’s ok. Why do you have to cry for that?”

It’s sort of funnier to see this girl consoling me. I thought she wouldn’t bother about me. I kept crying still.

“If you are gonna keep crying like this, you might get dark circles around your eyes woman! Stop crying.”

Yeah, she is right. I tried to stop crying by talking to her. “I never wanted to hurt Sanjay. I tried to be with him forever. But I know I can’t. I thought he would understand that himself and leave me. But he never did so. I had to hurt him so badly. Poor Sanjay.” I kept crying.

Friday, 2350 hrs…

Prarthana was consoling me for some more time and I don’t remember when I slept. Suddenly I woke up and it was 11.50 PM and she was sleeping in her bed. I checked my mobile. There wasn’t even a single call or message from Sanjay. Probably I had hurt so much that he started hating me, at least for sometime. But then I wanted to ask sorry to him and talk to him. But that would ruin everything that I did so far. It was so painful for me to say no to him. I can’t talk to him now and get back to that cycle again.

All that I could think was only about Sanjay. I switched on my lappy and started to browse. My hostel is wi-fi facilitated. I logged on to gmail to check a few mails. There were a few people online. And there was one person named Zephyrus. I don’t see who’s who. If I get a chat invite, I just accept it. I don’t remember chatting with that guy before. I thought maybe I should chat with this guy for sometime so that I can keep my thoughts from Sanjay.

‘Hi’

‘Hi Sandhya…’

‘So, u knw my name…’

‘Well we have had our introductions once before.’

‘ok… so is tht ur name, zephyrus?’

‘nope… zephyrus is a greek god. God of wind. J ’

‘hmmm..’

‘so, hwz life in TechSys..’

‘so… we talked abt tat too already? I don’t remember… Anyway it isn’t fun… just goes.’

‘you look good. Well… so pretty is ur profile pic’

‘J well thnks..’

‘so, u stay in hostel eh? Laptop?’

‘that’s obvious… I hav my lappy and the hostel has wi-fi’

‘I hate when girls call laptop as lappy or husband as hubby... :-X’

‘ok… so wat has tat got to do with me?’

‘well nothing…’

‘you have a pretty face… bright eyes, big cheeks and the most perfect shaped nose… u remind me of the greek goddesses tat I read about.’

‘is that a complement?’

‘i guess it is’

‘then don’t u think it is too much of a complement to a girl who isn’t that close.’

‘oh hmmm..’

‘then…’

‘hmmm…’

‘so u like music?’

‘yeah, who doesn’t?’

‘wat kind?’

‘anything that is dark’

‘dark music…?! Hav I heard it b4?’

‘I’ll explain… anything in this world has a fair bit of darkness associated with it. Even music. the darkness could be the darkness of a bedroom, or darkness of a graveyard or darkness of a mother’s womb. It could well be emotionally connected to darkness of fear, anger, frustration, depression, love, lust and everything. I just like music which has a higher tinge of darkness in it.’

‘that was big…’

‘sorry’

‘u seem like a guy who is much into myths, philosophy and lot of other stuff’

‘maybe… come on we both know that I dint even mean single word that I said. I was just bluffing whatever came to my mind’

‘hmmm… u know wat?’

‘not unless u tell me’

‘u r sort of different…’

‘nope. I’m just trying to act smart. Everyone thinks they r different which means no one is different. Suddenly on a road you see a guy beside you and who knows that cld well be me… J’

‘watever.. J I’m sleepy. Gn. Bye.’

‘I wasn’t expecting a sudden ‘bye’. Anyway c ya. Bye.’

To be honest he was interesting. Well it helped me a lot. I wouldn’t say I totally forgot about Sanjay all the while, but my brain was occupied. Maybe if I keep talking to this guy for some more days, I might push Sanjay deep inside. I forgot to ask the guy’s name. Never mind. I might talk to him again.

Saturday, 1250 hrs…

I just woke up. I remember talking to some guy last night and slept. I checked my mobile again. There wasn’t any call or message from Sanjay. Did he just forget me? Maybe he is still angry. I was looking at the pictures of him and me. I was deleting them one by one. It did not hurt much. Not like yesterday. I decided to quit my job and go back to my home. If I stay here I’m sure I will again go back to him. I don’t want that to happen. I’ll just quit and go.

“Hey… morning! When did you wake up?” Prarthana just came in and asked.

“Just now.”

“Ok. I’m gonna cook for me. Shall I make something for you too?”

“It’s ok Prarthana. I’ll get ready and cook myself.”

I was sitting with my laptop for some more time looking at our pics. I was searching for buses that would leave to my hometown tomorrow. I wanted to go home and be with my dad for a week and tell him about my quitting plans. I was just trying to make sure that I give myself no chance to go back to Sanjay. I just booked ticket from a website and they sent a confirmation message to my mobile. I deleted all the pics and videos that we took together. There was one last thing that I wanted to do before I leave. There is a Varadharaja Perumal Temple near Kulappara. I wanted to go there with Sanjay. He never took me there. At least I wanted to go there once by myself and also two other temples. I had bath, cooked something and ate.

Saturday, 1620 Hrs…

I got myself ready. I wanted to go to office after going to the temples. I wanted to get my stuff from my desk. Visit a few a places me and Sanjay walked and get back. I don’t think I would be late. Maybe 10 or 11. But I don’t know. What if this girl wanted to sleep early or what if I get held up there.

“Hey, Prarthana. I’m going out. I may come late at night. I’ll take a key and go. You don’t have to wait for me. Sleep if it gets too late.”

“Yeah, Okay.” I know she would be happy to send me out. Anyway, I’ll leave tomorrow. I won’t vacate tomorrow. But mostly this would be my last day stay here.

Saturday, 1740 Hrs…

I came out after darshan at Varadharaja Perumal Temple. I was walking down the street. I couldn’t keep Sanjay out of my thoughts.

“Hi Sandhya”

Someone called me. Some guy with a camera came towards me smiling. I don’t think I had seen him before.

“Hey, hi… uhm I was just having a photo shoot here around. And suddenly I turn and it was you. I just recognized you with your nose, you know.”

“excuse me…” maybe this guy mistook me for some one else. But he said my name correctly.

“’Suddenly on a road you see a guy beside you and who knows that could well be me…’ remember... its me the zephyrus guy.”

“Oh sorry… so I thought that was a figure of speech. I never thought you would literally be here. And also I couldn’t recognize you from you display pic. You were wearing some mask or special make up or something.”

“OK. That wasn’t me, that was Heath Ledger in my profile pic. You know ‘Joker’”

“Oh is it? What is he doing in your profile pic?”

“Ok.. let’s just walk”

He was visibly embarrassed. Guys hate when girls put some actress’ pic as their display pic. But these guys, they just keep Joker or Wolverine or whatever. Well that was rude, the way I behaved to him. But I was so numb and indifferent.

The guy was talking a lot. I wasn’t bothered much about that. I tried hard not to think to about Sanjay. And I was still trying.

“Hey do you know good place where I get good view of sunset?”

“Up on the hills… the sunset looks glorious from there. People say.” Sanjay used to say that. He always wanted to bring me here. But what did we all these days, I’ve never been there with him.

“Can you please take me there?”

“yeah.. let’s walk” I too wanted to see the place.

Saturday, 1805 Hrs…

We reached uphill. I just sat down and was staring at the sun. And that guy was happy and he was taking photos. There was no one around. Sanjay would kill me if he knows this. I’m in a lonely place with an unknown guy. His first question would be what if he was some bad guy and what if he did some harm to me. He was always skeptical about people. He trusts no one. But anyway, I don’t even know this guy’s name yet. He was busy taking pictures. I went towards him to ask his name.

“Hey what’s your… ah… ah… arghhh!!!”

*****

Chapter – VI

Front Page Article

Few months later…

“I never thought I would do this”

“Do what?”

“See, you are sort of a stranger. We have never met personally before. But here I am with you all alone in a place that I have never been before.”

“Hey, Come on Anusha, we know each other a lot. We have had enough conversations to know each other very well. Who knows, maybe in the next few months, you might even fall for me if we keep spending time together like this.”

“Ha ha ha… In your dreams... you’ve never even asked if I’m already committed”

“Come on… if you are gonna say that you have a boyfriend or your committed I would be shattered. Why would I do that to myself? So I better not ask.”

“Ha ha ha…”

“Hey, have you ever seen the sunset from uphill? It looks glorious.”

“Is it really?”

“Would you like to walk with me? I’ll show you.”

“hmmm… yea ok. That sounds good.”

*Cell Phone rings*

“Anusha, I’ve got to take this. If you don’t mind…”

“Yeah sure… go ahead.”

“Hello”

“Hey dude…. Where are you man?”

“hmmm… Getting done with the front page article…”

The End