The morning Alarm woke her up. Rubbing her eyes, she woke up and was very happy, as it was the 1st of April. Today marked the first day of her new school.
She was a short girl of 5’2, with milky white skin and dark, long, thick and beautiful hair. Her eyes easily conveyed every emotion and her chubby cheeks, along with a dimple on the left side, made her look cute.
This girl had an extroverted nature and could easily connect with people she met. She lived with her grandma as her parents got divorced when she was 8 years old. Now, at 18, she had learned to live like that. In no time, she dressed up perfectly, had her breakfast, and left for her school, which was famous high school within walking distance.
Upon reaching the school, she looked around to search for her class. She saw two girls chatting and asked them for her classroom, XIIB. They gave her a weird look as if she was an alien. Never mind, she calmed herself and continued to find her class. Finally, she arrived, but 5 minutes late.
The teacher gave her a stare, “new girl?” she asked. She replied with a nod. The teacher introduced her to the class; everyone could feel a positive vibe in her presence.
She was asked to take a seat, and the only empty one was the last seat. She silently went and sat down, gazing out of the window until a boy introduced himself to her. “Umm, hey I’m Kartikey…. Kartikey Awasthi.” She found him a little funny, but soon they became friends. Their friendship deepened and they became best friends.
One day, Kartikey got a text.
It was Alma; I’ll be a little late today!”
“No problem, little one” He replied and went to school.
He was charming, tall and handsome. Like Alma, he was friendly with everyone. He entered the classroom and took his seat, gazing out of the window as memories of the past few days flashed in his mind. He remembered how their friendship started. Alma hated mathematics and Kartikey helped her understand the concepts.
He was lost in his thoughts when the teacher entered and wondered why Alma was not there. The day went on as usual. He thought she might not be well.
The bell rang and the class was dismissed. Kartikey ran home, threw his bag to the side, and picked up his phone, waiting for Alma’s message. But she had not viewed his text. Alma as a child did not have a good past; her parents had fights very regularly.
As a child she just wanted to be loved, but when a parent does not know how to manage their emotions, the parent releases anger through aggression, shames the child and angrily sends them away. Alma was too young to understand things, but she had many thoughts in her mind which almost had mentally destroyed her. She thought she was the one who made mom/ dad explode like that, the way others react is all her fault, and she should protect herself by pulling back, hiding things and staying in her room more often.
To handle herself she often visited Dr. Denzuwin Methra, a well- known heart surgeon and also a great psychologist; and Dr. Naina Mirza who was too a psychologist and a forensic pathologist. Kartikey thought she must have had another panic attack and she would have gone to visit one of them.
But, a thought suddenly knocked his mind, why had she not replied his message? She always tells him before going. He felt that something was fishy. He was worried and ran to her house, but to his surprise, the gate was locked. He asked the neighbors, and had he heard gave him a deadly shock.
Mr. Pupreja, Alma’s neighbor, told him that both females had died in a terrifying road accident. Kartikey could not believe his ears, he broke into tears. But how could that happen? She was just in front of him yesterday and now she was gone? A million thoughts raced through his mind.
Days went on; his life had taken an unexpected turn. It was raining cats and dogs; he could feel the patter of the rain on the roof. All of a sudden his phone rang, it was Naina.
“I feel it suspicious don’t you?” asked Naina. Kartikey was a bit confused, “What do you mean?” he asked with a low voice. “According to my research, it was Alma’s grandma who died in the accident at the spot. I secretly approached Dr. Krishna; he was a part of this case. By the bodies, we could identify there was a gap of exactly 7 hours in their death, which means that Alma did not die in the accident…”
Hearing these words, Kartikey was shocked. He was still not out of the trauma that Alma was no more with him and now Naina was up to a new finding. “I think it to be a well-planned murder,” said Naina. “What are you saying, Naina? How could that happen and who would want to kill her? I know her so well. She was a happy-go -lucky person and everyone liked her”, he replied.
“We will have to find that out!” said Naina.
Kartikey asked if they could meet tomorrow, and Naina agreed.
The next day Kartikey advised that they should meet Dr. Krishna. He thought that would surely help them, he was a part of the case. But, they later found out that he had also died due to a sudden heart attack. Both of them had started losing hope when Naina had an idea. She said it is important for us to know the cause of her death. In the last report, it was blood loss, but I feel like something is fishy about this report. We should conduct her autopsy again to know the reason behind her death.
“But we need her body for that” said Kartikey.
“Then we will get it”, replied Naina.
“Don’t be stupid! Her body must be buried in the graveyard of the church”, he said with watery eyes.
Naina said that they would have to sneak into the graveyard to get her body. Kartikey was not sure if that was right, but he agreed to do anything for her. When the night turned, they went into the church and by the back gate they entered the graveyard. As soon as they entered, they could see her grave right in front of them. Kartikey rushed towards it, sat down and tears flowed out his eyes.
Naina asked him to handle himself and take her body out. They started digging in and finally reached her body. Very safely, they took her body out, not much damage was caused to the body. Just a few insects upon it and it was colorless as there was no blood in her. Kartikey hoped she were alive and would walk up and would walk up and start talking to him, but he knew that could not happen. She was dead now. They took the body and wrapped it in a cloth and took it to Naina’s research lab.
She started conducting her autopsy again and asked Kartikey to stay out. But when she came out, he words were something totally unexpected.
“What if I say, her autopsy was never done? Yes, the report was not correct. And I know that this would be painful to hear, but her heart was taken out. Yes, we were right, it’s a well-planned murder”, Said Naina.
“But who?” asked Kartikey.
Naina asked her when he saw her last, to which he narrated the whole story. Naina doubted on what Alma had been doing that morning.
“She goes to Dr. Denzuwin very often, maybe she went there.” Said Naina
“Dr. Denzuwin is a heart surgeon isn’t he?” asked Kartikey
We hear about doctors, the ones who save lives but what if these angels turn devilish? Life teaches us a lot, in a manner that we grow and do great things. We are creatures who can think, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Bad blood does exist, just that it runs in a few of us. Alma Kazim was a sweet school- going girl who traps herself by taking a wrong step. Everyone has a good side and a bad one too. It’s just the society we grow up in that makes all the difference. It’s sad to know about the evil side even a doctor can have.