Chapter: 2 - A Scare

Juwan couldn't read the woman's expression at all. It was like she was scared and confused at the same time.

"What do you mean by we are in serious trouble?" Juwan asked, "Oh, I am sorry. Where are my manners? What can I get you for drinking? Juice, tea or coffee?" he added with a gentleman courtesy even though he was only seventeen.

"Just water is enough." She replied and sat on the sofa again. Juwan went to his kitchen and filled a glass of water. His hands were shivering as he poured the water. How else could he react? It was his first time having a girl in the cottage. Even Ms.Susan was friendly with him and had given him permission to bring his friends and girlfriends over there but he never took advantage of her permissions.

He had never talked about Ms.Susan to any of his friends since she was famous in the city for her wealthy status. Juwan took the glass of water to Mary. Mary got the water and gulped it down in one shot. Juwan could see that she was nervous too.

"Ok, now listen to me very carefully. I don't think Ms.Susan's death was pure suicide." Juwan was about to sit down when he heard it. He looked at Mary with wide eyes.

"Why do you think if that?" Juwan asked.

"Well, first of all, she had no stress problem. She used to convey everything to me. And secondly, once she never told us that she will be giving us her heritage."

"Well she could have changed her mind," Juwan said as he started to understand where the conversation was going to.

"Well, she could have. But, I am very sure she could have never committed suicide."

"Why not?" Juwan was surprised by the girl's assurance.

"Because she had her ambitions...." Silence filled the house as sweat crossed his face from the forehead. Even Mary was sweating. Juwan slowly stood up and reached for the fan switch. He turned on the fan and resumed his place.

"What ambition?" Juwan asked.

"She was researching something. The details were in her audio-diaries." Mary said out loud and then reduced her volume, "Well I was informed that someone highly influential had taken care of her audio from her phone. I couldn't find it in the will either since it was a negligible asset."

"And who is that?" Juwan started to see that he was not going to like Mary's views.

"I don't know. But if the police won't do anything about it, then we should do something." Mary urged and Juwan got up from his seat.

"Miss, I think its time for you to leave. It is getting late."

" Don't you understand? Ms.Susan was killed and we need to give her justice! After all the kindness she had shown us, we owe her this." Mary raised her voice again.

"No, I am a college boy who is not even eighteen. Please leave me out of this. I have unknown dreams to accomplish. I have to get a good job and get a life. Not waste it to find a fictional killer. There are other important things for me to do. And so I can't afford to get mixed in this foolishness. Goodbye!" And on saying so he guided Mary to the front door. She tried to convince him but Juwan was not in the mood to listen.

When Mary left, Juwan dripping wet with sweat. He made some cold coffee and placed it in the refrigerator. He entered the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. He turned on the shower and started humming the tune from a famous movie. As he hummed the tune, he applied the soap. Suddenly thoughts backed off to the time when Ms.Susan was alive. He missed her a lot. Ms.Susan had always been nice to him. He owed her a lot. She always took care of him like her own son and so her act of leaving a few riches for him was not a surprise. Yet when he heard of what Mary had said earlier, he started feeling guilty. Am I betraying Ms.Susan's kindness by not helping Mary find the truth? He asked himself. As the thought wandered in his mind, he applied soap to his face. Then he turned on the shower.

Crimson Blood poured out on him through the shower. Fear grabbed him from behind him. The hair in his spine stood up. He was paralyzed in fear for over a minute. He slowly wiped his face with his hands and opened his eyes. It was just water coming from the shower.

"What a day. I think my tiredness is getting to my head." He said to himself. He then finished taking a bath. He wore a Marvel t-shirt' imprinted in it and a pair of shorts.

He went to the kitchen to find his cold coffee out of the refrigerator. He scratched his head and kept it back in the refrigerator. After all cold coffees are supposed to be cold.

He grabbed a horror novel and sat on the sofa. Horror novels were Juwan's favourite. Being an active writer in the web novel, he always needed good inspiration. Rana was Juwan's first novel. A completely useless fantasy novel. Being less popular in the web novel Universe, Juwan always wanted to write a famous novel. He never believed in ghost and so living alone in the cottage was never scary. Time passed by as he started feeling hungry.

Juwan went to the kitchen and heated some rice and curry. He ate his dinner heartily and drank the cold coffee. After the heavy food, Juwan stretched his body and went upstairs to his room. He climbed the stair and opened his room door.

In front of him stood a pale Ms.Susan. Her tongue hanging from her mouth to her feet. Her eyes were bloodshot, out of her sockets. Juwan was stunned. As a reflex, he shut the door and stood paralysed. Sweat fell from his forehead as he heard the wind blow in the lonely house. A house in the middle of densely populated trees.

A house that was becoming foreign to Juwan. He gulped down some saliva filled nervousness and fear. Suddenly the wind blew hard and the door opened.