The letter

Ben took in a really deep breath before he spoke. "Meghan, she was supposed to be my fiancée that day. We met a few years back and started dating. So, I was about to propose to her before she—vanished." Fear towards the unknown was clearly heard from his voice.

"What did you see that day?" She questioned further.

"Our friend, Priya, was drunk and wanted to vomit. So, Meghan took her out. But, she kept her bag out in the open. So she went back to take her bag and I decided to tail her in the hope of proposing to her somewhere silent." Ben began explaining his side of the story.

"Proposing her in the alley where your friend previously vomited wouldn't have been romantic, don't you think?" Zinbad interjected, questioning Ben's romantic sense and the weird behavior in general.

"Instinct took over me, I guess. I didn't care about the surroundings as long as it was her and me." Ben brushed past it like nothing.

"How romantic!" Zinbad mocked, but he was really impressed by the way Ben delivered that sentence without a single coy smile.

However, Ben continued on with his explanation. "Then I saw it happen—well, actually I didn't and that's the problem. It was all over in an instant. She was there, then she wasn't. I'm a coward. I couldn't even get myself to search for her."

"It's fine. You would've died if you tried." Tanya consoled Ben who was on the verge of crying. "Tell me, is there anything you remember other than what you told me?"

"Wait, the gaze. I felt its gaze. It was cold, the kind that would just freeze you on spot." Ben said about the only other thing that he could remember.

"The gaze, huh? Point noted. Thank you for your time, Ben. You can go now." Tanya led Ben off the room.

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Hours went by and Tanya questioned every other person that was present that day. "All these people and we learned nothing about the one who took your sister." This time, Zinbad was the one who let out a sigh.

"We learned about the gaze, right?" Tanya's eyes glimmered in hope.

"It could've been the wind! That's not legit information." Zinbad didn't get Tanya's compulsion over an obscure statement given by a drunkard who was full-on drunk that day as well. However, he knew the situation she was in and decided not to mock her.

"Could be. You know what? I'm tired. Can we go to our houses and meet up tomorrow?" Tanya booked a cab as she parted ways.

"Sure. Good night!" Zinbad headed to his car.

"Good night."

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Next morning; Tanya's household-cum-office. It was early in the morning and a loud knock on the door woke Tanya up. She unwillingly dragged herself to the door hoping to beat up whoever was on the other side. "Oh, Zinbad! What's up? Early in the morning again. You're an early bird, aren't you?" Tanya welcomed Zinbad who once again stood by her door. At least, he knocked at that time unlike the last.

"What? No. I just don't sleep." Zinbad calmly blurted out the fact that he suffers from mild anemia. "Moreover, we need to talk." But unlike other times, he looked serious.

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He handed over a letter to Tanya, who chose to stare at the letter for the longest time. "So, what you're saying is that someone placed this letter in front of your doorstep and you brought it to me. And you have yet to open it, right?" She looked at the letter once again and let out a sigh as she looked towards the really serious Zinbad. "Are you an idiot? It might just be your electricity bill or something. And why wouldn't you open it?" She asked.

"Do you see an address on it? I'm not an idiot, you are." Zinbad logically explained his predicament. He felt satisfied as he took a slight jibe on Tanya. But there were more pressing issues in hand, so he decided not to gloat on this. "Something's not right. I can sense the danger." This time, it was not some sort of logical approach that made him speak, but his instincts.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Give it to me!" Tanya looked at him as if he was crazy as she took the letter off of him. It took her a good few minutes before she looked up to him again. "Hmm. Well, I guess you weren't wrong."

"What is it?" He asked. Even though it had only been a few days since they met, Zinbad knew that Tanya was a stubborn person who never admits her mistake or appreciates other people's brilliance. For such an idiotic person to say that he wasn't wrong was concerning, to say the least.

"Let me see. So, somebody's been tailing us for the entire time and we noticed jack-shit. Also, this person has my sister and is asking us to come to these coordinates." Tanya remained calm as she explained the contents of the letter.

"Quite a bold move, it seems. Isn't the person afraid that we might call the police?" He voiced his doubts to her.

"No. Not if this person knows me personally. Because there's no chance in hell that I'll let them ruin it for me when I've got this close to my sister." Tanya explained.

"Who do you suspect?" He asked.

"Hah, I don't have much to go with. The person knows where you live, but if he knew me he could have just sent it to me—wait, does he even know me, or is he just not afraid of the police. It's getting complicated." Tanya scratched her hair as she replied. She dared not to do it further since she has the case of intense hair loss under stress. She chose to remain calm again.

"Let's leave the police there for a bit and get back to the letter. The person knows where we've been and that you are Meghan's sister." Zinbad came up to the conclusion as he stared at the letter.

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