The Deadbody

Falak and Samaj were wandering on a sidewalk. They were on a lookout for a thief named Raghu. The sidewalk was on the Circle outside Dadar station, where the beggars and orphaned boys slept every night. This was the only way for them to find Raghu, but they couldn't find him anywhere.

"Where do I find Raghu?"

An upset Falak questioned Samaj. However, Samaj had his mind diverted somewhere else. An irritated Falak spoke out one again, "Samaj, I have been talking to you but you have been looking elsewhere."

"Even you should look over here Falak. Yesterday we learned a thing or two about mourning. Today, we might learn something new”."

Falak too started observing what Samaj wanted her to see. God’s statue was being built at a distance. They were Iron sculptures. The body parts were fit into one another with the help of screws. Although the hands, legs and various body parts were different, they were joined together with the help of screws. Samaj and Falak looked at each other and then began to think something. It seemed that both of them were thinking about the same thing.

At the end of the day, both Samaj and Falak couldn’t find Raghu, but what they’d seen today, was something note-worthy. Both of them went back to the flat where their remaining team mates were present. Those 12 black cloaked people were going to learn something new this time.

They both told their peers what they saw. Budhiya decided to do something. She then told the remaining members that they have to find the severed body parts which Tarun threw in the jungle and then bring them to the flat. Everyone, including Akash, Falak, Samaj, Sabun and the remaining members started searching for the body parts. Everyone found some or the other body part; my severed hand, my leg, the remains of my body. In all, they found six different pieces of my body. And this chopped up body was mine. Two hands. two feet. One torso. One head. Budhiya who found my head, started kissing it and crying simultaneously.

After they found the remains of my body, they brought it back to the same flat. They started organizing the different body parts and then, they recreated my body. Budhiya had my head placed on her lap. She bathed my head with milk, cleaned it and even combed my hair. And when the entire body was laid on the floor like a corpse, all 12 members began mourning around it. The continuously repeated, “Our God died! Our dear God died! What are we supposed to do now?” There was one thing which I still had no idea about, who actually are these 12 people?

I am Kushal….sorry I was. Because I am dead. I was cut into different pieces and then thrown in the forest. I was 18 when I died. On one hand, my brother and my father were searching for me while on the other hand, my severed body pieces were collected and then joined in the flat which belongs to Tarun. But these 12 people were calling me their God. How can a human be God? These people joined my different body parts to form my corpse which they then hid in the cupboard.

◆◆◆

As Nakul bhaiya had promised to my father, he started looking out for me. He went to the forest with his girlfriend Avantika. Avantika continuously asked him, why search for Kushal in this forest? Why will he even come over here? To answer this, Nakul bhaiya said that Kushal loved forests. Last night, after listening to my voice in his dreams, Kushal felt that there is some connection between me and the forest. If Kushal loved jungles, why did he feel that I was scared of it? That I felt suffocated over here. After getting down from his bike, Avantika said,” You might have had some misunderstanding Nakul. It just doesn’t make sense.” Nakul bhaiya knew that it wasn’t any sort of a misunderstanding or hallucination. This is definitely pointing towards something. Kushal always said that relationships have a lot of strength. These relationships always point towards something, indicate something. We just have to be smart enough to understand what they actually mean.

Both Avantika and Nakul were in the same forest where they had twelve black cloaked people were present a few hours ago. Both of them had now reached the middle of the jungle. Avantika held Nakul bhaiya’s hand and said-

"Nakul, this case can only be handled by the police. We have to take their help."

"We did go to the police Avantika. But they disappointed us. I can’t trust them with finding Kushal. I will have to do it myself."

Both of them were wandering in the forest. But none of them were aware about what they actually needed to find. What kind of clue, evidence. They then arrived in the middle of the forest. Avantika reluctantly asked another question-

"Why this forest Nakul? There are so many forests out there. He could be in any of them”

"This is China's Greek jungle. I had heard about it from Kushal. We definitely will find out something from this forest if he did come over here.”

"And what if he never came over here? " Avantika’s question did make sense. Nakul bhaiya got quite for an instance because of it and then said-

"I will definitely find Kushal. I will search for him everywhere; the cities, villages, mountains; everywhere. I first started with this forest because Kushal’s first story was about a jungle. Also, he always said that the origin of life is from forests.”

They both wandered in the forest and suddenly found something on the ground. Nakul bhaiya picked it up. It was a visiting card which had Tarun’s name written over it. Nakul bhaiya had heard this name before. He tried to recollect where, but he couldn’t remember .

◆◆◆

Tarun came back to his apartment. He was talking to someone over his mobile phone. With a smirk on his face, he said-

"I was the one who gave him work and he tried to take over me. I had no other option sir. And even you wanted the same thing. So, don’t worry about it now. It’s a win-win situation for the both of us. Now focus on the new serial which you were working on. I’ll form a new team of writers; you focus on the direction.”

He kept his phone and moved towards the cupboard. He was quite relaxed. But the very next moment, he got a huge shock. As soon as he opened the cupboard, he found a dead body in it, my body which he had dumped in the forest. As soon as he saw it, he took a few steps back. Shocked, confused, he started talking to himself- " How did Kushal’s body end up in this cupboard, in my flat? I myself threw it in the woods, then how? In this state, all joint?"

Tarun was scared. And the twelve people present in his flat were looking at his state. There was no sense of emotion on their faces, while Tarun...it was as if he saw a ghost. The cupboard was open, with my body in it. Lying on the sofa, Tarun was observing my corpse closely.

As if he had realized something, he fell from the sofa after he saw my corpse again. He constantly looked at my dead body and the 12 people, looked at him.

"How did it end ep back here? How is this even possible? I myself dumped him in the woods, then how? "

His throat was parched. He rushed into the kitchen towards the refrigerator. Tarun took a can of Red Bull from the refrigerator and went towards the cupboard sipping it. Sipping is an understatement; he literally finished it in one breath. He knew he was screwed. And then he began to murmur things to himself.

“How did this corpse end up in my cupboard? It definitely didn’t walk up here on its own. Is someone fooling around with me? But who? Who can it be? No one knows about all this, just me. Sahim? him? No, he has been in Manali for the past three days. And I went to the woods yesterday. What do I do now? Should I take it back to the woods? Keeping it in the cupboard isn’t safe, not for me. What do I do now?”

A tensed Tarun was trudging in the room. And the 12 people were observing him closely. Among these 12 people, was an 18 years old boy named Jungle. He had the word Jungle written over his abdomen. " Budhiya, will he go to the forest again? And if he does, will we bring this body over here again?” Budhiya, who was standing near the cupboard, said-

"I don't think so he will dump the body back in the jungle again. But he won’t keep it over here either.”

"Then what should we do now? "Sabun asked. But no one had an answer to this question