The Brother
Meanwhile, Aakash was thinking something. And suddenly he came up with a plan. He opened the door and briskly walked out of the flat. When Tarun saw the door open, he went to close it. Whenever he tried to close the door, Aakash would leave it open. Meanwhile, my body was shifted behind the sofa from the cupboard. This was done by Budhiya, Sabun and Falak. Finally, after my dead body was relocated, Aakash left the door alone and Tarun now easily closed it. When he came back towards the cupboard, he was left astonished. He was left speechless for a few moments and then, he thought to himself that maybe, just maybe, I was hallucinating.
◆◆◆
Nakul bhaiya along with Avantika arrived at the police station. He handed the visiting card to Pagare. After taking a close look at it, Pagare asked, “What am I supposed to do with it?”
"I found this card in the woods," said Nakul Bhaiya .
"I don’t care about where you found it. Just tell me what am I supposed to do with it.” Pagare answered arrogantly.
" Look sir, I couldn’t recollect this name before. But when I did, I straight up walked to your station to talk to you. This guy- Tarun Takshya is a film coordinator. He was in touch with Kushal.”
" So what? He must have gone to the woods before. He must’ve dropped it then."
"That’s the point sir. Yesterday, my brother, Kushal gave me a hint in my dreams. I am really worried about him sir."
Pagare was watching Nakul bhaiya with suspicion in his eyes. Avantika was standing beside Nakul bhaiya. All the police officers in the police station were busy with their work. After a moment of silence, Pagare said-
“Is your entire house a family of story writers?”
"What does that mean?" Nakul bhaiya questioned.
" What in the world is this? You DREAMT about this jungle. You went there. You found this visiting card over there. You brought it over here and now you want me to question this man?"
Nakul bhaiya nodded. All of a sudden, Pagare got really angry.
"Are you guys crazy? What kind of a fake story is this? How can I question someone without any proof? Now listen carefully, you guys threw your brother out of the house. He’ll come back whenever he wants to. Please don’t waste our time."
Even this time, Pagare wasn’t ready to listen. Avantika and Nakul bhaiya came out of the police station. Nakul bhaiya had tears welled up in his eyes. To cheer him up, Avantika said,
"Why don’t we meet this man ourself?” Nakul bhaiya nodded to this and they started moving towards his bike when a man popped in front of them-
" Nakul bhai, I want to talk to talk to you about something."
"Who are you?"
" My name is Raghu. Sabun asked me to meet you. I want to tell you something about Kushal.”
This time Nakul Bhai was surprised. He realized that this was another hint. He never met Raghu before but he knew Sabun. Sabun was the name of one of my many stories. The story which I had left incomplete.
Raghu was standing in front of them. He was a thief and had a lean figure. He was a total stranger for Nakul bhaiya. But the name which he took, Sabun, it made Nakul bhaiya think. Nakul bhaiya told Raghu to meet him at a spot which was away from this police station. When they all reached at the designated spot, Nakul bhaiya started questioning Raghu.
“What do you know about Kushal? Where is he? When is he going to come back?”
“It’s been a week since I met Kushal. It was Sabun who wanted me to talk to you”
"But how can it be Sabun? It must have been someone else. Some human."
"No Bhai, it was Sabun. The one whom you know.”
"Kushal’s story?"
" Yes. His story. The incomplete story. A really small child. An infant like a soap’s froth. I saw him on the footpath. He was accompanied by some people but I couldn’t see them. I could only see Sabun."
"But how is that possible? "
"You mean that a story approached you in a human form?"
Avantika interrupted. Raghu nodded. Avantika was shocked to hear this. It was impossible for her to believe it.
"What nonsense is this? Don’t trust him Nakul."
"Arey madam, even I couldn’t believe it. But I saw Sabun. With my own eyes."
"What did he say?” Nakul bhaiya asked.
" He asked me to take you to the garden behind Sai baba’s mandir, tomorrow.” And then Raghu left.
"I really don’t trust this man Nakul. You won’t be meeting him tomorrow and that is final.”
“You won’t understand all of this Avantika. Even we couldn’t. Had we believed and understood this before, maybe, just maybe Kushal would’ve been here, with us.”
With teary eyes Nakul bhaiya started his bike and drove away.
◆◆◆
"Nakul bhaiya will arrive in the Garden tomorrow. Sabun, you will tell him everything, from the beginning.”
The 12 people were having a discussion about this in the flat. Even Budhiya, who was actually above 50, called Nakul bhaiya as bhaiya which actually sounded pretty weird. Sabun, who was seated on the sofa said-
“Will he be able to see me?”
“I just hope he does. We are all trying our best to find a way. If somehow, he does manage to see us, the entire world will know or truth. How are we supposed to let the guy roam freely who killed our God?” Falak said.
You all clearly know now that the corpse is mine. I have been killed. I am a writer and these 12 people, they’re my stories. And the beautiful woman, Falak, is rather a character of one of my stories. That is why Falak is referring to me, her creator, as her God. From the story so far, you all must’ve realized that I have been murdered and the only witnesses of this incident are my stories. Only a few of these stories are visible to people, that too, to only special ones. Why is it like that? All of it will be revealed as and when the story progresses. The story is now slowly taking its true shape. The story is twisted in order to confuse your intelligence. The story has now started to form, with the help of these 12 stories.
With sadness in their eyes, everyone was waiting for tomorrow. Even Tarun hadn’t returned to his flat yet. The only thing left in this flat was my body, below the bed and the ones who were protecting me were the 12 people.
◆◆◆
It rained heavily that night. There was only one bike on the road, which belonged to Tarun. He along with a woman named Sakshi, were going to her house. Both of them were completely drenched in the rain. Tarun stopped his bike near a building in Malvani. This is where Sakshi stayed. It was midnight. Because of the heavy rainfall, Sakshi told Tarun to stay over at her place. Sakshi lived alone. Both of them entered her house. Because she got wet in the rain, Tarun could see each and every shape of her body. Seeing that, Tarun got excited. Tarun was 30 and Sakshi 25. Sakshi understood what Tarun wanted and tried to seduce him. After that, both of them started kissing each other and then entered her bedroom. Suddenly, Sakshi realized something and pushed Tarun away.
"What happened?"
"Nothing. I’ll just and come. Even you should change, I think. I’d brought a shirt for Kushal. Try that. It might fit you."
Sakshi then went to the other room to change. Kushal’s name had spoilt Tarun’s mood. It was as if he had some sort of allergy with Kushal’s name. He opened Sakshi’s cupboard and starting tearing the shirt into tiny pieces. When Sakshi returned after changing, she was shocked to see Tarun. In a state of anger, Tarun started speaking aloud, “He was a foolish writer. Just like how I tore this shirt into pieces, I cut his body in the same way. Into many pieces. You are aware of that, aren’t you? Then why do you keep on taking his name in front of me? You still miss him don’t you. Stupid bitch. I am trying to turn you into an actress and look at you, still missing him! Can’t you simply forget him?”
Sakshi was well versed with this part of Tarun. Even after all that, she was scared. Tarun didn’t want to wait over there any longer. Before leaving Sakshi’s house, he said,” Kushal is never coming back. It will be better if you forget about him and move on.”
Sakshi was stunned, shocked. But did she already know about Kushal’s murder or was did she really hear about it for the first time? She was left motionless. In that state, she started wondering about something.