Part 16 – The Truth from the Daughter

The address on the map led them to a modest house at the edge of town, surrounded by a small, well-kept garden. Unlike the eerie, abandoned place they had imagined, it was clear someone still lived here.

Maya hesitated at the gate, glancing at Aditya and Arjun. "Are we sure about this?"

Aditya knocked on the door, and within moments, a woman in her mid-thirties answered. She had tired eyes, dark hair pulled into a loose bun, and a cautious expression.

"Yes?" she asked warily.

"We're looking for the man who used to live here," Aditya said. "His name was—"

Before he could finish, the woman's face darkened. "My father?" Her voice held an edge. "He's dead."

Maya felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry for your loss, but we need to know about him. It's important."

The woman studied them for a long moment before sighing. "Come in."

A Family Broken by Dreams

They sat in her small living room, surrounded by faded photographs and old books. The woman introduced herself as Meera.

"My father's dreams ruined our family," she said bitterly, her fingers tightening around a teacup. "He wasn't always like that. He was a good man—until the accident."

Maya and Aditya exchanged glances. Another accident. Just like hers.

"What happened to him?" Arjun asked.

Meera exhaled. "He was hit by a car when I was a child. He survived, but after that… he changed. He started having these dreams—visions of things that hadn't happened yet."

Maya's pulse quickened. It was the same.

"He became obsessed," Meera continued. "He thought the dreams meant something. That he had to find the truth behind them. My mother begged him to stop, but he wouldn't listen. He stopped sleeping. He wrote in his notebooks all night, muttering about fate and time." She swallowed hard. "And then he vanished."

Aditya frowned. "Vanished?"

She nodded. "One day, he left and never came back. The police found his body weeks later."

Silence settled over the room.

Maya hesitated before asking, "Do you know how he got the dreams in the first place?"

Meera's lips pressed into a thin line. "He was adopted as a baby. My grandmother always told me his past was a mystery. But after the accident, he started talking about an orphanage."

Maya's heart pounded. An orphanage.

Aditya leaned forward. "Did he ever say which one?"

Meera stood and disappeared into another room. When she returned, she held out a fragile-looking document. A faded adoption record.

Maya's eyes scanned the page. The name of the orphanage was printed at the top.

St. Luke's Home for Children.

And at that moment, they knew where to go next.