Farmhouse part 6

“oh thank God. I was expecting you suspect me. No Janvi, I do not think it was you. You said he was still there when you left. So I could easily ask him and find out if what you told was a lie. No Janvi, it was not you. I was thinking what made her go there? It might have been an accident, but getting electrocuted by a fence… it is fishy. And looking at the other 3 unnatural deaths, I think someone is behind this. One death being an accident is acceptable, but now 3 in a row, there is something really wrong. As you said we shall get out of this place as soon as possible. You don’t worry, I will be with you. We should be very alert now.”
What was to be done was done. They were to leave in sometime. Chetan was at the dinner table, eating apple. Janvi was in the room behind him, packing her stuff and getting ready to leave. She could only see his back. There was perfect silence. No one would believe there were 2 people inside the house. And no one would believe that they had come here for a celebration. And then Janvi heard someone speak, it was very feeble initially, she could not clearly distinguish the voices. Who was Chetan talking to? she thought to herself. Slowly she came out of the room, the voice was now clear.
“Saakshi, you were so scared. Your condition after Sanju s death was pathetic. It is good that you died. Now you can be with your Sanju forever. It is alright saakshi, you do not have to thank me. I am your friend, I did my best to see to it that you stay happy. Funny thing electricity is. It turns on a light, but it turned off your light. And such an easy job for me it was. And about sanju, you were right, it was one of us who killed him, but the person whom you suspected was innocent. It was me. Again!!! He was an easy target. He was near the lake, so drunk that I challenged him to stay under water for 5 minutes and he went, and I saw to it that I never came out alive. He died in waist deep water. And Jatin, I just had to persuade him to eat the cake first. And that was not a difficult thing to do. I just told him that I was his last birthday as a bachelor, Janvi s interests would come before his once they got married, hence this is the last time he can have his cake first… And he fell for him.” There was laughter now. Chetan was laughing.
“but they were my friends. I should not have done that to them. I have spent so many years with them. I miss them already.” He said and began to cry.
“Yes they were my friends, but they had no right to laugh at me, make fun of me, and humiliate me. They have been doing it since school. It is not my fault that I am short. Why did they have to make fun of me? Everyone who makes fun of me will have the same end. Only Janvi was sensitive to understand me. Only she is my friend. She might miss Jatin, but she will find someone else, she deserves someone better.” he said, this time with an angry voice.

“oh come on Kaalu!! How can someone kill 3 of his good friends just for making fun of him?”
“Dude, this is just a story. But if you do not mind your tongue and do not stop calling me names, this will become your true story!!!” there was determination in his voice.

Farmhouse part 5

Chetan was in the kitchen preparing coffee and something to eat when he heard someone coming. It was Janvi.
“what happened? Why did you return? Where is Saakashi?” asked Chetan.
“I had to freshen up. Saakshi told she would be alright. And I thought she would like to be alone for some while. And do not worry that old caretaker is harmless.”
“I don’t know. He sounded a bit creepy. Talking about ghosts.”
“Are you scared of ghosts chetan?”
“No, but Saakshi is scared. That s the reason I wanted you to be with her.”
“Oh. Ok then, I ll get the coffee, you go join her…”
Chetan left Janvi alone in the house. It was all like a bad dream. 12 hours ago they were preparing a birthday party for their best friend, her “should have been” life partner, the atmosphere was full of joy they were supposed to spend the 2 days, as the best days of their life. So much had changed in the past few hours. It was very hard to believe it. she was hoping to get up from her dream anytime and give Jatin a tight hug, and probably beat him up for leaving her alone in her dream. But it did not happen. She had did not feel like eating anything. But she was taking it good. And Saakshi was exact opposite. She looked pathetic. Life would never be the same, but we have to live, we have to continue explained Janvi to Saakshi.
Saakshi still had a feeling that it was one them who was responsible for the killings, and saakshi s behavior made her feelings even strong. Chetan was still strong, it was understandable, the deceased ones were just his friends. But Janu… she was about to marry Jatin, and her reaction bothered Saakshi.
Janvi was about to get out of the kitchen when Chetan rushed in, he was panting. By his looks anyone could tell have understood that there was something wrong. Something terribly wrong. After a moment of pause, still panting he said “Janvi, Saakshi is missing. She was not near the lake where we were sitting, I searched around but could not find her. The old man was missing too.”
This was a good enough to explain his expression. Janvi was now terrified. They quickly set out. They searched for her like a hungry dog searching for a hidden prey. Five minutes of unsuccessful search and running, no food for almost 12hrs had exhausted them. They were sitting under the tree when they saw the same old caretaker coming towards them. His face almost reflected their terror.
“Sir” he said softly “you have another sad news. The girl…….”
This was something they half expected to hear, but they genuinely prayed that he had some other news.
“Please come sir” he said taking them to place very hear by. It was a field, sunflowers turning towards east. They were happy to see nothing as they had expected. The old man had brought them to a beautiful place. They stopped. They did not know why he had brought them here. It hardly took few seconds for them to find out. Saakshi was on the ground, holding the fence, electrocuted to death. The fence was ideally should not have killed. There was something fishy about this.
Janvi could take no more. This was it. “Chetan please take me out of here. I do not want to stay here.” She said hardly being able to control herself. They asked the old man to call the police again. He left.
Chetan gave her a scary look. He did not move. He did not talk. “Chetan why are you looking at me like that? I am getting scared.”
He did not move, he did not answer. He kept looking at her.
“Please Chetan, tell me that you do not think that killed Saakshi and came to the farm house.” said Janvi almost in tears.


To be continued...

Farmhouse part 4

It was Jatin s birthday. He along with his friends Sanjay ,Chetan, Janvi, Saakshi were at Sanjay s farm house to celebrate his birthday.
“Chootu. You fool!! You brought the wrong cake. This one has no name written on it.”
“Why are you blaming me? You too were with me Chetan. And Saakshi had asked you to get it, and be careful. Not me. But it looks more tasty.”
“Stop it you two. Do not fight. He ll be here anytime. What can we do now? There s no way to get the cake that we had ordered for and we do not have any cream to write his name.” said Janvi.
“I have an idea.” Said Sanjay.
“no thanks Sanjay. We know what you mean when you have that evil smile on your face. We are happy without your ideas. Keep them for yourself”, said saakshi with a “strict no” expression on her face.
Janvi added “yeah we know what your plan is. Let me guess. Tooth paste?”
“Tooth paste is a good idea. But come on Jatin is my friend too. I would not used tooth paste to write his name on his 25th birthday cake. I would use cream. Jatin always gives us so small piece of cake. I ll write his name with cream, shaving cream and make him eat the whole cake” said Sanjay with wink and a smile but everything faded away when 3 angry faces glared at him, and he decided not to meddle with them.
“Relax guys. It is us that matters not this silly cake. With or without his name, it still is his birthday cake. And like you said Chetan, this looks more tasty. And Sanjay stop calling him Chootu. We are all adults not. How would he feel if tomorrow you call him chootu in front of his girlfriend?” said Janvi
Chetan could not stop blushing. The farm house was about 100km from the city. The city in which they all spent their childhood. The city in which they were educated. It all started from their school days. Chetan was the shortest of them all and hence named chootu, initially to tease and make fun of him and later on… well it became his pet name. Janvi was the only sensible, sensitive person in the group. It was during these days that they had decided that they would spend a couple of days each year at this farm house. The location was very good. It was peaceful. There was a lake nearby where they could swim, and go boating. And it would be a good break from the busy, hectic and tensed city life. And this time they had a reason to celebrate.
Jatin was not upset when he saw the cake. He was in fact happy with the cake. And so at 12 they lit the candles. Janvi was always against blowing out candles. “light represents life. It should always be on. Blowing it off according to me is taking out life from someone”, she always said. They usually listened to Janvi. But this time they were not in total control of their mind. Alcohol too had a say and jatin blew off the candles. Chetan could sense disappointment in janvi s face.
“I am sorry Janvi. I could not resist this time. Here… you have the first piece of cake....” said jatin taking a piece of cake towards her. But when the cake was about to touch her lips he said “ Sorry jaan, the cake looks toooo tasty. Guys everything but this cake is yours.” And swallowed the chunk of cake that was supposed to be for janvi.
Before they realized what was going on, Jatin was on the floor fighting for breath, face turning blue. And before they rushed him to the village s government, Jatin was no more.
Part 2.
FIR was filed. When Jatin s parents called to wish him on his 25th birthday they expected the happy voice of their son which the most pleasant to them, but instead were answered by the mournful voices of his friends. The news shattered them. The light of their life was blown off by some evil force. And Janvi of course was the most affected. They had dreamt a life together. She was hit very hard and dragged out of her dream, their dream, back to the cruel world.
They had decided to wait there, at the farm house. Wait until Jatin s parents could finish the formalities and get Jatin s body. When they reached the farmhouse it was past 3 am. Their eyes were burning. But sleep was something which would not come close to them tonight. Janvi had taken it well tonight. They had not spoken a word to each other since they left the hospital. Janvi was the first to speak. “Sanju, who takes care of this farmhouse when we are gone? We have never seen anyone around, but the place looks clean and well kept always.”
“We have a servant. He takes care of this place. He does not stay here though. We do not like anyone to interfere when we are here. So we have given him a place to stay. It is close by. Why did you ask that?”
“Well, if there is no one else in this farmhouse, and if you servant did not come here before Jatin had the cake then one of us must have mixed the poison in the cake.”
“Sanju please tell me that you did not poison him because of that stupid fight of yours last week, just because he hit you” said Saakshi with fear in her face.
“what are you talking about? I am a sensible person ok? We keep fighting always. That s how it has been since we met. Why would I kill him for a stupid fight? He is….” His voice faded away. And then after a moment regained his tone “He was a very good friend of mine. I would never have wanted this to happen to him.”
There was silence again.
And this time it was sanju who spoke, with a very thoughtful tone “wait a minute. The cake was with chootu all the time. And even when we came here, when we were decorating the hall he was missing for a long time. He had all the time he wanted. He could have easily mixed the poison.”
Chetan s expressions did not change. “I knew this would come up. The blaming game. We can keep blaming each other for hours, for any number of reasons. I can continue the game if you want to. If it were one of us then it could have easily been Saakshi. I am not a chemistry person. I do not know what crocin has. Whereas Saakshi knows a lot about it. She has specialized in pharmacy. Right now she could easily give us a list of chemicals which can easily kill a person. But apply your brains. Sanju, suppose that this was your birthday party. Out of us 5 who would have tasted the cake first?”
“well I would cut the cake and let saakshi have a bit, then may be you guys, and then I would have, or rather you people would stuff it into my mouth.”
“Exactly!! That s what each one of us would do. I mean, cut let everyone have a bite and then get it stuffed in our mouth. Janvi has Jatin ever not let you eat the cake frist?”
“No that has not happened. In our group it has always been me to eat his birthday cake first.”
“So….”
“So you mean to say that I poisoned the cake and hence did not eat the cake first?” asked Janvi in a shock
“No!! I didn’t mean that. We were blaming each other thinking that one of us was planning to kill Jatin. But all of us know that you would taste the cake first, so we would not have added something to it to kill Jatin. We would have added something, hoping to kill you!!!”
Part 3
“So someone is trying to kill me?”
“You are not getting the point. We are blaming each other. But neglecting a very important point. The cake which we brought was not meant for Jatin. It was meant for someone else. And so may be the poison was for that person too.”
This was something they had not given a thought about. If what Chetan said was true then someone s had been saved, but that person was still in grave danger. So they immediately told this to the police. The next day was supposed to be a very eventful day. They had loads of plans which now would never be done. There were bottles of alcohol to be emptied in 2 days, “to Jatin” they would have happily said. They had planned to drink for his happiness. And now it could never happen. But Sanju decided to drink cause he was sad. He would still say “to Jathin” but would also add “who was such a good friend, who will always stay in our hearts.” Tonight he would not just drink. Tonight he would get drunk.
After the talk with police they did not have anything to discuss. Sanju had a very hard job ahead. “bottoms up”, as many bottoms he could. Janvi was on the couch lost in thoughts, Chetan and Saakshi s comforting talks going unheard. Saakshi was kneeling down on the floor next to Janvi persuading her to sleep, but getting no answer back. After sometime, and a few failed attempts to persuade janvi to sleep Saakshi drowsed there sitting on the floor with her head on the couch. Chetan was sitting on the couch next to Janvi he did not have any words to comfort her. He did not know how to comfort her. All he could do was wait patiently for her to open up. And it took a lot of time for her to do so.
“It is so dark Chetan.”
“Just wait, I will light some candles for you.”
“candles… are supposed to be lit. candle is of no use if there is no flame. The candle that has blown off can not be lit again Chetan. It is beyond your capacity to light it. It will always be dark now. Always…”
“Janvi. This was not supposed to have happened. But there is something called fate, over which we do not have control.”
“Do you know Chetan? He was to leave to Australia by the end of this year. On our way here he had told me that this could be the last visit to the farmhouse. He had planned that we would get married by the end of the year and leave together…..”
There was lot to say. But he could not. It was always the other way round. Chetan, who was not very smart, looks as well as brains, always needed comforting. And Janvi was always there for him. Always comforting him. Where as the others made fun of him although they were his friends. He was never humiliated by their pranks or mockery, he knew that they were his friends. But he knew that Janvi was the only one who could empathies him, and guide him. And now was the time for him to support her. And he was with her all that night. And that meant more to her too.
Sanju was drunk by now. He was mourning. And drank more to mourn more. He kept murmuring to himself, laughing, imagining Jatin to be sharing his drinks, and then cry realizing that he was hallucinating.
Sun was up now. The hall was filled with light. They were all where they had settled after coming from the hospital. Saakshi on the floor, Chetan and Janvi on the couch. But Sanju was missing. Janvi and Chetan were awake, Saakshi was still sleeping. Janvi s eyes had swollen, and were red.
Then there was someone at the door. There was no knock, no door bell. The lock clicked open. And someone entered.
“sorry to intrude sir. I am the caretaker of this place. And there is something you need to see.” Saakshi was awakened by his entry. There was something in his voice that scared them. They rushed behind him.
They were near the lake. Couple of empty beer bottles lay on the edge, along with Sanjay s jacket, and shoes. And a body floating in the lake. Sanju had drunk his way to death…

Part 4
“I will call the police said the caretaker and left the 3 friends.
Saakshi could not bear it. Jatin was a good friend but. Sanju was everything.
“It is a murder. Someone has killed him too. He was a very good swimmer. He could not have died in this shallow lake. Someone dragged him down under water and choked him to death. Why did you do this Janvi? What had he done? He was a good friend of ours.”
Janvi was speechless.
“Shut up Saakshi. Why would Janvi do it? And look at him. How huge he is. It is physically impossible for Janvi to drag him down. Besides Janvi was with us all the time last night. It s not difficult to guess what happened. Look at the number of bottles he has emptied. I don’t know what he had planned to do here. Or why he had come here, o how he died. We ll have to wait for the reports to come.” Said Chetan.
“Janvi killed him because she suspected that Sanju killed Jatin. She had hatred last night in her eyes. I observed it. Besides I was awake at around 6 Sanju was missing and Janvi just entered the hall and sat back on the couch. That explains it all. They both left for a walk, she killed him and came back hoping that Chootu and me would not notice it. but you are caught Janvi.”
“Oh shut up Saakshi. You just saw me entering, but did you not notice that I entered the hall from the kitchen? I was thirsty and there was not water on the table so I had been to kitchen. And please stop calling him chootu. I am not some psycho, Saakshi. If it was indeed Sanju who had killed Jatin then I would have seen to it that he gets punished by law. Killing him is not giving justice Jatin. This is not some school prank or fight where tit for tat is the verdict. This is real life.”
Chetan was about to tell something, but kept quite as he saw the caretaker standing nearby, next to a tree.
Since they had already noticed him, he came forward and said “I am sorry sir, I did not want to disturb you, I have called the police they should be here somewhere. I have also informed my masters in city. You had already informed about the other boy s death and I thought it would be very difficult to do that again.”
“thank you” said chetan.
“No problem sir. It is my duty. Sir, I heard you conversation. Please do not mind me sir. But I do not think it is any one of you sir.”
“Why? Is there something you know? Is there someone who didn’t like Sanjay here? Did you see something last night?” asked Janvi, anxiously.
“Sanjay sir came here very rarely. He did not disturb anyone. He does not have any enemy here in the village. You might not believe what I say. But I think it is true. His enemy is also dead. The other boy who died last night, his ghost killed Sanjay sir. According to me, he might have thought that it was Sanju sir who killed him. So his ghost has avenged his death. Now it rests in peace. But Sanju sir does not rest in peace.” he said, with an evil grin.
“Oh, stop the nonsense. It was not jatin s ghost that killed Sanju, it is alcohol s ghost that killed him. When will the police arrive?” asked chetan.
“they will take some time sir. The inspector has gone to an accident site. It might take a couple of hours. I shall stay here and look after the body.”
“I am having head ache. Will have something and come” said Janvi.
“Janvi you stay here. I will go and get something to eat. And tablets if you want. Saakshi needs you” said Chetan. And then whispered to her “I do not like the way that caretaker was spying us. Be careful. Keep an eye on him”.



to be continued....

Farmhouse part 3

“So someone is trying to kill me?”
“You are not getting the point. We are blaming each other. But neglecting a very important point. The cake which we brought was not meant for Jatin. It was meant for someone else. And so may be the poison was for that person too.”
This was something they had not given a thought about. If what Chetan said was true then someone s had been saved, but that person was still in grave danger. So they immediately told this to the police. The next day was supposed to be a very eventful day. They had loads of plans which now would never be done. There were bottles of alcohol to be emptied in 2 days, “to Jatin” they would have happily said. They had planned to drink for his happiness. And now it could never happen. But Sanju decided to drink cause he was sad. He would still say “to Jathin” but would also add “who was such a good friend, who will always stay in our hearts.” Tonight he would not just drink. Tonight he would get drunk.
After the talk with police they did not have anything to discuss. Sanju had a very hard job ahead. “bottoms up”, as many bottoms he could. Janvi was on the couch lost in thoughts, Chetan and Saakshi s comforting talks going unheard. Saakshi was kneeling down on the floor next to Janvi persuading her to sleep, but getting no answer back. After sometime, and a few failed attempts to persuade janvi to sleep Saakshi drowsed there sitting on the floor with her head on the couch. Chetan was sitting on the couch next to Janvi he did not have any words to comfort her. He did not know how to comfort her. All he could do was wait patiently for her to open up. And it took a lot of time for her to do so.
“It is so dark Chetan.”
“Just wait, I will light some candles for you.”
“candles… are supposed to be lit. candle is of no use if there is no flame. The candle that has blown off can not be lit again Chetan. It is beyond your capacity to light it. It will always be dark now. Always…”
“Janvi. This was not supposed to have happened. But there is something called fate, over which we do not have control.”
“Do you know Chetan? He was to leave to Australia by the end of this year. On our way here he had told me that this could be the last visit to the farmhouse. He had planned that we would get married by the end of the year and leave together…..”
There was lot to say. But he could not. It was always the other way round. Chetan, who was not very smart, looks as well as brains, always needed comforting. And Janvi was always there for him. Always comforting him. Where as the others made fun of him although they were his friends. He was never humiliated by their pranks or mockery, he knew that they were his friends. But he knew that Janvi was the only one who could empathies him, and guide him. And now was the time for him to support her. And he was with her all that night. And that meant more to her too.
Sanju was drunk by now. He was mourning. And drank more to mourn more. He kept murmuring to himself, laughing, imagining Jatin to be sharing his drinks, and then cry realizing that he was hallucinating.
Sun was up now. The hall was filled with light. They were all where they had settled after coming from the hospital. Saakshi on the floor, Chetan and Janvi on the couch. But Sanju was missing. Janvi and Chetan were awake, Saakshi was still sleeping. Janvi s eyes had swollen, and were red.
Then there was someone at the door. There was no knock, no door bell. The lock clicked open. And someone entered.
“sorry to intrude sir. I am the caretaker of this place. And there is something you need to see.” Saakshi was awakened by his entry. There was something in his voice that scared them. They rushed behind him.
They were near the lake. Couple of empty beer bottles lay on the edge, along with Sanjay s jacket, and shoes. And a body floating in the lake. Sanju had drunk his way to death…

to be continued...

Farmhouse part 2

FIR was filed. When Jatin s parents called to wish him on his 25th birthday they expected the happy voice of their son which the most pleasant to them, but instead were answered by the mournful voices of his friends. The news shattered them. The light of their life was blown off by some evil force. And Janvi of course was the most affected. They had dreamt a life together. She was hit very hard and dragged out of her dream, their dream, back to the cruel world.
They had decided to wait there, at the farm house. Wait until Jatin s parents could finish the formalities and get Jatin s body. When they reached the farmhouse it was past 3 am. Their eyes were burning. But sleep was something which would not come close to them tonight. Janvi had taken it well tonight. They had not spoken a word to each other since they left the hospital. Janvi was the first to speak. “Sanju, who takes care of this farmhouse when we are gone? We have never seen anyone around, but the place looks clean and well kept always.”
“We have a servant. He takes care of this place. He does not stay here though. We do not like anyone to interfere when we are here. So we have given him a place to stay. It is close by. Why did you ask that?”
“Well, if there is no one else in this farmhouse, and if you servant did not come here before Jatin had the cake then one of us must have mixed the poison in the cake.”
“Sanju please tell me that you did not poison him because of that stupid fight of yours last week, just because he hit you” said Saakshi with fear in her face.
“what are you talking about? I am a sensible person ok? We keep fighting always. That s how it has been since we met. Why would I kill him for a stupid fight? He is….” His voice faded away. And then after a moment regained his tone “He was a very good friend of mine. I would never have wanted this to happen to him.”
There was silence again.
And this time it was sanju who spoke, with a very thoughtful tone “wait a minute. The cake was with chootu all the time. And even when we came here, when we were decorating the hall he was missing for a long time. He had all the time he wanted. He could have easily mixed the poison.”
Chetan s expressions did not change. “I knew this would come up. The blaming game. We can keep blaming each other for hours, for any number of reasons. I can continue the game if you want to. If it were one of us then it could have easily been Saakshi. I am not a chemistry person. I do not know what crocin has. Whereas Saakshi knows a lot about it. She has specialized in pharmacy. Right now she could easily give us a list of chemicals which can easily kill a person. But apply your brains. Sanju, suppose that this was your birthday party. Out of us 5 who would have tasted the cake first?”
“well I would cut the cake and let saakshi have a bit, then may be you guys, and then I would have, or rather you people would stuff it into my mouth.”
“Exactly!! That s what each one of us would do. I mean, cut let everyone have a bite and then get it stuffed in our mouth. Janvi has Jatin ever not let you eat the cake frist?”
“No that has not happened. In our group it has always been me to eat his birthday cake first.”
“So….”
“So you mean to say that I poisoned the cake and hence did not eat the cake first?” asked Janvi in a shock.

“No!! I didn’t mean that. We were blaming each other thinking that one of us was planning to kill Jatin. But all of us know that you would taste the cake first, so we would not have added something to it to kill Jatin. We would have added something, hoping to kill you!!!”

to be continued.....

Farmhouse (part1)

It was Jatin s birthday. He along with his friends Sanjay ,Chetan, Janvi, Saakshi were at Sanjay s farm house to celebrate his birthday.

“Chootu. You fool!! You brought the wrong cake. This one has no name written on it.”

“Why are you blaming me? You too were with me Chetan. And Saakshi had asked you to get it, and be careful. Not me. But it looks more tasty.”

“Stop it you two. Do not fight. He ll be here anytime. What can we do now? There s no way to get the cake that we had ordered for and we do not have any cream to write his name.” said Janvi.

“I have an idea.” Said Sanjay.

“no thanks Sanjay. We know what you mean when you have that evil smile on your face. We are happy without your ideas. Keep them for yourself”, said saakshi with a “strict no” expression on her face.

Janvi added “yeah we know what your plan is. Let me guess. Tooth paste?”

“Tooth paste is a good idea. But come on Jatin is my friend too. I would not used tooth paste to write his name on his 25^th birthday cake. I would use cream. Jatin always gives us so small piece of cake. I ll write his name with cream, shaving cream and make him eat the whole cake” said Sanjay with wink and a smile but everything faded away when 3 angry faces glared at him, and he decided not to meddle with them.

“Relax guys. It is us that matters not this silly cake. With or without his name, it still is his birthday cake. And like you said Chetan, this looks more tasty. And Sanjay stop calling him Chootu. We are all adults not. How would he feel if tomorrow you call him chootu in front of his girlfriend?” said Janvi

Chetan could not stop blushing. The farm house was about 100km from the city. The city in which they all spent their childhood. The city in which they were educated. It all started from their school days. Chetan was the shortest of them all and hence named chootu, initially to tease and make fun of him and later on… well it became his pet name. Janvi was the only sensible, sensitive person in the group. It was during these days that they had decided that they would spend a couple of days each year at this farm house. The location was very good. It was peaceful. There was a lake nearby where they could swim, and go boating. And it would be a good break from the busy, hectic and tensed city life. And this time they had a reason to celebrate.

Jatin was not upset when he saw the cake. He was in fact happy with the cake. And so at 12 they lit the candles. Janvi was always against blowing out candles. “light represents life. It should always be on. Blowing it off according to me is taking out life from someone”, she always said. They usually listened to Janvi. But this time they were not in total control of their mind. Alcohol too had a say and jatin blew off the candles. Chetan could sense disappointment in janvi s face.

“I am sorry Janvi. I could not resist this time. Here… you have the first piece of cake....” said jatin taking a piece of cake towards her. But when the cake was about to touch her lips he said “ Sorry jaan, the cake looks toooo tasty. Guys everything but this cake is yours.” And swallowed the chunk of cake that was supposed to be for janvi.

Before they realized what was going on, Jatin was on the floor fighting for breath, face turning blue. And before they rushed him to the village s government, Jatin was no more.

journey part 4

“Stop it Prateek. don’t give me that wicked smile. I am really getting tensed now.”

“Ha ha. Chill. I am as normal as you are. This is still a situation created for you. And you have not yet given your answer.”

“You said you love me. And that you would not be able to see me going to someone else. But even now you wont be able to prevent me from going away where I had to go. Even now if you kill me I would not be coming with you, but I would be going to him, like he has already decided.” 

There was a pause and then she continued again “This anyways is my last journey on earth, no matter you decide to kill me or let me go. In some days I would be starting my new journey, new life. You would just prepone the dates of my journey by a couple of days. I am not getting married. I broke up with him as soon as I got my medical report. I am here for few more days now.”

There was a long silence and for the first time Prateek took the initiative to break it. “What should I say!! You have really changed a psycho killer into a good person.”

She managed a smile.

Then again after a long silence Prateek opened up “Tanu, some of what I said today is true.”

“What? You seriously are a Psycho serial killer?” said Tanu giving a grin.

With a serious tone Prateek said “No Tanu. About me being madly in love with you. All that is true.”

“Oh thank you for letting me know. Now I know that there s someone who s madly in love with me. I will happily accept death.”

Prateek was irritated. “Stop it Tanu. I am serious. It s not the killer who s talking. I really do love you.”

“I understand Prateek. And about the last thing I said, it is true too. This really is my last journey. I am counting my days, or rather hours. But seriously, thank you for letting me know how you feel. It feels good when you come to know that there are people who really love you.”

There was pin drop silence again. No one spoke. They decided it was better to get some sleep. And ended their day.

It was still dark. Sun was about rise. Prateek had no sleep that night. Only one thought kept coming to his mind ‘How can she so calm and peaceful knowing that she barely has time?’

Just then he herd her voice. “Good morning. Where are we? In hell of heaven?”

“We are still sharing a long journey. Who might have dreamt that The merciless psycho serial killer could be changed by just a single talk?!” said he, trying to be as playful as she was.

“Tanu I want to thank you for the most precious time I had in my life. I was under depression. I had even thought of ending up my life. That was the reason why chose this train. I knew that this train would be deserted, and that I could do what I wanted to do. But you came into what was supposed to be the last day of my life. After listening to you I realized that my problems are nothing compared to the problem that many others have. And that my solution is a foolish one. You gave me a new life. You gave me new spirit. You showed me new path. I will always remember you as the lamp that gave light to my life. Thank you….”