Pihu' POV

"Do you have any idea dear where they can be?" A cop asked me placing his hand on my shoulder with assurance in his voice. I had no idea when tears rolled down my cheeks. 

"I don't know..." I whispered back, my voice breaking, I tried hard not to let my sobs escape my lips.

After a while, all went to the cremation ground to cremate Rita's body. The cops found her cold dead body today morning in the Manan forest, hung from a tall tree by the Black Waters. They suspect she has committed suicide. But why? 

There were scratches and cuts on her skin which were suspicious too. No one could understand her reasons. She tried to kill us once and there was no rational explanation as to why she would do such a thing. She was marked wanted and as a killer on loose, so with her death our case was closed. 

The police reported that the reason behind her actions could be greed. She was having a financial crisis and even though we provided her with a job and shelter, she wanted more. Moreover, keeping her daughter in a private boarding school must have been really costly. So she must have wanted to take our money and run. But because we saw her, she got scared and hurt us to escape.  She must have been on the run all this time and when she realized she had no place to escape, she committed suicide.    

But we knew it was not it, she didn't take anything from the house, rather that night I believe it was not even her. It was definitely something else, it was as if she was possessed. I have no idea why she hung herself but I believe something sinister was behind it. Something very evil was hunting us, slowly one after another. An ominous sensation washed over me as I sat on the edge of the staircase. 

A letter was sent to Rita's daughter, informing her about the sudden demise of her mother. I really don't know what she will do when she will find her mother and her only companion was no more. I can't even begin to imagine the pain. Rita informed us once that they had no one else except for each other. Arundhati has promised that she will pay for that little girl's education. She will take care of her and we will too. Her name was Lilly, I believe we are the only ones she has now and I promised myself, I would try to be an older sister to her and protect her. 

Rita's death really left us shattered. In this short period of time, we were together, we all became so close, we were a family. Losing someone so close leaves us with so much grief. Her soft smile and pleading eyes lingered in my memories, and every time I recalled her, sorrow engulfed me. Sighing I walked out to the backyard. There was no one except me and Ann in the house. All have gone for the cremation. I saw shallow sleeping in his kennel. After that night Shallow became really quiet. Like he was scared of something. He doesn't play with us anymore. I looked up, the sky was a bit cloudy, the tall trees swayed lightly with the wind. The gentle sound of the rustling of leaves surrounded me. I slid my hand inside the pocket of my jacket to find that key which the blue-eyed girl gave me yesterday night.

Suddenly it struck me. Rita was wearing a necklace with a locked heart-shaped pendent. She never used to wear any necklace before in fact she didn't have one like the one she was wearing and no one has any idea where she got that necklace from. Maybe this key was meant for the lock of the necklace. But how did Rita find that necklace? I have to find out. I mentally decided and ran inside the house to find the necklace. It was kept inside a trunk in the attic with the other belongings of Rita.

I took out the pendant. It was a beautiful metallic heart-shaped pendant attached to a chain. While examining it I realized it was a bit tarnished and it was made of silver. There was a butterfly engraving and a bright blue stone was attached in its center.

Looking closely I noticed there was a small lock by its side. This could be it, I thought as I tried to open the pendent with the small key that the blue-eyed girl gave me, and to my surprise, it clicked open perfectly. There was a small piece of paper crumbled inside. I took it out and read it.
'Ouguri Hill, Tezpur, Assam'

It was an address. But whose address is this? Is it Rita's? But she told us a different address of her? I thought pacing randomly in the room. 

Let me search! I spoke to myself as I hurried downstairs to the room I was staying in. I searched for the address on my laptop. 

It is a beautiful mountain situated on the banks of the Brahmaputra River. Almost around 6kms from here. 

I need to get there. This could lead to something, leading us a little closer to solving this mystery, I thought as I note down the direction in my notebook and kept this piece of paper with me. I don't know why I believed Sam's and Sid's disappearance is somewhat connected to all these. Damn it guys! Where are you? I thought worrying about what might happen to them as I walked upstairs to the attic to returned the pendant to the trunk where it was kept with Rita's other belongings. 

There was a photo of us, me, Rita, Ann, Shallow, and Arundhati which caught my eye. It was the time we went for a picnic a few months ago. But now it's just a memory...

I realized my vision was getting blurry due to the tears which accumulated in my eyes threatening to fall as I recalled our memories. Taking deep breaths I controlled my tears. Letting out a loud sigh I got back to my room. Soon after sometimes all returned home. There was nothing but silence and sadness in the house. There was still no update on Sam and Sid's whereabouts, where are they? Please be safe guys! I hope you are alive, no no no why am I thinking like this, they were gonna be okay, we are gonna see them again. Aren't we?  I asked myself, a sensation of misery crept inside me. I miss them so much.

Kashi had an asthma attack and was taken to the hospital. She was too devastated by whatever was happening. Sree and Rahul had to go back to their village to their home as Rahul's mother's health suddenly deteriorated. Practically there was only me, Ann, Saikat, Arundhati, and Maria at home. Arundhati made dinner for us. Maria helped her while I and Ann helped lying the table and arrange the fireplace. It was really cold today.

While we were arranging the plates I noticed Saikat, smoking in the backyard. He tried to look tough, handling the situation the best he could but it was evident he was too shattered. The frown on his forehead hasn't left since the morning. He was worried sick, talking to whoever he could to find his brother and Sam. I heard from Ann about Siddharth's childhood and the bond these brothers shared. I just wish they come back safe.  

During the evening we heard Lilly, Rita's daughter who lived in the boarding school was coming here today. Her flight will arrive here at 10:30 at night. The police arranged for her transport. They wanted to bring her before the cremation but Rita's body was in a very bad condition when it was found, she was already dead for 3 days. It was only with Lilly's permission that the cremation was done before she reached here. 

It must have been pretty hard for her to make a decision like that. I believe she wanted to at least see her mother for the last time, bidding her farewell, but she took a decision as an adult today. Or maybe she wanted to keep the beautiful memories of her mother as it was and didn't want it to strain with the devastated site of her late mother. 

Saikat and Arundhati decided to pick her up from the airport and bring her home. After dinner, they left to get Lilly while Maria went to the hospital to stay with grandma Kashi, leaving only me and Ann here. We went back to our respective rooms after they left. I wanted to tell Ann what I found but I don't think anyone was in the right mood to listen to it today. Moreover, I don't want to drag anyone anymore into these creepy sinister affairs. Switching off the lights I lay on my bed, slowly drifting into sleep.

All of a sudden I woke up with a loud rumble of thunder. Sitting up on my bed I realized it was raining heavily outside with loud howling of wind outside. The window beside my bed got opened causing the freezing cold wind to rush in. I immediately got down from my bed and walked to the window to close it. The cold wind made me shiver. I reached for the switchboard in the darkness to switch on the lights only to find there was no electricity. 

"Oh come on!" I sighed, "can't our lives be a little bit less creepy sometimes?" I complained and searched for the torch in my drawer. Luckily I got it and looked at the watch on the wall. It was 3:05 a.m.

Where are Arundhati and Saikat? Aren't they home yet? I asked myself as I walked outside my room. An eerie darkness engulfed the hallway, the wooden floor creaked underneath my pressure as I walked on.

"Ann! Arundhati! Saikat!" I called out but there was no reply. My voice echoed through the empty hallway. I don't think Arundhati and Saikat haven't returned yet. But they should have been back by now. It hardly takes an hour to drive back from the airport to reach this house. They should have been back by 11:30 p.m or latest by 12:00 a.m. What happened to them? Why aren't they back yet? I asked myself feeling tensed. The loud howling of the wind outside and the ominous darkness around made me feel at unease. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I walked on, where is everyone? I asked myself, I could feel my heartbeat getting louder, a sensation of apprehension washed over me. 

Slowly I walked towards Ann's room across the hallway. Suddenly there was a flash of loud lightning outside, making me jump in my place completely catching me off guard. I knocked on her door. But there was no response. So I twisted the door knob to see it was unlocked. I pushed opened the door to reveal a dark room with one of the windows opened and cold wind was gushing in. The long white curtains flew making an eerie ambience. 

"Ann! Where are you?" I called out, my voice trembling. There wa no response. My breathing became louder. Fear was slowly entangling me. I illuminated the room with my torch. She was not there anywhere. I walked inside her room searching for her when my torch illuminated a corner of her room. There was someone, a girl standing amidst the darkness, her back facing me. 

"A...Ann... Is..is that you?" my voice choked as I tried to ask. She had mid shoulder length tangled hair which was not like Ann's yet I asked her with a trembling voice. I was terrified. I took a step forward my hands shaking, when she turned over slowly facing me. Her eyes were covered with dark circles. As she looked at me the light from my torch reflected on her dark eye balls.

Suddenly her eyes turned completely dark and her dried lips parted unbelively wide, as if she turned into some sort of a demon as she screamed, her cold shrill voice made my blood ran cold and she came running towards me. I gasped in fear and ran as fast as I could. Almost falling over in the darkness.

I screamed in fear, completely terrified as I ran, I could hear her heavy footsteps running behind me. I had no idea where I was running to, but I went on running. Suddenly I felt a hard blow on my head. Screaming I fell over. I flinched in pain lying against the hard wooden floor breathing heavily. Everything was hazy and blurry. She stood in front of me. A flash of lightning from outside enlightened her, standing amidst the menacing darkness. Her black hair covering her sinister face. She had a knife in her hand. I could feel my heart beating loudly against my ribcage in fear, I looked up and saw her, she held the knife high about to stab me.  

"Pihu..?!" Suddenly Ann's worried and confused voice echoed through the empty house. I could hear her calling me from downstairs. The girl in front of me stopped in between abruptly hearing her voice and ran away in the darkness. I heard loud footsteps running up the stairs. Everything around me was slowly fading away into a silent darkness. 

"Oh no! Pihu!" I heard Ann screaming as she saw me and ran towards me. Although her voice felt like an echo from far yet I could feel her warm hands as she turned me over placing me over her lap, "What happened?" she asked completely panicking, her voice filled with fear. The candle in her hand enlightened her worried eyes. 

"Ann..." I whispered as darkness took over me.

Hello, my dear readers, I hope you will like this chapter.
-Anusree