Khusi watched the father daughter duo wrangling in the middle of the police station, with a bewildered gaze, her lips tightly shut, as she stood in between them awkwardly.

"Yuti, you are going home! Right now!" the man hollered, pin drop silence booming in the police station. The criminals behind the bars as well as other inspectors shivered at his tone, no one daring to speak up.

"No, I won't. Call me a spoiled brat, but you can't ignore this matter anymore. Either you listen to me, or I will complain about you to Bari Ma," Yuti warned, taking a threatening step towards the man.

"Oh really? As if your Bari ma can protect you," he gritted, his stance malicious.

"Abhay sir, please." Khusi watched with a wide open mouth, her gaze baffled, as the man's temper increased with every passing second, turning his face ruddy, his jaw clenched and nose flaring.

"What!? Yeah! Take her away," he snarled at one of the constables as he carried a floundering Yuti out from the scene.

The officer, whose name was Abhay, as Khusi heard the junior inspectors whispering, banged his fist on the wall, leaving a dent behind on the already disintegrating surface.

"Fucking shit! I shouldn't have done that. I should not have done that." Abhay's gravelly mumblings were only audible to Khusi, as it was only her who was still standing anywhere close to him. All the other cops had already retreated back.

Khusi felt tongue tied as well as highly irritated. It was already afternoon, so she wanted to go home, but couldn't, without filing the missing report.

Abhay turned away from everyone else, heaved a deep sigh, and strode into his chambers, leaving an addled Khusi behind, who blinked in confusion.

What was she supposed to do now?

Clicking her tongue in annoyance she asked for Yuti from one of the inspectors, who informed her that Yuti was safe and sound, and she didn't need to worry about her. It was her father's office so Khusi was assured no harm would come upon Yuti.

"Can someone please just lodge my FIR now?" Khusi enquired to particularly no one, her palms up in the air.

"Go that way ma'am. The head constable will lodge your complaint." One of the homeguards informed her, and Khusi walked away, thanking him.

"Excuse me?"

A pot bellied man was sitting across the desk of the head constable, sipping coffee, his interlocked ankles resting on the desk and was reading a travel magazine, when Khusi called out for his attention.

"Yes?" He didn't bother to look up.

"I want to report a missing person."

He chortled, snickering at Khusi's words. "Firse kon kho gaya humare manhush seher mai?"

(Who got lost again in our fucked up town?)

Khusi's eyebrows arched up at his statement. Again? Was it normal for people to go missing often in that town?

The inspector gestured to Khusi to take her seat and opened up a notepad, keeping away his magazine and grabbed an uncapped pen.

"Ha ji, naam bataiye. Kon kho gaya hai?"

(Okay, tell me the name. Who is lost?)

"David Joshi, a student from my class. He hadn't been coming to school for a week ... "

"What did you say?" His pen stopped before it could start it's work.

"He is absent for the last ... "

"No, the name."

"David, David Joshi."

The head constable's eyes widened and he swiftly slammed the record notepad shut, shaking his head.

"I am sorry, but I can report your complaint. You can leave miss." The head constable said, not bothering to look at Khusi and resumed reading the magazine.

Khusi was shell-shocked at his behaviour. Pushing the chair back with a screech, she stood up and threatened, "What the hell is your problem!? No one has taken me seriously since the moment I stepped inside. Is this how you do your duty, huh!?"

The head constable passed her a blank look, sitting calmly on his seat. That kind of behaviour wasn't new for him.

"Miss, I'm telling you for your own good. You wouldn't like to mess with people like Joshis. Mind your own business and let them handle their son."

Khusi grinded her teeth, frustrations nipping at her stomach at the nonchalant behaviour of every inspector in the place station.

"Their son is my student. That's a big enough reason for me to look out for him. Now stop advising me and do the work for what you've been assigned."

The head constable sighed deeply and shook his head, his lips tight.

"I can't and I won't. I don't have the permission to lodge complaints against the Joshis. Sorry miss, but I can't help you."

"This is ridiculous. I can't believe people like you are sitting here and doing nothing to help the general public. Shame on you. I want to talk to the officer in charge. Right now!" Khusi demanded, slamming her palm against a desk, her eyes wild with rage and body tight with tension.

"Miss ... " The head constable tried to say something but a hard glare from Khusi and he pointed towards the direction of the OC's room. A few other people had gathered up behind her at the yellings but she could care less.

Khusi sauntered towards the room and barged inside without bothering to knock, her blood boiling with rage.

The OC had his back turned towards the door, when a loud slamming open of the door resonated behind him. He swiftly turned back, his hand hovering over his revolver and gaze sharp when he saw who had entered.

"You?" Both of them asked together. Khusi couldn't trust her eyes. That philander from earlier was the OC? No wonder all the other juniors working under him were useless. On the other hand, Abhay couldn't believe he would get the chance to see Khusi again, especially after the way he bursted out in wrath infront of her.

Curling her fist in rage, Khusi said in a sharp tone, "Will you kindly do the honor of noting down my report now? Because the others have refused to do it."

Abhay gulped down the urge to say, 'Who dared to refuse you?' and pointed the chair across his desk, calmly, his face emotionless. Khusi, on noticing his calm behaviour, sighed and sat down.

"Who is it about?" Abhay asked, leaning on his chair, his jaw tilted up.

"David Joshi." At the mention of his name, one of Abhay's immaculate eyebrows shot up, which didn't go unnoticed by Khusi.

"What? You too are going to refuse to take this case? What is the problem with you people?" Khusi grunted, making Abhay look at her skeptically.

"I can not register any complaint against or about them," Abhay informed, staring back at Khusi with a tight lipped smile.

Scoffing in disbelief, Khusi pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Why? Who are the so-called Joshis, that no one is ready to talk about them?" Khusi demanded to know.

"Joshis are powerful people ... influential. I will suggest you not to mess with them."

"I'm not messing with them. I am just trying to look out for my student. What's wrong with that?"

"I still can't. No one messes with them and lives to tell the story." Abhay was not being discreet at all about the consequences.

"So you're telling me they can kill me if I try to look for their son? This is stupid."

"They can, if it harms them anyway."

"Why? Who is this JOSHI!?" Khusi blared out, unable to keep her wrath in check anymore.

"Madam, calm down and sit. You're screaming a lot and I don't want anyone outside my office to get any wrong idea," Abhay suggested calmly, a lopsided smile etched on his face.

Khusi was too far gone to detect the double meaning behind his words and slumped down on the chair, huffing loudly. Abhay passed her a glass of water and she gulped it down within a few seconds.

After a few minutes, when Khusi's heartbeat had slowed down, she looked up, demanding an answer to her question throughher gaze. Abhay was watching her silently, but as soon as her eyes collided with his, he looked away, licking his lips.

"Nitin Joshi is a MLA of Himachal, a cunning man, and very dangerous," Abhay whispered the last part, trying to intimidate Khusi, but she was least bothered about some thug politician.

When Abhay didn't see any trace of nervousness on Khusi's face, he was mildly shocked but continued.

"Do you know, two teachers from your school have gone missing in the last 4 months? One from the primary section and one from the pre primary?"

This caught Khusi's attention, as the words of her fellow colleagues from the other day rang in her head.

"Prachi?" she mumbled, lost in the memories of that day. Khusi had superseded her, and became the class teacher of UKG. Abhay, realizing she knew the woman, emphasized, "Yes, Pranchi Agarwall, from the pre primary section. And the other one, Rohan Goenka, from the primary section. Why do you think their missing cases were shut within 3 days?"

"Why?" Khusi managed to ask, swallowing a lump down her throat.

Abhay bent forward on his desk, his interlocked fist resting in front of him and breathed his next words out, which sent shivers down Khusi's spine,"Because apparently, they knew a lot of information. Way too much than a teacher should know, and Nitin Joshi couldn't allow that."

Khusi's mouth fell open and she sucked in a shallow breath, her eyes widening in horror.

"What nonsense?" Khusi stood up from her chair, unable to calm her raging heartbeats down.

"It's up to you whether you believe me or not, but remember, I don't speak nonsense. You can enquire about them in your school, okay?"

Khusi was perplexed at the OC'S words. It was true that she had heard that one of the teachers, he had mentioned, was missing. And Prachi was the ex-class teacher of David. What did she discover that led to her missing?

But Khusi didn't want to appear weak and scared. She had been living alone for almost half a year now, and if she had learned anything during this period, it was that presenting yourself as a frail person was open display of vulnerability. And she was done being fragile.

Deciding not to argue with the officer anymore, she collected her coat and was about to walk out, when his voice halted her steps.

"Madam ji, yeh card rakh lijiye. Kabhi koi samasya aah jayee, tu phone ghuma dijiye ga," Abhay jeered, taking his card out of his pocket and held it out.

(Madam, keep this card. If you ever face any kind of trouble, don't hesitate to give a call.)

Khusi glared at Abhay, her eyes narrowed down in slits but decided not to waste her time anymore on the so-called worthless protectors of the public.

Snatching the card out of his hands, she sauntered out of the police station. Yuti was sitting on the bonnet of a Police jeep, chatting with a homeguard. But as soon as she saw Khusi, she leaped down and ran up to her.

"Khusi miss khusi miss! Did papa decide to do something about David?" Khusi's rage diminished when she saw the tiny girl peering up at her with expectations. How would she tell her that her papa was another pawn in the hands of corrupt politicians and had declared not to do anything. She didn't want to spite her tiny brain against her father.

"No Yuti, but I am promising you. I won't stop looking for your friend until I find him."

Yuti looked away from Khusi jutting her lips out in a sad pout.

"But do you know where to look for him?" At Yuti's question, Khusi felt tongue tied. It was true. She didn't know where to look for the little boy.

"Uh ... "

"I know where his house is. Do you want to look there once? We can go together!" Yuti clapped, hopping on the ground, her uneven pair of front teeth peeking from behind her lips.

After contemplating for a minute, Khusi decided not to retreat anymore. She had vowed to look for David Joshi, and she wouldn't stop until she succeeded.

"Okay, we'll go there tomorrow."

~ • • • • • ~

Vote and Comment, 🌟💬

if you're liking my story. 😇🥰

See'Ya 💫❤