The pleasant, windy night lacked the power to soothe a grieving soul. The breeze, however, was relentless. Despite no sign of admiration from Waseef, it continued to blow past him, as if looking for a way to sneak into his heart and mollify it. The captain did not bother to keep track of the time, either. To him, it was pointless. As pointless as wishing for the wind to guide the little boy back to him.

Waseef's numb vision was fastened to the ground, which was being a witness to the clash between the prudent dark night and the confident beams released from the artificial sources from the surroundings. His eyes showed a mild sign of life as they caught a familiar pair of shoes walking into their range.

"Waseef, my boy?" Austin spoke tenderly, his affectionate gaze focused on the captain. "He would like to have a word with you."

It took a whole moment for Waseef to guide his weary eyes to the middle-aged man his coach was pointing at. People had been walking in and out for a good while, but the protracted period of waiting refused to produce a fruitful result. He got up from his bench with a mind void of hope and approached the man in short steps.

"Mr. Ibrahim," said the man in an exceptionally gentle tone, "we sent a team to the danger zone, and they found a couple of things. We want you to observe them and let us know if these belong to your cousin."

The front yard was crowded with security officials, staff, and the boys from both sides. Aanvik made his way to Waseef. A moment later, he was followed by Shranav and Nayif.

The man received a small, transparent packet from the young officer who was standing beside him. He held it in front of Waseef, making the last drop of color disappear from his face. "This wristwatch. It's obvious that it belonged to a child. Could it be your cousin's?"

Waseef's lips trembled for seconds. "Wh-where did y-you find it?"

The man let out a quick yet strong sigh. "The place is sort of dangerous; I won't deny that. But we can't worry about all these now. At first, we need to know if—"

"What happens to the ones who go there?" The captain cut him off with a voice shaking with trepidation.

"Well, the place is marked dangerous for a reason, but gentleman, we need you to have faith in us, please."

"No!" Waseef groaned in a surprisingly compressed tone. "No! My brother was not there!"

A pair of hands went around Waseef from behind, and a chin rested on his shoulder. "C'mon, boy," Aanvik said in a faint tone. "Calm down. Nobody said something bad happened to him ."

"We've found another thing," said the man as he received the second packet. "This mobile phone. Do you recognize it?"

"He did not have a phone with him," replied Waseef, trying to get a hold of himself.

"Wait." Aanvik interfered with his eyes focused on the device. "It belongs to Mayank."

"Pretty obvious, isn't it?" Nayif snapped from the side. "He knew this phone could give away his position. He left it behind on purpose."

Shranav rolled his eyes in disgust. "And what do you have to say about the wristwatch, Inspector Nayif Shahriar?"

"Have you got anything inside that fat skull of yours? The watch has come off Fayzan's hand while the beast was dragging him toward—God knows where!"

"That makes no sense at all! Why on this earth would Mayank do something like that? Are you sure you aren't the culprit?"

Nayif narrowed his eyes. "Sounds very likely."

The man cleared his throat. "That'll do, gentlemen. Please yield this part to us. We can't say anything without investigation, and we expect your cooperation."

Aanvik nodded. Shranav and Nayif looked away. 

"I know there have been many accidents there in the past," Shranav said softly, dismissing a short period of uncomfortable silence. "But they can't just disappear, right?"

"We do not know what exactly happened to them, but we'll try our best to find your friend." He stopped to turn his gaze toward Waseef. "And your cousin."

"Um..." Shranav spoke after a while in a voice suffocating under hesitation. "Do you think it's possible that... that Mayank—" The sentence surrendered to doubt and was abandoned in the middle.

"That Mayank did something to him." Nayif spontaneously picked up where he left off. "Yeah, that makes sense too."

"No," The batsman said in a tone bolder than before. "I wanted to say that it's very much possible that Mayank went after the child to stop him. Perhaps he spotted the sign."

"Certainly not impossible," the man commented. "There is no doubt about the fact that both of them had been there."

Nayif felt the urge to burst into laughter. "Mayank tried to save Fayzan? You are not serious! Do you even know what this guy is?"

"A human being," said Shranav. "Not a monster."

"That's the most hilarious joke I have heard in a while."

"You both!" The growl of asperity provided their shoulders with a sudden lift. As they turned around, they discovered Sanchit standing with folded arms. Although he looked enraged, the fury on his face was clearly in the company of a vivid shade of anxiety. "Get lost at once. I had enough!" he continued. "You don't want me to take you along with me like I did yesterday, in front of all these people." With his eyes still ablaze, he shipped his vision from Shranav to Nayif.

"Lock these two inside my room. Nobody wants them here," said the coach as he threw a couple of keys toward Aanvik. "I'll deal with them later. Does anyone object?"

No one did.

"Take 'em away."

The captain walked off toward the hotel, while Shranav followed him reluctantly. Although Nayif was not quite eager to be in his company, he continued to walk along with the two. He could feel the dearth of energy to make his way back to his team hotel. None of them dared to speak again. They were left in the coach's room; despite the occasional exchange of unfriendly looks, peace continued to persist.

Back in the front yard, nobody would have complained about Aanvik's presence. The captain, however, accompanied Waseef to a lonely, dark corner, knowing that both of them needed some time away from the commotion. Waseef's eyes were void of life. Aanvik gingerly rested his forehead on the other captain's shoulder, letting the cacophony inside his mind take down his exhausted self entirely.

The wild storm of insanity, along with its wildness, was gone somewhere, causing the heart of a calm man to initiate a wilder disaster.

**********

Darkness.

No light. No sound.

Only darkness.

Several minutes flew past Fayzan before he slowly opened his eyes. The darkness still prevailed, but the place was not entirely silent.

Fayzan could feel the rough surface of jeans as he pointlessly rubbed his nose against what was serving the purpose of a pillow. A minute later, he got up to sit, letting a small yawn crawl out of him. For the next couple of moments, he tried to look around through the heavy curtains of darkness.

"Waseef Bhaiya?" He spoke in a low voice as he caught hold of a shoulder whose owner was undoubtedly the same as that of the pair of jeans. "Why is it so dark?"

No response came up.

"Bhaiya!" the kid bellowed impatiently as he began to jerk him. "Wake up!"

Fayzan directed both his hands toward the creature's face, only to discover an oddly unsmooth surface. The stubble was unfamiliar to him.

"Hey..." His voice collapsed. "You are not my big brother."

He leaned closer to the strange figure. "You don't smell like any of my boys, either."

No word was offered from the other side.

The peculiar silence caused fear to conquer the kid's heart, making him move away from the unknown creature. He kept dragging himself backward until he was stopped by an impediment barely a couple of feet away.

As he kept his back pressed against the massive wall, he could finally sense that he was inside a moving vehicle.

"Who are you?" he asked in a mildly quivering tone.

There was no reply.

"Why don't you talk?" cried the kid. "Who are you?"

The figure displayed some instances of movement, following which there was a familiar sound of a zipper. Although total darkness prevailed, Fayzan could guess that the stranger was pulling something out of a bag. A weapon? The kid wondered. His heart began to sprint faster as droplets of sweat formed on his forehead. He could barely guess what the other guy was up to.

The stranger's intention did not turn out to be too nefarious. Within a couple of moments, the darkness was chased away. Although the light from the torch was not insanely bright, Fayzan sent his eyes behind the palms at once. Half a minute later, he could finally look at his companion. As he did, his eyes refused to blink.

What he saw was not particularly magnificent. A shiver slid down the child's spine.

"M–Mayank?"

The addressed one's eyes were shining before a cold flame.

Fayzan offered himself a hard pinch, but the image of Mayank refused to dissolve.

The all-rounder smirked. "None of the worms from your brother's team ever woke up from the nightmare called me."

"Wh-what d-do you want?" mumbled the boy, who had by then turned pale. "Where am I?"

"I kidnapped you, of course," Mayank replied in a grim tone. "How silly of you to ask!"

"Kid–kidnapped me?"

"Worms hear well, I see. Now, shut your mouth before I make you. I must think of a fun way to get rid of a parasite."

Fayzan gasped. No more words fled his tongue as he gently rested his forehead on the peak of his knees. The kid clenched his fist as he tried to glide back to the morning inside his head, and minutes later, he could at last yank a number of fragments from his memory.

A gang of reprobates around him. 

He was being dragged by a wicked-looking man. He screamed for help, but the place was awfully lonely. With flooding eyes, he turned his head around. In the middle of despair, a creature emerged; a hazy human figure was all that he could make out through the abrupt spill. He stretched his free arm toward the stranger, and moments later, he could feel a strong grip.

What happened next? Fayzan tried to recall.

The stranger. The gang. And a few words.

"Leave him alone!"

"The kid is ours!"

"Who the hell are you?"

"If you want the child in one piece—"

He did not remember anything else.

Another whole minute went by before he revealed his face again. The kid continued to stare at Mayank with sheer disbelief. His eyebrows displayed zany movements, while his cheeks kept swelling with time.

The all-rounder could not decipher the strange show. A couple of minutes later, he found himself unable to stand it any longer.

"What?" Mayank let out a small growl.

"What what?" the kid tried to growl back.

"What are you staring at?"

"A liar."

"What?"

"What?"

Mayank suppressed a strong desire to smack the child's head. "What liar?"

"You are a liar," replied Fayzan.

The all-rounder raised an eyebrow. "What? Wait, hold on; if you say 'what' in reply once more, I am going to strangle you for real."

"You haven't kidnapped me. You lied."

"It was not a lie! I brought you here. It was me. I have kidnapped you, worm!"

"No, you haven't," said Fayzan in a low tone. "You tried to save me."

A scarlet hue conquered Mayank's face. "No way! Y-you were dreaming!" 

"Why would I try to save a stupid creature like you?" he added following an awkward pause.

"Only because you have somehow managed to get away from those bad guys, don't pretend like you—"

"Those were m-my men!" Mayank cut him off. "I hired those people!"

"Then why did you try to pull me away from them?"

"What proof do you have?"

"The wrist you caught hold of—it's still hurting."

Nobody spoke for the next couple of moments.

"I changed my mind," said Mayank in a faint, defeated tone. "You are my prey. I didn't want to share."

"What are you?" asked the boy in an annoyed voice. "A vulture?"

"Worse."

Fayzan was about to let out a fiery response, but the words were left alone inside as they both, all of a sudden, involuntarily tilted to the side. The vehicle stopped moving. Mayank's eyes grew sharp; he brushed his vision from one side to the other before resting it on Fayzan. He observed the trouble for a moment and grabbed the kid's bag from his side before throwing it toward its owner.

"Listen, parasite," said Mayank in a whisper as he got up to his feet with a heavier bag hugging him from behind. "No more quacking. Keep your mouth shut."

The all-rounder turned the light off and approached the exit, followed by the kid. Total darkness claimed the place, making Fayzan stumble and discover himself pasted on Mayank's bag a second later. The boy gasped, but Mayank was too busy with the presence of a threat on the other side to bother about the sudden, strange sensation on his back.

"Yes, yes, don't you worry," said a husky voice from outside. "Half is yours, half is mine. Couldn't have managed to get my hands on all these goods without your help. Ha ha ha! We are rich, buddy!"

"I am close to the forest." The voice spoke once again, about a minute later. "Guess I heard some strange noises coming from behind. Let's see if a ghost has sneaked into my truck. Ha ha ha!"

"Rats? They better not spoil my goods! Talk to you later, mate."

Mayank's heart began to race a little faster. The driver was approaching the door, and in no time, one of its sides was going to swing open. The all-rounder ensured a tighter grip around the torch, and the two continued to stick to their left. It was apparently their lucky day; the man got in through the other half. Darkness provided them with cover.

The man stepped forward in careful steps. "Any ghosts in here?" He flung the question along with a wicked chuckle. "Your daddy is here; come out, babies. Come out, come—"

He was cut off by an unexpected invasion of another voice. "Take it, dad!"

Following a massive groan, the man turned around with a palm pressed against the assailed spot on the back of his head. He collapsed a second later, being welcomed by a beastly punch against his nose.

"Get down, worm!" Mayank yelled as he jumped out of the humongous truck. "Fast!"

Fayzan obeyed him and hopped onto the moonlit path. The second action did not require a command; he, of his own accord, followed Mayank as he put on a sprint toward the forest.

"Hey!" the boy cried from behind. "Who was he?"

"How would I know?"

"So, I am right. You got away from the bad guys and hid inside the truck." 

"Whatever."

"Why did you hurt him?"

"Want me to do the same to you?" asked Mayank in reply, not bothering to look back.

"That's not an answer!"

"He was a thief anyway, idiot!"

"You are a thief too!"

Mayank's motion ceased at once. He turned around in a grim fashion to face the kid with eyes aflame from old resentment.

"What did you say?" he asked in a cold yet faint tone.

Fayzan hesitated for a moment. "You are a thief. You stole me."

The boy's eyes descended as he felt Mayank's finger beneath his chin.

"I am not a thief," hissed the all-rounder. "Your beloved cousin is."

Fayzan narrowed his eyes. "What did he steal?"

"My reason to live. And I won't let him get away with it."

"What do you mean?"

Mayank did not respond. He let his numb vision dig through the boy for another couple of moments before turning around and continuing to head toward the forest. Fayzan's feet remained glued to the ground. Despite a quick attempt, he could not convince himself to act nonchalantly. He was stabbed by the sight of Mayank's lifeless raven eyes; they were clearly wet.