Kartik Khandelwal

“Now, we head next to… the breaking news of the day!” The anchor said on the TV with various graphics and texts roaming on the right side, showing various other headlines of the day. “Mr. Amitabh Murthy, yet another politician who was aiming to become the Member of Parliament, has committed suicide today. A source told us and we sent our reporters on the crime scene, where the politician has committed suicide.”

Another anchor came on the TV, who was standing in front of the house. She was at one end of the crowd which was gathered on the spot. “So, as you can see, the reporters of various news channels have arrived on the spot and everyone has different questions on mind. First, his son was murdered and now he himself has committed suicide following his son’s death. His wife too has done suicide and the dead bodies of the two are still on the scene. The ambulance will be here in about twenty minutes and police have forbidden entry of any citizen.” She suddenly turned right and started running. “Sir,” She said to me who just got off the car. “Sir, are you handling the case of Mr. Murthy?”

In the meantime, the woman poured coffee from her kettle which was kept on the tray upon the table in front of her. She sat on the yellow sofa and the atmosphere was dark and creepy. “Here comes Kartik Khandelwal, the lead character of the story, who desperately tries to catch TES.” She took up the cup full of coffee and blows inside. Then, she sipped and then said, “And now is gonna enter me, who has previously worked for TES, and now will help Kartik to catch the organization.” She sipped again, and said, “There were many parts of Shekhar Disappearance Case, which can be revealed anytime now that Naina is dragged into this all. I don’t think Kartik will ever know about this, so I’m gonna enter this world.”

Naina Sharma

I was walking beside the electronics shops and cosmetics shop at one side as I saw Ms. Kavita standing at the entrance of the mall. I walked towards and, as I went out, tilted my head down. She was talking to someone on phone. “See, you first clarify if I needa come or not, you bastard. First, I lost my witness, and now you’re saying it was for nothing?!” I was walking past her, as my head was tilted down, but she looked at me and caught me. “Oh, Naina!”

“Weren’t you going somewhere?”

“Yes, but now I’m not needed there anymore. Anyways, I wanna clarify a thing or two.”

“Yes,” I replied.

“First, I know you’re lying,” She suddenly changed the atmosphere. “… and two, I’m gonna find out the truth as soon as possible, and that too from you. So, if you know anything, just speak it out, or else I won’t be afraid to take some extreme steps. I may look like an investigator, but I’m more or less of a thug too.”

“Your husband was killed, right?” I asked. “I guess you should first find out who killed him, and then work on Shekhar’s case.” Saying this, I walked away and left her. As I walked the hall, I thought, “From where did I find the courage to speak this? T-That was rude, but…”

“I guess she’s angry too,” She thought. “But Imma take out all of his shit pride.”

Kartik Khandelwal

I suddenly turned at the room again and walked inside. I looked at the murder scene again. I looked at the murdered woman. “How many children did they have?” I asked.

“Three,” Pawan replied. “Two sons and a daughter. His daughter is working as an investigator at DPHQ and one of his sons is studying in Canada. The youngest son was just murdered.”

“Oh,” I said.

“I even got a letter on the table. It was covered with blood, and it must have been written by the victims,” He said. “It says--‘Our son is dead, and so are we.’ But, a fact is that they must have been sad following their son’s death, but they won’t commit suicide based on the murder of one of their son. They still got a pair of siblings to feed, I mean, and why would someone die intentionally even after knowing this? They…”

He continued to speak as I glared at the murdered people. I lost my sense of hearing, and glared at them continuously. I looked at the woman’s face on the table, with hands surrounding her ears and face covered with a pool of blood. I suddenly remembered a woman lying on the cemented street in the middle of the night. She was young and pretty. Her brown hair covered her face, and her hands were in front of her face. “K-Kartik… Run…” I remembered her saying. Suddenly, another tear ran down my cheek as I closed my eyes. I fell on the ground.

“Mr. Kartik! Mr. Kartik!” I heard the wide uproar in the whole crime scene as I closed my blurry eyes and fell unconscious.

Naina Sharma

Kavita got another call when she was walking down the hall and exiting the mall. “Oof!” She said as she picked up the call. “What now?!” She said in anger.

“M-Ma’am, pl-please come at your house!”

“Why? My apartment--”

“Not your apartment, your house! The bungalow where you grew up!”

“Why? What happened? Are my parents alright?”

“T-They have committed suicide!”

“What?!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The phone slipped from her hands and fell on the ground in shock. “I-I lost my family y-yet again?”