Her Shattered Dreams (A thriller story)

Chapter 4

The hotelier handed over the newspaper to Jeeva and said “you can find more details about the murder here” and silently walked away giving them the cold shoulder.

Jeeva quickly grabbed the newspaper and carefully searched each and every page. He opened page 6, he ran his finger over the page searching for anything on the murder… his finger came to an abrupt stop on a big column that said "Young girl murdered in The Bhavani lodge". “I think this is the one” said Jeeva glancing up at siddharth. “Was your hotel called The Bhavani lodge before?” Questioned Siddharth. “ yes” replied the hotelier. “Can I take this news paper?” asked Jeeva. “Please” replied the hotelier who was waiting for them to walk out.

Jeeva and Siddharth got into the car and started reading the newspaper... "Madhu 22 year old girl,from the Shivakote village was murdered in the Bhavani lodge on Wednesday 27th may 1997. police is investigating the case. It is suspected that the victim was murdered for jewelry and money. “Shivakote dude!!!!” screamed Siddharth. “Yes I think if we check about her in the village we can gather more details” said Jeeva and Siddharth agreed.

Surprisingly, Jeeva was able to start the car without much trouble and they drove back to the village. It was close to 1:30am, Siddharth and Jeeva went to sleep. Morning when Jeeva woke up he saw the newspaper on the table beside his cot. As he picked up the newspaper Siddharth came in. “Good morning, get dressed quickly! We’ve to go to Manasa's house, they have invited us for breakfast and lunch and by evening we should leave”. “Siddhu, this newspaper?” Questioned Jeeva. “Oh ya get that too, we can even check in Manasa's house if anyone knew her”... Soon Jeeva and Siddharth got ready and left for Manasa's house.

They stepped into Manasa's house, Jeeva's eyes went high and low in search of his beloved... The minute he saw her, he smiled brightly. “Ridhi .. you okay? Are you comfortable here?” He enquired wrapping his arms around her shoulder in warm embrace... “Nothing to worry Jeeva.. I am fine” she said looking up at her husband with glistening eyes.

After their breakfast, Jeeva and Siddharth asked Manasa's mom if they know someone by name Madhu.. “Which Madhu? “ She asked curiously. Jeeva showed her the newspaper...he took it from him and glanced over the column “oh this Madhu!.. She is Manasa's aunt, i.e., Manasa father's younger sister I’ve never seen her, she was murdered a year before my wedding... But why are you enquiring about her now?” Jeeva managed to make up a story “the owner of the hotel in which last night we stayed was telling us about the murder which happened in there 27 years ago.. I was a little curious about it.. that’s why..”. “Oh, may be you can check with Manasa's aunt, she is Madhu's younger sister”. “Ok thanks aunty, come on siddhu let's go” said Jeeva and left in a hurry.

Jeeva and Siddharth started enquiring Manasa's aunt about Madhu she too asked them why they were interested in the incident. Jeeva gave the same reason that he gave to Manasa's mom... Manasa's aunt was convinced, she started to tell them the story of what happened to Madhu...

Flashback

“I had 2 siblings, an elder brother (Manasa's dad) and an elder sister (Madhu) and I am the youngest... Madhu and I were really close but she developed a complex when people started teasing her for her dark skin she started to completely ignore me because of the constant comparison. My parents and brother started looking for alliance, but she was always rejected for her dark skin. She isolated herself from everyone and that's when Raju entered into our lives”. Jeeva was shocked to hear that name, he looked at Siddharth and he signaled him to listen. “He was working for us in our farm. Raju was really good looking, and for the first time in the past few years I saw Madhu talking to someone without restraint. we suspected that they were in love. My brother warned Madhu and Raju to put a stop to their relationship because he belong to a lower caste but they both promised that they were not in love. They had stopped talking to each other, so we assumed there was nothing to worry about. But then one fine day Madhu took all her jewels, money and eloped with Raju... that night, While we were searching for Madhu we got a call from police saying she was murdered”.