One Step Closer To Reality 3

This is the third part of the story 'One Step Closer To Reality'. I hope that you will enjoy it.

The book fell out of my hands, each and every beautiful memory of our flash before my eyes, from childhood till then, everything. I went towards his house with tears in my eyes. When I reached his home I started knocking at his door, but no one answered from inside but I continued knocking the door and it was the time when I reached my breaking point, I fell on my knees and my tears were unstoppable. After sometime I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned back and I saw that it was Rahul. He was having a bag full of vegetables and it seemed like he had gone to the market to get some vegetables while I was knocking at his door. When he saw me like that, he got scared and asked,"What happened buddy?" At that time I was so happy that I stood up on my feet and without giving him any answer I hugged him very tightly and with tears in my eyes and with a smile over my face I said,"You are alive….. you are alive." To which he replied"Yes I am but if you don't lose your grip then I might die."I didn't listen to him and continued to hug him after sometime we both entered his house and he was very surprised by my behaviour. He wanted to know what had happened to me and why I was behaving so strangely for the last two days. I knew if I told him the truth he was not going to believe me so I said,"I had a really bad dream about you so I came to your place to see you." "Seriously! Man you need a psychiatrist, you are not fine." He replied and I didn't pay much attention to his words as I was happy that it was not him, but then who was he? Who was that Harsh?

Suddenly Rahul's cell phone rang, he picked up the phone and after a few seconds his expressions were totally changed. He looks depressed, surprised and sorrowful at the same time. I asked him,"What happened?". He replied "Himaghna……" "Himaghna? What happened to Himaghna?" "His neighbours found him…. dead…. in his own house." He said. I took a pause and asked,"do you get any details about how he died." "The person who just called me said that the police have informed him that most probably Himaghna was murdered by someone. Both of his legs were broken and according to the postmortem report most of the blood was taken out of his body, probably after his death. How the hell can a person be so heartless to kill another person with such cruelty?" "It was Himaghna about whom it was written in that book, he killed him…. but why?..... why did he kill him?" I said to myself and that time Rahul felt strange by my this behaviour . He asked,"Bro, what are you talking about? Are you okay?" "You remember we were talking about Akash, yesterday?" I asked. He said,"Yes, I do, why?" "Did Himaghna had some problem with Aakash, any kind of problem?" I asked. "Yes, they were having some problems, but they had issues during our school days but why are you asking about…." "What kind of issues? Tell me." I asked and my interest scared Rahul a bit he said,"Issues like they didn't like each other especially Himaghna, he didn't like Akash, after he had beaten him" "Why did Akash beat him?" I asked. "Why are you asking about all this now?" He asked. I said,"it's very important for me to know about it, I will explain it to you after sometime but before that tell me each and everything about their relation, what has happened? Why did it happen?  Whose fault was it? Everything."I replied. In a frightened voice Rahul answered,"Okay I will tell you everything, just relax." He started telling the story,"one day Himaghna and Akash were having an argument and I don't know what argument they were having and as Himaghna was a very short tempered person and the little bit abusive as well during the school days, clearly because of his friend circle, he abused his mother, which aroused the anger of Aakash and he started beating him in front of the entire class and he beated him very badly with kicks and punches, then both of them were taken to the Principal's office, remember yesterday I had told you that  Akash had already done something because of which the teachers were not happy with him." " Yes…." I answered. "This was the thing that he had done and after that day Himaghna and all his friends were seeking some way to take revenge. Many times they had tried to beat Akash outside the school but Himaghna wanted a better revenge and he waited for the right moment." Rahul said. "Then what happened?" I asked. "Then…. Akash got suspended and it seemed like Himaghna just wanted Akash to get suspended either he does it or somebody else because after his suspension he and his friends were way too happy." I said to myself,"All this does not make sense. If Himaghna was not responsible for his suspension then why did he kill him?" Multiple thoughts were wandering in my mind. I asked Rahul,"Is there by any chance you remember Himaghna getting involved in our crackers thing?" "Crackers? No, I think I don't really remember….. wait, I remembered something." He said. "What, tell me?"I asked. "I believe it was Himaghna who challenged us to blow some crackers inside the school." He said. "What? Are you sure?" I asked. "Yeah, I am, I remember he said,"I bet you can't blow crackers in school and if you do I will give you fifty rupees." so I accepted his challenge and told you about this and then you also got excited and you know the rest part." He said. I asked,"And who complained to the teacher about Akash." "As far as I know one of Himaghna's friend complained to the teacher that he had seen him over there, but why are you asking about them now?" He said.

"Now everything started to make sense why he killed Himaghna and why those pages were torn up, but why did he tell me all this? And what about those three names? Who are they? The next person who is going to be killed is named as Ankit in the story, but how am I supposed to know who he is? Think…… Think…… There should be some kind of hint. Wait a second my character is named Amar in the story, Akash's character is named as Amit and Sumit's character is named as Sagar, but what about Rahul, what is his character's name….. Rohit!...... And Himaghna's character is named Harsh. Each and every character's name in the story has their first name same to that of the name of that real person. That means the next person who is going to die his name starts with the letter A." These were the thoughts that came into my mind. I asked Rahul,"Which of Himaghna's friends' names started with the letter A?" " What? I don't really remember all this." He replied. "Try to recall it. Please….. Please."I requested. He was not getting good vibes because of my behaviour but he tried to recall his friends name and after sometime he answered,"Yes, I remembered, one of his friends name was Aditya." After knowing his name I started running towards my home but Rahul called me and said,"Hey, I think two of his friends' names started with the same letter that is A. One is Aditya and the other one is Abhay." "Are you sure?"I asked. "Yes, kind of." He replied."Do you have their phone numbers?"I asked. " No, I don't have their phone numbers." He answered. "Can you arrange it for me?" I asked. " Now?" He asked. "Yes, now." I answered. "Man, it's nearly 12:30 in the midnight, everyone would have been tired of the fact that tomorrow, they have the same office thing. How can I disturb them now?" He said and I had no other option other than requesting him to arrange their phone numbers by talking to our old friends the next day.

I returned back, the evidence of the murder was present right there in my hall in the form of a story book, but who is going to believe, no one, who would believe that all is done by a soul or rather by a ghost. If I had gone to the police they would have treated me like a mad person who is mentally ill. I was feeling bad for Akash but that was not the right way and thus I decided to inform and help them.

Although it was clear that now Akash's desire was to kill Himaghna's group, I was also worried for myself whenever I fall asleep. I consider it to be my last sweet day on the Earth but as I said his desire was to kill them not me so I was still alive. The next day I went to my office but I was unable to concentrate on my work and because of this my boss shouted at me. This spoiled my mood, when I returned back to my home, I received a call, it was Rahul. He gave me their phone numbers and asked me,"Now, I have arranged their phone numbers as well. So, now can you please tell me what the hell has happened to you for these past few days?" To which I replied,"This is not the right time." With this I declined the call. At first I tried Abhay's phone number but it was out of the coverage area so I tried Aditya's phone number and fortunately it started ringing but for a few seconds no one answered it and with every person second, my mind was creating a bunch of bad and weird thoughts.

Finally someone picked up and said,"Hello." "Hello Aditya?" I said. " No, Aditya is not here." She answered. "Where is he and who are you?" I asked. "He is outside and I am his maid. Now I have the same question for you." She said. "He left his phone at home?" I asked. "He usually forgets to take his phone with him when he has it to go to the nearby shop. Now would you like to inform me who you are?" She asked. "I am one of his friends and tell him to call me back when he comes back." I said. "What is your name, 'friend'?" She asked. "None of your business."After this I declined the call, I was not willing to entertain one more stupid person that day, but I knew she would not inform him so I called him again after a while. At first someone was continuously declining the call but then he received it and said,"Hello?" "Hello Aditya?" I said. He said,"Yes, who are you?" I answered,"I am Alok, one of your classmates from school." He replied,"Okay, what's up buddy, how do you remember me after so long?" I said," Look, I need to tell you something." He asked,"What?" I asked," Before that first tell me where are you right now?" "I am at home right now." He said. I asked,"Where is your home?" "In Chandrapur, but why are you asking all this?" He said. "Chandrapur! Is it safe?" I asked. "Of course it is. Why are you asking about all this?" He asked. " No…. I just….. look, you have heard about Himaghna, right?" I said. "Yeah, it was very sad. He was my best friend." He said. "Yes, that's why I am calling all my classmates to know whether all of them are safe or not." I said and I knew if I told him the truth, he was not going to believe me, so I told him that. He replied," Oh…. So how many people have you called so far?" He asked. "Well…. You are the first one." I replied. "Okay….. look now I need to go. I have a meeting….." He said. "Okay, okay I will call you another time." After this he declined the call. I was happy that at least now I know that he is alive and he is in a safe place but I need to inform Abhay too. Might he be referred to as Ankit in the story. I tried calling him many times but his cell phone was out of the network coverage area. I was concerned about him but as I was unable to get in contact with him I went to sleep. I was thinking about Himaghna again and again but due to the fact that tomorrow I need to go to the office I calmed myself down and fell asleep.

The next day when I returned from my office I was a bit frustrated due to the traffic and as soon as I reached home I turned my TV on and then started searching for some good movies but, when this search led me from movies channels to news channels I didn't know. That news channel was discussing some Pakistan's issue. I was hungry so I went inside my kitchen to find something to eat. At this time my TV was on and I was able to hear it from inside the kitchen. Suddenly I heard the anchor saying," Viewers, we just received the breaking news from our sources that a person from Chandrapur was found dead inside his own house." "Chandrapur!" When I came back I saw that a woman was giving the details of the crime scene, she said," As you can see right behind me, his dead body was lying on the ground and here in this room, and wherever I can see, I am only saying blood and nothing else. He was murdered brutally." Suddenly the camera shifts to the other anchor from the newsroom and she says,"Okay Navita, thank you, let me inform our viewers that the name of this victim is Aditya Thakur. His age is 25 and he was a computer science engineer. According to his maid he was a really good person with a nice and kind heart. It hurts when such a nice person gets murdered so brutally that we can't even give you the details. Let us give you one more fact that in the last few days it is the second murder case in the district. First victim's name is Himaghna Das. His age was 24 years and he was a data analyst. We need to ask our Government and our police force what they are doing against this serial killing."

Thanks for reading. The fourth part of the story will be uploaded soon....