The Journey Begins

Charu was informed her grandmother was seriously ill. It has been six months since Charu started her studies at NYU Law School, which she had joined amidst many refusals and objections.

She took the immediate next flight from New York to her native place Fort Kochi and landed at Cochin International Airport.

Charu never liked her life at Fort Kochi. The old home, the ancient traditions and the old lifestyle. She lost her mother when she was 12 and it was her grandmother who raised her. Her father, Mr Mani Oomen, was a carpet exporter. He has two stores at Fort Kochi and one at Ernakulam. When Charu disclosed her interest to study law, he refused her decision outright. And now she is going back to the same place. Her mind was full of thoughts and she was in no mood to think about anything else except her return date from India.

From the airport, she took a self-driven taxi and drove to Fort Kochi, 20 k.m. away from the airport. It was 7 p.m. and the lights were all lit. She directly went to her grandmother's room and saw her, there were many machines attached to her. There was a nurse beside grandmother's bed. Charu went to her room and slept soon, as she was exhausted.

The next morning, she took a stroll to David Hall Road. The weather was breezy, and the birds were chirping good. On David Hall Road, she saw the library open. There was a bookstore attached to the library.

'Old books for sale. Rs. 250 per KG,’ a board declared before the gate. She grinned. An avid reader that she was and since had nothing to do, she went inside the store. She picked seven books, paid for them at the counter and headed home.

The maid gave her a cup of coffee. Sipping her coffee, she started checking the books. The fifth book's cover intrigued her. It was a beautiful abstract painting of a woman with no eyes but had tears, nose and lips.

She skimmed through the pages. At page 67 there was a polaroid photograph of an old villa. She took out the photo and examined it. On its backside, there was an alpha-numeric code written with a small map that showed directions to the villa. The code read: MV02FK09. The map had a starting point at 'Hotel AB*** and extended till the villa. The endpoint was a drawing of the villa that read ‘Home.’

The photograph created a bug in Charu's mind. She was thrilled.

Charu was by her Grandmother's side. With all the wires and machines attached, she could hardly talk. There were only a few moments in the day she even opened her eyes. The doctor said, however, to give her company. She could make out the presence of people, even unconscious. Charu wanted to spend whatever time left, close to her.

Sitting there she remembered the bizarre thing that happened the day before. The family priest said, "Your grandmother's time was up. She was waiting to tell something before she was ready to die."

Charu got very angry hearing that. How can someone talk about death so casually?

"I can read the past, present and future. Stay close to your grandmother, when she is ready, she will tell what she wants. She can die in peace after that", said the priest

Charu got angrier, not on the priest but her family. How can they listen to this and not throw the man out? thought Charu.

After remembering this, she started feeling guilty. What if someone feels she was waiting next to her Grandmother, only so that she conveys her wish and die. She quickly gave a disregard to the thought. A sheepish smile from the aunt she started questioning herself. Before she comes back and sees her, she wanted to leave. As she started to walk, she felt a force on the book she held in hand. It was her Grandmother's hand, which was holding the book.

Charu tried to check if her Grandmother was up. She was not up. But her hand was holding the book tight. She slowly opened the Grandmother's grip to take the book out. She did not take that seriously and was about to leave. That was when she noticed the picture of the villa in her Grandmother's hand.

Charu needed to know what the picture and map meant. She got in her car and headed to the starting point in the map, Hotel Alpha. Now all she had to do is the take the path drawn in the picture to reach the Villa and find what the code meant. She started the journey hesitantly. It could all be an accident, that picture ended in Grandmother's hand. Or that the map could be a random scribbling by a kid with random letters MV02FK09 written on it. However, curiosity got the best of her once she saw the Hotel.

Charu looked at the map and quickly realized the path was not easy to follow. The city's infrastructure changed a lot, and the directions in the map were outdated. She parked her car in the hotel parking and started to walk with the map in her hand. Where she could not take the exact path, she took parallel paths and narrow pathways between houses, whatever she found.

After hours of walking, she reached a point. From there, she could not understand how to move ahead. Any side she saw, the path seemed to stop at a dead end. Clueless, she stopped a stranger on the road and asked if he can help her.

The map looked at the map and started laughing, "Why don't you get a location or an address? What is this map, as if you are on a treasure hunt?" and left without helping her.

Disappointed, she tried to look around to see if she can find the villa. It was not to be. She asked a few more strangers they did not laugh at her, but they were not much of help. She was ready to give up and walk back to her car. That was when she noticed a woman walking towards her, as a final try, she asked the woman for help. The lady did not reply anything to Charu but signalled to follow her. Walking with her for a few more minutes, they both arrived at the villa. The villa had a board which read "Home". She saw people writing their god's name, mother's name or father's name. A simple word "Home" was new for Charu.

The woman who had shown Charu the way did not wait for Charu and went directly into the villa. Stranger thing was she left without asking why Charu was here? Or how she got the picture? Charu was skeptical now to go in. She was about to turn and head back, but something asked her to go into the villa.

Before Charu could take the first step into the villa, she noticed someone waving her hands calling her in. It was not the woman she met earlier. Charu walked towards the woman. Charu noticed the woman started to smile seeing Charu as if she knew Charu for years. Charu could not understand what was going on. Charu stood a few feet from the woman and was about to ask about the picture and the code. Before she could open her mouth, the woman dragged Charu into her hands and started crying.

"Charu, I missed you. I missed you a lot. What took you so long to come here."

"I don't know who you are, and I don't know this villa existed, how was I supposed to come. Why should I come to meet you, by the way", Charu wanted to say. But she could not get any words out.

The woman dragged Charu into the house and took her into what felt like a bedroom. The room did not smell normal. The smell, however, felt familiar. Whoever lived in this room too had to be old and being medicated like her Grandmother.

All this felt too confusing to Charu. "What is going on? Where am I? Why is she treating me with affection?" Lost in thoughts she did not notice the woman left the room. Charu kept searching for her, not knowing where she went. After a few minutes, she heard a sound coming from the other room. When she looked to see where the sound was coming from, she noticed something unbelievable. The woman was carrying a life-size portrait of Charu. She wiped her eyes to check if she was seeing what she was seeing. It was, really, a life-size portrait of Charu. Before Charu could check the portrait, she was dragged out of the room by the other woman she met earlier. She locked the door with the other woman in the room.

"Why did you go into that room?" asked the woman.

Charu had no answer.

"Don't ever come to the house again. Get out".

Before Charu asked the woman, what was going on the woman held Charu's hand and started to drag her out. Walking out she noticed in a corner there was a big chest on it was written MV02 on a corner. It had a small keypad with letters and numbers. She knows what the key was to open it, "FK09". But she had no opportunity to open it and know, what was in the chest.

The woman dragged Charu out of the home. On reaching the porch, Charu realized she had more questions than answers, so she stopped. She used all the effort to stay put. Facing Charu's resistance, the woman gave an angry look to Charu.

Charu said, " I have not come here to steal anything. I need some answers".

"I don't know anything", said the woman.

"Then why did you drag me out and asked me, not to come back".

"I, really, don't know anything. I am a maid here. My job is to take care of the woman. I was not supposed to let anyone in", replied the woman.

"Then why did you show me the directions to come here?"

"The Villa was up for sale buyers come daily. They all walk around but never come inside, that were the rules given to the broker. I never expected you will walk in", said the maid.

"I did not go in. The woman in that room asked me to follow her".

"I never heard that. She was always violent with people who come to by. she has Alzheimer's and lost all memory. Her kids are trying to sell the villa and take her to their home."

"But the picture she brought was mine, how was that possible?"

"There is no picture or anything. Please go. I can't discuss it anymore. I will lose my job", said the maid.

With no other option left, Charu started to walk out. Once near the gate, she noticed something. A grave with an inscription written, Sheryl Varghese died here. She had no clue who Sheryl was. Walking further, she was out of the gate. She was not ready to leave yet. There were more questions than answers from the trip. The only thing she was clear was the message was meant for her. She turned around for a final glimpse of the house. Turning around she noticed the maid was locking the gate.

Seeing Charu, the maid said, "Sorry if I was rude. I will get into a lot of trouble if someone saw you".

Charu said it was okay and she was about to leave. Then she turned to the maid and asked her, "Who is Sheryl Varghese?"

"You just met her", replied the maid.

"Where have I met her?"

"The woman who asked you to follow her", said the maid heading back into the house.