The Two Wheeler Mystery - Part 1

----" Dada, come here! Look what I've found!"

Deven was rearing a flock of sheep. On hearing the voice, he looked up towards the highland and saw that his sister, Divyanshi, was waving her hand and trying to draw his attention towards something peculiar discovered by her. Deven knew his sister very well; she was only eight , he was twelve. For Divyanshi the entire world meant only her village; she believed that if she would step outside her village she would reach some other planet! Divyanshi loved roaming here and there and discovering strange things.

Deven, on the other hand, was calm. He was not so restless as his sister. Their father was a shepherd and every evening Deven used to take his flock of sheep outside for rearing. Today also , he was standing amidst the flock, when abruptly his sister called him. He left the flock and started climbing the highland.

---- " What's the matter Divya ?"

---- " Look, what I've found!"

Divyanshi's eyes were wide open, there was a childish ecstasy in her little face.

----- " What have you found again? Don't say now that you saw a hermit, deep in that forest who was ..."

Divyanshi immediately protested by waving her hands, she was horribly angry.

----- " First listen to me, Dada! I did not find any hermit! I saw those two estranged bicycles , over there, beneath that tree! Look !"

Deven turned his face towards the birch tree , behind him. It was the first birch tree of the birch forest behind that village. To his amusement , Deven saw two old bicycles , embedded in a tree – grown into it from years of being chained to it . The bicycles appeared to be very old and it seemed that they had been leaning against that tree since ages.

---- " I never saw anything like this , here before !"

Divyanshi was quite excited due to her sudden discovery, she asked her brother

----- " Do you think these bicycles belong to two fairies? I think they come here every night and go back home in the morning ! Dada, can these two bicycles fly, then?"

----- " Yes that's only left now!"

Deven laughed over his sister's innocence. Divyanshi, getting cross, said.

------ " Yes, yes, now laugh how much you can! When the fairies will come back to take these cycles, then you'll see!"

Divyanshi took out her tongue from her mouth and made funny faces. Then after giving her familiar mischievous grin, she ran down.

Deven smiled back but his curiosity about the bicycles did not subside. He went closer to the bicycles! The bicycles were very old , their handles and parts were covered with reddish layer of rust. An odour of soaked mud was constantly emerging from those bicycles. In a nutshell it was an aesthetic yet gothic sight.

Deven touched the bicycles with his trembling hands; he was not afraid of cliffs or hills, but he was indeed afraid of ghosts and snakes! He could not even guess anything about the owners of those bicycles. 

While he was inspecting, something suddenly touched his hand ---- was it a snake? Deven was about to cry out a shriek when his eyes suddenly fell upon it. It was an old basket, placed upon the saddle of one of the bicycles.

Deven, picked up the basket very carefully and opened it. Inside the basket, he found a small glass bottle, closed with a cork at the mouth. The bottle was translucent and Deven could clearly understand, that there was a roll of paper inside that bottle!

The fog of mystery was gradually thickening before Deven's eyes. Who could be the owners of those bicycles? Why were the bicycles lying there since such a long time? Who could be the owner of that basket and to whom the letter could have been addressed? Deven was very much engrossed in thinking; he didn't even realise that it was almost evening and time to go back home.