Within Her Threads- A Murder Mystery

Chapter 16. The Beginning?

At half past eleven I entered my room. I know it sounds too early for a party to get over and it wasn't over, my cousins were still screaming and dancing down in the hall. But nobody stopped me when I took the stairs to come up. I had just closed the door when my phone rang. It was Jay. I picked it up and a honk blew in the receiver, closely damaging my ears again.

'Happy Birthday Bruv,' he screamed.

Jay, after learning I was in the hospital had called almost every single day before going to sleep. Have I taken medicines? Do I eat healthy meal? were his regular questions. In order to discourage his over-concern attitude, one day I taunted him- 'Have you started drinking?' but even that didn't stop him from displaying his wave of affection.

'Listen, I have a surprise for you.'

'What surprise?' I asked, my tone full of annoyance.

'It....is...down...'

'I can't hear you...'

'D...t....su...' I disconnected the call and redialled Jay's number but it was coming as unreachable.

I threw the phone on the bed. The phone landed near a wrapped gift box. I picked up the flat box. It was from mom & dad. A hint of smile crossed my lips as I pulled out the wrapping foil. Like a child I was thrilled to see what my parents gifted me. What could it be when I have everything- laptop, phone, bike, car. I plucked the last sellotape and flipped over the box. Inside was a beautiful, ornate frame holding a teenage picture of me and Shuchi. The picture was taken by my mom in the forest jeep when we visited Rajaji National Park in December. It was one of my fondest memories, our first jungle safari. I gazed at the picture and hugged it to my chest. You might wonder what was so special about this particular picture. The speciality was that the frame was signed by Shuchi and one of her favourite quotes, written in her own writing was jotted along the bottom-

When in doubt, always go to the beginning.

I don't know how mom and dad did it. I mean I can understand Shuchi's signature but the quote in her own writing- it was incredible! I should thank them right now, I thought. But as soon as I heard aunt Poony's booming laughter from downstairs, I decided to thank them in the morning. It had been a long, long day and a very long night. I flopped down on the bed and held the picture to my chest. It was five minutes shy of twelve on the wall clock in front of my bed when I closed my eyes, the music downstairs was turned off and I could hear nothing but clear tick-tock of the clock in the room. Despite my resistance, my mind pulled off the images of my previous birthdays- my fifteenth birthday when mom & dad gifted me my first digital camera and Shuchi gifted me a cricket kit; my seventeenth birthday when my parents gifted me a bike and Shuchi gifted me a jacket, I had been eyeing for a long time. It was my favourite gift of all the years. I was a big fan of leather jacket at the time and I loved Harley Davidson... The jacket was still...still....

Suddenly I got up with a jerk and sat on the bed. The picture frame from my chest slipped into my hands. I stared at the second hand of the wall clock as it moved vigorously along the face of the clock, my mind ticking similar to the clock. 'When in doubt, always go to the beginning,' I murmured. The beginning...the beginning...I stared at the picture. But then it has to be....still there.

It was half-past one when I parked my bike outside the gates of my house. I lifted my helmet and took a deep breath as I stared at the charred ruin of my house. Once, where the house of light, laughter and love stood was now silence, wreck and gloom. It was particularly dark tonight, not just because the street light wasn't working but also because it was a moonless, windless and coincidentally silent night; even a single tread could be heard without much ado. I strapped the helmet on the handle and got off from my bike. It was unbelievable how a house full of people (at Aunt Poony's) didn't realise that someone had gone out of the main door. Unobservant of them, fortunate for me! I glanced across the lawn, the D' Souzas' lights were turned off. Are they in there or not? It's hard to tell. I opened the gate and stepped inside. A broken twig cracked beneath my trainers and I stopped uncertainly. Something inside me, though being aware that it was me only, became alert and my mind suddenly started suggesting that maybe I should come back in the morning. Why was my instinct stopping me to go inside, I didn't realise it then but later....