The Misfortune Cycle: River Desert

Chapter 22

It took Ashraful performing CPR for almost half a minute before Lanka drew a shaky breath. Lamia rushed to her sister, and they tried to get Lanka, who's legs couldn't muster the strength to stand, onto Ashraful's bike. They had to call an Uber in the end.

The hospital walls were yellow with patches of moss and mold growing up in random places. The doctors tried to make up for it with sincerity, but underneath the antiseptic smell that overwhelmed Torun's room, there was the smell of mildew.

Torun leg was beginning to hurt. The doctor had declared, after some prodding, that the bone was likely not broken, but they'd do an x-ray anyway. The injury was beginning to bloom into a large purple bruise. 

The gash across Jamal's front was mostly a flesh wound. What did put him out of order, though, was a fractured forearm.

Ashraful was more or less unharmed.

Lanka had three broken bones. Her femur had a displacement fracture, and had taken a swollen crooked shape.

She would be needing surgery. And six months to heal.

Torun himself was to be released that very night. His injury frankly wasn't that serious and the doctor said he'd be completely normal in a week.

So he pulled himself onto the wheelchair, and slid out of the room. The hospital halls were emptying out as the hour hand of the clock approached nine. Currently there were visitors in a few of the dozen rooms that lined the hall. Torun found Lanka's room.

Lanka was likely given some kind of sedative, because her eyes were half shut, and she seemed prepared to doze off any second. Ashraful and Lamia sat on two sides of her bed. Ashraful moved a little to let Torun get close.

Lanka was on the phone, while Mohona's words piled on on the laptop.

"Please, Lanka," Mohona was saying, "You can't be sure this won't happen again. You can't be sure it won't happen in the hospital. Hospitals are places of death."

"Uh," Lanka managed, not quite having the energy to express emotions in the words.

Mohona made a sound frustration, "Listen to me! Today you got your bones broken. And if you keep following me after your surgery, you might have your neck broken. Both of us don't need to die."

Lanka kept silent for so long that Torun wondered if she'd dozed off. Then she said, "Uhuh."

Mohona sounded read to cry, "You almost died today!"

Lanka sighed, and let her head back on the pillow. She was convinced of nothing, Torun understood.

"You need rest anyway," Ashraful tried to convince her, "At least take a week."

Lanka looked at Ashraful with watery, droopy eyes, "A lot can happen in a week."

"We can continue our investigation, Torun and I," Ashraful said, "We can keep contact with Mohona, and who knows? Maybe we can even bring her back before you recover."

Torun bit his lips.

Could they?

Though this monster was dealt with a lot faster than the last two, it had taken three of them out of immediate commission. On top of that, the entire port full of people saw them running around with explosives and firearms. Things would get messy from here on.

And Torun frankly didn't know if it was worth it anymore.

"I need to be there," Lanka shook her head, "You need my boat."

"No," Lamia said this time, "You're gonna rest."

"Lamia, Mohona is in—"

"I know," Lamia said, "I'm not deaf. That was Mohona Apu on phone."

Lanka set her jaw hard, "I need to be there."

"No, you don't," Lamia said, "You need to rest and you need to stay away from these stuff. And for once," her voice turned brittle, "Let me take care of you."

Lanka tried to say something, but she didn't. Seemingly given up, she laid back down on the bed.

"I'm gonna stay with her," Lamia said, looking at the detectives, "I know a few people who have boats. If you need them, I can give you their contacts."

"Yeah, do that," Ashraful said, "Also, in case you guys need anything here, I can go and get stuff."

"I'll keep it in mind."

Torun got out of the room a few minutes later, having said very little.

He opened his laptop when he laid on his bed.

Something was bugging him.

Shikol Buri was a legend from the south west of country.

They were in the north west.

How did it end up here?

He frowned in thought, looking at his laptop.

What was the name Budda had said for the pig monster?

A Boga.

He went on google and Searched up Boga.

The first thing that came up was the name of a footballer. He scrolled down, a little annoyed at the fact that his entire biography was on the search page.

The next one was Bagakain lake.

A lake in Bangladesh. Chittagong, to be exact. Just about the only place in Bangladesh with hills.

He clicked on it. It took him to a tripadvisor page, detailing the position and reachability of the lake. It was, apparently, only reachable through a network of creeks and canyons in the surrounding hills.

He got the legend of the naming, and as he read his breath caught.

The account detailed an incident of a large, woolly creature coming out of the lake to terrorize the nearby villages.

It had the head of a boar, the hands of a monkey, the tail and scales of a crocodile and the hind legs of a leopard.

It was the monster they had slain near the abandoned house.

It had come from Chittagong.

Mohona had found herself in a forested hill earlier.

And forested hills in Bangladesh can only be found in Chittagong.

Someone was creating transits through the in-between. Transits that connected places hundreds of kilometers away. How was this being done? Torun didn't know. But whatever the method, it was bringing monsters to this side.

There was something else going on here, of course. The crucial link to the puzzle was missing. And that was how Kajol Haji was linked to all this.

But it won't be for long.

Thoughts of abandoning the case fled Torun's mind. He felt the links in his head coming together with nearly audible clinks.

He was going to solve this case, be it on a wheelchair.