SOLACE, SERENITY, SOULMATE

Chapter 2: A Birthday Gift for Riddhima

    Good morning mom, sorry I'm late today. 

    " No worries, my child, it's your birthday so, today I'm not going to scold my beloved daughter. Happy birthday Riddhima, you are growing too fast. It's like yesterday you were born and today you are a damn 15 year old girl." Riddhima smiles but she was trying to crack the tension which is surrounded by her parents. 

    "Mom, where is dad?" "He went for some business emergency, the rice which was delivered by the customer was not of good quality." 

   "Ok, I understand Mom." 

   Her mom replied, "Today in the evening your dad is going to give you a surprise and we have invited your two masi , maternal and paternal cousins. So, be ready on time." 

   "Yeah, mom I will be. Mom, thank you for being my strength throughout these years", Riddhima replied with teary eyes. Her mom just gave a suppressed smile to that as if her body was there but her mind was somewhere else.

    "Oh God! It's already 5.30 p.m., I need to get ready asap", Riddhima said to herself, switching off her laptop. 

    Riddhima took an hour to get ready in a wine coloured gown and minimal yet gorgeous make up then took her phone and came down from the 1st floor of her beautiful house which looks like a bungalow from outside. 

    The maid, Dipali, who had been serving them since she was a 6 year old kid, said, " Bhaiya and Bhabhi went for some important work, they will come back in an hour". Riddhima nodded her head in the positive. 

    All the invited guests arrived but the important person, that is her mom and dad, didn't arrive yet on her special day. The clock struck 8 at night. Riddhima was getting tense. 

    Suddenly she heard a shriek horn blow outside her house. She went towards her balcony and saw a white sedan parked exactly at the main gate and two men came out hurriedly inside the car and threw two suitcases just inside the main gate and drove the car at full speed. 

   Riddhima watched all these from the balcony, getting suspicious of their move, she ran outside the house towards the main gate along with all her cousins and two masi present at her birthday party. 

   Her cousin, Ritama said, "Don't try to open it. It can explode if there is a bomb." Riddhima nodded her head on the very nick of time her masi suggested to call the police and Sayan, Riddhima's cousin, followed the suggestion. 

    The police arrived and the constable started opening the suitcases. The moment they opened the first suitcase a chopped hand became visible to everyone present there including Riddhima.

    To get a clear look she took a step forward and started sweating, feeling dizzy by seeing the wrist watch in that chopped hand. "Masi, that's dad watch, that's dad's hand, Masi!!!" 

    The police and the family members remain dumb struck by Riddhima's words. The constable soon dialed the inspector-in-charge and said "Sir, it's a murder case please arrive on the spot."

    Riddhima shouted at the constable, " No, you are lying, it's a prank made by someone on my birthday, it can't be dad's hand. Wait a minute, what's there on the other suitcase?" 

    The constable sensed some negativity and said, "We will open it after Sir's arrival." 

    Within 15 odd minutes a team of 9 police arrived and opened the second suitcase and found two chopped hands, and they called Riddhima for identification. 

   Riddhima came close to the suitcase while her hands and legs were shivering with tears flowing continuously from her eyes and she saw the hand with those bangles which her mother used to wear and the wedding ring which was gifted by her father to her mom. How can she not identify those hands which once used to feed her, make her fall asleep, which make her feel safe, which give her peace in her life?

    But now, the floor and roof of her life had been snatched from her, yes, it was her parents' hands which were chopped brutally and were presented to her as her birthday gift. 

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