One Night Only

Chapter One: The Case

'TWO NEW YORKERS MISSING FOR TEN DAYS'

The headlines of the newspapers only have one question.

Where are Kim and Sanders Spurs?

They are a couple who went to the township of Warin for an expedition. Although nobody in Warin has seen the couple an investigation is going on in the town. There has been no sign of them.

Township people claim no one has come in or left the township since a year. The town is remote and is not even recognized on some maps. It doesn't even have local police.

Warin is considered haunted by a tribal leader who was brutally murdered on their grounds. Some think his spirit never lets a foreign person enter the township.

All of this seems weird as nothing wrong has ever happened there until now. No disappearances, no crime, nothing. It is as if the township didn't exist.

My grandmother belonged to Warin and she left it after she got married at the age of 17. She was my only family after my parents abandoned me. Grandma left me a house in Warin which is the one property I have.

"Miyan, are you home?" My roommate Sally calls me. She probably has just returned from her yoga class.

"Yes," I reply while my head was buried in the newspaper digging up information on the case. I hear clinking of cups in the kitchen, Sally is probably getting some coffee from the all-time filled coffee maker.

"Don't you have work? I thought you worked Tuesdays." She says and enters my room with a cup of coffee. I always keep it prepared incase anyone immediately needs it. And one of us always does. Sally settles down next to me on my bed.

"No, not today, I took the day off." I didn't. Two days ago, I quit my job at the café. The one week notice period is still up but I have no will to work there. It is hard to tell Sally about this but I eventually will.

Sally nods and drinks from the cup of her coffee. She is twenty-nine and works as a care taker at a nearby day-care. Also she is kind and the most polite person I have ever met. She gave me a place to stay when I needed it.

"So what are you gonna eat for dinner? I thought you will bring me some leftovers from the restaurant." She asks and chuckles at the end.

"Oh, Sally you money saver. Good thing you don't drop at my restaurant." I mock her and she pouts.

"Of course I don't. The prices are ridiculous." I arch an eyebrow at her and her lips form a frown. "Anyway then what should we do? You wanna order in or go out?"

"I think I am gonna order in, no mood to go out." I say.

"Fine. From where? Umm...Richard's?"

"Yeah sure." She gets up from my bed and goes to her room. I on the other hand reread the missing couple's articles.

Warin seems so not the place this must have happened. It has to be somewhere else. Probably on the route as the couple's car was found twenty miles away from the township.

As there is a spirit related to this case, it has opened up an opportunity for me to explore my parapsychology. The subject of my interest is trying to enter my life again.

'The allegations about the Spurs couple being abducted by a ghost were dismissed by the head detective on the case.'

Since the news of this couple has been outed I am thinking about parapsychology again. Maybe on a subconscious level this is the reason why I left my job.

I gave up the practice years back to get a stable job. If being a Barista or a Bartender is one. Well it actually is.

But why not give it one more chance?

My conscience echoes and I shut it down. No way that is gonna work out.

**

Sally and I always have dinner together. Usually we put on TV but none of us have made an attempt to pay the cable bill. So it is just us talking.

"Hey, I have something to ask you," I start the conversation.

"Hmm..." Sally replies with a mouthful.

"Do you think they were murdered? The Spurs couple?"

"Who?" Sally looks extremely puzzled.

"The couple who has been missing for a few days now. It is in the news."

"I don't know, maybe. Or they are just lost."

"No they cannot be lost. Not for that long." I prompt and take a bite of the pasta. There is silence for sometime and Sally gets busy on her phone. She then flashes the screen to me.

"Look, some people are saying it is haunted. What crap." Her words feel a little sharp to me. I do think it could be haunted and I want to know if it is.

I continue eating but I cannot swallow in with ease. The anticipation to tell Sally about my job and plans is getting on my nerves.

"I left my job." I announce, completely failing at holding that in. My roommate looks up at me while chewing on her bite. She gulps it down rather loudly and then speaks up.

"Why? I thought you were earning enough."

"Yes but it wasn't fulfilling. That's why I am gonna do something which is."

"Good for you. Anything in mind?" She supports me. I feel relieved at her response but not so soon. My decision is not something she would like or would agree upon.

"Yes. As a matter of fact I do." I take a pause before my next words. "I am going to Warin to study the case of the missing couple."

Sally stops eating and looks at me with widened eyes that scream shock.