The broken Tooth

Author : Preethika Balasubramani

The laughing sound in my room was so loud that it was creating an echo towards our yawn. It was my little sister Sherly who was making fun of me by making faces and imitating me. Sherly is everything for me. I hold my life with two things like two sides of the coin, One was my Sherly and other one was my job.

The Next day…

“Miss Laflare, we have given you this case since you are one of the best officers in this squad but your progress in this case was very slow, we have to find some clues for this mysterious case”, My senior officer with French beard urged me. Yes, I’m an officer in Intelligence squad solving the case of a mysterious murder of  an 70 year old man. I have solved most of the mysterious cases but this case was very confusing and complicated.

On 17th July morning, approximately at 9 a.m., A man fell from 17th floor of his own apartment. He was perfectly dressed with an overcoat. So, he is ready for his office. His murder was unplanned. It may be an accident or suicide….  But as the floor was too high he couldn’t die himself accidently. So there is more chance for murder. I’m very much confused of the case.

“Miss detective your coffee is ready! It was nothing but surely with a cup of hot coffee. How is your mysterious case miss?”  Sherly asked teasingly. “Confusing and different!” I replied. “Okay! let it be”, she said by drawing imaginary patterns in my hand. I finished off the coffee and looked for Sherly. She was not there. I stepped to her room. She was slept. Her room was full of books. She is doing her Ph.D. in Psychology. I lit off the lamp and looked her. She was very beautiful in her sleep. I smoothly patted her head.

I could remember everything about her. It was like yesterday! I was 18 at the time. I was doing my higher studies at my orphanage. One night when it was raining heavily I didn’t get any bus or share cab to reach the hostel and no one was there to pick me up. At that time in the heavy rain, I saw a little girl far away across the road. I ran toward her. She was shivering. Her hair was clearly messed. She was looking  me deeply. Her eyes were full of fear and her tooth was broken. Her dress was full of blood spots. I booked a cab and wrapped her with the shawl I used to wore. I took her to my hostel. I asked who’s she?  Where did she come from?  Their parents?  Nearly 100s of questions in that midnight. She didn’t answer and fell upon the floor of the hostel like a thing without life. I took her to the hospital. The doctor analysed her and gave her some glucose supplies. The doctor asked the details to me. I revealed everything happened. She needed rest and I slept on the bed nearby. The same cute sleep!!!  Which she is giving now…

On the next day, I heard that she was absolutely alright and the doctor called the Psychiatrist. They asked me to wait outside. It took an hour. The doctor came and told, “She met with some terrible accident which I’m not sure about it, but the child can’t remember everything. If we continue asking about any past, it will affect her brain too…”

From the next day to still now, I didn’t even ask a single question to her. She is my Sherly. God’s gift to me… I will make her happy to the end… (While thinking of the old memories, she forgot about time. Soon she realised the real world and started to concentrate in her case.)

Ring… Ring… Ring…  Ohh my phone! OMG!! I slept as such it was my officer who was calling me for past 5 minutes. I attended the phone call. The things he told just shook me from the bed to conscious. An another death! It was a person who was dead before 5 hours in the darkroom due to heart attack. What is happening around here?  I’m confused a lot more. My instinct is always telling me there is some relation between these two cases!

On the next morning, I was in that room where the men was accused. I asked nearby people, there was no strong proof. But there is no power cut at that time. Some one has fused his circuit alone! Something fishy happened there. I looked at the photo of the man. That was taken recently I guess so. OMG I had seen him already!  I had seen him somewhere when I was with Sherly. Suddenly I started the car and reached the home. Sherly was preparing for her exams. “Sherly ! I need a minute”, I said “Okay,  but after my studies” she replied teasingly. I suddenly reached her and showed the photo and asked, “Have we seen him already?”  Sherly thought for few minutes and replied that we have seen him in the TV show.  He was a famous Guitarist. Now, I could recollect everything. Yes he was the one who spoke about many notes and how the music was… And he said that he was afraid of dark. For that he told the technical term Nyctophobia. I started collecting details about him. I too enquired his room . The room was dark and things were here and there. The sofa in the room was Upside down and TV remote was in the floor. I can visualize what happened here. He got afraid of something in the TV and he might fall down from the sofa after that he tried to open the door but it was locked from out. It was just a blind guess.  Whatever, I’m confident in one thing. Both of them were  afraid and scientifically stuck in Phobia in their last minute of death.

A week pass by and I went to forensic analyst to collect some reports. My phone rang and I got a sudden instinct that something was not fine. In this time, it was two murders. One was dipped in the sea and other one I may not guess so it was an accident.  It was easy to detect that they were afraid of fire and sea. So it’s definitely a murder. I went to the spot which was near the port. Actually the man in the sea was missing for a month. According to me he was dead first. His body was completely unidentified. I finished the formalities and his houseowner detected it was his tenant using his tattoo of skeleton on his shoulder. And the other murder was happened today at 9 a.m. The man was driving his car at a high speed, he was alcoholic and so he lost his control and smashed the car on a tree.

I don’t know whether the fifth is planned or unplanned. I thought that I might fail in my job. Higher officials were started to give me pressure to finish the case. I went to home with broken heart. My little girl Sherly came, “What happened?  She asked with her wide eyes opened.”  “Nothing dear!  I think I’m gonna fail in my job. I need privacy”, I replied and locked the door and sat in my bed. Suddenly I slept within minutes.

When I woke up, it was very dark. I looked my phone it was 1 a.m. OMG I scolded Sherly. She would be upset.  I walked slowly because I felt like I lacked all my energy. I reached her room. There were nobody in the room.  The room was very clean. My girl has grown up. I called her. Her mobile was ringing in the bedside.  Suddenly I spotted the diary which was in her room.  I opened the 1st page!  Oh! my instinct again.  These are her words “Hi, My lovable sissy! Welcome to my room. Go forward. Answers are here for your questions.”

I started to turn the pages one by one. I shocked when I see the pictures of  four man who were killed. The fifth one was an accident not involved to the case.

Her words are, “Sissy! On that day you wrapped a little girl in a white blanket to the home. But on that day the world’s most cruel animals haunted her mother like a beast. She remembered every inch of it. Yes, Sister my mom was so beautiful like you. But she was afraid of men because a man had cheated her and gave her a baby and threw her out with some money.  I didn’t mean all those men in the world.  But those cruel people opposite to our place raped my mom and killed her. When I came to hit those people they have thrown me away like a trash.  My tooth was broken.  And my mom too died. With the same widened eyes I by-hearted all those faces. I walked out. You saw me and all happened. But how can I leave them. I studied Psychology and side-by I collected details about them . I showed the  life of death and cruelty at the last minute of their death. I attacked them with their weakness. They fell down like broken trees in the storm.  I thought their screaming at the last moment can console my mom’s screaming which was haunting my ears daily. My Sissy!  I love you the most and I have attached all the evidences and the place now I was in at the last page. I’m not afraid of punishments. So handover this diary to the police and do your duty.  Have a happy life and marry your loved one. And the thing I wanna say is, ‘I saw my mom in you’, surely these diary contains all evidences and lots of my tears…”, my Sherly’s words ended.

“Mine too”, I said to myself while wiping my tears with my hankie.

I took my car and went to the station. After an hour, I came out with a letter in my hand. Yes, I resigned my job.  You people may ask, “Why?”  Why Because I’m a woman who loves both my Job and my Sherly, but somehow I loved Sherly more… She gave punishments to four brutal animals. I resigned my job because I can’t be in that job anymore because somehow I’m hiding the truth.

In the night, I went to ride on boat towards deep sea which she often took me at nights. I looked the sea for five minutes. This time my wish was to make her forget everything including me and to lead a new life. I then threw that diary into the sea. I don’t wanna search for where she was. But one thing is sure She should be safe. Yes! She will be. The night, the sea and my mind, everything is in peace now!

” In life, there would be some bitter truth behind every pain and every failure. This truth once revealed may either solve the problem or may cause some other problem too. Here, the truth revealed caused me and my Sherly not to meet anymore. And I have resigned my job too. Some bitter incidents might kill you for life time. You may decide to reveal that to someone so close to your heart oneday, but who knows even that will make you to move apart. Yes! if that case was not solved by me and I didn’t see the diary, atleast I could be with my Sherly. But things once happened cannot get back and words once given cannot be forgotten. So, think before you speak or act because there is no UNDO in life. It is a one time opportunity.”

Hope you all like the story. Hit the star if you like it and feel free to comment below.

 

 

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Will Do it On June 6…

It was June 4, 2017…

That was a dark evening somewhat brightened with street lights and shops which were opened in that narrow street! Catherine came from a party where she went in the morning. The whole day, she enjoyed a lot there. The party is to celebrate her friend Nancy’s marriage which is going to be held next week. So, this party seemed like bachelor’s party. Every friend of Nancy was invited and Catherine who was Nancy’s college mate too joined there. She was with a black Trendy Empire Waist dress which perfectly suited her structure & crème skin color. Her hair was dark black from the scalp and ended with brownish shade. It was smooth and silky. Her hazel blue eyes can speak more than her words. Yup! Such a powerful eyes which can mesmerize all people to speak to her. With sharp nose and soft pinkish lips, she looked gorgeous. Catherine is so exhausted now because she has no potential to even open her house door. She felt dizzy and somehow managed to open the door after fighting with it for up to 10 minutes. Then she came to her bedroom, lied into the bed, removed her slippers and threw those to the hall where the foot rack was kept. Within a minute, she went into a deep sleep.

The clock shows 9 and a night lamp which was near her bed started blinking. May be it is due to power shortage. When the clock struck 2, Catherine started blabbering some words. But in every sentence, she added, “Okay! I will do it.” Actually, she was in her dreams. She used to blabber some words at this time daily and in the morning, however she tried to recollect she couldn’t. But the thing is, it was the same dream which comes in her mind at the same time daily, from the day she started living in that house.

Catherine, a brave personality, an young aged lawyer who used to deal criminal cases often. She started her career at the age of 23. Now, she is 27. Within this 4years, she has dealt 10 cases. Out of those 10, 7 were criminal cases and she got succeeded in 3 civil cases and 6 criminal cases except the one in which she couldn’t find some evidences for which she is still searching . That was the case about the death of a girl named Iris, who was 16 years old.

The clock struck 6 in the morning. Catherine woke up slowly from the bed and she still felt the dizziness. She moves like a turtle to the hall and opened the door of her house. The newspaper and the milk packet was in the stand which was kept outside. Catherine took both and turned. But something stroke in her mind and she again turned back. There was a post in the post-box. Catherine took it eagerly to know, from whom it came from. But there was no from address. Then she took that too and entered into the home. Due to tiredness, she put that letter and newspaper in the wooden table which was in the hall. After 10 minutes, Catherine came up with a hot cup of coffee. She was with her night dress which was faded, but it was her comfort wear.  She had her first sip, then reminded about that letter which had no from address. Catherine put that coffee cup in the table and opened the letter. It was the post-mortem report of Iris. Catherine went through it carefully and she got confused. The report said that Iris had died due to suffocation. But the evidences Catherine collected is proving that it might be a murder. But there were no other fingerprints in the place where Iris has died. That was the reason behind her confusion.

It was one winter Monday. Catherine with her white casual Top and black Palazzo arrived a house in her Jaguar. No one was living in that house except a gardener. It was Iris’s house, a large traditional building with so many pillars and windows, all made with teak wood. There were two entrances for that house. In the main entrance, a painting of an old woman was kept. She was Eliza (Iris’s great grandma), who died at the age of 72. At that time, Iris father didn’t even get married. Eliza was called as the bravest lady of that family, but in the last days of her life, she became mentally sick and blabbered a lot and lost all her consciousness too. She was admitted in the hospital for nearly up to 9 months and finally died on 06^th June, 1996 (06-06-96). Actually, Iris too died on the same date in 2016 (06-06-16). The doubt here Catherine got was, is it a coincidence or perfectly planned murder?

Catherine entered into the main hall which is really a bigger one amidst occupied by large pillars, wooden chairs and tables. This hall was holding a lot of memories of Iris’s family. Every function of this family was planned and performed here. From the hall, many rooms were there in every direction. On the way from hall to kitchen, an outer space was there without any terrace. A large wooden swing was placed there. Iris used to play there. Solomon, her dad used to move the swing for Iris whenever she sat there. Now, without even a person, this swing is slightly moving when Catherine went nearby.

“Dad! Sway it fast”, a sound came but no one was there. It was the voice of Iris. (Again, some laughing and playing sounds continues…)  Catherine got shocked. She couldn’t even understand what is happening around her! Then she compromised herself by thinking that it was an illusion. But her hands were trembling due to nervousness, her eyes rotated around 360 degree, but no one was there except her. She felt thirsty and went to the kitchen which is near to the swing. The kitchen was so dark with some used and some unused utensils. Catherine searched the vessels for water. There was a white colored ceramic pot in which water is filled. Catherine took the lid and drank the water. “Aww… What is this?” (Catherine was screaming and shouting with fear….)  Crunch! Crunch! (The glass got broke down). This is because of the blood stain in the inner side of the lid. She couldn’t identify how it happened? She came out from the kitchen. With scary eyes and trembling hands, she hit against a pillar and fell down. “Aww… Somebody help me!!! Am gonna die… ”, Catherine shouted with tears rolling from her eyes. The Gardener came inside the house on hearing the voice of her. “What happened Madam? Anything serious? ”, the gardener asked. Catherine slowly rose up and didn’t even attempt a word. She ran fast like a cheetah and came out from the house. In the entrance, a dark black cat sat near the gate. “Meow…, Meow…” It seemed like the cat is trying to convey something to her. But Catherine’s fear increased more. She started her Jaguar and disappeared from that place within seconds.

It was 7 in the evening. Catherine entered into her house and switched on the lights. She locked the door and sat on her couch. Her heart beat still didn’t get back to normal speed. She felt more sweat and so she removed her hair clips and tried to dry it using fan. With her long loose hair, pinkish lips, hazel blue eyes and crème color, she went to the mirror. This appearance made her to feel herself as a ghost. She got scared and threw the nearby vase into the mirror. The mirror broke into pieces. She got confused again and lied down in her bed with lots of confusion. “ Okay! I will do it!” (Catherine started blabbering in her dreams again). She couldn’t sleep well.

 “Iris! Come, let’s play!”  A voice came from Jenny, a new neighbor of Iris. Iris with her cat went to play with Jenny. Jenny was 13 years old. She used to be with Iris. After Jenny’s arrival to that street, Iris’s behavior started to change. Iris, a brave positive and determined girl, started thinking negatively in every aspect. Her boldness changed to fearfulness. Her parents noted her. But Stella, who was Iris’s mother told her husband, “May be, it is because she is growing”. But Solomon continued to watch his daughter’s every movement. He could find out more changes in her day by day. But he never discussed about this to anyone.

Days passed… One fine evening, Iris and Jenny were playing Carrom in Iris’s room. Suddenly, a screaming sound came from that room. On hearing this, Solomon reached the room quickly. “Iris…Iris!!! What happened? Anything Serious?”, Jennie was trying to wake Iris. Solomon took Iris to hospital. Doctors couldn’t find out what happened to her. Iris was admitted in the bed for three days. Then, Solomon discharged her. Iris was taken care by her parents. Within that three days, Jenny’s family moved from that house to another city. Iris’s condition became critical and worst. She used to blabber daily while sleeping. Solomon tried to listen to her words. “Okay! I will do it!”, Iris repeated the same sentence again and again. Solomon and his wife worried a lot. They tried their best to cure her daughter. But there is no improvement.

One night, everyone was sleeping. Solomon heard a screaming sound of Iris. She was trying to breath, but she couldn’t. Solomon entered the room. He could see Jenny who was trying to kill Iris by using the pillow. Jenny was with a white gown and long nails painted dark red in color. Her eyes were in dark hazel blue color. Solomon shouted a lot and tried to protect Iris. But his voice couldn’t be heard and he couldn’t even move an inch. Iris died within seconds after a long fight for her life… Jenny got disappeared and Solomon became normal now. He cried a lot on seeing Iris’s death. Stella came to the room and asked how it happened. But Solomon sobbed and reacted like he didn’t know about anything. “I don’t know. I heard a sound. When I reached here, our daughter had died.” Stella cried a lot and after two days of Iris’s death, Solomon decided to reveal about their daughter’s death to Stella. But whenever he tried to say, something went wrong. At last, Solomon asked Stella to pack everything and they decided to move from that house to some other city. Solomon still didn’t reveal the matter to anyone, because he at least wanted his wife to be alive.

The clock struck 6 in the morning. Catherine woke up from the bed. She tried to recollect yesterday’s events. But she couldn’t remember anything. Then, as usual she went to take the newspaper. Again there was a post. It was the post-mortem report of Iris. Catherine took it and got shocked. Her thoughts were telling her that it was happened before. But she couldn’t recollect anything. Now, Catherine got confused a lot. She couldn’t concentrate in her work. She took bath and went to the court with White shirt, black coat and black bottom (a formal attire of lawyers). She met some clients of her, she couldn’t even approach them positively. In every sentence, negativity played a tremendous role. Then, at 6 in the evening, she came to home in her Jaguar.

The calendar showed the date June 5, 2017. Catherine felt like she had seen this date yesterday. But she couldn’t recollect anything. As she was too tired, she didn’t cook anything for dinner and ordered Chicken Pizza using her mobile phone. Within 10 minutes, the doorbell rang. She opened the door. “Mam! Your Pizza!”, the pizza delivery boy came with the pizza she ordered. Catherine bought it and opened. She started enjoying every piece of  the chicken pizza. And it was the last piece, but she couldn’t eat much. She kept that in the table itself and went to the bed. Now, her mind is full of confusion. She couldn’t retrieve her memories. Everything was fading slowly from her brain. And she slept with that confusion.

The next day, the gardener of Iris’s house was reading the newspaper. In the first page, “Catherine, a young aged brave lawyer, died at 2’O clock in the morning today due to suffocation! Police is now investigating about her death. They suspect that it may be due to suffocation”, the gardener read the whole news and the newspaper was dated June 6,2017 (06-06-2017).

Actually, the hidden truth here is…

Catherine didn’t even go to Iris’s house and the whole incident happened on June 5 was her dream, which she couldn’t recollect later. Catherine came from Nancy’s party and slept. Everything happened in the next day was her dream. But everything happened in that dream was true. It was Iris who tried to tell everything to Catherine by using dream as a communicating medium. But Jenny, who killed Iris, already planned to kill Catherine, once Catherine committed to take in charge of this case. So, she made all those incidents appeared in her dream to erase from her memories. Actually, Catherine started becoming Jenny’s slave from the first day she started collecting evidence for this case. That’s why she blabbered daily like Iris. And the words too didn’t change.

Jenny, a girl born in 1966, had many dreams in her life. But her heart was full of negative thoughts which consistently reduced her desires and determination, instead increased her fear each day. She became mentally sick and died at the age of 20 on 06-06-1986. But her soul couldn’t rest in peace. She started to kill the women who were brave and optimistic by creating pessimism and fear into their mind. She wanted to kill them like the way she died. She killed Eliza, her best friend first and then after 20 years, Eliza’s granddaughter and now Catherine. But all were died on 6^th June, the day Jenny died…….

Actually, in everyone’s dream, Jenny whispered, “Okay! I will do it on June 6…..”

“Everything occurs for a reason! Think it. But don’t overthink anything, because those thoughts will kill you one day, even if you don’t have any Jenny. Live the life with the flow and accept everything as such. You may have heard, “Think Beyond the limit.” These proverbs can be used in the academics much to improve your skills and talents, but don’t try to apply it to real life. It is like a slow poison, it will kill you one day without the aware of yours. Be optimistic as much as possible and believe, everything happens for a reason. The people you meet, the incidents happened daily, the issues you faced, everything is somewhere connected like networks. Do not ask many questions like how it happens? , why it happens? , by whom it happens?….

However, you tries to change, it happens…. Accept it…. So, once again think a little….not much…”

Hope you all like this story!