Sorry Post -- Fuel-7

Dear friends,

I have high regards for the readers of this blog, and I don't want to disappoint you with crappy stuff. What I had begun, with an idea for a sci-fi/crime based short-story, is now loosing strength and is only increasing in length without coming to a proper conclusion to the story. I regret starting the story in first place and I will definitely comeback with the story once I am done completely. As of now, I withdraw this story. There will be no more posts on this story. I don't want to post 7-8 chapters and then feel disappointed for not doing a good job.

Thank you for understanding, and sorry!

Raul

Fuel-7 -- "7-Minute Syndrome"

Fuel-7

Chapter 2: "7-Minute Syndrome"

9.55 AM
--------

Dr Acharya had this peculiar habit of being present at the venue 7 minutes before any meeting. Perhaps something to do with his penchant towards the number 7, nobody knows as he never commented on that. He was a man of few words, and he choose them appropriately, just as he chose each of his team members.

Little murmur going on at the meeting venue. With women at work, 'silence' was not something expected. Giggles here and there, and someone suddenly bursts aloud with laughter, it was all happening there.

Everybody in his team were aware of the 7-minute syndrome. Dr Acharya, in a high mood, jokingly once said "If I am not in time for a meeting, that is exactly 7-minutes before a meeting, then my friends we are all in trouble." Sailesh it seems was the only one who caught on to the dialogue that night. He looked at the clock and instantaneously screamed:

Sailesh: "Hey, what is happening here ? Could we be in trouble ?", he said.

Madhu: The sudden silence in the room reminded Madhu of the vacuum created in a combustion engine. "What happened?", she said, not sounding too alarmed.

Sailesh: "It is strange that it struck nobody that Dr Acharya has not yet arrived here." He cleared his throat.

Mini: "Yeah, we all see that, so ?" Dr Mini quipped. "This kid needs some attention guys, give him that. Yeah go on Sailesh, you want to impress somebody in this room?" It was clear Dr Mini wasn't very happy with Sailesh, at least she always tried to poke at him.

"Part of Sailesh's PhD thesis disproves Dr Mini's hypothesis in her own thesis, may be her infelicitous remarks show her disapproval of Sailesh's work", Madhu thought.

Sailesh was furious now. He was in no mood to debate, he had a point.

Sailesh: "Did you see your clock gentlemen, and ladies ?" He said, trying to calm himself a bit. And continued "It is not usual that we see Dr Acharya being late for any meeting."

Mini: "It is not usual that someone uses 'Gentlemen' before 'Ladies' either, so what? And by the way he isn't late, there are 2 more minutes left in my watch." Dr Mini discovered.

Sailesh: "Your powers of observation are appreciated Dr Mini. But, all our watches are in sync, if you remember. And Acharya comes 7 minutes before any meeting, remember ? Don't you know this ? I thought you claim to be his childhood friend."

Cloud of doom seems to be gathering over them now. Everybody thinking now.

Sailesh: "He once said if he doesn't turn up 7 minutes before, there is something wrong. I am wondering if he is in some sort of...." He tried to explain.

Sushma: "Oh, come on. He must have already entered the building, must be on his way to the amphitheater. Don't worry too much." Sushma said, checking her PDA for any change in appointment from Dr Acharya.

Sailesh: "I already checked that twice to no avail. Please, somebody think about this. It is almost time now and look at this he hasn't entered the building yet." Sailesh points towards the terminal showing 'the building design mapped to human locations' at the far end of the seminar hall.

Silence and some ear biting. And then questions flow.

Mini: "Why don't we call him on his phone ? Instead of creating theories over his absence, that seems a plausible idea." Dr Mini said.

Sailesh: "I have already thought about it. Common sense indeed, it is, to do so. Which is why I think we shouldn't do that. We are not common people." Sailesh claimed.

Kalyan Murthy: "Yeah, you are the one from neptune that landed the other night!" Murthy, who had been silent so far, shouted.

Sailesh: "I mean..." Sailesh begins.

Madhu: Madhu interrupts. "He wants to say that we as a group are a scarce resource. We, all of us here at this center currently holding the key to a lot of answers that the world perhaps needs to know and many more that the commercial world shouldn't know." she explained.

Nobody seems to be convinced while Dr Mini kept ignoring Sailesh and Madhu all the while.

Sailesh: Sailesh picked up from there and said "And if Dr Acharya is indeed missing and is now not in safe hands, a phone call to him would be just exactly what he wouldn't want from us."

Mini: "Why do you make such assumptions...on false impressions..we don't have any clue on the reasons of his absence. He might be unwell, just like any other normal human being." Dr Mini Quizzed.

Sailesh: "If he has had any known health problems, we would have known by now courtesy the health care monitoring system, but we haven't got any message did we? And when he is sound and sane he definitely turns up in time." Sailesh was confident of a mishappening now. "Well, actually 7 minutes before time. But now we crossed the deadline as well..." He said in a worried tone.


Silence. Sailesh was convinced of what he was assuming, while he was taking turns to look more keenly at the watch and the terminal at the far end. The other faces were blank and there were no questions now and nobody seemed to be in a mood to answer too!

"Suspicious environment off the research track in this building for the first time...", Sushma realized.

Suddenly everybody turned their heads towards Dr Ashutosh. He looked at all of them, found each one of them staring at him and then he stood up as if to make an announcement ...

Fuel-7 -- "Who is Who and What is What ?"

Fuel-7

Chapter 1: "Who is Who and What is What ?"

Two years back TDP led coalition Indian Government setup small independent research groups that work 'under cover' to research on technologies that would power the future of the nation. Media has had little or no access to these institutions ever since they have been hinted to be established. Certain pieces of information came to light last year, about innovations in paper technology, but nothing could be confirmed as there was no evidence and the very existence of these institutions is being denied by the government. These low-profile groups are believed to be "the current necessities that would fuel the future of the nation" by some elite segments of the society that believes in the existence or the necessity of such groups.


A 7 member research group of similar kind was working on developing a Fuel for future generations. Currently they were working on the design of a synthetic polymer that mimics Tandra. Tandra itself had appeared in early 2030s when it threatened to replace petrol. Tandra had enormous potential if it had been inexpensive. However, it couldn't replace petrol till date due to its cost of production which is still 10 times higher than petrol.

The current research in this group was to mimic Tandra by creating a synthetic polymer that would be very cheap. The synthetic polymer, currently named 3Biogen-Alpha within this closed group, would then have to undergo a variant of the process of Catagenesis which is a fundamental process in the conversion of Kerogens to Hydrocarbons. A major roadblock in the process was that the Hydrocarbons generated in this process were very unstable and cannot be contained for longer periods of time.


2076, 12-Feb. 9.27 AM
----------------------------

Dr Bramhi Acharya, a young PhD from University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) who worked with the legendary Prof James Ervin had created a stir with his variant to the process of Categenesis earlier in 2073. Dr Acharya now envisioned that the instability of these very high order Hydrocarbons could be avoided by creating them on the fly which would avoid all the problems associated with storing them. Last week Dr Acharya gave a presentation where he theoretically proved that Online-Categenesis in small scale was possible and isn't risky. Today he is going to prove it in practice at 10 AM in the seminar hall of the lavish Research facility that this group was granted. Sailesh and Madhu were excited at the expected grand meeting where history would be created. The other senior members of the group were wary of the consequences of the failure of the experiment.

Sailesh and Madhu were the youngest members of the 7-member team, who were still relatively new recruits to this team. Sailesh is a post-doc researcher at the IIT Hyderabad who has been contracted by Dr Acharya at this institute. Madhu meanwhile is a promising PhD participant at IIT Hyderabad who is being co-advised by Dr Acharya at this institute. She had won several young scientist awards from various organizations for her little contributions that she already made during her MSc and 1st year PhD. Both Sailesh and Madhu were hand-picked by Dr Acharya himself. Acharya believed more in childlike enthusiasm than decades of experience, that comes bundled with lack of adaptability and indispensable ego.

Dr Mini was a senior research associate professor at Columbia University, USA. She pursued her MS and PhD degrees from Columbia University under Prof emeritus Jonathan Owen at Columbia Chemistry. During her PhD she had created a synthetic resin using polymerization-polyaddition reaction that was 10,000 times as strong as cement. Soon after her PhD, she went to 'NASA Ames research center' to study as a post-doc researcher, the usage of solid-resins in creating shields for Space Shuttles that were aimed at reaching as close to Sun as possible. Her advisor Prof Owen described her as "For the extra-ordinarily confident, innocent-looking, bitchy brilliant woman that Mini is, you would definitely want to work with her. She is among the best researchers I have seen and definitely my best student. I have learnt more from her, than she had learnt from me. I wish it were the other way around, and then she wouldn't be bitchy. But if that were so, may be, I wouldn't be as respected as I am today."
Later as a researcher Dr Mini was associated with Dr Acharya during his post-doc at UDRI. Despite the sharp contrast among the two, they were very thick friends. Much of the friendship was due to their 12 year association in school as classmates, than the 2 yrs they worked together after their PhDs.

Dr Ashutosh Saha was a prominent mathematician who had little or no role in this dream project of Dr Acharya. Dr Saha is a man who was a conventional mathematician who had extensively worked on Number theory. He is most recently known for his achievements in Number theory and especially in giving the most convincing partial proofs for Reimann hypothesis, which is said to be the most difficult problem among the 23 Hilbert problems on mathematics. He is a directly nominated recruitee from the National Science Foundation into this project. In 2046, he had been nominated for the fields medal, for which he declined to be considered for saying "I haven't done anything to mankind".

Mr Kalyan Murthy was a senior researcher at Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) who was a college dropout from Stanford, and came back to india to complete his M.Sc from IIT Kharagpur to later join BARC. He was the youngest member ever to reach "senior researcher" position at BARC. Kalyan was transferred to Dr Acharya's team with a special permission from the president of India.

Ms Sushma was the youngest and the most dumbest of all the other members of the team. She was 22 and had a charming image of the girl next-door. Despite her inexperience which makes her look dumb she was very good at office management and related activities for which Dr Acharya hand-picked her to this new team. She was very excited to be part of the team, but never knew what being in a top-secret research team would mean. The otherwise nonstop blabbering doll would now have to keep silent the day through, and worse, giggle at the geeky jokes that others would crack which made no sense to her.


Everybody had assembled at office for a scheduled presentation by Dr Acharya, who is yet to arrive to the venue. Time was ticking...

Fuel-7 -- Prologue

Fuel - 7

Prologue

In a dimly lit room of a gaint structure that stands amidst a deserted forest, a young couple stare each other in the eye. Stress and fear were clearly visible in their eyes as they looked into each other wanting to fall over each other's shoulders to rest. As it usually happens, the girl broke first, shed her first tear and fell in the guy's arms.

Guy: "Everything will be alright. I will set things right. You don't worry." The guy said in an assuring tone, wiping her tears.
Girl: "But, ..." The girl stammers. "But, there is no mistake of Bramhi here. He is innocent..." she tried to continue.
Guy: "Don't worry darling. I think I know how to handle this. Leave it to me." he interrupted, looking skywards, and few seconds later he stared at her and said "Innocence? Innocence doesn't make sense at this point. He is as innocent as you are, as much as I am or anybody else involved in this mess."
Girl: "Bu..." she cleared her throat and said "But he ..."
Guy: "Just keep calm Madhu we will set everything right. Don't worry!"
Girl: "hmm, ... I... I love you Sailesh..." said Madhu and hugged him immediately.
Guy: "Me too, me too ..." Sailesh said kissing her on the cheek. Moments later he was carefully observing activity near the door and said "Shhh..!"

Knock! Knock! There is an electronic knock on the door.

'Epilogue' -- The Final Night

The Nights

Epilogue

Two weeks later...

The campus had just begun to forget the incidents that happened in those 2 days. It was never easy for anybody to recover from such incidents, especially because nothing happened after that. Students were now scared and weren't willing to go out of hostel alone. They had no reason for them to be singled out but they don't know why J was killed either. Nothing was reasonable for them, nothing they believed in. They stopped trusting their thickest of friends and have now started moving in units of 4, at least.

7.45 PM
There was only one person in the TV room. He aged in mid-thirties and was seated in a half broken chair of the last row of chairs in the TV room of the boys hostel. He was reading a newspaper that hadn't been opened since morning. It read...

No update on the 'half-a-dozen' killings.

Reported by Sanjay Srivastava.

Hyderabad, India.

In the mind-boggling crime story at Gachibowli-Hyderabad, police is yet to recover any clues. Two weeks back 6 cold-blooded murders took place within a span of 48 hrs, leaving no trace behind. Police believes this might not have been done by students as they would not have had the guts to be so calm this long.

Students and Faculty of the institution are heavily depressed by these happenings, and 3 senior faculty members have announced voluntary retirements a week after the incidents. The fate of this otherwise remarkable institution's future growth and the affect these incidents would have on the upcoming admissions for UG and PG students is unimaginable. The top-management and the state government has unconditionally granted high-security premises till the culprit gets caught or the case is solved otherwise.

Crime experts believe, however, that such high-security zones or security checking from time to time wouldn't aid in identifying the killer. They say "He is going to be dormant now. He wouldn't come out to public. He has no reason to do that. He is such an intelligent criminal that he wouldn't make a mistake now. It is just not worth trying for him, but as a formality we have to do all we can do." Another group has a different opinion, they say "It might be more than one person actually, you know. One or more performing the killings and the other(s) cleaning up the mess. But for this to be the case they must be experts on forensics which is least likely for these young students. Either way we are only guessing, we don't have any evidence to back up."

This case has nailed everybody down, from Cyberabad Police to Forensic experts, everybody is confused and are going no where in their investigations. Though, on paper none of them are willing to give up the case, mentally they all know they have already given up on this peculiar case that has not a single clue or evidence or motive so far.

Somebody somewhere must have been grinning...

After reading the news story the guy sighed a bit and said "Too bad!".

"Yeah, too bad", said a voice from behind. And before the guy could turn back towards the voice, the person was leaving.
The mysterious person had turned back, walked out of the TV room and gave a wicked smile to himself... It was "C".


================ Story Ends Here ================



Update: Apparently, all the readers were a little confused after they read this post. Some thought they were not confused, though, inside they were. For the benefit of those who want to know what actually happened to all the characters in the story, I would suggest them to go through the comments section of Epilogue. You will find the authors point of view of the story: The Real Ending!.

'The Murderer' -- The Third Night

The Nights

Chapter 3: The Murderer

Day 3 -- The Third Night

The day was yet to end, after the brutal murder came to light at dawn when some joggers graced the football ground. The murder was a big deal for most kids: the first murder in campus and it was bloody bloody!. There were parents in campus, in such large numbers for the first time since last convocation. Some even took away their child home. It was a "Murder" and understandably, everybody was in great amount of stress. Especially in the circumstances in which the death occurred and followed by the little or no evidence that police had found thus far.

K woke up from deep sleep and looks at the wall clock: 7.10 PM. He was still trying to recall what he had seen in the last two days. Trying to relate J's behavior during these two days. Earlier he wanted to talk to police regarding what he had seen in the last two days, but C stopped him from leaving the place.



Before K went to bed at 2 PM.

K: "I will go talk to the police. This might be of help to them."
C: "You are not going anywhere, mind you."
K: "What? They haven't found a single major clue since morning. I might be holding one, who knows ?"
C: "If you are the 'showstopper', then so be it. But all I care is your mental peace now."
K: "Hmm... but.."
C: "Listen. We are not discussing this. You need some rest first, just go sleep."


K kept wondering but agreed to C and tried to relax. Few moments later, he was in deep sleep already. He was damn tired, exhausted mentally.

It was 7.45 PM now as K walked down towards the police who were still roaming through the campus trying to find some evidence. After nearly 12 hrs since their arrival at the crime scene they are yet to add 'circumstantial evidence' to the First Information Report (FIR). As of now they haven't even been able to confirm if the football ground was itself the crime scene. They found no evidence there, no disturbance, no fingerprints, no footprints, etc.. They practically found nothing worth mentioning since morning. They are still searching for potential crime scenes throughout the campus.

"7.45 PM" He said to himself. Yesterday it was at this time that the two girls came to the coffee corner.
"Oh, where are the girls ? I didn't see them around the body this morning."
"Did they really have something to do with this murder? Were they involved? One of them, may be?" He repeated to himself. But somebody heard him murmuring.

Sub-Inspector Rawat was a well disciplined man. One among those rare breed that were born just to be a police officer. Strong, well built, with a straight face and a cunning smile were traits perhaps he was proud of.

Rawat: "Hello son, do you mind talking to me for a while?"
K: "Well, actually...."
Rawat: "No, it is okay if you don't want to talk to me today. You already look very tired. Something seems to be bugging you." Rawat thought he had just found his first breakthrough in the entire day and he tried to use words carefully and managed a smile too.
K: "No, Actually I wanted to talk to you myself."

Rawat was pleasantly surprised. He was getting someone to talk to voluntarily. The whole day he spoke to students who were either not willing to talk or those who weren't calm enough to talk to.

K: "I have tried to talk to you since morning. But I wasn't mentally prepared. A murder is a huge thing you see."
Rawat: "Good. It is okay. Any help will be wonderful. You might be aware that we haven't found any major clue since morning." Rawat was reading K's mind as this was going to be important. He was assessing K's credibility, as that was the most important thing in this otherwise evidence-less case.
K: "Yes. Which is why I came to you now. It shouldn't be too late."
Rawat: "Good. Thank you. So, shall we start ?". Rawat was all smiles here and he wasn't so good at it, it was visible now. He still tried his best.
K: "Can we go over to the coffee corner? I would like to have a tea while I introduce you to what I know." K didn't return the favor. He didn't even notice Rawat smiling at all, he was seriously thinking all the while, trying to connect the dots he had in hand.
Rawat: "hmm... okay, lets go." In a surprised tone. He was now wondering what the new found pandora's box might contain. "Who in the world would want to have a tea to describe a crime situation", he thought. K needed it badly, though.

As both of them walked towards the coffee corner both got to know more about each other. SI Rawat was the topper of his batch a gold medalist. He was known to be someone who could read what was coming, he usually finished cases before the clues team arrived. Not today!

K walks towards the coffee corner and gets a couple of Tea and gets around the table where Rawat already rested.
K: "Sir, here is your tea. You must be tired too!"
Rawat: "Oh yeah, thanks. Yes, I am tired after a long time. This is a very different case. Students involved, I am not allowed to tamper young minds. We will crack this anyway."
K: "Yeah, you will. I hope."

silence.

K: "So actually the story begins here from what I know...." And he narrates whatever he has seen and observed during the last two days. Rawat almost jumped of his seat a couple of times during the narration. He was getting vital clues here from someone who volunteered. Nobody ever mentioned these girls' names so far.
Rawat: "Where are they?" He asked.
K: "Precisely my question sir. I haven't seen them since morning. They could be mourning J's demise, but I can't confirm this from anybody from the girls hostel either. I thought you should know about this."
Rawat: "Okay, so go on... This was day before yesterday, right ?"
K: "Yeah, and yesterday at about this time at this same place...." He continued with what happened just yesterday.

The coffee corner owner seenu seemed to be in a hurry, he needed to go home and was waiting to see if these guys would take another tea or not. He knew noone else would come to take anything. Half the campus was still in shock including his wife whom he sent back home as soon as he heard of the news. He comes over to the table and interrupts.
Seenu: "Sir, I am closing now. If you might need something later on, I can stay back".
Rawat: "Its okay man. Thank you. Would you like to have something else K?". Addressing both Seenu and K.
K: "No, thanks. It is better you leave seenu, your wife must be worried back at home. Take care of her.", He managed a smile this time.

Seenu left to home a bit hurriedly. He was indeed worried about his wife.

K: "So P called J (the victim) on his mobile asking him to come over here. She was in a complainant mood as I told you before. ..." And he went on.

35 minutes passed now since Seenu left and it was getting around 10 PM.

A young constable Raja was seen running towards the table.

Raja: "eh huh... Sir, why is your mobile switched off.... We were worried!"
Rawat: "Oh, is it ? I didn't notice. I might have..."
Raja: "It is okay sir. There is another update ..."
Rawat: "What is it ?"
Raja: "Sir, actually...." He looks at K.
Rawat: "It is okay. He is the one helping us out. You can talk about anything related to this case."
Raja: "Sir. Two more bodies have been recovered from an unfinished building this evening. A couple went near the building to talk privately and found the bodies. Both of them are now unconscious and just now we sent them to the hospital. We have been looking for you for an hour now!"
Rawat: "Oh my god. What is happening here today!"
K: "Holy.........". Leaning back on to the chair. He was suspecting something now.
Rawat: "You relax K. I will deal with this. Give your number to Raja and I will get back to you tomorrow morning. Lot needs to be done now." Just when he thought he has some lead he found new complexity involved.
K: "Yes, tomorrow morning if we both are available." He wasn't joking.
Rawat: "Bye K. See you tomorrow". He wasn't in a mood to comprehend what K implied.

K gave his details to Raja and left to lab. He wasn't in mood of having dinner.

Day 4 - Dawn

8.23 AM -- The next morning.

Security guards of the campus were running in from all points in the campus towards the main gate. Some senior students had already gathered at a location nearer to the gate; they all looked puzzled. Most of these students were joggers from the campus who were practicing for the upcoming Half-Marathon later this year. A couple of girls were there too, who were crying and couldn't be consoled at the happenings in the campus during the last 2 days.

Day 5 - Dawn

The next day a bunch of boys at the boys hostel were in the TV room carefully reading the following news item.

Five new Bodies Recovered: Hyderabad yet to Recover.

Reported by Raman Srinivasan.

Hyderabad, India.

In an unexpected turn to the murder case in the Gachibowli area, which had puzzled the best policemen in the state, has now shocked the city with the latest twist. Five new bodies were recovered while no suspects have been framed and the 'clues team' is still clueless. Among the deceased are Sub-Inspector Rawat, constable Raju, two girls P & M and a senior student K. The only notable piece that could be found in the last 2 days was a paper from Raju's notes where K's details were noted. The girl's bodies were recovered last night at approximately 9 PM by a young couple in the campus. Another couple who found the bodies of the SI, the constable and student Mr K are still recovering from shock at the Appolo Hospitals and are reported to be safe. But their statements are yet to be recorded.

"No suspects have been found and the rumors on the reported notes from Raju's pocket is true. The notes were on the contact details of K, a senior student who is also among the dead. It is difficult to say if K was the murderer of the earlier crime. He is said to have met SI Rawat last evening regarding some information he has, after which both of them went missing till Rawat reappeared at the second crime scene along with Raja.", the Police sources said. "We are in a difficult situation. Both the phones (of Rawat and Mr K) were switched-off since last evening so we do not have many clues from that angle.", police sources informed. "Nobody saw any of these people since last evening. And even these girls have not met anybody since the night before the first crime, so we hardly have some information about them. We are trying to locate what is common among all these students.", the officer said.

Nothing has been confirmed, and nothing can be unless the police has new leads in the story. In this one of a kind scenario that has never been recorded earlier in India, 6 people have been killed in less than 48 hours within a university campus. With policemen being among the victims, Cyberabad Police has a tough nut to crack. No motives, No suspects and No evidence have been recorded with the police. Senior officials are now investigating the case as the case now involves policeman among the deceased. 25 policemen have been deputed at the institution that already boasts of a very tight security provided by G4S securities. The otherwise vibrant campus of IIIT-H has now turned to an eerie silence. Most students are still to get out of the shock that these three incidents created. Police are unwilling to let parents take their children home, as they are wary of suspect(s) or evidence being lost. Cyberabad Police is hopeful of finding some lead soon though they already lost their best man and with him all the evidence he gathered.

The Times Group and the entire media hopes that the institution and its students would get out of this trauma that they have had to bear for now. And soon, we hope we would get to see the institution's name in the news for all the good they have been doing.

================= The END =================


Update: This chapter is the third and final chapter of the short story 'The Nights'. It is followed by an 'Epilogue' to the story.

'The Other Night'

The Nights

Chapter 2: The Other Night

DAY2 7.45 PM The following night
-------------------------------------------------
The basketball players were still at the Basketball Court, couple of them were at the coffee corner grabbing a sprite. K was here too grabbing a bite. Suddenly he finds P & M walking in this direction. K begins to wonder if both P & M were still in the same mood of yesterday.

K could hear a few words here and there..

P: "Stupid.........that was.....like......robbb.."
M:" Oh, Noooo! but, I thought it .....".
P: "Shhhhh....keep it low!"

But now K could hear clearly as they were in his hearing range.

P: "Did you see how he reacted today? I told you he has to change."
M: "Hmmm... What exactly bothered you there ? I thought he was perfectly alright."
P: "You are too biased towards him. You don't want anyone to point at him, isn't it ? But how will he learn in life ?"
M: "Sometimes it is us that need to change not him."
P: "So many of us want him to improve, doesn't that mean he needs to change and not us ?"
M: "Who many? How many? Are there significant any? I don't think he needs improvement. He is just alright as he is."
P: "You know sometimes I begin to wonder if you like him too much. But I hope it is just because you have been so close for so long."
M: "hmmm...actually..."
P: "But, if it is something else. Meaning something that could bug me, you know what I will do."
M: "I understand. You both love each other so much. You make a good pair too."
M: "Just that your are a bit too fair and he's dark, you talk so much and he doesn't at all, you don't agree to anything he says while he agrees to everything you do...... Just that."
P: "Exactly! See how perfect we are. Opposite poles attract each other, right ?"
M: "In theory, yes."
P: "Hmm.... So, what are you coming at? Put it straight." Now worried.
M: "See yaar. It is a little difficult to understand but...." She tries to explain.
P: "Just come at it!" she fumed.
M: "Okay... It is simple, you both are not for each other! He is not happy with you, can't you see? Every single day he has the same dull expression. He is tired of your lessons, it is visible on his face. Unfortunately, he isn't able to talk to you about this."
P: "So, you want us to break up ? Why? So you could be with him? If you were so interested in him. You should have talked to him before. Too late now, and we are together forever."
M: "Don't get me wrong, it has got nothing to do with me. I don't want you two to be in a situation where he would be forced to throw you away."
P: "Why? Why would he do that?"
M: "Okay, it is complicated than I thought. Not possible this way...."

silence.

M:"hmm......Leave it yaar. Lets see how life goes. Forget it."
P: "Oh, come on... Not like this. Why did you start this in first place?"
M: "I am sorry. I thought you should know...."
P: "Know what ?"
M: "I think it is better you talk to him, not me."

K was confused but couldn't leave the place for he wanted to find the truth.

P: "I will call him, now!"
M: "Noooo.... Not now! Keep me away from this. I promised him I won't let you know!"
P: "Oh secrets from me, isn't it? It is okay, nothing will happen to you. Don't worry."

For some reason the phone was put in speakerphone, may be she wanted M to listen to the conversation. K could hear the phone ringing... J takes the call.

J: "Hey Hi.. I am a bit busy can I call later ?"
P: "You don't have time for me tonight, right ?"

"Ooops!" K bit his tongue in haste listening to Bollywood style dialogue.

J: "Ah, its not that. Tell me."
P: "Come over to Coffee corner."
J: "What, now ?"
P: "Come fast, I am choking here..."
J: "What happened? Are you alright..." in a worried tone.
P: "Just come...." The phone hung!

10 secs later. The other phone (M's mobile) rings. "Nice ringtone" K thought...

P: "I know it is him. Don't touch your mobile till we are done with this!"
M: "hmm... but it could be my mom."
P: "Another day, yes. Not today."
M: "What!!"

5 minutes pass and J comes over there running.

J: "What happened? You said its urgent."
P: "You wouldn't have come if I hadn't said that, right ?"
J: "Arey nothing like that...Somebody got hurt in the hostel and we were getting him some first aid. Tell me what happened? What are you both doing here?"
P: "I think we have some problem here, between the three of us..." She gets it straight.

J now stares at M. Calms himself down and moves towards K.

J: "Hi K".

K is puzzled. He felt as if he got caught listening to them. So much that he forgot that J had just come and wouldn't know how long he has been here.

K: "Hi.. I donno your name though..." He smirked.
J: "Yeah, But I know you. You research guys are famous these days. Thanks to you, we get to laugh a lot nowadays. Can I take this chair ? Thanks!"

And before K could answer J gets back to P and places himself on the chair.

J: "Yes, tell me, what is it ?"

K felt a bit stupid. He was still wondering at the remark made by the otherwise silent J. The trio were still talking (even shouting) but he couldn't concentrate on one word!

K said to himself "Alright enough is enough. I better leave. Let them have their private life." And left.



The next Morning 9.10 AM.

breakfast bench
K was having his breakfast after 10 hr sound sleep. But he wasn't yet feeling fresh.

He could see a few guys running here and there. Managed to hold one guy.

K:"Hey what is it ? Where are you running ?"
Guy: "Something happened at the other hostel!"
K: "Oh, need some help ? Shall I come."
Guy: "No. Help yourself."

K was puzzled. "Why is everyone talking to me like this" he asked himself.
Finished his breakfast, skipped the milk and was walking away to the lab.

As he stepped out of the hostel. He could see scores of students running to and from the hostel.

K: "Is something very wrong?" He asked John.
John: "I don't know. Ask someone else."

K ran towards the direction in which most guys were running and was now sensing something terribly wrong must have happened.
He goes towards the football ground near Girls hostel and finds hundreds of students and faculty around there. Silence and murmur go hand in hand.
He clears people around him and has a peek at the scene.
"Ahh!!" He mildly screamed as he stared at the body lying there. The person was murdered. Brutally attacked. Face covered.
K shied away from the site and sat around the benches arranged near the hostel.

C finds K from some distance and comes over to him.
C: "Hey man, sad isn't it?"
K: "First of its kind in the campus. Sad, of course."
C: "Yeah, especially to see someone we know, and that too only recently."
K: "What? You know him? Who was it?"
C: "hmm... you didn't recognize? He is the guy we saw with those 2 girls two nights back!"
K: "What J?"
K: "Oh, nooo...Noooooooooooooo!"
C: "What happened?"
K: "No man...this can't happen."
C: "hmm...it is done now. Forget it, lets go. I'd buy you Tea today." He manages a smile while K is more upset.
K: "Noooooooooooooooooooooo" he screams.
C: "Why are you so upset man? You hardly know him. Why bother so much?" Now worried at K's behavior.
K: "There are reasons...but no answers!". He runs away from the place. Crumbles halfway through, fell on his knees, gets up and walks away confused.




UPDATE: This is the second chapter of the short-story series "The Nights". The follow-up in the series is here which is the third chapter of the series.