Suspense Short Story – Map on a White Paper
Photo credit: octaviolopez from morguefile.com
Standing near about ten feet tall was the old police station of Biru village in Rajasthan.
Old enough that it had seen the Britishers rule and leave.
The walls were embedded with rusty bricks that, now had cracks from everywhere to everywhere and the paan stains painted a perfect mosaic for the visitors to stop by and give a look.
The furniture was overweighted by the dust and the rust had eaten the metal,such that no one could say”It shined once”
The fan on the ceiling was also about to die keeping in mind the velocity with which it rotated.
The thing that pleased the visitors were the paintings of the commissioners arranged in chronological order depicting the gradual change in time.
An old constable, with grey hairs and wrinkled face sat on a stool outside the station with his old brown, rusty rifle, dowsy, most of the time and his round cap covering his bald head.
The distant sound of the engine killed his sleep and he stood up in attention. A bike pulled by and the constable ran for assistance. The man that had appeared on the scene was the Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr. Sharma. A young,28 year old, who had recently been transferred to this old police station that didn’t even existed on the map.
The reason for this malice was, he was an honest officer who had taken a step against corruption.
He descended from his bike and handed his helmet to the constable with a pleasant smile and stormed in.
He settled in his cabin where his hot morning tea was served along with some fresh news.
***
The darkness had faded and the blazing sun came afront piercing the clouds.
As usual Mr.Sharma was in his cabin sipping the hot tea made by the local tea boy and enjoying the fresh news.
There was a sudden disturbance in the silent atmosphere of the police station when a lady stormed in the station and was wailing loudly.
Her saree was all wet due the sweat and tears that she had beared.
She approached a constable and joined her hands
“Sir..My son Aman is missing please find him, he has not returned since yesterday..please please help me.” She said weeping in a devastating tone.
In the meanwhile an old man dressed in white kurta,turban and a stick(to balance himself) entered the police station.
He came close and comforted her weeping wife and joined his old shaky hand and uttered
“Sir I only have one son and he is missing,she is mad since yesterday please find him”
Mr Sharma was listening all this.
He went near the old couple and politely lowered their hands to normal
“Sir please don’t worry it is our job we will surely find your son. Kishan take them and write the report.Take a photograph of him so that it is easy to find him”
***
The moon had crawled up with half its face ,to the top of the dark sky that had a million stars covering the volume. A hectic day had ended at the police station. Mr Sharma was on his way back home on his shiny black bike,when his gazing headlights silhouetted a boy at a distance waving frantically.
He pulled by.
The boy was near 15, his hairs falling every where, his chocolate colored eyes shining in the intense lights and his dark kurta was faded as if he never changed clothes.
“Sir can you please drop me to the post office?” the boy requested in a humble tone.
“Sure but the post office is probably closed by now”
The boy heard him and his expecting face now turned to a sad one.
“I can drop you home if you want.” he said politely,the boy returned a smile and climbed on the bike.
The pleasant night breeze embraced their body and they could feel the soothing effect
The roads were lit with golden glaze of the street lights turning it into a perfect summer night.
“Hey What is your name” Mr Sharma enquired
“Karan”he replied and kept still
“By the way why were you roaming this late?”
“Sir I had a letter to be posted urgently”
“Oh I see”
They passed by the post office.
“See it is closed”
Karan nodded.
“Sir please stop by”
Mr Sharma stopped by and Karan climbed down.
“Thank you so much Sir”
“No problem dear you are such a humble boy.Give that letter of yours to me and I’ll post it for you”
Karan resisted but Mr Sharma took it from his hands.
“I can do this much for you” he winked and the roared his bike away in the dark.
***
“So Kishan ,hand me down the report and the photograph.What is the report from out investigation team?”
“Sir this boy Aman, went to the nearby play field in the afternoon and did not return.According to his parents it happened before but not this long”
“Did he have a friend or a mate that he played with or spent his time?”
“According to his parents he only talked of a boy by the name,Karan,he talks about him often,they said”
“What is the report?”
“Sir all out search units are doing their best to find Aman.
But the results are negative”
Mr Sharma sighed
“OK compile all the information and arrange it in a file. I’ll take it home,yes find Karan as quick as possible.
“Certainly Sir”
Kishan saluted and left.
***
Under cool air Mr Sharma opened the file and studied each and every detail with precision.
Suddenly,a thought of the letter that he took from that boy struck his mind.
“His name was also Karan and they both live nearby”
He was not able to post it yet and it was still lying on his table,he opened it.
The white paper had nothing written on it.
As he flipped the page, a square was made and a big ‘X’ marked on its centre. The square was filled with green colour.
It took a while,and Mr Sharma called Kishan.
“Meet me in the field near the post office immediately, and yes bring a shovel”
“Shovel?”
“Yes,be quick” and Mr Sharma hung up
***
Flashlights lighted the sence and the heavy rain made it difficult to see in the dark.
Two men were digging continuously when one of them shouted.
“Sir!”
Mr Sharma who was standing in the down pour immediately ran to the spot
“What is it?”
“Sir we’ve found a body.”
“What?”Mr Sharma was surprised
“Send it to the forensics immediately” The body was taken to the lab and the search for Karan was more desperate now,his sketch was made to display.
***
“Why Aman why?,why did you leave us?”the lady sat weeping besides the body and Aman’s father consoling her but he too could not resist crying.
“Are you sure madam this is Aman?”Kishan asked
She gave a louder weep.
“Yes it is him only,the clothes are same,as the last time we saw him”
“Very well Sir,Kishan arrest them” said Mr Sharma
The couple was taken aback and they resisted as the constables stepped forward.
“Sir what are you doing?,arrest the culprit not his well wishers” cried the old man
“You are the culprit!”Mr Sharma exclaimed
“Why are you blaming us with no evidence or proof?”The lady shouted.
Mr Sharma smiled and took out a crumpled paper from his pocket.
“This is the evidence,this is a paper that we found in his pocket.”
The paper was in a vegetative state.
And as he showed it to the couple.
Thier heads lowered in shame.
The paper had few words over it
“Mom Dad I love you but, why don’t you?”
Later they confessed that they had killed their son,as he was going out of control
“He always talked of this boy Karan,he did nothing but talk about him..this was making us mad.
He was of no use..failed in class,did not work or help,always strolling,so we hatched this plan to get rid of him and the money that the government would have given us,would serve us in our old age”the old man narrated the story without a line of pain in his narration as if he was no one to Aman.
Kishan took them away.
***
“May I come in Sir?”
“Yes sure Kishan”
“Sir the sketch that you made for the boy name Karan is addressed”
“Great so what is the report I want to meet this boy and ask him a lot of questions”
“Sorry Sir,but Karan is dead for 3 months now and his parents have left the village”
“What?,Are you sure?”
“100 percent Sir”
The ACP sat on his chair puzzled,went to look at the map but he was bewildered as the map was now a bare piece of white paper.
Sitting at the top of the station,Karan and Aman chuckled and flew away through the wall, to their favorite place in the lush green field, the place marked ‘X’
__END__
