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Chapter 10 - Horror or Hoax (Part 2)

Ajay was now in the 'Bhoot Banglo' for quite some time. He was preparing for their plan. He had already received a word from Sengupta and knew that Arjun and his team wouldn't come to investigate until midnight. There were still three hours to midnight. He looked at his watch. They had completed their preparations, they had nothing more left for them to do. He called out to a man who was helping him, "Tarun, listen up, wait for my signal before moving. Don't act rashly, we must not cause them any more suspicion than they already have. They are only coming here to investigate whether there are any real ghosts or not. After that, they would leave. We won't follow them and continue the next plan after we receive a signal from Roychowdhury. As I have anticipated, it would be mostly two to three days."

"Why can't we just let it go with this one, I am sure they would not mind seeing nothing coming here over again," asked Tarun.

"I told you he wants to kidnap that woman," said Ajay quietly.

"What? Why? He needs to kill her right? Isn't shooting or pushing her off the cliff more convenient?," asked Tarun.

'Actually, if Roychowdhury wasn't a total maniac he would have gone for the pushing off the cliff idea. This place was deserted, it was high in the mountains, say if someone fell off it wouldn't be too suspicious, that was how they killed Subodh' thought, Ajay.

"I told you he wants to kidnap her and has stated that after that it would be his responsibility to dispose of her. So stick to the plan," grumbled Ajay and ventured out. Tarun showed his displeasure. But, there was nothing Ajay could do. He only knew that he needed to get the job done. Whatever happened afterwards would be none of their concern.

Meanwhile, Sharmishtha, Arjun, Roy and Rohan were having dinner at a restaurant that served Tibetan cuisine. Sharmishtha and Arjun were busy eating dumplings with bamboo chopsticks, Roy and Rohan thought it would be better to take it slow. Rohan glanced at them momentarily and then turned to Roy and whispered, "Are they holding some kind of competition?"

Roy looked at them. They were truly eating fast like there was a time limit. This made Roy remember something. Arjun and Sharmishtha once had a momo eating contest and Sharmishtha won. Even though she explained it was 'stress eating', Arjun was visibly upset that he lost to a 'petite' girl in an eating contest. It was when she first joined The Sight. There were so many memories like this which Roy initially forgot and only remembered the shady nature and cold expression of her or what she became later. Now that he looked behind, she wasn't so scary, right? Rohan spoke the truth, they actually never asked her anything directly. Maybe they would be able to get to know each other better after this case. Now that she had also moved to Kolkata, they had enough time. These pleasant thoughts had occupied Roy's mind. He was clearly still unaware of the dangers that were yet to unfold.

After finishing dinner, Arjun challenged Sharmishtha, "Promise me, after the case closes you and I will have a momo eating contest."

Sharmishtha nodded, "Alright it's not like you are going to win anyway."

"I was under stress. At that time, I couldn't eat when I was stressed and you said yourself that you ate too much out of stress," protested Arjun.

"Excuses!" exclaimed Sharmishtha. As they were going back and forth with it, Rohan lowered his face and whispered to Roy, "Looks like they have too much stress. Why don't they consider getting therapy instead of eating like bloated goats?"

Roy leaned back and asked, "Why don't you say that to them out loud?" He knew Rohan was too scared at this point since both of them were nearby and two smacks over one comment would hurt a lot.

Rohan frowned. They got to the hotel and finished washing up. Sharmishtha paired some woolen trousers, woolen pullovers with woolen mittens, caps and casual sneakers. With some instruments of paranormal investigation, her bag also seemed to carry an overcoat that was casually hanged by the strap. Arjun was dressed in casual trousers, a shirt and a bulky coat same as Roy. Rohan wore a pair of trousers along with a body warmer and a special hoodie that Sharmishtha brought him for extra care. She also handed out woolen mittens and mufflers to everyone. Arjun shot a glance at her and said, "This isn't vacation you know. We do not look like we are going for some kind of investigation."

"That's the idea. The more we can mix with the crowd the better. Also, it wouldn't help if you die out of cold, right?" said Sharmishtha casually without making further conversation. Everyone had a backpack with essential things like a torch, water, camera etc. After calling Sengupta once, they set out for their investigation.

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Roychowdhury was sitting straight on his bed panting for breath. Sweat swept through his body as tears draw a clear line on his rigid face. This was the third time he had such nightmares. He got up to drink some water. He looked outside, it was a chilling night at the end of January. He went back to bed. Tugging back his blanket, he laid down. He tried to close his eyes but couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see the nightmare over again. He would see a dark figure of a woman walking towards him, he shot her down and blood splashed through her dead cold body only to discover the bloody face of his own wife. Every time he saw this dark figure, he couldn't help but feel scared and then after shooting down the body, he would discover that it was his wife. He couldn't understand the meaning of these nightmares.

After some time, he thought to call his wife once, maybe after listening to her voice he would sleep better. But even after five tries, there was no answer. He began to grow anxious.

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