Vishal spotted Gaurav, Abhishek and a couple of other boys standing at a corner, whispering rapidly amongst themselves. The expressions on their faces signified the topic to be scandalous.
"What is it?" Vishal stepped into their circle asking them.
"Hey, you are late," Gaurav remarked before adding, "We were talking about Lekha."
"Any news of how she died?" Vishal was cautious.
Gaurav sighed. "Well, I don't know that entirely, but my uncle's with the Police department and I heard him say a few things to my parents in the morning."
He looked around to see no one was eavesdropping on them and then continued, "They found Lekha's body at five in the morning near the lake. They seem to have searched for her the whole night. The crime scene was dreadful I heard. The police say at least three people are involved in the murder."
"Three?" Vishal gasped. Mitra had seen only one suspect the other night.
"Yeah, footsteps, and some evidence they were talking about. High chances it was a gang rape and murder. But, it rained last night and so, it kind of botched up the crime scene."
"Oh god..." almost everyone blew out the words with a sigh of horror.
Vishal stayed for a couple more minutes before dashing out in the pretence of searching for Mitra. He ran back as fast as he could and found her in the same place where he had left her.
She was still huddled on the ground, a little composed from before.
Vishal dropped into a squat next to her, placing his hand on her arm. "Hey," he said slowly, his voice in a quiet, comforting tone. "I think we should go."
Mitra looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen, a little confounded about what he said.
He gazed at her softly muttering, "I will explain as we go. Let's get to school. It is all fine." Taking her hand into his, he stood up, urging her to emerge from her stupor.
Mitra gathered herself and rose, relying heavily on her friend.
Vishal summarized the situation to her in simple words, that there were three suspects and the Police had taken their classmates in for investigation. He opined that she might be called upon for giving a statement. Mitra looked sideways at him, shaking in fear.
"I don't remember his face," she whispered hoarsely. They stopped in their tracks as she repeated, "I don't remember the culprit's face at all. I didn't even look at his face properly. I just... I just saw Lekha being pulled in a headlock and went away."
"What was he wearing?" Vishal queried.
Mitra got flustered as she shifted through her now hazy memories. "Something dark. They were standing in the shadows of the street. I couldn't make out anything about the murderer. All I saw was he was wearing some dark clothes, a hat, and looked somewhat young. I didn't notice anything else."
Vishal pondered about it with pursed lips. "What are you going to tell the police?"
"I don't know," Mitra replied weakly. "If I tell them what I saw and what I did, they might think I killed her."
"Think straight Mitra," Vishal reasoned. "Lekha was raped and murdered by three monsters. A fifteen-year-old girl can hardly be a suspect."
"But they can justify that I got her killed to take revenge for what she did to me."
"I don't think the police are that dumb that they will put all the blame on a schoolgirl. I mean, they would have to prove that the suspects are linked to you. Everyone in the town knows your grandparents and can fathom the limitations to the connections you have."
"I wilfully ignored a girl when she was being kidnapped and didn't even report it. What do you think the police will make out of it?" Mitra questioned harshly. "They will put me in jail."
Vishal went silent, understanding the gravity of the situation. He felt conflicted about what they should tell the investigators. Hiding the facts of the kidnapping might save Mitra from being imprisoned but it would hinder the inquiry and felt morally wrong.
Revealing it all would give a strong lead to the cops while indicting Mitra as a criminal. There was no way they could save one without ruining the other.
He didn't want to impose anything on his already struggling best friend. Vishal knew Mitra's character really well to work out her thought process. He decided the best thing he could do was stand by her and support her decision. He valued her too much to sacrifice her for his sense of justice, something that was asking for an honest confession to the cops.
"I will tell them," Mitra whispered with a trembling voice.
"Tell what?"
"What I saw."
"Are you sure?"
"I don't know. All I know is I need to speak up."
Vishal squeezed her hand as she breathed a lungful in exasperation. They were passing through the school gate into the grounds when Gaurav came running towards them.
"Hey, they are looking for you," he shouted to Mitra as he neared her.
Both Mitra and Vishal froze, petrified in their steps. It was too soon.
"Were you with Lekha yesterday?" Gaurav asked as soon as he reached Mitra. "The Police called up the school office asking for you too. Our class teacher is waiting for you."
Mitra blinked at him, trying to gain a little bit of confidence. "I... I saw her on the way home."
"Was she alone?" Gaurav was curious.
"I think we should go to the Principals' office first," Vishal hijacked the discussion.
Mitra nodded and followed him as he led her away speedily.
The next couple of hours passed in a hazy flow for Mitra. She was led into their teachers' conference room where Lekha's friends were already sitting in tight silence. They eyed her with fear in their eyes, something that Mitra mirrored in her own eyes too.
Mitra could see most of them pleading silently to her, their expressions contorted with agitation and a reflection of their previous evening's deeds, as if they were asking her not to rattle them out too much. It had crossed everyone's minds that they and Lekha had veered off their usual routes to their houses after school and had ventured out into parts of the town that were quieter and darker, for hours exceeding their usual curfew hours.
Mitra wasn't entirely aware of what had happened with the others after they parted from her. As she sat there, a few words fell into her ears from the gossiping school staff's whispers and she made out the scenario to an extent.
Lekha and her friends had gone out for a snack at a street vendor's trolley, after they had left Mitra wounded on the road. Given the location of the incident and the direction the girls had taken while walking away, the street vendor's location wasn't exactly in a well-watched place.
Almost half-an-hour later, they all split up into twos and threes to walk to their homes. Lekha had left with Shruthi and the route they took led them to Shruthi's house first. With Shruthi bidding her a goodnight, Lekha was left alone as she walked towards her own house.
She was then attacked midway, which Mitra chanced had upon, and ignored. Nobody knew about it.
Mitra wasn't sure if she should speak up about it. The thought of ending up in jail scared her. But still, it was a moral obligation.
But, maybe she didn't have to tell the truth in its entirety.