Another Half Of Me - Chapter 34

Rudy flicked through the papers, James, his cousin had handed him. James was one of the guys in the police team investigating the blasts. Not believing his eyes, he looked up at him and asked, “Are you sure?” James nodded, his face reflecting same emotion that Rudy was feeling.

Everything was pointing at Bhaiji and Sandhya: from the attacks at Roshni’s Ma’am life at the metro station to the blasts. Not knowing what to do, Rudy dialled Karan’s number.

Karan listened intently and tried understanding where Siddha fitted in all of this. Clearly there was something wrong.

“Are your sure your team has not made any mistake?” he asked James.

Shaking his head, James said in a grave voice, “I have checked and re-checked the report again and again, but the same thing. Everything is pointing at Bhaiji. Nothing: not even a single evidence points at Manchanda. Everywhere, its Sandhya and Bhaiji.”

Sighing hard, Karan got up and stood beside the window. If the media got hold of this report, they will rip Siddha apart, Karan thought.

Rudy came and stood beside him. “Karan Bhaiya, we cannot hide this report from Bhaiji.”

“But telling this will destroy him completely,” Karan replied knowing well enough that Rudy was right.

**************

Siddha was sitting in the balcony on the floor with a glass of rum in one hand, his back resting against the railing. Wherever he looked, he saw her face, smiling at him sometimes: sometimes blowing kisses to him. He smiled as her vision appeared in front of him again.

“Are you happy to see me like this?” he asked, his voice slurring with the effect of alcohol.

He smiled with tears in his eyes when he saw her nod. “I knew you would be.” Raising his glass to her, he gulped down the whole thing. The alcohol burned his throat but that was nothing compared to the burning sensation he felt in his heart.

He closed his eyes as he felt her breath on his forehead. Slowly burning tears charred his cheeks when she hugged his head to her bosom. Pain, anger and depression engulfed him and he clutched the glass tightly in his hands trying hard to numb everything inside his body. As the pain inside him increased so did the pressure on the glass.

The sound of shattering glass drew his attention to his right hand. Smiling sadly, he looked at blood oozing out of his veins. Not caring anymore about anything around him, he picked up the bottle and drank.

His life was a complete dead end. The alcohol started to take its toll and Siddha slid sideways. He stared hard at his right hand as the rain pelted down at him. Siddha’s body shook with anguished cries as memories of them together in the rain flashed in his mind.

Slowly, he slipped into a strange oblivion as his blood flowed freely along with his tears.

***************

Dr. Sunil looked around her room checking if everything was in place. They had reached Dharamshala’s in the morning. After taking charge of his duties, he had got the girl admitted. Thank God, they had not faced any problems at Delhi station or at the train. Nobody had followed them, which was a good thing.

Flicking his gaze at the Roshni, he said, “You are safe here. Nothing will happen to you now.” But, she did not respond at all. Her eyes were fixed in space. Sighing, the doctor went out.

****************

Suja woke up with a terrible pain in his head. Looking around, he noticed that Govind and the girl were missing. Shouting at the top of his voice, he woke everybody up. They searched the entire place but could find any trace of them. 

Suja swore hard, kicking a lying can nearby in anger. Hearing his phone ring, he looked for it and saw the man with shaded eyes calling.

Why will he tell him? Not finding the answer, he disconnected the call and looked at his gang members.

“Suja Bhai, let’s run away from here. They will never be able to find us,” one man said.

Shaking his head, Suja refuted the idea. They will definitely find all of them. His phone rang again: the man with shaded eyes. What should he tell him? He had already paid them in half and that was a lot of money. Suddenly finding the answer, he gestured all his men to keep quiet and answered the call.

“Boss, sorry for answering the call so late. Was just putting the body parts in packets. We are just going to dispose it off right now,” he said in a confident voice.

“So, the girl is dead?” the man with shaded eyes asked.

“Yes, boss. Dead and cut.”

“Ok! Dispose everything and leave the place. Leave the city and make sure all of you go in different directions. Do not keep your phones switched on and also do not try to contact one another. Better even: destroy your phones. I don’t want anything tracing this thing to us.”

"Boss, don't you want to check," Suja asked trying to test the waters. 

"No, I trust you guys. This is not the first time you are working for me."

Gulping down as much-relieved sigh, Suja tasked about the money.

“Where are you disposing the last packet?”

“Around Okhla Barrage,” Suja said, his eyes shining bright with the thought of money.

“I’ll have someone to be there with the money. I’ll send you the details on your phone. Delete all messages and calls.”

Happy and relieved, Suja told everything to his gang members as soon as the phone disconnected.

“What about Govind, Suja Bhai?” one of the men asked.

“Let him be. No point going after him. We will run into trouble if we do.”

Happily they all left the building after removing each and every trace.

***************

Rudy opened the main door and called Siddha’s name. But, nobody replied. He called again, but still no answer. Panicking, he rushed to the bedroom and called again. Still no answer. He started hitting the closed door with his shoulder as his instincts told him something was wrong.

Hearing the banging, Sid, Amit, Prashant and Karan rushed inside the room. With one final hit from Rudy, the door broke and he stumbled inside. A cold shiver ran down his spine as he looked towards the balcony.

Siddha was lying in a pool of blood and water completely drenched with his eyes staring towards the bed. 

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