The Pursuit: Part 4

 

…continued from Part 3. He tried to sleep but the last event warned him against it. But his body was too tired and refused to cooperate. His eyes closed and his mind into oblivion forgetting about the storm, the fierce youth, the photo and the mysterious girl.

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As Rishi stopped, the others said in unison, “Then what happened?”

He woke up to find himself alone in the ruin. It was already morning. The sun was up in the air.

His watch indicated 11 am. His stomach was twitching and he felt sick. He ran outside. As he threw up, he saw something in the puddle of water to his right. It was his phone. There were number of random footprints around. He picked his mobile and tried to remember how it landed there. He tried to recollect if it fell out when the guy came to him for the fight. But it was in his hands and it did not fall, he could remember it clearly. Maybe they tried to steal it. When he tried to operate the phone, he found that it was ruined and was useless. As he handled it, a possibility flickered in his mind.

 

“Were they some thugs, the villagers? Did they do him something that he doesn’t remember anything?” someone asked interrupting Rishi. The others shushed him.

 

Rishi shrugged and continued, “The last he remember of the previous night was the queer smell that he felt. He couldn’t remember if it was real or just a dream”. He went on.

 

Rahul thought about the comrade, they could not be thugs. Coz all of his belongings were with him. But then they had tried to either steal or ruin his cell. Could that be because of the photo? Were they some wanted murderers? He shuddered at the thought. If that was true, he should thank God that he was still alive. But how believable it was that some murderers left a defenceless witness back. It could not be true. Maybe the kid took it and may have thrown it in the fear to be caught.

 

He collected his bag and started walking. Feeling weak physically and with the stomach creating issues, he decided to back off. He took lift on his way. He was relieved to find that his helper could speak his language. After talking to him he found that there are two tiny tribal villages. They speak their own language. One was some kilometres up on the mountain and the other was downwards and was close if you take go around the mountain. But that was all that the man knew.

 

“Did your friend go the village to find out?”

 

“No. He was frail, his health had worsened. And apparently there was no reason to go back. All his belongings were good, except for his cell”, Rishi answered. He continued, “After reaching home, he recovered. The doctor found poison in his blood, possibly entered his body through fumes.”

 

“Ohh!” there were sighs from his friends. They were hooked. Rishi continued.

 

The whole thing, the events, the doctor’s revelation, everything was disturbing. Nothing was fitting in. Who were they? Was he accidently poisoned or with intent to finish the eye-witness. Were they on a run? Should he go to police?

 

He had made up his mind. He decided to go back.

…to be continued