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*VINNY POV*

No matter how much effort I'd put, I wouldn't have convinced my mother to allow me to travel back to Ooty. So that night, I talked with my father discussing about everything we uncovered and asked for his permission to get back to Ooty. He was little hesitant at first but when I told him that I couldn't live peacefully for the rest of my life without even trying to find my friend's murderer, he finally accepted.

So I packed my luggage along with papers which I filled with all the events that happened since day 1 of our trip. Dad wanted me to carry a riffle gun along with me, just in case. But since Ooty's security increased because of serial killings, if the security found out the gun, they might suspect me as a murderer. Dad would convince them to let me carry it as he's a police officer too but he said he'll ask bushan uncle to hand me out one after reaching Ooty.

"I'll manage with your mother. Tell her you're going to stay with Sushma. Tell her on call that it was urgent. Rest leave it to me. But please be careful. Bushan uncle is one call away if you encounter any trouble. Stay safe, kanna!" I nodded and waved goodbye to him before getting into train with Vishal.

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"You kids are back!! But you had your vacation in like last month. That's a bit too early for you guys to return again." Uncle Shiva complained as we sat in his rickshaw to reach Karthik's guest house on tiger hills, Ooty. We met him quite often during our last trip and he was very communicative and kind.

We stayed quite. Shiva uncle did not know about Nikita's death and telling him about it didn't feel like a great greeting conversation.

As we got down near Karthik's guest house, I found it surprising to see the main entrance gates kept being locked, as the last time we were here, they were barely even closed to proximity. Clearly, Karthik made someone clean the premises and got the gates locked before we reached the place. It was not like he knew about our secret visit to his guesthouse though.

"Damn, we gotta break the lock now." Vishal frowned from beside.

I looked around before replying, "What why? Let's just jump over the wall. It's easy that way."

As I waited for Vishal while he made it to the opposite side of the wall, I felt something odd in my stomach. It felt like a mixture of anxiety and a fear of unknown. Vishal is by my side and nothing horrible is going to happen. I assured myself before entering into the house.

"Aren't we trespassing our friend's property?! That's interesting!!" Vishal said unlocking the door to the guest house.

It felt like all five of us were hanging around in this house just yesterday but now, all that became of us was me and Vishal being intruders and a dead Nikita with her grieving boyfriend's guest house being trespassed and Sushi at her chemo.

We did not make much noise settling in, we unloaded our bags in same rooms we occupied before and immediately gathered in hallway. Anyone who was sane wouldn't spend their night in here but Vishal and I want to leave no rock unturned.

"Okay let's start the search from basement!" Vishal announced gathering all his gadgets like torch, baseball bat, pepper spray, his camera and some container.

"Wait, you brought all this stuff with you?"

"Yes Vinny, we should be careful as we don't know if this stranger is still hanging around trying to kill people!" He said firmly like he was some thriller movie character who was going to die after gathering valuable evidence.

I went into the room of my luggage and quickly got back down, "Fine then, all set! Let's go." I said to Vishal as he stared with his mouth gapped at the revolver in my hand that I collected from my luggage.

"Chill! It's licensed one and I know basics in using a gun!" I assured him and we both headed down to the dark basement. Bushan uncle visited us at the station earlier today.

With the torch light, we checked the whole basement but all that we could find was set of cardboard boxes. I did not feel much frightened about the eyes like I was before as I now know that they were just pair of human eyes after all.

But, little did we know that this strange human must be feared more than any ghost that must've existed.

"Blind searching of this place takes us no where, Vinny!" Vishal voice came out as I was searching the left corner where I'd seen those eyes before.

He continued, "as we are suspecting someone's presence here few weeks ago, this person must've left some imprints on floor. But to our bad luck, Karthik got the whole house cleaned and dusted including basement. How about we check the walls? Watch for any clues."

"Okay."

Even after searching the basement again and again, we did not find anything significant or suspecting. Just when we were about to give up and return back to the hallway, I just wanted to go through the card board boxes even though it felt like intruding Karthik's family personal things.

Vishal liked the idea of checking boxes and we immediately got into the work, opening one box after the other box which were piled up in the left corner, "What if these boxes contain photo frames of Karthik's dead cousin? Or worse, what if they contain her lingerie and stuff!?"

"Bet it won't be a bad sight for a perv like you!" I rolled my eyes at him while moving the boxes after checking them. They contained toys, some old utensils that they might have used in the guest house, cable wires, old telephone set, magazines of Ooty, some novels I couldn't care any less to know about, pencils, kitchen ware etc etc.

"Holy shit!!"

"What happened!!? Vishal!!!" I asked him alarmed standing up from the floor as Vishal was holding a cardboard box in his hands and peeking into the gap behind the boxes.

"I'm so glad you wanted us to check these cartons, Vinny! There's a door in the wall behind these boxes!! They stacked up all these boxes in front of the door so no one who entered the basement can see it!"

"Ohh I see. Wait, what?"

He didn't bother to discuss about it with me and started to pull out one box after the other from the stack. I thought of helping him but I was too nervous and excited about what it was that was waiting in store for us. So I just stood there waiting for him to finish the work.

There was indeed a door in the wall behind all these boxes. Thank universe there was no lock to this door!

Vishal let a heave out, satisfied with his work and dusting off whatever that has dusted his clothes, "Not the first time our man's Karthik guest house surprising us with doors!"

I chuckled nervously. At this point, I have no idea what to expect from this home or from Karthik or from this search that we started to find my friend's murderer. But all I knew is Vishal could clearly hear the thumping sound of my heart beating against my chest wall. He gently took my hand and pulled me towards the door.

"It is okay, Vinny silly! Whatever is in the other side of the door, you have me here by your side! Let's open this damn door."

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Hey my cute readers!!!

Do y'all even remember me and my story??! (T-T)

I'm so excited to update this chapter because it's been years! I do not promise any regular updates but writing this was really so refreshing, I really missed my characters and their cute simple personalities. I have the whole story already made ready in my mind but I just need more time and motivation to keep writing and updating.

Btw, How is life been treating y'all?

Ending this very long author's note right here!! Have a good day cuties!! ❤️


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