Chapter 4

It's the late-night when Aryan finished his work and walked out of the museum towards his home. The place where he lived was not so far from the museum. He preferred walking than any bike, or scooter. There was a charm in walking like on a lonely road at cold winter night, with his hands inside his pocket. Aryan liked the feeling of smokes coming out of his mouth while he releases a breath. In the yellow colored street light, it became visible.

Enjoying his own company, while whistling the tune of his favorite song on the lonely road, the only noise he could hear was the buzzing of beetles. It was the only music which felt like playing with his song. Aryan had become friendly with this noise after walking on the same road at the same time for years.

He walked almost half of the distance, but today an unfamiliar voice called his name from behind.

"Hello, Aryan,"

It was unexpected

That cold two words, coming out of the blue were enough to push the heart of Aryan to his mouth. Within a minute, his body temperature rises several degrees. He jumped feeling horrified and turned towards the way that voice was coming.

"Who is it?" He somehow managed to utter it while sobbing. He was trying to hide his fear behind his shouting,

"Sorry, did not mean to scare you, " A girl came out from the dark.

"Who are you?" he said, trying to make an angry face.

The buzzing coming from the dark of the beetles were not audiable to his ear anymore. Something jammed his ears. That girl, standing infront of him , also saying something, but only thing he could feel is moving her lips, no words was striking him.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, snapping her fingers.

“What do you want?” he asked, gulping to make his dry neck wet.

"We have met earlier today at the museum. Don't you remember?"

He looked at her face.

"Oh, you are the girl asking about the stolen artifact. What do you want from me?" he asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"We need to talk. I have something important to ask if you don’t mind," she said nicely

Aryan was surprised to hear that. It took a minute to process what he had just heard. Keeping his lips, slightly separated, he gave her a long look of surprise and then spoke,”Look, it's the middle of the night, and I am exhausted. You are beautiful, but I am not in a mood to talk. Try another time,"

He started to walk towards his home with quick steps.

"It's about a friend of yours, Vivek. I presume you remember that name," she said that name loudly, expecting to put an impact on him.

"Vivek? I don't know any Vivek. You are probably confusing me with someone else," he seemed nervous.

There was an unusual stammering in his tone.

"In that case, you would not mind if I gave the letter of Vivek to your boss," her politeness was gone. She became rigid and confident.

"Letter? What are you talking about? You have lost your mind,"

He replied with a smile, looking away, with an attempt to show that he was normal.

"Vivek asked me to give his friend a letter. I have not read it, but I am sure he mentioned the artifact he stole and about you in it,"

"You are bluffing. He would never do that,"

"So, you know him,"

"I did not say that," he said, shaking his head.

"You don't need to worry about anything then. See you tomorrow at the museum,"

Saying so, Dimisha went away from him.

“one…two…three…”she moved slowly away, counting her footsteps.

"Hello! miss...wait," he shouted from behind.

She did not get a chance to count to ten. She knew it.

Dimisha stopped with a smile.

He ran towards her.

"Did he really give you any letter?" he was panting.

"It’s much more complicated than you think. I have a lot of things to talk. You are the only one I know who worked with him. So I expect you will be completely truthful with me,"

"Can we talk somewhere else? I mean, it's kind of creepy talking with a girl in the middle of the road at midnight,"

"Let's go to your home then,"

"How do you know about my home?"

"It's later night. You are walking from your job. There is no pub or bar nearby. So, obviously, you are going to your home which is not so far from here,"

"I am positive now that you know Vivek. Only he can do these stupid and not to mention annoying tricks," he said, showing wrinkles to his forehead.

"We can discuss it in your place. What do you say?"

"This way, please," he said, waving his hand.

They made their steps to his home, and after a few minutes, they reached there.

"You know this is the first time a girl is coming to my home," he said, while pushing the key inside the keyhole of the door of his apartment.

"Put that thought in your pocket. I am here to talk. Don't flatter yourself," she said, giving an indignant stare to him.

With a clicking noise, the door was unlocked and they moved inside.

It's a small apartment, somehow one man could live. But all the furniture, starting from a small stool to the couch everything was spotless. It looked like he was keeping all the things by measuring with a scale. Everything was in its proper place.

"Have a seat. Just give a minute. I will be back," he said and moved to another room.

Dimisha moved a gazed to the room. There was a wall filled with a collection of photos of different places around the world. Those photos were of the pyramid of Giza, The Tajmahal, and all other ancient monuments.

"I like history," he said.

He offered a glass of water to her.

"Yeah, I can see that," nodding towards the photos, she replied.

"So, what was written in the letter. Can you show me now?"

"I would show you if I could. But that is impossible. Because there is no letter,"

"You lied to me," he shouted.

It felt like a bolt from the blue to him.

"You were not ready to talk. I had to do something," she replied shrugging.

"Then how did you know that I and Vivek know each other?"

"When I was talking to your boss, I saw you listening to us, hiding behind the door. Next, when Aditi showed me the photographs of the management team, I saw you and Vivek. That's why I doubted you. I was expecting you know something,"

"You tricked me!" his eyebrows we're about to touch the top.

"Not my best effort," she sat on a chair.

"Damn, girl, you are dangerous. Why are you here anyway? Are you with the police? Look, I have no idea where he is or where he kept the item. I have nothing to do with it." he moved to another side.

"Relax, I am not the police."

"Then why are you enquiring me?"

"You are taking me wrong. I am just here to know about Vivek. I want to know what he was up to,"

"I find hard to trust you. Anyway, we are not talking to each other for years. So, I can not tell you anything. Will you please leave now?" he showed the door.

"Vivek is dead,"

"One more lie. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"You listen to me. I was lying to you only because you were lying too. Otherwise, you would never except the fact that you knew him. He is dead, and as of his friend, I have some responsibility to complete the task he started. It's up to you if you want to help me or not. But don't tell me that I am a liar. Because I never deny recognizing my friend who is in trouble," she shouted, standing up from the chair.

"Okay, fine. I can see you are angry. Ask whatever you want. I will help," he sat back in front of her.

Dimisha was staring at him making inward her eyebrows. She was breathing heavily.

"Have some water," he pushed the glass towards her.

"Why you were refusing to know him in the first place?" she asked after releasing a sigh.

"Isn't it obvious? You were asking questions about the item he stole. I am already in trouble. Police were suspecting me to be with him,"

"I was asking because...anyway, I guess, we got off on the wrong foot," she drunk some water.

"It's okay. I was just scared. You can ask whatever you want. I will help."

Dimisha was about to say something, but he spoke again, " first, you tell me how did he die?"

"It's hard to explain since you don't know anything about the encounters he did in life. In a nutshell, he was in a village, which is on an island named Kimbala. He was killed by some evil people there."

"Well, it's not completely surprising for me. The way he was behaving lately, I knew there won't be a happy ending. But, murder...that's too bad,"

"What was he up to?"

"I don't know. After his father went missing, he was changed. He put his mind into all those things magic, sorcery, dark art, and all. I tried to help him, but that incident, it broked him,"

"His father went missing?"

"Yes, one day he went for work and never returned. We tried to find him, but there was no sign of his father. Even, the police could not help us. He believed that his father was taken by a monster. He was very close to his father, his only family,"

"What did you do then?"

"I did what a normal person would do. I tried to take him to a psychiatrist. But, you know him, and then add insult to the injury that artifact came to the museum." he leaned back to his chair.

"Did he mention anything about Treasure of hell to you?"

"He mentioned a lot of weird stuff like this. Hell, heaven, fire, and many more. But I did not give much attention to it. I have some of his goods. I can show you if you want."

"Yes, please, that would be very helpful,"

"Wait a minute, " saying so, Aryan went to another room to grab his stuff.

Dimisha was looking at the way he left.

He was like a kid, not from the look, but from his heart. He was kind of a person, who could see the good in someone. It's rare in those days when people are busy to show others smaller than them. He was not into those races.

Aryan returned with a small wooden box.

"This box belonged to him. Nobody was allowed to touch it. I am flabbergasted when he left the box with me before he moved from here, "

He put that on the table.

"Moved? Where did he go?"

"I have no idea. I asked him multiple times, but he always said he needed some cold place to work. God knows what it means,"

The box had some designs made of silvers on it. Those designs said that it belongs to ancient times, though it looked new.

She opened it carefully.

There were some sketches inside it about some places, symbols, and a volcano. She looked all of it one by one.

"I did not know he was into tattoos," he said, looking at the symbols of the sketch.

"Those are not tattoo designs. Those symbols have deep meanings. He was trying to figure out something," She was looking at the symbols from all side.

"What meaning it can have?"

"If I knew the answer, I would not be here. Don't you think?"

"I am starving. I am going to eat something." He said, tapping his belly.

He moved to the kitchen.

Do you want anything?" he shouted from there.

"No, I am good," she replied, keeping her eyes on the sketches.

Aryan got busy in cooking. She could hear the sound of moving ladle and throwing something to the heated oil.

"You said, he left this place, and moved somewhere else?" she spoked from behind.

"Oh God," the ladle slipped from his hand, "stop doing that,"

"Doing what?"

"Speaking like this, out of the blue unless you want to give me a heart attack,"

"Sorry, I was out of the practice of these human behaviors,"

"It's fine. I had a long day. " he took the ladle from the floor and put it in the sink, and spoke, "What were you asking?"

"I was saying after he left this place, was he coming to his job?"

"Yeah, his precious artifact was there. He had to come," he moved the food to a plate.

"I have to find where he was living?"

"You want some? It's good," he offered some food.

"No, you can enjoy your food. But I have to take that box with me. It may help to find his place, Is that okay with you?"

"With the box, you can find where he lived?"

"I know someone who can do this kind of stuff,"

"Okay, take it, "

"Thank you, "

She walked out of the kitchen. Aryan put a mouth full of what he was eating and rushed outside following her.

"Are you leaving now?" he asked, chewing his food.

"Yes, I have to go," she replied, wrapping up the box.

"How will you go? You won't find any ride at this time,"

"Don't worry, I will manage," she walked to the door.

Aryan stood on her way, and said, "You can't leave like this. I think I deserve to know what's going on here,"

"These things are beyond your understanding,"

"Whatever, I am coming with you, and you are not going to stop me. I have been doing all the things you asked. Now, it's your turn to do something I am asking. Are we clear?" his face turned red.

"Is that your angry face?" Dimisha chuckled to see him angry.

"I will take that as a yes,"

"It's up to you. But I have to warn you, you are going to face your worst nightmares. You can not blame me for that,"