A Visitor At Night...

" Bella.. Is it you dear..? Can you get me a glass of water, please..?" Through the dim light of the backdoor, Bella could barely make out what the gardener was speaking.. He was shivering in the cold and his lips looked dry and he appeared as if he had been starving for weeks.. He was wearing the same old torn clothes that she had seen him wear last time. His grey hair was looking messier than before and his long beard merged with his moustaches looked as if they were about to touch the ground..

Bella quickly fetched out a glass of water from the kitchen and the leftover food from the night and placed it on the old man's trembling hands. Her Aunt has kept a note on the kitchen table telling Bella that the family had went to attend a wedding function of the daughter of Jacob's friend and that they will be late to return. Anne had warned Bella not to open the door to anyone except when they come at midnight but Bella couldn't avoid the pleas of this old man.. he was her father's friend.. or atleast he was someone who knew her father very well.. She had been waiting to meet this man for a long time, to know about her father, but he had been missing the entire time..

The gardener gulped in the glass of water without wasting a minute.. He then started attacking the plate of rice she had given him.. Like a savage beast, he was swallowing mouthfuls of rice and it took him only a few minutes to clean the plate.. He placed the plate down and rubbed his hands on his clothes. He then looked at Bella and said.. " Did you opened it?.. the key.. Could you open it with the key I gave you?"… Now he looked a different man, serious and full of purpose..

Bella did not understand what the old man was talking about, She asked in her sign language, she knew this was not a time to hide up her disabilities.. " What key..??"

The old man stared blankly at Bella. " You cant speak..? Cant you hear too?" Bella shook her head..

" Oh my!! What has god done to this poor kid.. I should have taken good care of you earlier itself.. But I was too immersed in the search of the book.. " Bella saw the man looking at her pitifully and she waved him off.. " What key..?" She signaled again..

" The key I gave you that day.. with some money.. It could open the secrets of your dad, but I don't know what such a small key can open.. but its your job now to find out.. I have tried my entire life for this but in vain.. Be careful Bella, there are enemies all around you.. you have to be careful.." The gardener suddenly looked towards a thornbush behind them.. It was moving for a long time as if in a steady wind, but suddenly it stopped still. There were sounds of whispers heard from that place now.. and the old man caught hold of Bella's hands suddenly startling her, " Listen carefully, I know you cant hear anything and you can't sense the danger around you, but you should know the situation is very serious.. the secret need to be out soon.. only you can bring it out in light.. the key.. open it fast.. rush.."

The gardener released Bella from his hold and turned.. He swiftly ran opposite the direction of Mrs Mathew's garden.. towards the road.. 'Where is he off to at this hour?' wondered Bella..

The key.. It was haunting Bella and she couldn't sleep. So it was not only the money and photograph that the gardener gave her that day.. there was a key too.. And if her memory is correct, that key should be somewhere under Mr Thompson's possession.. Bella made up her mind, the first thing in the morning, she will visit Mrs Thompson.. she need her key back..!

Peter was still staring out throught the windows waiting for Bella. It was already past evening and he was having all the dirty thoughts as to why Bella had rejected him. His pride was hurt. He was the most rich and sought out bachelor of the town and he was easily turned down by a deaf and dumb girl. His thoughts were disturbed by a sudden knock on the door..

"Come in, .."There were plain anger and hurt in Peter's voice..

Mark entered his boss's study, " Sir,…"

"What did that low class girl think about me.. that I would fall for her, I will never.. I will never let my heart fall for a girl like that.. with too many disabilities.. there is nothing in her that is comparable to me and she dare to insult me.. " Peter was speaking very rudely now, all his sadness turned into hatred for the girl..

Mark was confused.. He now had a vague idea. His boss might have played another dirty trick of loving her to take revenge on her.. how much more this man will make her suffer, poor girl.. So that's why she may have ran away from him crying, he might have hurt her badly..

First time now, Mark hated his boss.. that too very badly.. He was even blaming himself for joining with his boss in punishing the girl that day and sending her to prison. But he thought his boss had changed.. but seeing the hatred for the girl in Peter's eyes, Mark knew he was wrong from the beginning about his boss.. Like every other rich people, his boss too despised the poor and believed to punish them like slaves.. Keeping the file onto his boss's table, Mark stamped out of the room without uttering a single word to his boss..

Peter was getting his vision diminished now since he had drunk too much.. He took out the photos of Bella that he had drawn from his shelf. Hugging it to his chest, he cried, " Why Bella, don't you like me at all.. Give me atleast one chance to prove my love to you.." With irregular breaths, he slept on the floor of his office, waking in between and sobbing like a child..