Chapter 8: Digging Up The Past

Shiva and Raghav reached the temple then they checked their surroundings carefully and went inside the temple.

" See, here it is," said Shiva referring to the empty space on the wall.

" But what's the use of it?, we don't have the key," said Raghav.

" That's right," said Shiva and went into a deep thought.

" Well," Shiva continued. " when I left the village and saw my dad for the last time, there was something in his hand, at that time I didn't knew what it was but now it seemed to be a broken part of something,"

" Broken part?, of what?,"

" Perhaps of that square shaped stone which is mentioned in the book,"

" So?,"

" If I'm recalling it right then it looked like one-fourth part," said Shiva thinking carefully before he spoke. " and if we join all the parts, it would be of this size,"

Shiva pointed to the empty space or the 'lock' on the wall.

" Wait, are you trying to say that your father....,"

" Yes!, that's what I think, maybe my father had the key, that square stone,"

Raghav didn't knew how to react, he thought for a moment.

" But how could it be?," said Raghav.

" That's not whole thing,"

" What do you mean?," said Raghav holding his heartbeat.

" As I said, for the last time I saw my father holding a broken part of that stone, and if that stone is the key then why did he break it?,"

" It's going over my head,"

" Let's get out of this temple before anyone sees us,"

They got out of the temple and made their way but they were unaware that someone was watching them from a far distance, hiding behind the trees.

Shiva bought Raghav to his old house which was burnt out, most of the house made up of wood was burnt only the remaining part was left.

" Your old house," said Raghav.

Shiva was lost in his memories as he saw the house, all the glimpses from his past seemed to appear before him.

" Yes, a house of many memories," said Shiva.

" Tell me what you were telling in the temple,"

" Okay so," said Shiva getting out of his memories. " I remember my father getting some calls and letters after which he would get stressed,"

" So, you mean someone wanted the key,"

" Yes, it could be and because of that my father broke the key into four parts and gave it to four different people and now those four people are in danger,"

" What!?,"

" The fire twenty years ago was not because of the spirit, it was a planned act, there was someone who wanted that key,"

" You think that there is no spirit ?,"

" Yes, as the Librarian said that no one knows whether it is true or not, the rest part of the legend is considered as history but not the sacrifice and the spirit part,"

" Now you say that, it seems logical though,"

" The more we think about it the more deep we go,"

" That means your father had given the four parts to different people and now their lives are in threat,"

" Yes, it must be the same man who caused the fire twenty years ago and now he's back,"

" I wonder how he must've done all this,"

" Maybe he's not alone,"

" A group?,"

" Don't know, may be I'm wrong I'm just making assumptions,"

" So we must find those four peoples as soon as we can,"

" Not four, only three,"

" Three?,"

" Yes, the first person was the police constable who went missing,"

" How can you say that?,"

" If you observe the pattern of the spirit then you'll know,"

" What pattern?,"

" See, I've put all the incident that took place since the doors are being opened in a line,"

" Okay, tell me,"

" First incident occurs at the same night when the doors were opened,"

" The killing of the cattleman Raghu and the missing of the constable,"

" Yes, and as you may know Raghu was found hanging from the Banyan tree which is near the Vasusthala Temple, that means that Raghu had seen who had opened the doors and thus he got killed and as you know the police doesn't patrol here as this area comes within the forest,"

" Woah, I never thought about it this way, "

" And after the killing," Shiva continued. " he kidnapped the constable,"

" But how can you say that he had the broken part?,"

" He was the favorite student of my dad, more like a son, so if he wanted to give this precious thing to someone then he would have surely given to him,"

" If the killer had kidnapped him then he must have kept him somewhere in the village, we shall tell this to Mr. Kadam, he'll help us,"

" What are you saying Raghav, everyone in the village believes in the spirit including the police and also we do not have any evidence about it,"

" So what shall we do?,"

" We'll find the remaining three persons, without even any one of the part, the key would not complete,"

" That's right!, if we are able to save even just any one of them we'll be able to stop the killer,"

Shiva raised his brow on that.

" What?, isn't he the killer?," said Raghav.

" Yes he is, let's call him by that name,"

" But how do we find those remaining three persons?,"

" My dad," said Shiva," he would always say that everything is connected, we just have to find to connecting strings,"

" I can't believe this, it feels like a script of some movie," Raghav said," let's find the killer,"

" Surely we will," said Shiva as he clenched his fist and his eyes still on his old, burnt out house.

" We'll be needing some help, we're only two,"

" We can take help from the villagers without letting them know, and we shall add one more member in our group,"

" And who is that?,"

" Mohan,"

******

The sun had gone behind the mountains that stood tall at a far distance and the sky went black accompanied by stars and a full moon.

Shiva explained Mohan about their latest discovery and Mohan couldn't believe what Shiva told, it all sounded like a script of some movie to him.

" These are just my assumptions, but if they turned out to be true, the curse would awake and we'll have to face the consequences,"

" Well, I don't know, but I'll be there whenever you need help,"

" Thanks,"

******

It was almost midnight now, the entire village was asleep and the policemen patrolled the village.

" Why it's always me," said the Policeman.

" Why do you say that?,"

It was Mr. Pandey, the Head Constable, he was on the night duty. The both policemen and a few other patrolled the area near the Vasusthala Temple.

" I'm fated to this bad luck, it could have been anywhere in the village, but they chose to give me this area, near the temple, the most risky one," said the Policeman.

" You are not alone, there are others too, and relax we are not going to die, we are just patrolling," Mr. Pandey spoke.

" But what if the spirit got angry,"

" Don't worry, pass me some water,"

" Oh my bad, I forgot to bring my water bottle,"

" Let's drink from water cooler,"

The village had a water cooler in almost every other area, it was Shiva's father who insisted upon fitting water coolers for the villagers, travellers and the policemen who patrol at night.

" Cool water in summer tastes much better," said Mr. Pandey drinking the water.

" Also when you're thirsty," said the Policeman filling the glass.

" Yeah,"

" Let's look around the area one time, you go there I'll look this side," said Mr. Pandey.

" Okay,"

Both the policemen went to patrol their respective sides.

" It's just been a minute I drank water and now," said Mr. Pandey to himself as he searched for a spot to water.

On the other side, the Policeman patrolled the area with a torch and a baton in his hand and then he heard some noise.

" Who's there?," he shouted.

He went forward holding his baton tight and again he heard some noise.

" Should I inform on the radio?," he thought. " But what if turned out to be some dog or cat, it will an embarrassment for sure,"

As he walked forward, he started feeling a little dizzy, he felt like the world around him was moving and it was just then a figure came out from the dark. It wore clothes that were of a medieval soldier and his face was pale white with glaring red eyes holding a knife in his hand.

The Policeman immediately ran and informed on the radio, though he was running as fast as he could but it seemed like he was running on the same place, he couldn't move forward and then he turned to the spirit hoping that he was gone. He turned back to see that the spirit was not there but then he looked up and screamed, the spirit was up in the air.

"Please don't kill me, I'm a good man, please leave me," he begged.

And then everything went blank.