On My Way

Chapter:12

*After three months*

We were well settled in our new home and office was going good. My room’s walls were fully taken up by notes, maps, pictures and all sort of stuff. I managed to get a psychologist and she told me to note down everything that happened to me. So here I am, writing my book. But I think I’ll have to abandon it for some time because I need to find my parents. I contemplated my wall and saw something strange, which I hadn’t noticed all these days.

The apartments, Nakshatra Devi had strings connected to all those clues which I needed to find my parents. It had a hospital opposite to it, it had a school just 1 km away from it, it had a big complex besides it, and it had a lot more common things with every string to lead me to my parents. I suddenly remembered that I had stuffed one picture that day, when I had the face off with the dead man, actually woman. I ran towards my bag and searched for it. I found it and went cold.

The picture had a caption on it. “Sheen Nadia’s parents. Kill and Burn.” Idiotic, isn’t it? But I got one thing from it, my surname! With the help of my surname, I can definitely find my parents.

The next day, Rahas and I went to Nakshatra Devi apartments. It was an enormous society. But we surely had to find them. The security guard refused to let us in. I said, “Mr. Nadia’s relatives. Will you please let us in?”

He checked us and then let us in. we started with the first block. It had two Nadia’s in it. One on seventh floor and the other on tenth floor. We called the lift and the block care taker informed us that the lift wasn’t working.

So we walked up the stairs and ringed on the seventh floor. A worker opened the door.

“Who are you? What do you need?”

I showed him the picture which I was having. “Do they live here?”

“No they don’t. What do you want?”

“Nothing.” Wrong place, I told myself. We climbed another three stairs to reach tenth floor. We saw that the door had lock in it. And the door had a ‘beware’ sign on it.

So that house can’t be of my parents, because I remember that they hated animals, especially my mom.

So we again went down the stairs. I was frantically breathing and sweating and so was Rahas. We had only checked ‘A’ block and there were other several blocks that needed to be checked.

Some people were walking by so we called at them to inquire about this building.

“Hi, I am Sheen Nadia. Can you tell us how big this society is?”

“Nice to meet you. This society has two parts. Part 1 is for people having pet animals. Which is from block ‘A’ to ‘K’. This is because people having pets are mostly not liked by general people and they litter everywhere. Part 2 is for people without having pet animals. That is from block ‘L’ to ‘V’. What else do you want to know?”

“Ok, in which part do you live?”

“We live in part 2 because I hate pet animals. They are so creepy and mean!”

“Do you know where Mr. and Mrs. Nadia live? I am their long distant relative.”

“Oh I see! You are looking for Mr. Nadia. We usually don’t see many people meeting them. And we also never know if they are at home at all! They live somewhere between block ‘T’ to ‘V’. I don’t know exactly.”

I took a deep breath. “Thank you so much for helping us. Without you, I’d be lost in this maze of blocks.”

“You two look rather tired. Come and refresh yourselves at our home.” That kind old man, with his polite smile made a warm place in my heart. We were actually very tired. We immediately agreed and walked behind him.

He led us to part 2, block ‘Q’.

“I live on sixth floor.” Rahas and my eyes widened.

“Oh don’t worry. Our lift is working, not like block ‘A’s.”

We reached at his flat. The hall was big and spacious. Well renovated. The old man and his affinity lived alone as there was no sign of things for young people.

“Please be seated. Honey, bring some tea, we have some guests.” Nice, even if they were old, there love was gold.

He told us about the one and only daughter he had. How she shifted to Bombay in search of job and never came back. Rahas got really interested in that old man’s story.

“Can I see the picture of your daughter?”

“Oh sure.” He stood up and went to one of the three big bedroom in his flat. Till then, an old woman came and offered us something to eat and drink. The old man came back with three pictures and gave it to Rahas. Rahas flipped the pictures and went cold after seeing them. He took out his phone and messaged me. “We need to leave; now.” I got really confused.

“It was nice having you two. We really need to leave or we’ll be late to meet Mr. Nadia. Thank you so much for your concern. Bye.” We stood up and went outside.

We reached on the ground floor. Rahas was sweating.

“What happened Rahas?”

“Do you have any idea where we were? Who those people were? They can’t be there! That’s not possible! It’s not possible Sheen!”

“Who are they? And what are you talking about?”

“They are..”