Lost: Casa Perdida [Completed]

The Missing Bodies

The Narrator

2:30 a.m. Next day

Doha, State of Qatar

15, Al Dana Gardens, Al Waab, Qatar. In the row of houses that stood inside the large compound, one could see the lights in one house by the corner. Qatar was experiencing some unexpected rain and as usual, there was some flooding. The rains have continued for two days. While some in Qatar enjoy the rain because it's an unusual event that brings relief after months of blazing heat, others see the rain as a nuisance because during the rains many places in Qatar begin flooding. Ashgal (the Public Works Authority in Qatar) has been fixing the sewer systems that were damaged following the rain. From the compound, one could see the tall Aspire tower which stood as a landmark, scraping the sky, near Aspire Park. Even though it was early morning, and still dark, the sky wasn't fully dark because of the intense light pollution in the region.

Inside house number 15, Dayalan Mannivanan sat by his television watching a Tamil movie. The channel he was tuned into had organized a marathon of old Tamil movies. From 8:30 p.m on the previous night, he has been watching Mannan, Deivathirumagal, Chandramooki, Baasha, and Paruthiveeran. Now the movie Vetaikaraan was playing. He was nearly falling asleep when the song Naan Adicha Thangamattan was playing on the television.

On the shelf next to his sofa, one could see a lot of awards and certificates. Also on the shelf, there were some notes that he received from his students when he taught at Edirisinghe Public School in Aninchiyan Kulam, Northern Province, Sri Lanka.

Dayalan Mannivanan was a very old man. Before becoming a Principal at a Sri Lankan School in Qatar, he taught in many schools around Sri Lankan in Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Nuwara Eliya, Kalmunai, Colombo, Galle, and Negombo.

Just before he fell asleep he had a lot of worries: his daughter was getting married to a man from Polonnaruwa, and the man was demanding a heavy dowry. He was wondering how he would get the money for the dowry.

The song that was playing on the television was over and the movie resumed. The sounds of an action scene rudely woke him up.

That was when he heard his telephone ringing. Waking up and walking up to the phone sleepily, he answered the call.

"Hello is this Principal Mannivanan?" a woman with a Latino accent spoke at the other end of the line.

"Yes. May I know who is this?" the old, polite man replied.

"I am Cristina Da Rosa from the Bolivian Embassy to Qatar. There were students from your school who went on a field trip to Bolivia, I believe?"

"Yes. Year 10"

"There's something which happened to them, which is better not discussed over the phone. The Bolivian Ambassador has called you for a meeting at 8:30 a.m today. He has canceled all his appointments to make time for the meeting because it is something of utmost concern. Would you like us to send a car to your residence to pick you up for the meeting?"

"Madam, may I know what is it that happened with my students?"

"Sir, your children, and teachers have died because of some flash floods in Bolivia. Their bodies have been discovered in Argentina. We want to talk about that incident."