"Tum kise dhund rhi ho?",Tara asked as she noticed Vanya looking for someone. "Nhi kisi ko nhi",Vanya answered,more like covered up. This was only increasing her suspicion.
Is Vanya really a bad news?
Tara was silently praying God to prove her wrong. She became very fond of her and her turning out to become a traitor was definitely not in her wishlist.
Rohit told her that he was trying to gather all the information about Vanya. That was the only thing he could do.
Tara and Vanya were standing near the stairs of the temple.
Vanya was anxiously looking around and suddenly she held her hand and squealed,"Vo dekho Sahil!!". Tara was literally holding her heart. She was already an impulsive person and now Vanya was giving her some heart attack.
"Are you mad!", It was the first time when a silent goody girl like Tara shouted like that. And seeing no sorry reaction from Vanya futher angered her. Vanya was still looking at Sahil's direction and it looked like she really didn't heard her.
Tara held her shoulder and turned her to face her and said,"You really wish to get cardiac arrest as my cause of death in the postmortem report, don't you?".
Vanya sheepishly smiled at her and said,"Sorry man. I just got excited...."
"And what's so exciting about Sahil Murthy - the tour guid? May I know?"
"Everything!",Vanya dreamily said but immediately realized what she said as Tara shouted,"What?"
She now looked at Sahil's direction. Sahil was standing near the gate and was talking to some lady. More like he was convincing her.
It looked like they were arguing over something but in a very silent and sophisticated manner.
Sahil's all efforts turned out futile as the lady left, definitely unconvinced.
Sahil turned towards the temple and started moving as his shoulders drooped. As his eyes fell on the girls, he immediately masked his dejected face with fake enthusiasm and said as he approached them ," Greetings ladies, how are you?"
"We are fine Sahil, how are you?", Vanya said with sugary sweet voice. Tara simply rolled her eyes .
She didn't knew if Vanya was a threat or not, but she was definitely into Sahil Murthy.
******************************
After the mahaarti, Vanya headed off towards their resort whereas Tara decided to stay in the temple. She felt a sense of security their. She checked her phone for some missed call or text message from Rohit but no avail.
The saare was really heavy for her but the beautiful view of the temple was worth watching.
The mahaarti was really magnificent.
Tara sat on the temple stairs and looked at the beautiful sky.
"Wish life was like this endless canvas stucked in heaven, always beautiful....", She sighed . Her eyes were drinking in the beauty of the landscape. So simple and real.
******************************
8:30 PM.
Happiness would have been an understatement for what Tara was feeling at that point. Rohit's message of Vanya being innocent gave her a huge amount of relief.
She sighed and started moving towards the resort. The night seemed to became more and more beautiful than ever. Her friend is innocent. As she was moving towards the resort's direction, she felt some movement near the bushes.
Is someone following her?
Fear of being kidnapped by that nightmare stalker invaded her mind. Sure Vanya was a good news, but what about that guy?? He is still on loose and can easily harm her.
She immediately texted Rohit and waited for his reply. She increased her pace and now she felt someone's footsteps following her. The road was completely isolated. She tried calling Vanya and Rohit but non of them received her call.
A sense of relief gushed inside her as she saw a lady comming towards her direction. She was the same woman who was earlier arguing with Sahil.
Tara immediately rushed towards her and held her hand. The lady passed her a puzzled look.
"Pl... please..help..s.. someone is foll...wing me!!",Tara stammered and felt like she would breakdown any moment. The lady held her shoulders and passed her an assuring smile.
"Don't worry dear, I will help you, come with me".
******************************
Tara was shivering with fear. With the shaking hands she managed to take a sip of chai from the kullahd.
"Don't worry dear, there was no one following you, the police checked the whole area, it must be your mind playing tricks."
Rohini Nadar passed her a warm smile as she occupied the vacant space beside Tara.
"Thank you so much Mrs. Nadar."
Rohini Nadar passed her a warm smile. Both the ladies were in a local park. Sitting on the bench, she tried Vanya or Rohit's number, but no avail.
"Mrs. Nadar?",Tara called her in a meekly. Rohini turned her attention towards her and asked," Yes dear?"
"You...I mean you really didn't saw anyone following me?"
Rohini sighed and said,"Look child, I really don't want to break this down to you since I don't believe in these things, but since you are asking me...", Tara looked at her with rapt attention while Rohini again sighed and said," Few locals believe that the particular path is cursed."
"What??"
******************************
It was a very weird and unsettling feeling of walking on a road after knowing what kind of heinous act occurred out there.
A thirty year old curse.
The new article she read back in Trivandrum about a murder in Kochi started haunting her again.
Is the news true? Do people actually saw ghosts?
She was pondering over the murder when she saw someone. Someone was sneaking in a house. Tara's breath got stuck in her throat as she was Vanya ,sneaking in some house like thief.
Who is this girl???