Chapter-21
It was late evening and dark but there was still no clue of Shamit and Adarsh. The person sent out to search for them had taken along a couple of other locals with him and they had not returned either. Aaru had fed the kiddo and put her to sleep as she was sensing her mom’s anxiety.
We were sitting in the lobby staring at infinity. Aaru was quiet, very quiet. All kinds of negative thoughts clogged her brain. She could sense something didn’t add up to their not returning that day. I felt miserable and uncomfortable too. We both kept praying to the Almighty.
“All will be fine, don’t worry my dear, they will soon come back!”
I had tried to calm Aaru.
“Something is not right...”
She had faintly babbled out and her premonition indeed turned out to be true.
The search party arrived back empty-handed at around 10 p.m. They had looked in every nook and corner and as far as they could, but they had not found any trace of the two men. Waiting till morning was the only resort.
It was the most painful night of our lives. Aaru was devastated. Her agony couldn’t be described in words. Deciding not to give up, she planned to go for the search herself next morn. She felt confident that Shamit would surely respond to her calls if he was stuck somewhere and that her heart will guide her to him. I fully trusted her determination and so wanted to accompany her but one of us had to stay with the tiny bud sleeping calmly oblivious of the worldly mess.
Handing over little Sharu to me, she took charge, early next morning. The first thing she did was, she called our parents and asked them to contact the authorities many of whom were acquaintances and family friends in this regard.
She knew time was critical, so she requested the resort manager to inform the police which gave him judders, he instead offered to take Aaru in his jeep himself on the route Shamit and Adarsh had decided to trek on. He was a considerate man, he had not abandoned us for a moment the entire night. He said that something like this had never happened there in his twenty years of service at that place.
Involving Police might mean the resort getting ill-fame and the owner even choosing to sack him for not being able to guide the guests properly. Aaru had no time to contemplate and left with him in haste.
She knew time was precious and she couldn’t afford to lose any. Guided by the resort manager, Aaru meticulously scanned the lush green dense jungles on the hills calling out Shamit aloud. With every passing moment, her heart sank with a weird premonition which she forcibly shook off.
No, she did not find him. Destiny snatched her Sham this time from her. Last time, Aaru had defeated her by fighting hard and winning over Shamit’s medical condition. It was perhaps time for another test of Aaru’s love.
I was feeling worse imagining what could have happened. Adarsh and Shamit got along really well. Did they lose their way and landed in some danger or was I closing my eyes to some conspiracy. Can Adarsh harm Shamit? No, but if yes, where was he himself? Undoubtedly there was something fishy about the disappearance though it was really early for me to reach any conclusions
In just a couple of hours, our parents arrived from Nainital. They were so looking forward to all of us reaching home in the next two days and this sudden news had blown them off completely.
Aaru came back in tears clutching hard on Shamit’s camera she found thrown behind a bush. They had scanned around that area to find some other hint of his whereabouts but they failed.
The Police had arrived too. Aaru’s dad had pulled some strings and the cops had quickly sprung into action. Their search was more methodical. They took the camera in their custody to find some clues for the investigation and launched a massive search in all the adjacent areas.
Where do you guys think the two have vanished?
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