Chapter 28 - CHAPTER 26: ONE WEEK COUNTDOWN

Ava stared at the words until they began to blur.

"She is alive." She cried.

"How could this happen? She...she was disappeared."

"Yes, disappeared...not died."

"We have to find her." Ava said, determination dripping from her voice.

"Right, mom?...MOM?" Ava turned around to see Priya sitting on couch with sullen expression and wide eyes.

"This can't happen again." "Again?"

"Anish warned me about this but I didn't take it seriously. But now I think he was right."

"What did he said?" Ava asked in urgency, word AGAIN was echoing in her mind.

"Wait, it means you all suspected that she could be alive." Priya didn't answer. Her silence confirmed her doubt.

"Why mom? Why you didn't dig? Why you didn't tell ME? Why didn't you try to find her?" She shouted.

"We tried to ,Ava. We tried to. But thy threatened us? The said if we talk too much they-"

"𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮? Who are 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮, mom? Who was threatening you back then?"

Another silence.

"I think its time you tell me everything from the beginning."

"He tried to make me believe that she is alive. But I didn't listen him, Ava. Last time when he came, he was saying the same thing. Then-"

"Then?"

"Then I slapped him, thinking he is just spouting non-sense."

"You slapped him? How could you mom?"

"I was aggrieved. She was...is my daughter. He was saying her name again and again."

Ava took a deep breath." What did he say?'

"He said, they captured her because she know something. Something very dangerous and..and deep."

"Did he mentioned where they took her."

"Nope, after saying this he left."

"Did you tried to call him?"

"Yes, but his phone was off."

"We need to find him. Do you know anything about him? I mean his apartment, his friends or anything?"

"Nope, after that we didn't meet. Also after his sister's he became distant."

"We need to find him.?

"Where do we even start?"

The phone rang before Ava could reply.

Startled, Priya moved over to pick it up.

Her face went white.

She didn't speak—a moment's silence.

Then slowly set down the phone.

"Mom?"

Priya turned towards her. "That was a recorded voice. Just breathing. As if someone had someone listening in on the other end."

Ava felt nauseous.

It was larger than she realized. Every step she took, every question she posed, someone watched. Heard.

"We have to go," she told him. "Just tonight. A hotel. Where we can think."

But when they packed their belongings, Ava hesitated.

Her phone vibrated again.

This time a picture.

Blurred. At a distance.

Ava.

On her balcony.

Through the window of her apartment.

She hadn't been by herself that night after all.

She sat down slowly, the image weighing on her.

They were in there.

They had been, for years.

"Mom…" Ava whispered. "They've already been in my apartment."

Priya clutched her hand. "We'll find Anish. We'll figure this out. You're not alone in this."

Ava nodded, though her insides screamed otherwise.

She scrolled back through her recent calls, stopping at a number she hadn't dared to dial before.

𝗥𝗼𝗵𝗶𝘁.

He hadn't called her in days.

He hadn't texted. No social media activity. Nothing.

Her fingers hovered over the contact.

She required someone who understood how to trace. Dig discreetly. Mingle.

She punched call.

The phone rang.

And rang.

Until eventually—

Click.

No voice.

Only static.

And then, just as the call hung up, a whisper over the line:

"𝗔𝘃𝗮…"

She gazed at the screen, shocked.

It was his voice.

Hardly there, but unmistakably Rohit.

Trapped. Fragile.

Then the line went dead.

She jumped up, thumping heart. "𝗛𝗲'𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼."

Priya stared at her, alarm in her eyes. "We have to be on our guard. Whoever's behind this… they're seeing everything."

Ava peered out of the window, the darkness of night extending into silence and shadows.

One week.

Her sister was alive.

Rohit was most likely taken.

And Anish could be the sole thread that tied everything together.

She took a silent oath as she held Anish's notebook tight against her chest.

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒆.

Even if it killed her.

.....

Before they can go, the front door of their house opened.

Her father came in, tired and weary eyes, like he hadn't slept for many nights.

'Wasn't he on a business trip?' she thought.

"I got a clue. She is alive." He said.

Priys's eyes widened. "But I couldn't find her exact location."

"Who are you talking about? My sister?"

"She knows." Priya said.

Her father, Prashant Malhotra nodded. "Yes, we firstly thought she is dead but then we started getting clues."

"So basically , only I was the one oblivious of all this."

"You were very young, Ava." Her father said.

"So what now, then." Ava asked in furious tone.

"If I MYSELF hadn't get any clues, you both wouldn't have told me, right? Moreover, not you were the one saying 'Just forget your sister, she is a past, move on'."

"We wanted to save you, honey."

"Save me? Save me from whom? From those with whom I am dealing now? 𝘼𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚."

Both parents looked at each other. They know they were wrong. They should have told them this before hand. But now, now there is no going back.

"Kindly tell me the whole story." Ava requested.

They didn't answer and began to move.

"We have to find Anish." Priya said, avoiding the question.

Ava sighed and move towards the car.

.......... 

𝗔𝘃𝗮'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩:

Right now we are going to an abandoned building, where Anish was last scene.

"I hope he is fine." Priya said.

But Ava was having a bad feeling. "Something is wrong."

She looked at her father. His fingers were digging in steering, knuckles turned white.

"We have reached." Parshant said.

.......

The darkness was heavy with quiet, punctuated only by the distant thrum of the city that never actually slept.

Ava's car drove through the desolate streets, the gravity of what they had just discovered weighing heavy on her chest like a vice.

Anish — her brother — was in there, somewhere in that abandoned building, alone, or worse. The cold sting of fear inched up her spine.

Priya sat next to her, wide eyes but firm. "We have to be careful, Ava. Whoever is responsible for this. they're always watching."

Ava nodded, but the words sounded empty. Watching. Listening. Every step, every breath, counted and documented by unseen eyes.

The abandoned building loomed before them — a skeleton of a structure engulfed by time, its shattered windows black eyes staring back.

Memories of Anish's final moments flashed in her mind. Why did he go there? What did he seek?

The engine died, and quiet enveloped the car like a shroud. They got out, the sound of gravel crunching beneath their feet loud in the quiet.

Ava's heart thundered as they walked toward the broken entrance.

"Anish," she whispered to the darkness, voice shaking. "Where are you?

Within, the air was stale, heavy with dust and rot. The walls, pocked with graffiti, told secrets of bygone days.

Ava's flashlight cut through the blackness, illuminating shattered furniture, splintered glass, and movement that seemed to just barely lurk beyond reach.

A faint noise , a whisper, a cough, a cry?

Ava stood stock-still. "Anish?"

A feeble voice called out, "Ava… help…"

.......