The old wooden floor creaked slowly under the massive steps. A small boy hid inside his blanket, praying for the nightmare to pass by. The window made a rattling sound when the wind flew past by, startling him. He was shivering, but he did not come out of the blanket. The door made a wailing sound as the mysterious shadow slowly opened the door. The other boys were fast asleep, but he could not sleep. Every night he felt this nightmare coming towards him. He breathed heavily under his blanket and waited for the nightmare to pass by. The wooden floor creaked slowly under the heavy footsteps of the stranger. He could hear the faint snoring of the boy above his bed. I should have taken the upper bed while I had the chance. The heavy breathing continued. Suddenly there was a huge flash in the sky as he could see a dark shadow moving in the room. The window beside his bed opened due to heavy winds and rains started to drizzle inside. The lightning and thundering kept on coming one after another as the winds kept on hitting the windowpanes heavily.

The shadow moved around the room as the boy kept on looking at the shadow. Suddenly, the shadow turned around. He gasped in fear and closed his eyes. He knew it's all over. He kept on praying and kept his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he could see the bright rays of the sun falling inside the room. Everything looked normal. He got up from the bed and looked around. Everybody was still asleep. It was still early morning and being a Sunday, and no one had gotten up early. Previous night they all watched a good horror movie. Maybe I was having a nightmare. Saying it as he started to move towards his bed, he was shocked to find out the upper bed was empty. He ran towards the bed. He may have risen early for exercise, but the mattress did not look like someone has got up and left for exercise. The sheets looked like someone got dragged away from it. It was ruffled, and the pillow was thrown on the side. The most important thing was the boy's specs were still lying next to the bed on the book he was reading.

He ran downstairs to inform about it. As he reached downstairs, he was shocked at seeing it. The entire living room was in a mess. There was no one in the room. He ran towards the kitchen. It was clean and tidy, but still, he could not see anyone. 'May... May, where are you?' There was no answer. He ran towards the room adjacent to the kitchen, which was a big hall. It had sofas lying in the corner. A fireplace still burning from the last night's fire. The TV cabinet was on the opposite side of the fireplace. The place looked tidy. 'Rameez...Rameez.' Still no answer. Now he panicked and ran to the other rooms calling other names. 'Rajesh... Rameez... May... Gopal.' No one answered. He ran upstairs to his room to wake everyone up.

All the other boys were still sleeping. He started waking up everyone. All were still reeling under the influence of sleep when he announced, 'Raghu is missing, and so are May, Rameez, Rajesh and Gopal.'

'They must have gone out for some work and Raghu must be outside playing.' A boy said, rubbing his eyes.

'I checked everywhere. There is no sign of anyone. We have to call the police.' He was almost in tears saying it.

The eldest of them all calmed him and assured everyone that everything is all right, and he will personally check and inform the authorities. He went downstairs, leaving all the boys in the room. Rakesh roamed around the house. The house was silent. The entire house was in a mess raising his suspicion that something might have happened over here. There was no sound around. He went to the back of the house and found out that it was empty. Last day's laundry clothes were kept hanging on the wire for drying. The entire area looked deserted. Some junk items were lying on one corner of the boundary. Buckets were still lying near the well. The plants were not watered yet. Something wrong had happened here. As he ran towards the entrance door and was about to open it, he felt someone was standing at his back. As he turned around, suddenly he was hit by a sharp blow, and he fell unconscious on the floor.

With it, his eyes suddenly opened. He was sweating profusely. It was 2:19 am. Abhay looked around. It was still raining. The rainwater fell on the glass windowpanes, and it gave a blurred effect. He stood near the window and looked outside. It has happened again.

The phone rang. Inspector Madhav was not on his desk. He was on his regular patrolling duty. The phone kept on ringing, and it stopped. The other phones in the station kept on ringing. The sub-inspector, John, received the call. He noted down the details and kept the receiver down. 'Where is Madhav sir?' The constable answered, 'Maybe on his patrolling duty. He must be coming back now.'

After some time, they heard the screeching of the SUV outside the station. The door opened, and Inspector Madhav came out of it. The sun rays reflected on his aviator as he walked towards the station. The constable standing outside the station gave him a salute to which he responded with a smile. On the entrance, he met John. 'Yes, John. What is it?' John started to explain to him the details of the phone call.

He reached the spot. The police were already there. The barricades were placed throughout the perimeter of the crime scene. Civilians, media and every non-police personnel were kept out of it. They did not want anything to go out. Madhav went inside the house. The house reeked of burnt flesh. The house was entirely consumed due to the fire. The walls were covered in soot. Everything inside was burnt. The forensic team were already in the scene, collecting evidence. Remains of the bodies were removed from the debris and were transferred into body bags. It felt like the fire had engulfed everything and everyone inside the house. Madhav moved from room to room to check for any evidence. An officer came running by and started, 'Sir, we found some of the boys. They were out during the time of the incident.' Madhav's eyes sparkled, and he rushed towards the boys.

The boys sat in the corner. Some police constables surrounded them. They were covered in blankets and were shivering in fear. From the look of them, it was sure that no one would be able to talk anything at that moment, but Madhav had to know. He came near them and spoke, 'Hello boys, I am Inspector Madhav. I am sorry about your loss, but can you tell me what happened?'

The boys looked at each other, but none of them spoke. Finally, one guy who seemed like the eldest spoke in a feeble voice, 'Si...Sir, someone was there i... inside the house. That p...p...person killed Rameez and the others. We were out of town with Gopal for a competition in the neighbouring town. When we reached, we saw the entire house was in flames.'

'How did you know it was someone who killed them and set the house on fire?' inquired Madhav and at that time an old guy in his late sixties arrived and started, 'Please spare them the horror. They have seen enough for today. They need rest. Please leave them alone.' Before Madhav could say anything, Gopal took them away with him. The nine boys looked helpless and terrified. Madhav was sure they knew something.

Abhay sat in his balcony with his coffee. He was still thinking of the dream. This dream may be different. I think I can save them. It may be an indication. He sipped on his coffee and continued reading his newspaper. His mobile chimed. It was Vipul. They had a meeting today. He was on his way to pick him up.

The SUV stood as the sun shone brightly on it. Abhay came out of the lift, wished the security guard and boarded the SUV. 'I messaged you for a reason so that you could be here when I reach, but still, you made me wait.' Complained Vipul. Abhay laughed and said,' I started winding up things when you messaged me. I was waiting for your message.' With it, they both laughed and started for the meeting.

The road was pretty busy for this time of the day. They had taken the other route to reach faster, and now it seems they are stuck here. They could see a swarm of people standing in front of a ruined building. All they could see was smoke coming out from ram shackled house. Fire brigade team were on work. There were many police vehicles around, and they had made a circle so that nonofficial persons cannot enter the area. 'It seems something terrible happened here.' Abhay said as he kept on looking at the place as they crossed the area.

The place looked similar. On the far end, Abhay saw the boys standing in a group with an older adult. Suddenly, something flashed in front of Abhay, and he was startled by it. 'What happened, Abhay?'

'Nothing. This can wait. I think we have reached our meeting place.' Abhay informed him.

Vipul parked the SUV, and they started to move towards the office building. As they were going inside, Abhay looked at the direction of the house, and he felt strangely uncomfortable about it.

Meanwhile, the fire had been completely put out. Inspector Madhav decided to go inside the debris and search for any clue. He called Kumar and said, 'Take the children and their guardian to our guest house. Ask them to stay there, and I will talk to them later.'

Madhav removed the debris and moved inside. The whole place was burnt down. The walls had turned black. The rays of the sun were skidding its way through the broken glasses of the windows. Some quantity of ashes had not settled until that time and were floating around. The stairs were burnt and broken. It was not possible to go up. Temporary arrangements were being made to go upstairs. Until that time, Madhav decided to check the other places.

He moved around the living hall. The books on the shelf had already burnt away. Some lucky titles remained half burned. Little Gulliver travels won the race of being half burnt. It could still be read. It was Madhav's favourite storybook when he was a child. He moved towards the shelf where many photo stands were kept which were already burnt. Some showpieces were kept, which were half burnt. As he moved around, he saw all the wall hangings were burnt away. The sofas, chairs, tables and TV were consumed in the fire entirely. There was no sign of revival. He decided to move towards the other room.

He reached the kitchen. Maximum house fires start from the kitchen. He moved towards the gas pipeline to check it. Suddenly the forensic guy spoke, 'We checked the gas pipeline and all the others connected to it, there is no leakage in it. It seems the fire started in some other place. We have to wait until we arrange for us to go upstairs.' Madhav nodded in agreement and moved towards the attic room.

The attic room felt like a bonfire. Everything inside it was burnt. Madhav made a mental note, and it seems that all the extra things of the house were kept here. The room was entirely dark. He clicked his torch and looked around. There was a cold silence all over. A swift cold wind flew past him, and he was startled. He looked around. There was nothing except for the debris of the burnt goods. He walked inside. His boots crushed the half-burnt goods and made crackling sounds as he moved ahead. Suddenly he realised that he heard another set of footsteps. He turned around, but all he could feel was a cold gush of wind. He bent down to inspect the things when he heard a sound in a corner. He directed his torch towards that direction when suddenly he heard someone running in the other direction. He turned around and saw nothing. The room felt cold. He was shivering. As he moved towards the sound, he felt something in his side, and as he looked around, he was startled and fell on seeing a small boy in tattered clothes, face smeared in soot, blood dripping out from the side of his lips. He could see a deep cut on his throat. He dragged himself to the door and came out. He was sweating profusely as he went out of the house. He looked around and looked around at the house. As he looked above, he could see the same boy standing in the room upstairs.

The meeting went well. Abhay and Vipul were at the coffee house enjoying their success. But Abhay was a bit disturbed. There was something which was troubling him. Vipul inquired, 'What happened? The meeting went well. Now, what is troubling you?'

'Nothing Vipul. I think I know something about the building. I think I have seen it.'

'Did you have another vision?' questioned Vipul. Abhay nodded. 'I am not exactly sure about it, but I think it was the same building.'

'Should we contact Inspector Madhav?' asked Vipul. 'No, not now. Even I am not sure. Let's see if this happens again, maybe we can talk to him.'

As they drove past the building, Abhay looked at it. This time the crowd had dispersed. The whole building was sealed off. A patrol vehicle stood near the building. Abhay kept on watching as they passed the building. He saw Inspector Madhav walking out of the building, his uniform looked dirty, and he looked worried.

Madhav had asked all the children and their guardian to meet him in the station. He wanted to talk with everyone. The nine boys were still trembling. The older adult sat in the side, waiting for Madhav. Madhav asked the old man to come.

As they sat in the room, Madhav started, 'To start with, I am sorry for your loss. Earlier we had dismissed this case as an accidental fire incident, but according to some complaints, we got to know that this was not accidental, and someone was behind it. We want to be sure before closing the case as a fire accident.'

The older man flinched a bit. 'My name is Gopal. I am the supervisor of the orphanage. This is run by Sanskar Charitable trust which has other such special homes. We bring orphan homeless children to our homes, and we take care of them. This home is taken care by me. We have fifteen children in here. May is our cook, Rajesh is our gardener and also assists the children to go to school, and Rameez is our domestic help.'

'Who is this Rameez? The children were talking about him that someone killed him.' inquired Madhav. 'The children were too terrified and were blabbering. That day only Rameez was there with the other children in the house.' said Gopal. 'Who were the other children?' asked Madhav. There was a cold silence, after which he started to speak, 'Sumit, Aman, Peter, Abdul and Sadiq.' 'These are five names. You said there were a total of fifteen children in the house.' Gopal did not say anything. He adjusted his specs, wiped the sweat from his forehead and bowed his head. 'Raghu has been missing for some days. We have been trying to locate him.'

'So why did you think so much? Have you lodged a missing report at the station?' asked Madhav.

'No sir, children in these homes run away for a few days, and after that, they come back. We were searching for him. Even May has gone to her village but has not returned to date. Rajesh has also gone to his village.'

'So, have you informed them?' questioned Madhav.

'Yes, sir. I tried calling them, but their phones were not reachable. I think the village has no proper signals. They would come back in a few days.' informed Gopal

This was suspicious for Madhav. 'Give all the details outside. Now I want to talk to the children.'

None of the children spoke much except for Rakesh. 'Sir, I know I may sound strange, but I am sure there was someone who killed Rameez and burned down the house along with the others.'

'Why do you think so, Rakesh?' asked Madhav.

Rakesh wiped his brow and whispered slowly, 'A few days ago, Raghu also disappeared from our home. They did not inform anyone. We kept on saying that something happened to him, but Gopal chacha (uncle) won't believe us. He said Raghu would come back in some days. He consoled us by saying that children like him run away and come back after some days.'

Even Gopal said the same thing to Madhav. 'But why do you think something has happened to Raghu? He must have run away.' inquired Madhav.

'Sir, Raghu loved this place. Even though we had some issues, but he loved this place. He knew the importance of a roof over the head. He had a horrifying past, and when he was brought to our home, it took him some time to have a proper sleep in the night. He would never leave the place. He was involved in the work and was good in studies also. Why would he leave a life which he loved?' Rakesh said in a sad tone.

He asked all the children and Gopal to retreat to the place where they were kept. As they boarded the police vehicle, a pair of eyes kept an eye on them from the other side of the road.

The house was dark. His eyes blinked. He could not see clearly as it was dark, but he felt that everything was upside down. Suddenly, he realised he was lying on the ground. As he tried to get up, a cold shiver swept down on him. He trembled and looked around. There was silence all over. He decided to move his hand all over trying to find the light switch. But he could not find any. He tried to move towards the other room but got hit by a big shelf in front of him. He winced in pain and looked for additional opportunity when suddenly the lights came back.

He was in the same house. But this time everything was burnt. All the decorative items on the shelves were lying on the ground, and many of the items were half or wholly burnt. Some books were fully burnt, some were still burning. The chandelier was hanging from a single hook and may fall any time. The lights in the corridor buzzed. He moved outside towards the dining cum kitchen, which was connected to the hall by the passage. As he walked, the lights kept on flickering, and wall hangings were on the ground. There were shattered glass pieces everywhere. A hanging lamp was swinging in full force, creating a shadow on the wall. As he sauntered, saving himself from the glass pieces, suddenly his feet fell on a piece of glass, and he shrieked in pain. The sound from the dining room fell silent.

He hid behind a curtain for some time. After some time as he moved ahead, he could see a woman lying in the pool of blood. He could see multiple stab wounds on her body. He heard a swift sound as he turned around and he saw the door to the attic getting closed. He ran towards it and found it to be locked. At that moment, he heard a loud shrieking sound from the top. He ran towards it. As he jumped on the stairs to reach the first floor, he saw a door closing. He ran towards it and opened it. He was shocked by what he saw.