He stood in front of the house. The house looked the same. But he did not feel the same while entering it. There was an uneasiness in him. The surrounding around the house has changed. Big buildings have surrounded his two-storey house. The garden in front of the house was unkempt, and wild grass had covered the entire area. The house was locked for many years. The walls needed a fresh coat of paint. Wild creepers had covered some parts of the wall. Why did I not take care of my house? He stood and kept on staring at his house.

'Listen, please come inside. There are many things to be done.' a middle-aged plump lady came outside to call him.

He nodded and went inside. He kept on looking around. He could feel rows of cycles kept inside his house premises and children running inside with books in their hands. He could see some boys putting all the cycles in proper rows and binding them in chains so that it does not get stolen. Looking at it, he went inside, and he could see some girls climbing the narrow spiral stairs towards the first floor. He could hear the giggles and faint whispering. Suddenly, the blurred images vanished, and he wiped his tears and went inside to the other room. The first floor had one small living room, followed by a bedroom and a big kitchen, which ended with an open backyard. There was a well at a corner. The garden looked wild, and a huge effort would be required to maintain it. The big coconut and banyan trees stood tall, surrounding the backyard boundary. He came to the kitchen where the plump lady was standing near the kitchen sink with one hand on her waist and the other on her forehead. She looked tensed.

'What happened?' asked the main in a low tone.

'The pipeline is jammed. The water is not going. I had said to complete the work before coming back, but you were in a hurry.' complained the lady.

'Don't worry, Radha. Tomorrow morning the plumber, electrician, and carpenter would come. I have already informed them.' said the man to his wife.

Radha said nothing and left the kitchen with a grumpy face. The man smiled. Years have passed, with being together, and, still behaves like a college student. The man was in his fifties. His thin hairline was completely white. His face was narrow, and a golden spectacle rested on his nose. He looked old for his age. He was slim and tall. Years of cycling have made his legs strong. Jiban Jyoti had taken voluntary retirement from his government teaching job and has returned to his town, his own house to spend his retirement days. There were many memories attached to it. He hoped to have a relaxed period in his house. Maybe I can start my old passion once again. Thinking about it, he started to retire to his bedroom on the first floor. The darkness of the night had engulfed the entire sky. It was time for Jiban Jyoti to sleep. He locked all the doors, looked around, and climbed the narrow stairs, where he could still hear the whispers and the laughter of the children.

The morning was busier than always in the police station. The phones kept on ringing. All the officials were busy with their work. Sub-inspector, John was already busy with his work when he received a call. He looked grim while listening to the call. He noted down the address and got ready to go to the spot. He did not inform Madhav, as he wanted to analyse the situation before informing him. Moreover, he did not want to spoil Madhav's holiday. It was after such a long time; he had gone for a break.

The place was not far away from the station. He reached the place and saw a small crowd in front of the house. He could hear cries from inside. He asked the constables to scatter the crowd, and he went inside to enquire about the incident. The house was scattered all over. Many pieces of stuff were still packed, but the unpacked stuff was scattered all over. A few men were sitting in the living room.

'We received a call about a missing person.' said John.

'I had called you, sir. The husband of the lady has gone missing. They had shifted here yesterday.' said a man with paan stained teeth.

'How do you know them?' asked John.

'Sir, they used to stay here 15 years ago. Jiban Babu's had a transfer to a different government school, and they had left this place. He was a nice person. Please, sir, find him.' said the man.

He went inside with two female constables. A group of women sat around Radha, who was wailing loudly. She was beating her chest and was crying. She had a kurta in her hand, which had blood on it. That's evidence. John thought.

'Excuse me, please can you tell us what happened and is it the kurta your husband was wearing?' asked John.

She hugged the kurta even tighter. John signalled the female constables to collect the kurta and escort her to another room to know about the incident. The female constables did not find it easy but managed to do both the tasks. They asked all the ladies to leave the room.

'Ma'am, please tell us, what happened so that we can help you?' said John, as he sat in front of Radha.

'We came back to our house yesterday after 15 years. I had complained about the leaking kitchen sink. He had said all the workers would be here today. This morning, I woke up and found him missing on the bed. I thought he had gone for his morning walk. I got up and got ready for my morning rituals. When I reached the balcony, I found his kurta, which he was wearing last night, covered in blood. I searched for the entire house, but could not find him. All the doors were locked from inside. I could not understand what happened to him.' said Radha and started crying.

This was strange. He asked his constables to look around for any clues. He looked all over the place. There was no trace of forced entry. He called for the sniffer dogs. There was no sign of any entry. It was a strange case. He went to the balcony and asked the team to look for any clue. As he was looking at a corner, he saw a piece of white cloth lying in the corner, which could have been a waste cloth, but still, he collected it. He assured Radha that they would search him and asked the paan stained teeth to come to the station to file an official complaint.

As John moved away from the house, an old man came near him and whispered, 'This was meant to happen. Some things never leave you alone.'

Before John could ask anything, the old man vanished in a flash. He looked around but could not see him.

It was a full moon night. The sky was clear. There was silence all over. The streets sported a deserted look. A distant howling of a dog echoed the narrow street. The howling sound reflected an upcoming sinister happening. There was a strange eeriness in the atmosphere. The atmosphere felt heavy as if the entire burden of the society has been heaved upon it. The air was still. The leaves of the trees did not move a bit and looked like they belong to a painting. In the dead of the night, when no soul moved around, the faint knock of the stick was heard. It was the watchman who had the duty to cover the entire area.

All the houses were built closely in such a manner that one could climb into another house from the roofs. All houses were connected in such a manner. A dark shadow was jumping from one roof to another. As it was a summer night, many people were sleeping on their rooftops, but a shadow crept its way slowly across them until it reached the destination. The shadow flew around. There was no one around. The shadow stood on the balcony. It was time.

The shadow floated in the air for some time. There was no action from the shadow. The watchman had turned towards the street in front of the house. The shadow did not move from its position. The watchman passed by the house knocking on his stick and whistling. This was an alert signal for any anti-social elements to stay away from the area, as the watchman is under duty and alert. The sound also relaxed the people around, that their houses are safe. But tonight, this house is not safe. The shadow has reached its destination and was about to fulfil the job.

As the watchman turned around to the other street, the shadow stood in the centre of the balcony and removed a rope from the bag and threw it over the roof to tie. The shadow dragged a broken stool from the corner and climbed on it. In a flash, the shadow removed the tattered blanket around it and put the other end of the rope around the neck. In a sudden flash, the stool fell, and the person struggled for air as the rope pulled away from the life of that person. It was in moments when the life was pulled away and the lifeless body kept on swinging on the balcony. Suddenly, the shadow flew from that balcony and appeared in front of him. The face was half mutilated. The shadow had no eyes. Blood oozed out of the hollow socket of the eyes. The shadow was bleeding from all over. The shadow was trying to say something, but it was inaudible. Before the vision got blurred, the shadow pointed towards the house as Abhay woke up sweating. It was 2:19 am.

John started talking to the neighbours about the incident. No one had heard or seen anything on the night of the incident. As per the detail given by the wife, his husband was with her till late at night. The incident happened before the break of dawn. Someone must have seen anything. John kept on thinking about it. He and his team patrolled the entire area for any information. The watchman denied seeing or hearing anything.

'You were supposed to keep watch on this colony. Where were you when such a thing happened?' questioned John.

'Sir, pardon me. But I am the only watchman for the entire colony. It is a big area. My entire round takes nearly an hour. When I crossed this house, I saw nothing unusual. I did not see any unknown person or unusual activity around. All the faces I saw were the familiar ones coming late from their work.' said the visibly shaken watchman.

'For how many years have you been on duty in this area?' asked John.

'I have been in this year for about 10 years. Before it, my uncle used to be the watchman. He passed away, and I took over his job.' said the watchman.

John asked him to go. He went to his team to see if they have any information.

'No, sir. Many people around have moved to this area recently. Some of the old residents were with the victim's wife today in the house, but apart from them, all are new residents.' said the constable.

'Anything suspicious about this family or any enmity with anyone?' asked John.

'We asked the people. Some were reluctant, but they said they were a good, respectable family. Jiban Jyoti was a respectable government school teacher, who used to conduct private tuitions for children from various schools. He always encouraged children to study. Fifteen years ago, he got a promotion and a transfer, and they moved away from here. So, this is all everything had to say.' said another.

'Something is not right. People are hiding something. Why would someone vanish like that on the first night they shifted back?' questioned John. 'Did he run away or has been kidnapped? But there has been no forced entry. Anyway, let's do a perimeter search and see if we get something. Meanwhile, send the Kurta to forensics.'

He missed Madhav. But this time, he wanted to solve this case and did not want to disturb him. He was looking for the old man. That old man knew something which the others were hiding.

'Listen, did you get any information about the old man I was telling about? He definitely knew something. Search for every nook and corner. Meanwhile, let me talk to his wife once again.' said John.

'Hello, ma'am. I know this is not the right time. But to make our search more effective, we need to do everything in detail and please hide nothing. Did your husband had enemies or had he done any harm to anyone?' asked John.

'My husband is a good person. He has always helped people. He used to teach children. For children, who came from economically weaker sections, he used to teach them for free. When we shifted from this place, he continued the same in that place as well. Students loved him, and he was even planning to teach children here once again. I do not know what happened?' said Radha while crying.

'Please ma'am, control yourself. Did you find anything extraordinary during the night? Did you hear or feel anything which you missed informing us?' asked John.

Radha thought for a while and said, 'I think he woke up in the middle of the night. I was not completely awake, but I could feel him going towards the balcony. As I was in deep sleep, I said nothing. I think he did not come back after that. I was exhausted, because of the shifting.' said Radha.

'Thank you, ma'am. This is helpful.' saying it John came outside.

'I think Jiban Jyoti felt or saw something. He came to the balcony to check. Someone was waiting for him on the balcony. As he came outside, that unknown assailant jumped on him and in this process, he got injured, and his kurta got torn. It is very easy for anyone to come here, considering all the roofs of the buildings are connected.' said John to his team. 'What happened about the CCTV footage?'

'Sir, we have checked all the footage. There is nothing available on it. One striking thing was the camera in front of their house stopped working for some time. No feed was available at that time. The feed is available till 3:32 am, and after that, the feed is again available after 4 am.' said the constable.

'That's strange. Did you check the feed for other cameras as well?' questioned John.

'I checked some of them. All the feeds during that time are missing.' said another constable.

He collected the pen drive with the CCTV footage. The second day has passed, and still, they found no clue. I hope I find something in the footage.

As John sat in his study and played the footage. He started from night 10 pm and kept on scrolling it slowly. He could see the watchman crossing the house in the night. As the footage was approaching 3:32 am, he saw a sudden flash, and the footage got disconnected. After some time, the normal footage around the time from 4 am came back. He again dragged it to 3:25 am and played it again. The same thing happened at 3:32 am. His eyes reflected fear. There was something.

Abhay sat on his balcony with his hot cup of coffee. He was waiting for Vipul. He knew it, and he had to talk to Vipul. The sun rays shone directly on the balcony and spread its warmth inside the house. He heard the doorbell ring. He went to answer it. The morning newspaper had arrived. As he picked up the newspaper, Mr Sharma was coming back from his morning walk.

'Good morning, Sharma uncle. How was your walk?' asked Abhay with a smile.

'Good morning, Abhay Beta. It was soothing, as usual. From tomorrow, you should also join me.' Mr Sharma said. They both laughed and parted ways.

Vipul was driving to Abhay's house. He knew the time has come for the next assignment. It had been over 8 months since they solved the mystery of Abhay's apartment. Times have changed, but the message is still the same. I got another one. This message holds special importance in their lives. He parked his vehicle and moved towards 2B.

'Hello, Abhay. Seriously, sometimes you should come over to my place instead of calling me.' said Vipul as he entered the house.

'Point noted, sir. Next time, when I get another vision, I won't even message you. I would land directly at your place.' said Abhay with a wicked smile.

'No... No, you can send a message before you arrive. I do not want to surprise my roommate.' said Vipul.

'She is your girlfriend, Vipul. Stop calling her your roommate. At least I know who she is.' laughed Abhay.

'Ok, ok. Now let's get to the point. Coffee?' asked Vipul.

The coffee was set, and they both sat on the sofa. Abhay sipped his coffee and narrated the incident in detail.

'I would have ignored it as another nightmare, but this time I realised, it had happened. The place looked similar.' said Abhay.

'Did you talk to Madhav sir, about it?' questioned Vipul.

'Did you forget that he is on leave? We can't disturb him.' said Abhay.

'What about, John sir?' replied Vipul.

'I haven't till now. I always inform you first to understand the gravity of the situation before informing them. Should we inform him?' asked Abhay in a confused tone.

'Yes, we should. Let me check with him and visit him in the station.' said Vipul.

As he removed his phone to call him, he received a call from John. They both looked at each other.

'Hello, sir. How are you? We were about to call you.' said Vipul.

'Hello, Vipul. You both together. That's great. Listen, there is something we need to discuss. Madhav sir is not here, and I do not want to disturb him. Can you come over to the station at 10 am today? We can discuss your stuff as well.' asked John.

'Sure, sir. We would be there at 10.' said Vipul.

'Get ready, Abhay. I think a new Supernatural adventure awaits us.' said Vipul with a smile.

Abhay and Vipul reached the station where John was waiting for them. They exchanged greetings and directly sat down for work. John was in a hurry. Before they could begin, he began.

'This is quite strange, but I felt I should ask you before going ahead. Two days ago, we received a call regarding a missing person. We have been on this case for the last two days, but we have found no link.' John informed the entire situation.

'While I was going through the CCTV footage, I found something odd before the feed was disconnected. Look at this.' He showed them the video on his computer screen.

Abhay was shocked. He kept on looking at the screen for some time. Vipul was stunned as he observed the odd thing which John was talking about. Silence prevailed over some time, which was broken by Abhay.

'This is the place I was talking about, Vipul.' said Abhay.

'Wh...What are you talking about?' questioned John.

'We wanted to meet you to ask about any death cases. Before that, you called us.' said Vipul.

'So, this means both of our cases are connected. Tell me, what did you see?' asked John.

Abhay explained his vision in detail, while John noted it down to see if there is any connection to the case.

'Is the disappearance of Jiban Jyoti connected to death? Are you sure this was the place?' asked Vipul.

'I am sure. I cannot forget the balcony. The dark skies formed a grim background when I witnessed the horrific incidents. The face was mutilated, and I could recognise the face.' said Abhay.

'We need to check the old police records. Meanwhile, I am looking out for an old man who lives nearby the house. He knows something. People in that colony are hiding many things.' said John as he called one constable to check the old records.

Abhay and Vipul went near the house. They looked around. Abhay could feel something. He was there earlier. John decided to go to the record room with the constable to search for old case histories. Abhay and Vipul moved around and try to extract information from people. But no one co-operated with them.

'John sir was talking about some old man. Let us look for him.' said Vipul.