ArHi SS! Escape Velocity [Completed] - Page 17

You have this uncanny ability to get your readers hooked onto your stories from the very beginning...gravity was like that for me..read the first chapter and just cudnt forget about it...escape velocity had the same effect. Very intriguing updates. Waiting for the story to unfold. I havent understood what was it that Khushi experinced...will wait for your updates.

Chapter 03: Crimson tiles and crime scenes

"Sir, you can't go in there without wearing these," a constable said handing him a pair of plastic shoe protectors to be worn at crime scenes. His grim face didn't betray the feeling of despair he felt at the moment. He wore them as suggested by forensic investigator and walked inside. He stood on threshold of dining room and the sight made his stomach convulse making him take several steps back.

"Are you okay sir?" Inspector asked him noting his ill expression. He nodded mutely and took several breaths to calm down. After several moments he walked inside the crime scene.

The floor was painted red and the victim was on the floor, naked and skin from her torso and thighs were removed. She was bound, gagged and blindfolded. The victim was found by her house help who arrived in morning to do her daily chores. Shukla rested his entire body weight on his toes and bent his knees to resemble a dancer's posture.

"How did she die?" He asked the aging medical examiner - Victor. The older man pointed at her neck which was slit in one smooth motion.

"All the blood you see around here is because of that. Her skin was removed very carefully without blotching even once," Doctor Victor said. "You see this?" He asked pointing to her abdomen which had patches of red tissue displayed violently. "She was probably still alive when she was skinned."

"Are you sure?" Shukla asked feeling incredible amount of rage against the person who could think such an extreme form of torture.

"I am not very sure yet. But once I check tissue samples back at my lab, I can confirm then." The doctor replied.

His phone rang breaking his concentration. "ACP Shukla," he said on the phone flatly, his eyes looking over every item in dining area.

"What do you think?" It was the commissioner. Shukla sighed at the untimely intrusion.

"It's a f**king mess out here. There is too much of blood on her and on floor." Shukla answered simply and felt perverse satisfaction when his boss's breath hitched.

"Is it -?"

"I don't know sir. I can't say for sure if this case is connected to the ones from last two years. There are only two commonalities between the victims: they are all young women aged between twenty five and thirty, living alone and one of their body part missing. " Shukla replied noncommittally.

"What's your best guess? Could it be the same guy who killed those five women?"

"I am not sure sir. The level of violence, lack of forensic evidence and the lack of sexual assault do point in that direction but it could have been anybody. I will have to reread the old cases once more to even make an educated guess." Shukla had no intention to give a confirmation on perpetrator in a case which was still under primary investigation. "And besides, no one knows the older cases like Arnav. We all studied the case files prepared by Arnav sir," he added for good measure.

"Well, he isn't around for another three months Shukla so this is your headache now."

"Yes sir." Shukla replied politely. Commissioner hung up wishing him luck. Shukla knew about Arnav's suspension, of course. Arnav was his senior at the police academy and they knew each other socially too.

"Inspector, has anyone spoken to neighbors yet?" Shukla asked walking towards the victim. Seeing inspector shake his head he cocked his head and said, "Let's get started then."

*****

Kausalya supraja ramapurva sandhya pravartate |

Uthishta narasardula kartavyam daivam ahnikam ||

Her eyes snapped open when the first verse of suprabhata was just about to be finished. She threw the covers away from her body and sat cross legged and closed her eyes. It was her daily ritual to meditate and concentrate on the dreams she dreamt in the night. She generally managed to remember most if not all of it. The dream sequences flashed in her head like a bunch of film reels from various movies stuck together. She immediately jotted them in a journal which she maintained to log her dreams.

She jotted down the fairly complicated sequence of the dreams she had dreamed and read through her notes once more hoping to find connection between them. Shaking her head at the absurdity of few things there, she hurried out of her bed. The house they lived on was only few yards away from a small temple which had its first puja as early as half past five in the morning. As a wake-up call, the priest played suprabhata which could easily be heard by a dozen houses. Khushi had found waking up to the melody exhilarating. She had begun to start her day by listening to M. S. Subbalakshmi's melodious voice waking up the lord.

She was on temple premises after a quick bath, just when the priest would have finished first round of puja and the old man would offer her holy water mixed with basil and edible camphor. He spared her a couple of minutes from his busy schedule as he sat inside the idol room while she sat on the other side and listened to him speak, with rapt attention. She questioned him on beliefs, spirituality, dharma, karma, gnana and sometimes about existence itself. She struggled to let go of science and embrace beliefs without prejudice. The old priest smiled and asked her to practice patience. She left the temple with prasada - freshly grated coconut mixed with jaggery and cardamom sprinkled for added after flavor. Her eyes had widened when the priest gave her a bowl made from banana leaves and seeing her expression, he gave her another. She thanked him heartily and bode goodbye. She walked back to the house bare feet, eating the sweet treat along the way.

"You are up awfully early," Khushi said seeing her friend awake and strangely fresh. Payal wasn't a morning person and disliked being woken up unless there was an emergency.

"You went to temple?" Payal asked ignoring her. Khushi nodded knowing what made Payal be awake this early in morning.

"I think we should go and see a doctor - in Bangalore, preferably." Payal said. Khushi shifted on her feet uneasily.

"Payal-"

"Last evening was your fourth epileptic attack in three weeks. I need to know what is going on Khushi. You were doing great for the past seven months and then we come here, you start writing and get worked up about it and your illness returns."

"I am not stressed Payal, come on. I don't know how writing can get me worked up to induce an attack," Khushi countered.

"Frankly I don't care. I want to you to get a check-up done today." Payal said sternly. "We are leaving in an hour, get dressed." She said and walked to her room.

Khushi sighed and nibbled on the jaggery-coconut mixture. She wasn't in a mood to travel three hours to hear how her nervous system was acting against her. But she knew that meeting doctor would make Payal little less nervous.

She was diagnosed with epilepsy three years before with seldom attacks. She was living with Payal already as they were old friends and roommates. Payal had always been close whenever she had an attack expect for previous night. Payal was freaked out about it as it had happened in crowded area. Arnav's name had slipped out when she had explained Payal about a man who irritated her for several minutes to go see a doctor.

His face swam before her eyes as she shimmied into tight jeans. He had spared her an annoyed look when she questioned the authenticity of the ID he carried. His ID had triggered a memory and a familiarity about his voice had set in. In her memory she had seen him wearing a police uniform which was a little unsettling. But he had gone and harped relentless about her health before she could haul her embarrassing ass back home.

A shadow passed by her window and she quickly turned around walking briskly towards it. It was dawn and except for sounds coming from temple and birds, there wasn't anything. There was no one on street or in their compound but she could swear she saw someone pass by.

"What are you looking for?" Payal asked leaning on the doorjamb.

"Nothing," Khushi said softly and picked up her purse.

"Car will be here in ten minutes. I will make you some coffee," Payal said walking towards kitchen. Payal silently followed her but stopped at the threshold of her room. She turned back and looked at the window. The inactivity of it bummed her a little and shook her head thinking about mind playing tricks on her.

What she saw previous evening in one of the episodes had left her raw and...scared. She couldn't bring herself to write the scene down but there was a need born in the pit of her stomach prodding her gently at first and violently now to pen the scene down.

She wondered if it was safe to ask the doctor if extremely violent hallucinations came for free with epilepsy. She decided against it once she realized how ridiculous the thought sounded.

I am not rushing with the beginning because of various reasons but the pace will be past after a dozen or so chapters. I have already mentioned that its a dark FF given the subject matter and I am thinking of putting a PG warning. Let me know what you think of it. Does this FF require a PG or NC-17 warning for violence? I am not sure. Your inputs are much appreciated.

Few frequently asked questions:

a) Khushi's age: She is somewhere in her early thirties. Reason - you will know as you read further.

b) There was a comment about Arnav's age. Frankly its naive to think that a 25-27 year old ACP handling series of violent crimes without a lot of experience. The character has to be experienced with variety of cases to exude the kind of confidence, charm and intelligence cases like these need. I know this is fiction but I like to be practical at the same time. But this is just me, so there :=)

Ha, ha! 🤣We now have a well-pummeled and kneaded, brand spanking new ASR! Ha, ha! I love the sight of him staggering back to his room falling to bits. RB, that was a very realistic description of the massage experience!

I've yet to make something of Khushi, in any case, her experiences are terrifying.

Btw, your statutory warning to the readers that this is going to be a dark FF raises a question.

Am I to understand a 'dark FF' is an euphemism to mean the story is not going to be a fluffy romance. Fair enough,that makes perfect sense to me, and I have no query.

Or does 'dark FF' mean a lot of angst, and unredeemed sadness. leaving us totally wrung out at the end of it all? No I am not being patronising, this is a genuine query. Does the story necessarily have to be dark? Can it not be a story about two lives intersecting and the resulting consquences for each without any romance or even any kind of direct relationship between the two?

I think my contention is life though life is generally dark, there is light and that the dark is meaningless without the light, just as the light is meaningless without the dark. So I'm not sure why you want to colour your story even at this early stage?

Oh, before I forget, that was superb description of the palace with the lights. An even superb description without the lights. Loved it.

Oops, just dscovered you've put in chapter 3 in the time it took me put in my comments about Chapter 2! Sorry!

Just read Chapter 3- got my answer to the 'dark FF' query- story has a lot of violence. Fair enough.

A warning about the violence might help with sensitive readers, not that there isn't horrific violence all around in the real world- that is so much more terrfying than a mere description of violence!

Chapter 3 has got me officially hooked onto this FF.

the skinning a live part reminded me an imagef rom the episode of bones mind ur discription made me cringe am complementing

Originally posted by: Japonica

Am I to understand a 'dark FF' is an euphemism to mean the story is not going to be a fluffy romance. Fair enough,that makes perfect sense to me, and I have no query.

Or does 'dark FF' mean a lot of angst, and unredeemed sadness. leaving us totally wrung out at the end of it all? No I am not being patronising, this is a genuine query. Does the story necessarily have to be dark? Can it not be a story about two lives intersecting and the resulting consquences for each without any romance or even any kind of direct relationship between the two?

When I say dark and color it so it say, its a statutory warning. This story is not going to be fluffy ride with unicorn and rainbows and sunshine. It will have fair share of violence, dead bodies, gory crime scenes and someone with a twisted sense of...living. The story has a dark tone to it given its premise and the two characters add on to it.

The other stuff like angst, sadness are natural by products of situations and it will be there if there is a precursor to it.

And this story isn't just about two characters. They are part of a story and they are not the story.

woah, does this mean khushi is able to get into the killer's mind and know what is going to happen? are these the visions that she gets?

What Khushi had hallucinated in the middle of street had actually happened in real? Is she a psychic- Khushi intrigues me.

Originally posted by: RockBarbie

When I say dark and color it so it say, its a statutory warning. This story is not going to be fluffy ride with unicorn and rainbows and sunshine. It will have fair share of violence, dead bodies, gory crime scenes and someone with a twisted sense of...living.

The other stuff like angst, sadness are natural by products of situations and it will be there if there is a precursor to it.

And this story isn't just about two characters. They are part of a story and they are not the story.

Thanks, RB, I got my answer after reading Chapter 3. Check my post, i have updated it. And yes, of course, the story is not these 2 characters and sadness and a questioning of base human nature is natural to such situations, I absolutely take your point.
And now I look forward to the reading the rest to find out who this twisted person is committing such horrifc crime and most important, to see that he or she is found and brought to justice.

And I love Payal.

Awesome one
thanx for the pm
Twinkle