The Rejection

7

While searching in his house and after questioning my brother’s friends, I got to know there was nothing that could help me with information. All of his friends told us where they were and it seemed that they all were innocent and had nothing to do with the murder of my brother. Some even told me he was in an off mood since he had arrived for the party, and he did not want to come in the first place but though he arrived at the party because he was forced by his friends, to attend the party. We questioned the guy who had forced him; we questioned him that was there any particular reason for him forcing Aarav to attend the party. He said he already had clarified himself in front of my father and was again saying that he did not have to do anything the murder and the only reason he forced Aarav to attend the party was, he wanted Aarav to be there on his birthday, nothing was intentional, if he knew Aarav would be killed after coming, he would have never even thought of inviting him to the party. We concluded that none of his friends were guilty and to know more I and Manan decided to go to our house, when I entered Aarav’s room, I busted out. I could not believe the fact that he was no more. All our memories started to float around my eyes. I could see his face everywhere in his room; it was like he never left. As if he was hiding and was expecting me to find him, just like the way we used to play hide and seek as kids. I wanted to find him but he was not hiding, though I checked all the cupboards and behind the curtains to see if he was there- the way I used to do in childhood. I could hear his loud laughs like a child he did when he was caught by me. All memories were haunting and I was becoming weaker and weaker. 

I was sitting on the floor and when I was crying, I saw that one of his flooring’s wallpaper had loosened up. It was folded inside out. I tried to make it straight and pull it out from inside but at that time I realized that wallpaper had another wallpaper beneath it which was covering the flooring. I did not understand, it was never the case in my room. I tried to pull up that wallpaper which was the second one, just to check if it had another wallpaper beneath it. And as I presumed it was the case. There were three layers of wallpaper. I tried pulling out all the wallpapers, was unable to do so all by myself. I asked Manan to give me a hand. He hesitated to do so but later agreed on it because both of us thought, somehow there was a connection between his murder and that wallpaper/flooring. After pulling out all the wallpapers, we found nothing. It was just wallpapered, which were added for the sake of covering flooring, to protect it, which was ancient and faded. These wallpapers were bonded to each other very strongly and it was not each to pull out them, but we did to see if we could find out anything underneath it. We were thinking about excuses to make up if someone asks us why we pulled up those wallpapers without any reason and why did we mess with the flooring as it was all uneven and the faded old wallpapers were upfront for anyone to see it. I and Manan were just trying to put it back on the floor so that it would cover the floor temporarily and we would not have to face any more questions. When we were putting it back, that was when Manan’s attention was caught, on the backside of those wallpapers. On the backside of those wallpapers, something was drawn on. First of all, we thought it was some random designs that the carpenter might have drawn on when he was fixing those wallpapers. But when we looked carefully some arrows were drawn on the backside of the wallpaper. We knew, no carpenter would draw an arrow for taking up measurements and someone else might have drawn it. We decided to see where those arrows were ending and where it was going to lead us. Those arrows were leading to one particular corner of Aarav’s room. The corner was not visible easily as it was covered with long curtains of windows. We both followed those arrows and landed on a corner near Aarav’s closet, the closet was behind the curtain, and I never knew he had such a closet. I had come into his room so many times when I was a kid and even after we grew up though I had never seen it before. We decided to open the closet just to see why he had hidden it from us, and what was inside it. The closet was locked with a key and we did not find the key. Under the closet, the wallpaper had ending arrows and after pulling out all the wallpapers, on flooring one particular tile of flooring was missing. The missing tile made that flooring shallow and it was risky to stand on it or stand near it. We thought to cover up that shallow flooring, Aarav had made arrangements to hide the closet. We found one wooden block and decided to put it in the place of the tile so the shallow flooring would be covered with something. And we were putting out that wooden block we saw that instead of that tile- there was one diary. Diary seemed new and fresh; it was not ancient so it was clear it must belong to Aarav. Manan asked me not to open that diary and that we should not read, we were interfering in his personal matters. But I did not agree with him, I felt this diary could lead us one step closer to finding his murderer. Plus the way the diary was hiding, made me curious to see who had put it there and if Aarav had put it there, why did he chose that place, and what was so important in that diary that he had to hide it away like that. So out of curiosity and to know about his murder, I decided to open it. 

I opened his diary, details written were, “I cannot believe, I am actually writing this diary. There are many reasons for me to write it. First and for most is, I don’t think so, I will live long after knowing what I know, so I have asked the carpenter to add on new wallpaper to protect this diary and made such arrangements that If anyone could ever, get to reach to this diary and learn the story which was untold till now it would be someone close to me because no other person can come in my room and would dare to explore the hidden closet and wallpapers and would follow arrows till they reach this diary. The second reason for writing this diary is that someone should at least know, what had happened to that servant some years back. And how unfair it was. The third reason is, I cannot hide things away from my sister, but this is something which I could not reveal to her so it is better to write it off and share my feelings. The fourth and final important reason is, in this diary I have written, the secret formula of our abundant ackers, which also I do not want anyone else to know but only close people to me should know it, as they would not use it against my family. 

When I grew up, I saw my father taking my brothers one by one with him on Sunday evening to discuss something which was secret and should not be shared with anyone. Finally one day my day came too, he asked me to go with him; he took me to one place, which we had never imagined. No one except three-four people even knows about its existence. That place is the reason why our ancestors so reached, and even after having so much money, no one ever thought of leaving this old house. It is the place which was built by nature and later o was overtaken by our ancestors and by us too. My father took me there, he told me he was about to show me something that I would not be able to discuss with anyone, not even my brothers and especially my sister, Aakriti. He took me to the darkest part of the jungle, which was at a remote location and was not accessible to any other villagers. There is one hill, on that hill old trees have grown on, on the other side of the hill, there is one Cave. A huge Cave, which is the largest cave I have ever seen, it is so huge and large that, my grandfather had to make floors inside that Cave to protect what it has inside. Right now that Cave has five floors. Since it is Cave, floors are built underground and the fifth floor is at the deepest and at the base of the cave. The floors were built by our forefathers and were made so accurate and perfect with keeping in mind so small details. As the cave is holding the most precious things in the whole universe, our forefathers could not let anyone else know about the cave’s existence and the floors were built by them. They had made floors with such difficulties but it was all worth it. The floors were made in a way that each floor has an entrance that is very specific to that floor only and one cannot reach the other floors by just using the entrance of another floor. There are one specific entrance and exit one must follow to reach one specific floor.  So there are five ways one could reach those five floors individually. Though the cave was built by our forefathers, it was also supported by the nature and vegetation inside it.  

Inside that Cave, one would find anything. Trees have grown inside which gives different flowers during the monsoon season. There is one small waterfall, which might have created by that nearby old river. Banyan trees have grown on the Cave, whose aerial roots are hanging inside the Cave, and the shadow of roots in the night gives a spooky feeling. Some aerial roots are hanging above the cave. Humans have used and still are using Caves for various purposes. Humans have used Caves throughout history for burial grounds, shelter, and religious sites. But the use of cave which our ancestors did, and we were doing was something that no one had ever done it before. My father had also used and still uses it to protect his secret. As I said before my father would take me and my brothers one by one to that Cave, he showed each one of us a path to the Cave with one particular floor entrance. That was the reason that he did not take all of us together, and took us one by one so each one of us can know only one entrance of that particular floor and not all the floors together. My father was very practical and always takes decisions that are informed and are feasible in the given situation, he would not just do anything for the sake of doing it, and he had reasons to do it. So each one of us has seen Cave or we can say one part of the floor of Cave, which the other does not know of. 

My eldest brother was appointed to explore the second floor of the Cave. The second floor of the Cave has an entrance, well secret entrance, from the temple. Behind the temple, there are stairs, those stairs are too old. One or two stairs are even not visible as they are merged with the ground. The last stair which is visible on the ground is removable. The temple is old and the statues of gods are no more present in the temple, so no one uses it.  The stair which is removable, that stair leads to the entrance of the Cave, second floor of Cave. My second brother, Aahan, was appointed to the Cave’s first floor. The entrance of the first floor of the Cave is through the well, which is near a mountain. That well has been empty for so long and it has steps built inside in, and at the bottom of the well, one road is made which leads to the Cave’s first-floor entrance. My third brother, Aashray, was appointed to the Cave’s fourth floor. The fourth floor of the Cave’s entrance was through the jungle. In the jungle there is one old tree, an old tree has fallen on the ground and is so big that it has not been moved by anyone. So that tree is still lying on the floor for ages. The tree is quite heavy, but there is one weak spot of the tree’s branch from which the tree could be moved aside and it will lead you through the Cave. So the jungle was leading to the cave’s fourth floor.