"Oh man... not this again!" I exclaimed, covering my face with the palm of my hands.

"No no no- don't get me wrong... you will just have to make a call, that's it!" Avinash stated, resting his arm on my shoulders as a form of assurance,

"A call..?" I inquired, lowering my hands,

"Ha ha, just trust me on this one," he replied, "It's gonna be a hell~ lot of fun!" 

"Huh...! Who's the target?" I inquired, wearily leaning on the tree next to me,

"HA Ha ha, that would be my one and only, sweet room mate!" he announced, super excitedly.

"Roommate... you mean, Proloy?" 

"Exactly my friend, you are on a roll today!" he cheered, jumping all over the muddy ground, "Okay, so call him and ask something like, 'Hey man, do you know where Avinash is?' "

"Okaaay...!?" I voiced, hesitantly, at his unusual request.

"Brooo... Don't worry at all!" he assured, gently punching on my right shoulder,

"Hmm, okay okay," I replied forcing my casual flow of words,

"But wait... there's just one constraint you need to keep in mind-" he added, "Make sure to act like you have no idea about my whereabouts, whatsoever..!" 

As I stood there gaping at her name, my heart sank yet again into that pit of unending despair... All of my pent up emotions from the morning slowly began creeping upto my conscience bringing forth an unbearable taste of misery. 

"Hello...?" Avinash expressed, interrupting my flow of thoughts and *WhoA!* almost jumpscaring me back to reality! Getting back to the scenario at hand, I quickly scrolled out her name from the visible area of the screen and clicked on Proloy's contact intiating the phone call.

"Now, That's the spirit!" Avinash commented, wearing that enigmatic smile on his face once again. "Oh yesss..." he added, "Turn on the speakers, you know," 

"Uh... okay" I replied, hesitantly turning the speaker on-

'PERFECT FREAKING RINGTONE.. AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!' 

I knew it was coming and yet my entire soul began screaming in protest against the melodic romanticism of the song that played out in absolute contrast to my sentiment... 

The ringtone kept playing for almost the entire permissible duration of the call and just at the moment when I was about to end the call out of sure frustration,

"H-hello *Aha ah..* ?" Proloy finally answered the call!

"Uh... Hello!" I greeted cheerfully, keeping a check on my overwhelming emotions..

"Y-yeah, Heyyy man, w- *Aha ah* (Coughing) w-w-what's up?" he answered, with a voice that sounded absolutely horrible for some reason. Avinash quickly covered his face with the palm of his hands to supress his exhilarated emotions,

"Hey man, are you alright?" I asked him, gaping at Avinash's weird reaction,

"Y-YEAH, Absolutely!! Wh- *AHA aha..* (Coughing horribly)" 

Avinash fell on his knees, squealing and tearing up, as Proloy continued struggling to answer from the other end. I began pinching my hands in order to prevent myself from giving into his infectious laughter...

"Hey man.." I continued, "Um.. I was just asking that u.. do you know where Avinash is?" 

"U-u-um.. Avi- *AHA AHa aha..* Avina- ...*Give it to me* !" 

Just as he was about to answer, it felt like someone snatched the mobile out of his hand. "Umm... Proloy?" I asked, staring at the screen of my mobile, totally dumbfounded.

"...H-hey, Hello...?" voiced someone from the other end after what seemed like a long pause, 

"Hello?" 

"Hey Dhriti, i-it's me.. Shushmin,"

"Sushmin?" 

"Yeah man, how are you faring these days Mr. Artist?" he inquired cheerfully, in complete contradiction with the mood of the situation

"I uh... I am absolutely fine, b-but what are you doing with Proloy's mobile? What happened to him?" I inquired, exchanging glances with Avinash, who had finally calmed down a little and was staring at my mobile wearing an iffy expression.

"Huh..! Listen man... Proloy is almost about to die, right now," he answered, an enigmatic touch in his flow of words,

"W-w-w...hy? What happened!?"  

"Okay listen bro, please don't freak out on hearing this- um.. basically we are of the impression that u... Avinash, our dear friend and your collaborator in Shilpi, is um... missing from last night," he disclosed, dramatically feeding the 'answers' to my keen and uplifted senses. Avinash quickly took out his handkerchief and covered his whole face with it, as he broke into his maniacal laughter once again. 

"W....HAT!?" I yelled, trying to uphold my act as the dots began connecting inside my head. "H-h...ow?" 

"That's the question that we all have been pondering too man," replied Sushmin, "Rup and the others really didn't want me to inform this to you but I think that you should be of able to help us in this current situation. Well by the way, where are you, right now?" he questioned, all of sudden,

"I-I... am just on my way to college... like, from the station, you know..." I replied, framing my answer on the basis of the three of them (Rup, Abhoy and Alo) being present at the scene.

"Okay then, do something- meet me near the pond beside the hostel dorms, as soon as you can," he suggested, 

"Uh... ok, I will do that," I replied, abruptly putting an end to the phone call.

"HA HA HA.....!!!" Avinash burst out laughing as soon as the call ended. He was at that point totally exhausted and was leaning on a tree to keep himself from falling.

"You are missing... since last night!? How in the hell-"

"I-It's a loooo... oong story," he replied, trying to catch his breath. 

"It must be.." I complained, thinking about the suspicious facade that he had been putting up all along. 

"He he he...!"

'Huff... finally!' Now that one major part of the mystery had gotten unpacked, a sense of relief began circulating across my entire body, slowly returning me to back to a state of composure. I could feel it all once again- the crispy smell of the rain-soaked Earth, the warm atmospheric ambiance, and, overall, the light breeze blowing at me from over the...

"Why, what happen-" 

"Oh Shit..." he muttered, realizing the situation we were in after glancing at the sky and our surroundings. "L-let's head back, immediately!" he declared, fear evident in his expression. "Quick, Turn on your mobile flashlight!" he commanded, doing the same himself. "This is really bad...!"

The woods around us had gotten enveloped in a thick curtain of darkness making the pathways nearly invisible. "It's gonna rain at any moment now...!" warned Avinash, from behind me as I turned backwards while adjusting my eyes to the low visibility conditions inside the woods. An instinctive feeling of danger had gotten my senses on high alert. After letting the photoreceptors on my retina to secure somewhat of a hazy visual inside the woods, as soon as I turned on the flashlight of my mobile- "wWHo~OAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA----!!!!" I screamed, dropping my mobile and leaping backwards, absolutely freaked out by the scene that unfolded before my eyes-