Chapter 5: The Ghost in the Loop

Meera slowly opened her eyes. She saw Shekar in front of her. "Hey Meera. How are you now?" Shekar asked.

Meera responded, "A little better."

Shekar asked, "What happened? You were fine a moment ago."

Meera replied, "Hmm..." (She turned her head away from Shekar). "Is that all you ask a girlfriend? I expected more from you."

Shekar said, "But what else am I supposed to ask?"

Meera replied, "Do I have to tell you? Anyone else would say, 'Baby, how are you? What would I do if something happened to you? All I want is for you to be safe. I can't live without you. You're my heartmate, my soulmate…' But look at you, the same boring dialogues. 'What happened?' 'How are you?' 'Are you okay?' Ugh..."

Shekar said, "What happened to you all of a sudden? And you know I'm not good at saying those things."

Meera replied, "See? You're not even trying for my sake. You're hopeless."

Shekar said, "Okay, baby, how are you? Do you know how much I've missed you all these years? If anything had happened to you, I would have done something to myself and come with you."

Meera replied, "That's a little over the top."

Shekar said, "What am I supposed to do? This is all I've got."

Meera replied, "You really are hopeless."

Shekar said, "I'll practice and say it better next time."

Meera replied, "Don't bother. This is enough."

Shekar said, "Okay, haha."

Shekar again lost in his taught. 

Shekar’s inner voice: How many more hurdles will I face? And how many more things will happen the more I study this case? I putting her in a dangerous situation. This is not good to her.

Meera said, "Is that all? Aren't you going to ask me anything else?"

Shekar was confused. "Do you want something else?"

Meera replied, "Yes, I do. I'm very hungry. Feed me something, or I'll eat you."

Shekar asked, "What did I do?"

Meera replied, "I'll tell everyone you're pressuring me to get married."

Shekar said, "Hey, when did all this happen? We were fine, weren't we? What's suddenly wrong with you?"

Meera replied, "I love you too much. Brother-in-law, I can't control myself. Please, let's get married."

Shekar didn't know how to react. He just stood there without an answer.

Shekar said, "Why all of a sudden? This has never happened before."

Meera replied, "Now that I've come so close to death, I understand. I don't want to dye alone. When I taught that I was about to die. Nothing else came to my mind. Only you came to my mind. And I don't want to delay anymore. It doesn't matter what position you're in. I will marry you."

Shekar said, "This is so sudden. Give me some time to think. But before that, tell me what happened. Why did you suddenly faint?"

Meera replied, "It's my fault. I have a problem. I can't look at dead bodies. That's why I couldn't become a doctor. I thought it would be enough to be a police officer and deal with small cases. And that's what I did when you gave me the case files. But suddenly, you gave me a murder file. I didn't know what to do, and that's why this happened. I actually managed to control myself and read a little, but then it happened. It's because of the photographs."

Shekar said, "What did you read? What did you find out?"

(Flashback to before she collapsed. She was trying her best to focus on the case. But she couldn't get over the brutal murder. She somehow controlled herself and tried her best.)

Meera said, "The drilling machine they used on that body... it wasn't just one. It was a driller with many variations. But a murderer wouldn't use a driller with variations. They would use only one. Either that driller had a lot of variations, or the driller itself was a special kind. The size and dimension of the driller kept changing."

Then, when it got out of hand, she couldn't control herself anymore. She collapsed.

Shekar asked, "Is that possible?"

Meera replied, "Based on what I know about drilling machines, it's not usually possible. But there's a lot more to find out."

Shekar said, "Meera, that's..."

Suddenly, a person entered the room. With that person, a red smoke also filled the room. Shekar was already scared, but Meera, sadly, had no idea what was happening. Shekar tried to see who the person was. The red smoke was so thick that he couldn't see clearly. Slowly, the smoke cleared. Shekar looked at the person's face. They didn't have a head. Smoke was coming from their neck and body. Shekar was terrified at the sight of this weird figure. The strange figure took out a gun and shot two times.

Bang-bang… (gun shots)

Shekar was hit in the head. He was dead now.

Meera screamed loudly. All the doctors and family members rushed inside.

Cut to a red-colored screen.

Shekar woke up again. He was now with Meera at the police station. She was sitting in front of him, asking him about the food. "Are you going to eat or not?"

Shekar was very confused now. Extremely confused.

Shekar's inner voice: What's going on? Why am I suddenly here? Someone shot me. Why? Who hates me enough to kill me?

Meera was arranging the food box she brought for Shekar. She placed the food one by one, looked at the files, and said, "So, are you going to solve more cases? I've already heard from Dad that you've solved a few. I didn't believe it at first, but it seems it's true. You're studying very seriously."

Shekar didn't understand. "What? I'm solving cases? I couldn't even solve a single one no matter how hard I tried. Oh, maybe she's playin a prank on me. You're pranking me, aren't you?"

Meera said, "Why would I prank you? I'm just telling you what I heard. What's wrong with you? It looks like you've gone crazy from looking at the case files."

Shekar's inner voice: I'm solving cases?

Meera took a case file from the table. Shekar reacted to what she did. "Hey, you're not supposed to look at the case files," Shekar said. Meera replied, "It's okay. I'll just give them back now."

Meera showed Shekar his name and what he had solved in the case files. Shekar checked the file. He was shocked to see his name in the file. "But this is the case Meera solved, isn't it? So I've taken credit for the cases she solved? This... this is cheating, isn't it? It's wrong to use her intelligence."

Shekar wanted to tell Meera the truth. "Meera, I didn't solve this. You did."

Hearing this, Meera said, "Don't joke. And why would I solve it? I'm seeing these case files for the first time."

Shekar thought, That's right. She doesn't remember anything. The events that happened to me haven't happened to her yet. But if I'm in a time loop, who solved all these cases? Was it my previous self? What else did he do besides this?

Meera asked, "What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"

Shekar said, "It's nothing. Just thinking about the case."

Shekar remembered the brutal murder case—the body with many holes.

Shekar checked what was on the table.

As he was checking the files, he found one in the middle. It was the murder case file with the body full of holes.

He checked the file. The case was solved to some extent. The parts Meera had mentioned before the time loop were solved. And there was a small paper in it, the size of a paper clip. On it was written, "Find out as much as you can about this case." Shekar flipped the paper and looked at the back. It said, "Kill yourself. Before he does." Reading that, he was shocked.

Shekar's inner voice: So I already know about him? Who is he? Why is there so much desperation to solve the case? My previous self set all this up for me. That means he knows everything. He even knows that I will come here in a time loop. What are the rules of this time loop? This is so strange. I have to figure out this time loop.

Meera looked at Shekar and said, "You're thinking so hard. Are you thinking about solving this case, too?"

Shekar suddenly remembered Meera and that he could solve this case with her help. And his previous self had already hidden the murder case photographs under the other files. The previous Shekar had a plan.

Shekar acted a little and said, "I'm very tired, so I can't solve this case. You try once."

Meera said, "You scolded me just now, and now you're giving it to me. What's going on? Besides, if smart people like you can't solve it, how can I?"

Shekar said, "It's nothing like that. Just check it once."

Meera said, "Okay," and checked the murder file.

Meera was very scared as she read the case. Her face changed with tension, and she started sweating.

Shekar said, "Meera, if you can't do it, just leave it. I won't pressure you."

Meera said, "I have to concentrate."

No matter how tense Meera got, she kept reading the case. "I'm not understanding anything right away. It's very confusing, and there are no more details. But looking at everything, it feels like there might be some supernatural power involved. For example, there's no blood in the body, and the drilling holes have variations. And when I read the description of the body, it feels like he got into a fight or struggled a lot with the murderer. Maybe if I look at the body, I can find some clues."

Shekar said, "But you faint when you see dead bodies, right?"

Meera said, "How do you know that?"

Shekar replied, "You told me once when we were kids. You fainted after seeing a dead crow. I thought of it then." Shekar just made it up.

Meera said, "Oh! But I don't remember."

Shekar covered for himself, saying, "How would you remember? You fainted, didn't you?"

Shekar took the murder photographs from under the other files and showed them to Meera.

Meera started to get dizzy. She tried her best to control herself. She tried as hard as she could, but as she looked at the photos, she fainted.

Shekar: "Meera, Meera! Don't fall. Stay in control. Get up! What did you see? What do you understand?"

Meera was unconscious. He kept shaking her and asking her. In her semi-conscious state, Meera said, "He... he's... my... college mate..."

Shekar: "Who is he? What's his name? Meera...!"

Meera fell to the ground. Foam started coming from her mouth. She fainted. "Meera... Meera...!"

Shekar suddenly remembered something. "The time loop. I have to change it again. I have to start again. I have to solve it again. I have to change my life. If I stay like this, I can't do anything. I have to do something big. I have to become a head officer. I have to find out everything about MEDS. I have to find out who else is like me. I have to protect Meera. Meera is my trump card. I have to use her to solve the cases. This isn't cheating. I'm doing justice by making sure nothing happens to Meera."

Shekar took out his gun and pointed it at his head. Shekar was very scared, but he thought he had no other choice, so he closed his eyes.

Shekar's mind was filled with a jumble of words and incidents, like the murder case...

photographs...

files...

accidents...

time loops...

confusions...

And that weird person with the smoke. Who is he? Why does he want to kill me?

Why is this happening only to me?

...

...

Bang...! (gun shot)

What changed this time? And what will Shekar do with the answer he got? Wait for the next chapter.