Chapter 10: The Silver Jeep and the Secret Grave

Three Days Before the Massacre

Three days earlier, the world was still bright, even if it was tinged with worry. Rekha sat by Vaani’s bed, pressing a damp cloth to her friend’s forehead.

"Where did this fever come from, Vaani?" Rekha asked softly.

"I don't know," Vaani muttered, her voice raspy. "I just feel... hollow. Like all my energy was sucked out."

"It's the stress," Rekha said, leaning in. "Priya is falling apart. She thinks someone is stalking her. A man in the shadows, always watching the gate. She’s terrified, Vaani."

Vaani’s eyes snapped open. "It has to be Karthi. That possessive animal won't let her go."

"I don't think so," Rekha countered. "Priya says Karthi hasn't even responded to her texts. This person... she says he feels different. Like a predator she doesn't recognize."

They began to piece together the fragments of Priya’s lost memory. Vaani remembered a detail from the post-mortem of the man found in the ravine months ago. "The police found 'banka matti'—thick, river-bed clay—on his boots. They thought he was a farmhand."

"A farmhand with a silver Jeep?" Rekha’s mind raced. "No. Farmers use tractors. If he had a Jeep and was in a remote area like that, he wasn't a worker. He was an owner. Someone with a second home—a farmhouse—hidden away from the city's records."

The realization hit them like a cold wave. Priya hadn't just been in an accident; she had been at a location that didn't officially exist.

The Last Supper

While Rekha and Vaani played detective, the Suri household was trying to pretend everything was normal. They sat on the floor, an old photo album spread between them like a map of a lost continent.

"Look at Malini here," Raji laughed, pointing to a photo of a toddler with a messy face. "She was eating a burger for the first time. Look at that pose!"

"I want to go back there," Malini said, her eyes lighting up. "Nanna, can we go to the exhibition? They have new rides and foreign food. Please?"

Suri looked at Raji. The unspoken language of their bank balance passed between them in a single glance. "Tickets are expensive, Malini-ma."

"I saved up!" Priya interjected, her voice eager. "The money you gave me for my birthday? I didn't spend it. Let's go as a family. Just once."

Suri relented, his face softening into a smile. For a moment, the room was filled with the pure, golden light of a family in harmony. But as Priya laughed, a dark red drop fell from her nose, splashing onto the photo of her mother.

"Priya! Your nose!" Raji gasped.

"It's nothing, Ma! Just the heat," Priya said, quickly covering her face and retreating to her room.

The Watcher in the Glass

Priya stood over her sink, washing the blood away. She didn't see the eyes peering through the small ventilation window above her. Katthi was there, balanced precariously, his breath fogging the glass.

He watched her with a clinical, terrifying intensity. He saw her fear. He saw her beauty. To him, she was a masterpiece that needed to be "protected" from the world—by force if necessary.

When Malini burst into the room later to borrow Priya's phone, the spell was broken. Priya’s outburst was sudden and violent. "Stop touching my things! Just stay away!"

The family stood in the hallway, stunned by her venom. They didn't know that Priya’s phone was a gateway to a nightmare—filled with calls from a number she didn't recognize and messages that spoke of a "debt" that needed to be paid in blood.

The Final Interval

The next day at college, the atmosphere was buzzing with the energy of the final exams. Swathi, the junior who idolized Rekha, sat on a bench, watching the senior girls finish their football game.

"I'm going to ask her," Swathi told her classmate. "I'm potti (short), I know. But Rekha-akka isn't much taller, and she moves like lightning. If she can be a champion, I can be a runner."

But the opportunity never came.

Inside the exam hall, the tension was different. Priya sat with her hands over her ears, her eyes darting to the window. The man was there again. The shadow by the gate.

Suddenly, the world tilted. Priya’s chair screeched against the floor as she collapsed, her body hitting the tiles with a sickening thud.

Medical Room. Silence. The smell of antiseptic.

When Priya woke up, Vaani and Rekha were there. The anger of the previous weeks evaporated in an instant.

"I'm sorry," Vaani sobbed, clutching Priya’s hand. "I was so wrong to judge you. Please, don't shut me out again."

Priya laughed—a weak, watery sound. "Look at you, my tough girl, crying over me. I guess the group is back together, huh?"

They hugged, the three of them forming a circle of friendship that felt unbreakable. They laughed and made plans for the exhibition, oblivious to the fact that the shadow at the gate was no longer just watching. He was waiting.

And for them, the sun would never rise on another happy day.