Amyra sighed and closed her eyes for a second in relief before hurrying to open the door. Dhroov was standing with his hands folded across his chest, looking straight at the door when it opened. His worry dissolved into relief and he visibly relaxed. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Amyra nodded tiredly while moving aside to let him in.

Dhroov went inside and sat down on the couch. His mind was still reeling with everything. He felt relieved to see Amyra safe but at the same time the news about Riya was making him sick. Thoughts about Riya being in trouble rattled his senses and his heart constricted. If it could shock him so much to know about the disappearance of a person he personally knew and cared about, then how would Amyra be feeling? After all, Riya was like a sister to her. And then there are those phone calls, he thought. There were many things going on altogether and he had to hold himself together. I need to keep a clear head.

He inhaled deeply and spoke. "So... About Riya first. Are you sure she's really missing?"

"Of course I'm sure. I told you, she's not in the house. I can't reach her through phone because her cellphone is switched off. And she most definitely didn't warn me beforehand about suddenly disappearing in the middle of the night with no means of contacting her! Where would she go at such time? And even if she had a plan of being somewhere, I would have known it. She's too careful about keeping her whereabouts known to me if she makes a sudden plan. And never, never has she kept her phone switched off when she's out. What else can I conclude?"

"Didn't you say last night that she had gone to meet her aunt?"

"Yes. And you see, she told me about it. She even said that she could pick me up if I wanted to get back earlier. She was supposed to get back home by 11."

"Maybe she just stayed back with her aunt?" Dhroov knew very well that his speculations, or hopes were not up to mark, but he didn't want to accept that yet.

"And what would it cost her to inform me about it? She would have at least dropped a message, but she didn't leave a message. Neither did she call me. On the contrary, her phone is switched off. Doesn't it sound fishy to you?"

Actually, it did sound fishy to him but he wanted to make sure that no logical possibility was left out of consideration before deciding on a course of action. "Yeah, right. So we file a missing complaint?"

"I guess we have to." Amyra whispered. She couldn't believe that such a thing could be happening. That instead of having a lazy Sunday sleeping in, she would be discussing Riya's disappearance. She felt numb and too tired all at once.

"But before that," Dhroov said, "we have to contact her family. We can't just go on and file a missing complaint without informing them first. They have a right to know. Do you have their number?"

Amyra licked her lips and whispered. "I have her sister's number. It's in my phone, in the room."

"Okay, go get your phone." He spoke in a low voice before realising that he too, like Amyra, was whispering. The tension was suddenly very high and speaking in a low voice provided an illusion of safety to both of them, though safety from what, it was hard to tell.

Amyra got up and went inside. Her head was pounding with strong headache and weather felt too cold for a mid September. She shivered and stood there in front of her bed, not picking up her phone and not moving. She just stood there for a moment, eyes closed, as if to relax herself; then she took the phone and went back into the living room.

Dhroov was sitting with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together in front of him. He was looking down at the foot of the table in front of him, thinking intently about something. His eyebrows pulled together and eyes narrowed, he had a slight frown on his face. His brown eyes were too large, larger than she had ever seen on a guy before. Dhroov, perhaps sensing a stare, suddenly looked up right in her eyes and gave her a small, sympathetic and assuring smile that didn't reach his eyes at all. Amyra looked away blinking rapidly, slightly embarrassed. Then she sighed and sat down.

"I think we should try to call her one last time before reporting to her family or police." Dhroov said. "I know you called her some 2-3 hours ago, but it wouldn't harm us to try one more time. Just one last time." He knew that it was not going to be fruitful and police was the last resort to this problem, but he was still holding on to a little hope.

Amyra wanted to protest as she considered it a waste of time, but she conceded for two reasons. One, she still hoped and expected, against her better judgment and hunch, that maybe Riya would answer the call this time. And second because she wanted to avoid or at least delay talking to Riya's family even if only for a minute or two. She didn't know how she was going to deal with them.

So they both tried once again to contact Riya with the same result. Dhroov sighed and asked Amyra to call Riya's sister. Amyra waited for a minute, waiting for the panic to subside. The thought of calling Megha - Riya's sister - and telling her about her sister's overnight disappearance made her nervous. She lived with Riya and somehow felt responsible about her whereabouts. "What am I even going to say?" She whispered to herself.

Dhroov sensed her hesitation and could understand it very well. It wasn't an easy thing to tell someone that her sister might be in a life threatening condition. He tried to encourage her. "Just tell her what you told me and get over with it. Come on, you know you have to do it, so why delay? We have to get to the police as soon as possible, right?"

Amyra nodded. "Right."

She took in a deep breath and called Megha. She was just an year younger than Riya. Amyra have met her on a few occasions before. She was a smart girl. She picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Megha. This is Amyra." Amyra said. She wanted to get straight to the matter without wasting time so she spoke her part like a practised speech.

"Hey. How come you remembered me today?" Megha asked with an usually cheerful voice, obviously surprised at being directly contacted by her. They had mostly talked through Riya before, never directly like now, so that naturally made her a bit curious about it.

"I need to tell you something important. About Riya."

Amyra's serious, business like tone and her sister's mention in an eerily formal way caught Megha's attention. Worry was palpable in her voice as she spoke. "What's the matter, di? Is everything okay?"

"I don't suppose that, Megha. Riya is missing." Amyra spoke and waited for a few seconds, letting the information sink and waiting for a response.

"Missing?" The shock in Megha's voice was clearer than her voice itself. "How? What happened? How can she go missing? Did you call her? Oh god!" She moaned.

Amyra tried hard to maintain her straight tone and not to start panicking herself. "Yes, we tried calling her. She left to meet your aunt last evening and haven't returned yet. Her phone is switched off. I tried several times to contact her but it's of no use. I'm going to file a missing complaint at the police station now. Just inform your parents about it."

"But how did this happen? I mean.... I can't believe it. Did she go alone?"

"Yes, she went alone. And I don't know either about what's happening. I'm going to file a complaint and leave the rest to the police. I think you should inform your parents and come here as soon as possible." Riya's parents and sister lived in Bangalore. It would take them a while to get here.

"Yeah, yeah. I have to tell them. I'll tell them. Please keep us updated. I'll tell them right away." She sounded flabbergasted and scared.

Amyra, for the first time in hours, felt more sympathetic towards someone instead of being scared and bewildered herself. "Okay, I have to go now. Take care."

"Bye." Megha barely whispered her response before disconnecting.

Amyra finally looked up from the floor she had been staring at all the while talking to Megha, and glanced at Dhroov who had been silent all this while. He looked expressionless, yet somehow managed a gentleness in his eyes that was comforting to her. She was glad that talking to Megha was over. It was getting difficult for her to keep on the conversation. It was good thing that Megha was a strong girl and she got hold of herself pretty quickly, otherwise it could have been more difficult than it already was.

"Okay," Amyra spoke to him after a minute, "I informed her sister. Now what?"

"Now we inform the Police." He looked at the time. It was too early, just a little over 6 o'clock. "Get ready, freshen up. I'll do the same and come back to receive you by 7:30. Then we'll go to the police station."

Amyra didn't want to wait at all but she needed to keep her head clean and fresh to handle things in a better way. So she just nodded and Dhroov got up to leave. She locked the door after he left and went inside her room to take a bath and change into fresh clothes.

***

Varun sat in the park, relaxing and enjoying the fresh air of early morning. This stupid thing of scaring the girl was rather enjoyable but it also meant that sometimes he had to sleep too late and wake up too early. He didn't like to compromise on his sleep but he had to admit the perks of waking up early morning. It's easier to torture your victims, he thought and then guffawed loudly, attracting a few glances of joggers and some elders out here for their early morning walks.

He got up and stretched, releasing the tension in his muscles. His eyes were droopy and burning with the need for some sleep. After coming back from Amyra's place an hour ago, he had roamed around a bit instead of heading straight to his apartment. Good thing that it was a Sunday, he could now go back and sleep without disturbance. Today's work was done and completed. He could relax for now.

He started walking out of the park and walked along the road, towards his apartment. He would have to take a bus. What a joke! He had a car but he couldn't use it because it had a dead body in it's trunk. He sighed. He still had to take care of that. It seemed that the work was not completed after all.

The bus came and he boarded it.

He yawned as he got off the bus. He still had a ten minutes walk before he reached his apartment. He was barely awake now. As he walked, he saw a couple of kids walking in school uniform. They stared at him and whispered something among themselves, then burst out laughing. Their eyes were mocking him.

Varun narrowed his eyes at them and looked around. The road was empty. He jumped in front of those children, effectively blocking their path. The younger kid cowered behind his elder brother. They had stopped laughing and were now looking fearfully at him. Varun looked around him once more, to make sure that there was no one around. Then he pulled out a knife from his shirt pocket and twisted it in his hands such that it's edges reflected the sunlight and shone brilliantly. The kids whimpered and started crying.

"Shut up." Varun snarled at them. "You see this? I'll cut you deep with it. It'll be very painful." He looked around again. No one. Then he looked down at the children once more. They were petrified and tried not to make a sound as they cried.

Varun smiled, satisfied. "Now listen to me." He said to them, "it's wrong to laugh at others. If you ever laugh again, I'll find you and kill you. You get me?"

Kids nodded fearfully. Varun smiled again. Serves them right for laughing at me.

"Now go. Run. Run fast before I catch you and kill you." He stepped aside and watched delightfully as they ran crying and stumbling on their way. He laughed and made his way back to his apartment.

Just as he entered his room, his phone vibrated. He rolled his eyes as he received the call. "What now?"

"I want you to finish it tonight. Get her and bring her to me."

"But didn't you say you wanted to scare her a little? The fun has just started!" He didn't want to get it over so soon.

"Shut up. I would have liked her a little more scared but thanks to you for killing her friend, we can't take anymore risk. Do you even know how influential the parents of that girl you killed are? It won't be too long before police is involved. I don't want to lose this chance. Get her tonight, understand? Tonight. And when you bring her to me, she should be alive. I have some special plans for her. You know where to bring her." His voice was firm and strict. This was a final decision that Varun couldn't argue with.

He sighed and agreed. "Yes, I know. Tonight."

"Yes. And did you drop the package in her room?"

"Yes, I kept it in her closet. She'll find it when she opens it." Although he didn't understand it. How was that futile toy supposed to scare someone? This man himself was deranged. But a smart kind of deranged, Varun admitted this. For all the time that he had known him, Varun never once saw him, face to face. He had been careful about keeping himself hidden.

"Hmm. That should have the desired effect." For the first time, he sounded satisfied. "But be careful. Just because you got away from a few cases earlier, doesn't mean you are perfect. Don't end up doing something stupid in your over confidence. Police is not foolish and I don't want them involved. If you haven't been caught yet, that simply means you're lucky. So be careful." And he hung up.

Varun gritted his teeth, gripping the phone with deathly hold. He was furious and irritated by this insult bestowed upon him. He was perfect, he knew that. And this new turn of events wasn't something he expected. He had been enjoying himself, toying around with Amyra, keeping her on her edge regularly. But now this had to come to an end sooner than he would have preferred. And all that just because he killed that stupid woman? He had no other option. Meeting her was an accident, not a plan. And he had to make sure that there was no evidence left behind. And who was that man to tell him how to do his work? He had done many projects before and always extricated himself stealthily. The cases he involved himself in, had never been traced back to him.

But this was a different kind of assignment. He didn't have to just kill and disappear - he had to hunt and scare. And despite the risk involved, he found himself enjoying the game. But what now? Tonight he had to bring this game to an end. At least he could do it alone. He managed to convince him to let him do this alone as more people involved also meant more risk involved. Thank god, he bought that reason. Now he had to make some preparations for tonight.

But, he thought, I'll make sure that there is enough fun tonight.

He smiled and then yawned. Tonight was going to be busy. He needed to rest and prepare for the hard work.