|the naive rebel|
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xlv | he is a sadist
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word count - 2637

Okay, so..this chapter will end in a kind off cliff- hanger

The chapter is a stepping stone towards our main climax. 🌝

More 7 chapters to go 💪🏻

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I N A A Y A T
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The moment I enter Ishaan's car, he frowns at me. His face sulking, moping and brooding. The aura in the car is hefty and depressing. There's silence but at the same time, the map on his laptop beeps and produces some tinging noises.

The gang-leader was already moving towards his godown, the plan is already working. Nicky had faked a call to the leader giving him a piece of false news about the planned raid. Therefore, to protect his warehouse, he is already racing towards it.

"Why are you grouching?" I ask him, noticing how Ishaan has silently started driving following the lead from the tracking device. The screen outlines the path trodden by the leader.

"He is grouching because I told him how the leader was drooling over you. And how sexy you were acting back there." Nicky suddenly pipes in, munching on her popcorn.

How the hell did she get it?

"You want?" She offers me the popcorn bucket when she sees me gazing at her food item. I smilingly nod at her, and take a handful of the corns.

"So he's jealous, huh?" My voice is muffled as I chew the munchies. Nicky snickers and titters, absorbing the drooping and weeping silence widespread in the car.

Our teasing session comes to an end, even before it skyrockets because of the exasperating glare, Ishaan throws in my direction. His face resembles the grumpy dwarf, fret lines on his forehead and his eyes darts a challenging look at me.

I decide to slump back in my seat and focus all my attention towards the magnificent empty, dark and ruinous road. The warehouse is situated in the outskirts of Pune, nearing the mountain and hilly and forest areas.

I fish my phone out seeing the message notifications from Nikhil and Sameer. I quickly reply to them, and drop a text message to Mishti, asking her how she is doing, now.

The window fogs up, and the dew dries upon the glass windows. It is close to three in the morning, the number of trees alongside the road-soothes my disturbed mind. The greenery over-shadowed by the twinkling moonlight and the glooming darkness, dances and sways with the cool air flowing. The area outside the city, is calmer and quieter, with more foliage and freshness.

The city dust, smog, smoke is reduced heavily, and the road has glistened with the descending clouds. It's mesmerising and beautiful and mollifying and pacifying.

There's no car in sight, but I can sense the two vans following our car, close behind. The leader has already sped through the same path, as the tracker shows us his location. Nicky is typing and doing something on her laptop. While I, rest on the cushy seat, letting the conciliation cocoon around me.

The tires screech, as the road is unpaved and gravelled. I can sense Ishaan's body tensing up, his fingers strain around the steering wheel. His jaw tightens, as he grits his teeth.

"We are close," Nicky suggests which explains his reaction. Ishaan is visibly angry. The feeling of being so near to his ultimate goal has his body simmering in low stress. He is eager and focussed, determined to finally punish the person who had ruthlessly killed his sister in front of his own eyes and to penalise the person who had caused his mother to slip into trauma.

The car comes to a sudden halt, pausing with a jolt. Ishaan unbuckles his seat belt, and I reach for mine when he raises his gaze and slowly shakes his head. Stopping me from stepping out of the car.

"You aren't coming there with me, there will be many gunmen positioned at many locations, we can't take any risk. Nicky will stay here with you." Ishaan announces and turns his head to face a lazy Nicky.

"Nicky, do not leave her alone. The last time I left her in the car, it didn't end well. At least, some part of it." His voice is taunting, something between a smile and a smirk dances on his lips.

And I am suddenly transported back to the day we had gone to the abandoned factory, the place where everything began.

He closes the door behind him, and Nicky sighs and rests her feet on the seat. She is lying partially on the back seat, as she passes a smirk in my direction.

"Do I want to know what exactly happened that night, or are the details 18+?" Inaayat rolls her eyes at her and hits her skull on the seat.

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I S H A A N
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It has been three hours since I raided his warehouse, arrested him and brought him here, to our headquarters. Three hours of interrogating him, and three long hours of controlling my seething anger-which I don't think I have controlled.

My fingers clench in a tight fist, as I try holding back my anger. His face is red with blood, and mine is red with anger. I can easily kill him off if given a chance.

My blood boils and simmers, his eyes droop close almost unconsciously. He can not be a human, the way he held a proud smirk while he told me that he didn't regret anything.

He has been running a drug racket since years now, not only that he has been an active leader of a mafia gang operating underground.

Killing, murders, crime, spoiling one's life, aren't new topics for him.

He deserves to rot in hell, in fucking hell. The glint shimmering in his iris, when he describes the enjoyment when he had raped women and killed them, the way he had tortured youngsters and killed off so many men who were in debt to him.

My fist cannot stop itself, as I knock and punch him, hard and square. My knuckles are burning but I am parched, and it won't be quenched so easily.

My fingers wrap around his bloody neck, choking and strangulating and tightening my hold. Suffocating him.

He coughs and tries moving his limbs but I know his lungs are burning, his body is yearning, longing, hankering and craving for air. Even a tiny bit.

My hold is tight and strong, and he is shivering and trembling. I glare at the other officers who try opening their mouths to stop me. I sign them to leave the room which they do after a minute of thinking.

"This is how you should die. Yearning and yelping. Crying and begging. You deserve the worst punishment-to die. But slowly, like a slow poison. Slowly and gradually. Crying and begging every day, but no one to show you any mercy. No mercy. You'll rot and decay but no one will answer your cries." I leave his neck, the purplish-bluish bruise now marking his neck.

He coughs violently, grasping and rapacious for air. I pass him a last disgusted look and then leave the room.

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I N A A Y A T
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It's been three hours since Ishaan is locked up with the leader and some other officers. After the raid, Ishaan had texted me telling me that he is directly going to the headquarters. Nicky had driven us back to the office.

Once we had reached, Nicky had guided me to the first floor where the interrogating rooms were designed. She had slipped inside the room after asking me to wait outside.

Currently, she is here sitting next to me, playing candy crush on her phone. I stand up wanting to peek through the glass door when I am pulled back with a tug.

"Don't. An angry Ishaan is a horrifying sight. Trust me. And today, he is fucking outrageous." Nicky tells me. I sit back cautiously, tapping my left feet-thinking and overthinking the entire situation.

The room's soundproof and hence I do not hear when the door unlocks and some officers leave the room. Ten minutes later, a roiling Ishaan comes out of the room. I raise my head, to look at him not speaking anything, waiting for him to calm down.

"Nicky, work on his records." He instructs her and she nods leaving the corridor.

His gaze founds me, and amber towards me. Settling on the metallic seat next to me, he closes his eyes. Sighing and defeated. He looks worn out and tired.

I loop my hand around his elbow and rest my head on his shoulder. His body posture distresses and softens. He entwines his fingers with mine and I see how bruised his knuckles are. Red, blue and purplish. Dried up blood and tattered.

"Did you even talk to him, or were very busy thrashing him." I joke.

"Very funny." I can feel him rolling his eyes, as I nuzzle a little closer, flittering my eyes close.

"He is a fucking sadist. He had no regret, not even an ounce of regret on his face when he admitted how many people he had killed."

"Was he the one behind the suicides?" I ask him, curiosity increasing.

"No. He agreed to a lot of things, but he refused the blame of these suicides. But, he did say that many college students are an active part of the drug racket."

"That means the killer is still out there." I am disheartened. We got a link but is it even helpful?

The only thing we have after these many days is that the person is just a psychopath. Many students of the college are a part of the drug case, but..were the students who had died also a part of this racket?

Every time we reach a clue, we meet a dead end. It's like we are moving in a constant circle, after every lap we reach the starting spot.

"Hey, we'll find the person. Don't stress over it. We are closer than you think, trust me." He tries calming my mind. I sigh helplessly, nodding.

"Come, I'll drop you." He tells me and we leave the headquarters.

I tell him that I have to pick some necessary items from the hostel room, and we drive towards the hostel.

The drive is silent, and I know he is thinking something so deeply. Once we reach the college, he parks the car right outside the playground's gate.

"I'll just come," I tell him, but before I leave he holds my hand and I look at him. His fingers play with mine, soft and mellow. Unsteady and slow. He audibly gulps and I look his face for any answer.

But his face gives up nothing, his face has softened and allayed. It manages to calm me and give me mixed feelings at the same time. His eyes penetrate mine, his mind is battling with his tongue, and I feel a weird tingling feeling bubbling in my stomach.

His lips dart out, moistening his lips and I am so putty under his scrutinising gaze.

"I was...I was thinking if, like only if, you want to come to my house." His voice is a hazy whisper, low and smooth. Hypnotising and throaty.

He looks so muddled and anxious. Confused, waiting for my answer. The bubbling feelings are replaced by the fluttering and dancing butterflies. A jolting shiver runs down my spine, managing to enthral and captivate me, completely.

My heart palpitates and I am suddenly breathless. It's so sudden and maybe I am misreading the situation, but I know I trust him.. and I nod at him. There's a slight smile that makes its way on his face, and I find myself smiling at him, too.

We stay there for a minute more, after which I leave the car and quickly tread towards my hostel. My heart is far from being calm, and I feel so warm and fuzzy.

I walk quickly towards the empty corridor, the place is so silent and frightening. I almost reach my room, when I hear a phone ringing. Once I am standing right in front of my room, I realise that the sound is coming from my room, which is supposed to be empty.

It's terrifying and I quickly reach the back pocket of my jean jacket, patting at the sharp knife that resides there. Removing it, and angling it, I unlock the door. The phone is ringing continuously but the room is empty.

I close the door behind me, as I keep the knife on the study table. I look around trying to find the phone that has been ringing.

"What the-" I mutter when I see a phone lying on Mishti's bed, picking it up I see it's from her mother. I contemplate but end up answering it.

"Finally. Where are you?" Her mother's voice rings and I tell her that it's me, and Mishti is probably in the washroom. She tells me how Mishti had come back to the hostel this very morning. And she hasn't been responding to her calls since the late evening.

After she cuts the call, I decide to search for Mishti in the washroom when I spot something, plasticky and transparent tucked carefully. I get a hunch, my hands are quivering and shuddering as I bend and pick her mattress up.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

My eyes are welling up and I don't know anything anymore. There are so many empty packets and others are filled. Filled with white powder.

The same...

The same white powder.

I hit my forehead realising the route she had taken to escape her miseries. Probably, it worsened my frame of mind, as I see some fresh droplets of blood on the floor and some dried up blood on the bed's edge.

The blood hasn't dried up and my head's hammering. I stand up swiftly, the packets leave my hand. Like a loop, three things echo around me.

Room.

Terrace.

Swimming Pool.

She isn't in the room, that means...

I dash outside the room, climbing the stairs to the terrace, while I run and dash, I call Ishaan.

"In-"

"Check the swimming pool. Ishaan. Mishti. Go. Run. Please. Mishti." I am panting and my voice is dying. I cut the call, once I reach the terrace door. Prayers leave my mouth as I hope that I am wrong.

That I am fucking wrong.

That Mishti is safe, and I overreacting and I am overthinking, but the sight stuns and dazes and startles me. I speedily run towards the silhouette, whose standing on the terrace wall.

"Mishti!" I shout as I pull her hand harshly. She falls back but her limbs move. Her eyes are half-open and half-closed. She is fluid and befuddled. Her limbs do not revolt at all.

Is she..fuck she is drugged, hypnotised. LSD. Everything Ishaan and I had discussed flashes before me.

I chant her name again and again but she doesn't reply. The only thing she replies with is,

'I should die.'

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