Mitra's father, after ignoring yet another call, opened one of the WhatsApp messages from his cousin amidst a flood of messages. His brother was asking him if he had seen the new video of Mitra, if he was okay or not, to call him if they needed any help.
It didn't take much time for Mitra's father to come across the said video in the bunch of forwards he got in WhatsApp. As he played the video and his wife leaned in to watch it with him, they got the worst stab to their hearts.
And it was in a literal sense too. Mitra's mother had a heart attack while her father's blood pressure shot up and he fainted with a groan. The taxi driver who heard them scream agonizingly slowed down his car and turned back to see them wail heartbreakingly. He stopped the car at a corner of the road in time to see the lady lose consciousness with painful groans.
A confused interaction ensued between the driver and Mitra's father as the latter tried to wake up his wife and the former kept asking the cause of the breakdown. As the lady didn't wake, the driver offered to drive them to the nearest hospital instead. By the time he reached the hospital, neither the lady nor the man were moving. They both had blacked out.
The driver freaked out as he called out the hospital staff, explained the ridiculous situation he was in and got them admitted in the hospital. He was in two minds, whether to stay there and face a possible investigation on how two people who boarded his taxi ended up in a hospital, or to leave the place.
Somehow, his conscience and fear of accusation made him stay. Hours later, when the hospital staff notified the police and they identified Mitra's parents, the situation became clear to everyone. People had been viewing the video of the patients' daughter's murder repeatedly.
There was no question on what could cause their sorry health state.
The consequences of the video spread like a wildfire as the public got shaken up with the brutality of the situation. They were enamoured by the woman's courage to not bend her spine even in the face of death, devastated over her loss and were enraged at the killer.
Shout-outs increased online as people called out for proper investigation to catch the murderer and execute him publicly. The Police were affected viciously with the outcome, with the public outcry blaming their negligence and inefficiency in finding the victim before her murder. Media had a field time covering the video, the hospitalization of Mitra's parents as well as reporting for the various public organizations making statements of their intentions to pursue the incident till the victim gets justice.
Vishal had been sitting on the floor for moments uncountable, wallowing in the never ending agony that was wrenching his heart and thoughts, tears flowing uncontrollably. His phone had been buzzing with continuous calls, messages and notifications and he knew they were all about the woman he loved.
Suddenly, he felt very tired, as if he was done with it all. He wanted to just sit there for eternity without moving an inch, without anyone disturbing him, without having to talk to anyone or meet anyone. He didn't find any more purpose, didn't have any will left in him. He pulled his legs up closer to him, his head resting on his knees, the feeling of being lost engulfing him.
Hours passed. The doorbell rang breaking the silence of the house. Vishal didn't hear it the first time through his recoil. The ringing continued and then someone banged at the door.
Vishal still felt like ignoring the disturbance, but it struck him that it might be one of the neighbours from the apartments or some intruding journalists or people swarming in for gossip, or just out of pure snoopiness. It angered him that people were taking it for granted to barge into Mitra's home like that. He controlled the fury that had been burning him and got up to give a stern warning to the intruders and ward them off.
He opened the door to see the DSP Sandeep and Basava standing in the darkness of the terrace.
They looked sober, controlled, unlike Vishal's tear-stricken face with rage-filled eyes which spoke volumes of what he was going through.
Sandeep breathed in, about to say something, but stopped in his tracks, considerate of Vishal's high emotions. He realized that it wasn't the way to deal with the situation.
"Can we come in?" he asked softly.
Vishal stood without any movement for a few seconds and the turned to his side, getting away from the doorway and letting them. As Sandeep and Basava walked into the chaos the house was in, Vishal closed the door and stood barely holding himself up.
One look around the house and at Vishal explained everything in itself to Sandeep.
"Sit," he asked Vishal calmly pointing at one of the chairs.
Vishal moved more like a robot as he sat down, his eyes on the floor. Sandeep took another chair and sat across him.
"I won't offer you words of sympathy or consolation Vishal. We both know what you are feeling now is beyond such dialogue of formality. I can but add my own misgivings and anger at our failure to yours." Sandeep paused, letting it sink into Vishal slowly. "You can't slip into this mess of despair while the culprit is running free without any punishment."
Vishal showed no signs of movement or acknowledgment of Sandeep's words. He kept staring at the ground. Sandeep waited. He knew it would take time to get a reaction.
"Mitra's parents are hospitalized. Her mother has had a heart attack and her father collapsed with increased blood pressure. Both are not in a good condition," Sandeep informed after a couple of minutes of silence.
Vishal registered the first major consequence of the incident. He looked up at Sandeep and asked slowly, "Is any of their conditions critical?"
"Medically, I don't think so. But mentally, I am not sure. It would take them a very long while to recover."
He knew what it meant. Vishal squeezed his eyes shut relating to the situation in his helplessness.
Sandeep continued, "I don't want to discuss anything with you now. But I want to see you tomorrow morning at ten in my office. We need to get back to what we started no matter what the outcome. I want to catch that scumbag who murdered Mitra and if you want to do that as well, step up."
He got up from his chair, waited to see a reaction from Vishal and when he got none, he said softly, "I will see you tomorrow," and walked out of the house with Basava closing the door behind them.