Chapter 2 B

"Are you going to stay here now?" Mr. Nagar asked Dimisha.

"Not for long. I am here for a reason, " she released a deep breath and looked away for a moment.

She spoke again, "My whole life is changed now. The things I have been through, it completely altered the perspective of mine for life,"

"I know that I can not force you to come back. But, always remember one thing, no matter what, the doors of this orphanage are always open for you." while saying, he moved his hand on her back of the hand softly.

"And you will always be my father. "she looked at his eyes.

"Of course. I love you, and nothing can change that."

She smiled while her eyes become red slightly.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in Kimbala?" he changed the topic.

"You would not believe me anyway if I told you. I did not believe those things either until I saw them with my own eyes. Trust me, ignorance is bliss. That river island is not like the rest of the world, you see."

"What about your parents? Did you find anything about them?"

"It's complicated. But somehow, I came to know that I am connected to a family of a warrior named Bharata."

"Bharata! never heard of him," he said, squeezing his eyebrows.

"He was not that kind of warrior we hear or see on tv and books. I told you nothing usual you can find there,"

"Whatever it is, I am glad that you are safe. That's all matters."

"Now, I have some responsibilities upon me. Some mysteries that I have to find out. Actually, I am here to find out about this place," Dimisha showed him a photograph.

"It looks like an artifact. Sorry, I can not tell you anything about it. Where did you get this?"

"A friend of mine gave me. Look at the bottom corner. There is. a name," she said, scratching her nose.

Mr. Nagar took out his magnifying glass and looked throw it.

"Oh! You are right. I can see it now. It's a museum." his eyes were glowing.

"Do you know about this place?"

"It's on the opposite side of our district. Maybe, once or twice I took you there. Don't you remember?"

"I have to go there, and find the details about the artifact"

"Sure, When do you want to go? I can take you there,"

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary. I can go by myself,"

"In that case, you have to leave early. Can you tell me what is in that artifact?"

"That I have to find out. It was very important to a friend of mine. I can't tell you anything with certainty,"

"Anyway, it's good to see you. You can stay here as long as you want," Mr. Nagar kissed her forehead.

"It's good to be back," she replied.

He left his office.

That night Dimisha could not sleep. She was thinking about the diary of Vivek, where she found that photograph. He mentioned multiple times about the treasure of hell there. The only lead she had was that photograph. Nobody knew what that treasure was except it's something evil, something bad. Vivek mentioned someone was planning to take that out.

"I have to find out what that is. You may rest in peace, my friend," she said in her mind and tried to have some sleep.

Dimisha woke up early in the morning. Mr. Nagar asked to take his car, but she preferred to go by the public service bus.

The journey took time more than she expected. It's almost evening when she was finally standing in front of the museum.

"Kameng museum, collection of ancient sorcery and mystic art," she read the title written at the entrance.

"Let's see, what do you have for, me Mr. museum," saying so, she entered inside.

A few people were there inside, and some of them presumably the stuff. Most of the families do not like to visit a witchcraft museum on holidays with their children. She looked around, searching for a welcoming face with whom she could speak.

A lady was working, sitting behind a desk. The round face and big lips of the lady were saying that she could help her.

"Good evening, ma'am," Dimisha said with her most appealing voice.

"Good evening. How may I help you?" she replied with a smile.

"I was looking for this item. Can you tell me where it is kept?" she showed her the photograph.

"I don't think this item belongs here. I have never seen it,"

"But, in the label, below it, mentioning the name of the museum,"

The lady brought the photograph closed.

"Yes, you are right. It's the name of our museum. Maybe it was sent to another place before I joined. I have been here only for six months."

"Is everything alright, Aditi?" a middle-aged man asked, standing next to her.

"Sir, this young lady is looking for this item," she stood up and gave him the photograph.

"Good evening, sir. My name is Dimisha," she forwarded her hand.

"Good evening," he shook her hand and said," I am the curator of the museum, Siranjiv Chaudhary,"

"What can you tell me about this?"

"Come with me," he took her to the office upstairs.

"Have a seat, please,"

"This is a very ancient object. I am surprised to see a pretty young lady like you looking for it,"

"Actually, it belonged to my father. He was a fan of all those things. He told me that he visited this place several times. I did not have a chance to know him very well. After he left me, I am just trying to know him," she took out a hanky and cleaned her tears.

"I wish I could help you. But that artifact was stolen a long time ago. Sorry," he offered a glass of water.

"Stolen?" Dimisha said with her mouth opened," Who would steal that, it does not look that expensive,"

"You are right. It was not expensive by any chance. But one of our employees thought that it has the power to destroy the world. That's why he stole it, to save the world,"

"You never tried to find him,"

"Of course we did. But, the police never able to find him. God knows, what he did with that thing," he released a sigh.

"Can you tell me anything about the artifact?"

He checked his watch and said," Okay, I have an hour,"

He started saying," that stone was like a spellbook for some ancient civilizations. The shapes, symbols drawn on those items were the spells. I don't know how far their beliefs were true, but there is a reason behind this thinking. According to them, whenever a sound is produced, no matter how intense, it forms a shape or a symbol on the object it strikes. That's what the symbols were saying..."

Dimisha looked towards the door, suddenly.

"You found this boring, I guess," the curator said.

"Not like that, I just felt like someone is standing there," she turned back to him.

Siranjiv moved his head to see if there was anybody.

A man came inside, holding a tray with two cups of tea on it. He put those cups in front of them and left.

"You are saying about the symbols," Dimisha said.

He took a sip from the cup and started his explanation again, "Every symbol represents a sound or mantra or spell, whatever you say. The guy I was talking about, he was obsessed with those symbols. He was trying to figure out the mantras from them. One day, he came to me, saying he found out the meaning of it, and it's extremely dangerous. I didn't pay much attention to it, and the next day it was gone, so he was,"

"Wow, this world is filled with crazy people. Do you remember his name?" she asked.

He looked at her with narrow eyes.

"Sorry, I am strictly ordered not to share any information regarding the theft. I hope you can find your way out,"

"It's okay. Thanks for giving me time, "

She left the room.

Aditi is still there, at her desk, busy typing something.

"Hey, it's Aditi, right?" Dimisha asked,

She turned her eyes from the computer screen to her.

"Hi, sorry, I forget your name," she smiled

"I am Dimisha,"

"So, you have found what you were looking for, ",

"More or less." Dimisha sat on the chair in front of her, "By the way, I wanted to tell you that I love your earrings. Can you tell me where you bought those? I want a pair like this for me too, "

"Oh! These," she touched her earring with a shy smile," My fiancee gave me on my birthday. I am not sure where he got these,"

"Aw, that's cute. When are you going to marry?"

"Maybe next month. Nothing is fixed yet. We have a lot to plan," Aditi was blushing.

"Congratulation in advance, "

Dimisha was good at this. Within a minute, she became very friendly with her.

"Thank you. Actually, you know what..." and there starts the description of her journey of love.

Dimisha was trying to show interest in her story. She kept going and going about how she met him, how he proposed her and everything. Dimisha was suffocating from inside with her talking. Not a single word was going inside of her head.

"That's very romantic. You are a lucky girl."

"You can say so, " Aditi replied.

"Hey, I need to ask a favor from you if you don't mind," she finally spoke.

"Of course, what can I do for you?"

"Can you check if there is any record about the item I was talking earlier?"

"I can make a try. Show me the photograph,"

Dimisha gave her the photograph. She looked at it for some time, squeezing her eyebrows and typed something on her computer.

"Here it is, there are some data about it," she moved the screen of the computer to her.

Dimisha leaned towards the screen. It was describing all the things that the curator told her. There were some photographs of it. When it was first brought to the museum and their maintenance team and other things. Finally, Dimisha saw someone in a photo.

"This guy, he works here?"

"Yes, he does. His name is Aryan. I think he was one of the maintenance team of the item,"

"Okay, thank you once again for your help," Dimisha stood up.

"It's very nice talking to you," she said.

Dimisha walked towards the exit.

"How can someone speak so much," she said, releasing a sigh of relief.

Getting out of the museum, she smiled and said, "Got you, Mr. Aryan."