tales of Suchita

…somebody set lose firecrackers in the building…

Incense stick to ensure they had enough time to run away

Matchsticks in the pocket

Note said ask Radha to turn out his pockets

Same handwriting

Who was…why…someone he knows…

…trusts…maybe a friend…

Radha’s head snapped back as he tried to reel in the words banging around in his head. After the incident, Ameen miss had judged it best to let the students go home. She knew even if they had classes, they would only want to discuss the morning events and thus productive work would be impossible. Everyone had already left except Radha, Mayur, Sagar and Priyanka.

Ameen miss and Anjum miss had left it to Radha to decide if he wanted to involve his friends in what would happen next. At the time, he had lobbied against excluding them from working on unmasking the prankster. After all they were a team and had lost as much to the prankster as him. The teachers had accepted his impassioned speech and told him to convey this to his friends.

Now the four were waiting in a classroom for Anjum miss to return and tell them what the teachers had discovered. This hadn’t been an easy score. But Radha had gotten them to accept they couldn’t be asking for his help without giving him the full picture. They had reluctantly agreed owing to the fact they couldn’t logically argue with him.

As Radha looked at his friends, a thought that had set seed in his mind in Ameen miss’s cabin was starting to germinate. The light bulbs were flashing and they were spelling danger. Everything that had happened so far required two important things: knowledge of the school and proximity to him. So his friends definitely had the means and opportunity. Though there were other students as well but none of them had the next most important thing – motive.

It pained him to think of his friends as suspects but he couldn’t let emotions cloud his judgments – an important lesson he had learnt from detective extraordinaire.

He looked at Mayur, sweating profusely; sweat patches all over his two years too old uniform. The only motive he could think of for Mayur was jealousy. But could it be so much that he would go to such lengths as to set crackers aflame in school? Radha didn’t think so. Besides, Mayur was too sweet a person to trouble so many people just to get back at Radha.

He next looked at Priyanka: new to the group, brash, and always seeking attention. The news that miss had given him about the pencils had shocked him. He couldn’t fathom that parents could be so cruel as to neglect their child’s needs like this. It had made him appreciate his parents in a whole new light. Not only did he always have everything new before the beginning of a school year, they were also always inquiring about his day and what he had learnt and how it was.

But would she go to such lengths as to put jam on her clothes? He thought so. She came across as a person who would do anything to get attention.

Priyanka looked at him at that moment and smiled. Radha couldn’t bring himself to smile back so shifted his eyes guiltily away which finally came to rest on Sagar. Ah Sagar…if he pitied Priyanka, he felt super protective for him. Sagar was a bright boy if only his father would give him the leeway to go at his own pace. But alas Sagar was always too slow for him and thus needed to be ‘encouraged’ from time to time.

He knew if it was Sagar, the motive would be nothing more than a cry for help. But as much as he loved his friend, he knew Sagar didn’t have the brain capacity to cook up such an elaborate plan. In fact it seemed…

“Why are you looking at us like that?”

Startled out of his revery, Radha turned red. “It’s nothing,” he stammered.

Priyanka rose from her chair, now suspicious. “Why don’t you tell us what you’re thinking about?”

“Oh it’s…”

“You should,” said Mayur, completely misreading the situation. “If you tell us what you’re thinking maybe we can help…”

“Help? Help! Mayur are you really this dumb? He isn’t going to tell us what he’s thinking because he thinks it’s one of us!”

“What,” said Sagar, walking up and standing next to Priyanka, “don’t be silly. Why would he think it is one of us?”

“You don’t believe me? Radha prove me wrong. Tell us what you were thinking.”

“Yes Radha, tell us,” coaxed Mayur.

When Radha didn’t immediately respond, Priyanka crossed her arms across her chest and smiled triumphantly. “So this is how you reward people who are loyal to you? Forget about me but how long have these two been your friends? And now you think…”

“It’s not that,” said he finally. “I have to consider…”

“Maybe it is you,” she said angrily. “Maybe all this is a big trick to confuse us.”

“Now why would I…”

“Why would any of us Radha,” asked Mayur looking stricken. “You really think it could be one of us?”

“I don’t mean…”

“Then what do you mean?” said Sagar.

Radha sputtered but no words came out of his mouth. The three had crowded around his chair and the waves of disapproval coming from them was making it hard for him to think straight.

“I don’t know about you two but I am leaving. I did not sign up for this.” She picked up her bag and went to the door. Before leaving, she turned around and said, “You two coming?”

Mayur shook his head like he was mightily disappointed with Radha and expected better. He took hold of Sagar’s hand and his bag. Sagar was in a daze, like he couldn’t process what was happening. Mayur pulled his hand and led him away, behind Priyanka and out the classroom.

Radha was left behind, alone, stewing in his conviction that it had to be one of them, hating himself for knowing that and helpless since he couldn’t change what was right in front of his eyes.

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This is the seventeenth post in the series. To know more about Radha, click here.