tales of Suchita

Restlessness had now permeated Mayur and Sagar. Where before they simply tolerated being called Watson and Timothy, they hadn’t known a time would come where they would miss being their alter-egos. Since Radha had taken the decision to not pursue the prankster, he had also stopped the detective play. They were back to being thirteen year old boys who passed their time doing nothing of import.

It only occurred to them now that while they had been playing Watson and Timothy, they had been transformed boys, doing more, striving to do more…just being more. And now…just as Radha had given them a purpose, he had taken it away. While Mayur was dealing with it, Sagar was getting more and more agitated.

Since Radha had stopped, life at home had become unbearable. Chandra would come to his room as soon as he would reach home, demand an update and when he couldn’t satisfy her, she would lash out violently. He had thought his father had a temper but that was nothing compared to Chandra’s. She was inconsolable and he was glad he hadn’t told her that Radha wasn’t interested in finding the prankster anymore. He shuddered to think how she would react if she came to know.

But there was another reason for his growing unease. The ease with which Chandra had discounted his efforts to put her dangerous plans into action and then being rejected as a suspect by Radha had given birth to a shadow that kept saying nasty things to him. Sagar had thought the two most important people in his life would be able to see just how resourceful he was. But they had rejected him, so easily that it hurt. And every time he hurt, his shadow self would rise from the ashes and whisper corrosive words.

It was that that made him finally get up from the bean bag he was sprawled in and say, “Why did you reject us as suspects?”

Radha, who had been in a happy daydream which involved Priyanka, swooning and football skills, took a minute to come out of the daze. Seeing the serious look on his friend’s face, he decided to answer the question instead of brushing it off. “You are my friends.”

If Radha had thought that that would be enough, he was sorely mistaken. Sagar retorted, “That isn’t very scientific now is it? You keep telling us that evidence is important. What does he always say – something about means…”

“Motive and opportunity,” chimed in Mayur, relieved that Sagar had taken it upon himself to break the embargo on talking about their case. While he had understood, not at the same instinctive level that Priyanka had, that what Radha was doing was strategic, he had become so used to the high level of energies that he found he didn’t like lethargy at all, despite what his mother said he needed.

“Exactly,” said Sagar, clapping his hands. “Why don’t you tell us how we didn’t have the means, motive or opportunity instead of saying because you are my friends.”

“What has gotten into both of you lately?”

“What? You used to enjoy answering such questions! You always said that we wouldn’t be good sidekicks if we didn’t ask questions.” Radha loved to brag and he would usually grab at any teaching opportunity. That he wasn’t utilizing this was shocking.

“Oh come on all that was just…”

“What? Just because you have Priyan…”

“What does she have to do with anything,” asked Sagar.

Radha blushed and looked away. Mayur said, “He likes her, don’t you see? He doesn’t want to find the prankster because he knows it is her. He just refuses to accept it.”

Now thoroughly confused, Sagar could only stare. He didn’t care about Priyanka! He wanted to know why he had been rejected as a suspect. Before he could decide how to bring the conversation back on track, Radha said, “I have no evidence to suggest that one of you could be the culprit and you know its the truth.”

“What about that letter,” asked Sagar. “What about the fact that the prankster used the exact school bag that you had to implicate you? What about targeting Priyanka specifica…”

“Hold on…what do you mean?”

The flashes again. Bulbs going crazy in his head forming a web…a roadmap to the prankster. But before his intuition could help him reach anywhere, it was interrupted by Mayur.

“What letter?”

Unable to answer as he was temporarily incapacitated thanks to his brain continuously  firing up, Radha did not answer the question.

“Radha, Sagar – what letter is this? Why did neither of you tell me about it? Does Priyanka know?”

“He got a letter from the prankster,” explained Sagar. That had been his moment of ingenuity. Chandra hadn’t told him how he was to deliver it – he had decided that all by himself. And she thought she didn’t need me, snorted his shadow self.

At the mention of that letter, Radha again felt cold hands gripping his neck. He shuddered. “I need to think,” he announced hoarsely. “I’m sorry but you two need to leave.”

“Why did you think it can’t be one of us?” Though Sagar had asked the question for a different reason, Mayur now needed to know the answer. If Radha was making these decisions based on how he felt about his friends and this girl, it could mean disaster. Also as a sidekick, it was his job to protect him from such follies.

Now impatient and angry and in need to follow the tantalizingly promising path that his brain had shown him, he blurted out the truth. It cannot be said for sure how the matter would have turned out had Radha not been in such a state of euphoric panic. He blurted that he didn’t think Mayur or Sagar were capable of executing a plan as convoluted as this.

As it were, this was the final straw for Sagar – to be his presence thus devalued by the one person who perhaps could have mended the broken soul crying for help. It created a rift in Sagar’s psyche for his shadow self to come out and play.

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This is the twenty-first post in the series. To know more about Radha, click here.