Chereads / The New D Street / Chapter 4 - Chapter 4: Staying in the Old Cartage

Chapter 4 - Chapter 4: Staying in the Old Cartage

Evening Time 7.30 pm

"Have you found?" – shouted Johnson at his team.

"No Sir! Still not!" – replied one of the members. Meanwhile.

"Sir! I found it."

"The key is found near the inner part of the jeep seat, attached

to the bag". – said Stephen giving the keys to Johnson.

Actually, their arrival was not promising enough.

Consequently, the keys might have slipped off and got attached to

the bag.

They went near the cartage door and began trying to open it.

The cartage was very old and deceased one since a very long time.

It looked like as it had been constructed some decades ago. No one

likely stayed there. The key chain of the cartage looked very

uncanny. The appearance of it was indicating something

mysterious. Moreover, the key chain was very different from other

normal key chains. As nobody for several decades had tried his

hand to disclose the secret of the cartage, its lock was rusted out

with iron. But Johnson was determined to unlock it at any cost. So

after a long effort, he finally succeeded. The cartage door made a

creek sound when opened because it was very old. Entering into

the cartage, they moved one step back being awestruck after seeing

the spacious old mansion. The cartage was huge with many rooms

inside. It was covered with full of dust. The walls were almost

cracked and spoiled. The floor tiles were filthy and full of wet dirt,

every corner of the roof was full of spider-webs and watermarks

were appearing at the ends. They saw this under the small bulb

which was in the cartage. For anybody who was present there, it

was somewhat a ghastly experience for him till date.

They felt that there were no other bulbs in remaining rooms.

"We would not have come here to stay." – said Erlin silently.

"Everything is full of dark! Also the cartage is wrecked out. It

looks like there is no other bulbs in this cartage. So we need to stay

this night in this room." – said Johnson with his team.

Meanwhile, it started raining heavily. A person from the

Highway Bar came out holding an umbrella and ran toward the

cartage.

"Take this umbrella, Sir! It may be useful for you" – giving it

to Johnson, The bearer left placing his hands over the head to

protect from rain and finally walked into the bar. Johnson knew

that it was the bearer who came that night to him with an umbrella.

"Thank you so much, bearer!"

"I‟ll pay a good amount to you in the morning" – shouted

Johnson loudly so that the bearer could hear, who was on the other

side of the cartage.

"No problem Sir!"

"I thought it would help you in this rain, so I gave it to you." –

shouted the bearer again from the bar.

Time: Night 8.30 Pm

The floor was full of dirt and sticky so Johnson decided not to

sleep here.

"We have a carpet with us Sir!"

"It is parceled in one of the bag."

"The bag is in jeep" – said Erlin – one of the two assistants.

Just to get the carpet out, Johnson walked out with an umbrella

holding in his left hand, even in that heavy rain.

Everything was full of dark. The Highway Bar lights were also

turned off. Johnson looked at the bar, but the bearer had already

closed the bar and was sleeping.

In that sheer darkness, all the place which was visible to his

eyes was swarthy and full of dirt. He could only feel the cool

breeze of rain touching his skin. Then, he slowly moved to the car

that was parked outside the cartage. He started looking for the

carpet with the help of his hands. It was very dark. After his

innumerable trials, Johnson failed to get the blanket out. Hoping

for a street light nearby, Johnson turned on his cell phone torch and

looked around the entire place. Turning to the side of the cartage,

Johnson also checked around the cartage walls. Under the torch

light, Johnson saw a rusted street lamp on right side of the cartage

wall with sodden web hanging on it. He hurried to look for its

switch. After searching for a while, he saw a small switch hanging

down the wall near the water pipe and turned it on. Luckily, the

street light turned on. In that street light, Johnson could clearly see

the rain and wastewater running from the cartage terrace. The

Highway Bar was vaguely visible under that street light. Johnson

moved to the jeep, took the carpet from it and slowly walked inside

the cartage.

After moving inside, Johnson with his assistants sat on the

carpet and started discussing about their work.

"If you have any doubts about the D-Street ask me, I will

answer."

"But remember, do not talk about it with anyone".

"Understand." – said Johnson.

Night At 10.00 Pm

As it was about 10.00 pm, they all started sleeping.

Some recurring thoughts were not letting Johnson to sleep. As a

result, waiting for his assistants to sleep, Johnson slowly moved to

his bag to take out some papers to analyze it.

"Yes!"

"I will get it however" – said Johnson to himself firmly. He

put the papers back into his bag and lied down. He was unable to

sleep and while moving his head left and right, he saw something.

He again started searching for that suspicious figure and with the

help of torch he slowly moved to the other rooms, He reached the

balcony and opened the door but could see nothing except the

deadly dark. Meanwhile, he heard a sound and saw something like

red hue far from the balcony. Johnson assumed the sound as made

by a wild cat and its eyes with only glow in the dark.

Closing the balcony door stealthily in order to avoid any noise,

Johnson came back to sleep with his inmates. He was not getting

asleep as he was thinking of something incessantly. By that time,

he felt thirst and started looking for some water. He found the

bottle empty. Hoping he could find some water, Johnson stepped

toward the kitchen side guided by his torchlight but could find not

even a single drop of water.

"My madness! There is not even a single bulb in this cartage,

how can it be for water" – said Johnson to himself being irritated.

Out of frustration and sweat around his head, he removed his hat

and attached it to the nail on the wall which was near the kitchen

cupboard and again started walking. While walking, he heard a

sound. Johnson did not know where the sound was coming from,

so out of surprise he again opened the balcony door, where he

heard the sound very clearly and looked for it here and there.

Walking down the balcony, he saw a tap opened and water was

running out of it. The moment, Johnson got his eye on it he was

shocked..

"Who may have turned it on?"

"Whatever".

"Let me drink some water and leave" – said Johnson and

drinking the water, he started walking back to his room.

Meanwhile, the tap water stopped running. Johnson wondering

about it, slowly moved ahead to turn it on again. Surprisingly, not

even a single drop of water came out from it. Johnson was caught

in a sudden awful moment of fear so he quickly moved back to his

room.

Coming back to his room, Johnson thought of looking at the

papers once. He noticed that the papers were missing. He woke up

all his assistants in great despair.

"Get up, get up!" the papers are missing – shouted Johnson

waking up their assistants.

All of them started searching for the papers together in every

corner of the room but they did not find it. Any person of that room

including Johnson, who was annoyed to a great extent, had no idea

about the exact location of the papers now.

"Ok. Leave it. We will search for it tomorrow"

"Anyhow the papers will surely be in cartage. They might

have carried away by wind" – said Johnson allowing their

assistants to sleep again.

Early Morning At 4.00am

When Johnson was trying to sleep, he heard a loud sound coming

from outside. The sound woke him up and he was able to see a

huge vehicle outside the window. He saw two persons getting

down from the truck and was talking to each other. Then, they

moved to the backside of the vehicle and unloaded some bundle of

papers. One of them again got into the vehicle and returned in the

same direction from where they had come. Johnson thought that it

was a paper distribution truck. Rain already stopped that time. The

other person slowly took the papers and placed them on cartage's

parapet. Then, walking into cartage singing songs happily, he took

the bicycle which was present on left side of the cartage wall,

placed the paper bundles on his bike and straightly pedaled to the

Highway Bar shouting "papers". He threw one newspaper in the

bar and pedaled away. Johnson came to know that one man was

truck driver and the other was the paper boy.

Morning 6.30 Am

When Stephen and Erlin woke up, they saw Johnson was busy in

searching the papers.

"Oh! You woke up. Come now and search for the papers, they

might have flew away by air" – said Johnson moving toward the

washroom. Johnson headed to the balcony and opened the door.

For a moment, he was speechless. He saw the dense forest and the

sun rising. The scenery could refresh the mind of any living body.

He saw the tunnel near the dense forest.

"Very beautiful place."

"I think it is about the tunnel that the bearer was saying to me

yesterday" – Johnson said to himself seeing at the tunnel.

"Have you found?" – shouted Johnson at Erlin and Stephen.

"No Sir! We have not found any in the room," – answered Erlin

and Stephen.

"OK. Leave it. Let us fresh up at the Highway Bar," – said

Johnson. They walked toward the bar. Opening the bar door, they

saw bearer was busy in cleaning the tables.

"Morning, bearer! – wished Johnson.

"Morning, Sir! I think you had a bad sleep yesterday," – said

the bearer looking at Johnson.

"Oh yeah! I had no proper sleep, because the cartage is old

enough to irritate me," –replied Johnson jovially.

"How did you recognize that I had a bad sleep?" – asked

Johnson doubtfully.

"You feel tired and your eyes have almost turned red," –

answered the bearer with a smile on his face.

"If you do not mind, can we refresh here" – asked Johnson

requesting.

"Of course."

"You can!"

"Go ahead," – replied the bearer showing them way to the

guest room.

The guest room was very clean and its interior was artistically

decorated with a classic and an esthetic taste. Johnson moved into

the washroom to bathe. The moment, Johnson moved into the

washroom, Stephen and Erlin started conversing secretly.

Morning 7.00AM

Entering into the bar, Walter and Sedrick noticed the bearer

observing something secretly. Walter walked straight away to the

bearer and said,

"Hey bearer!"

"What happened?"

"Any problem"

"What are you spying at?" –questioned Walter.

"Nothing Sir."

"Am alright."

"But I feel something wrong with the archaeology members"

"However you be careful" – warned the bearer, taking them to

the guest room. When Walter opened the door, they found Stephen

reading paper sitting on a sofa and Erlin brushing.

"Hai! Walter."

"Hello Sedrick!"

"Come in". – invited Stephen keeping the paper aside.

Meanwhile …. Johnson came out.

"Oh. Sorry!"

"Am I late!" – exclaimed Johnson feeling uneasy.

"No, they came just now," – replied Erlin spitting the water

from his mouth and looked his face in the mirror.

"So, when you are going to start your work?" – asked

Sedrick.

"Forgive me."

"Am sorry to say that we cannot start our work right now," –

replied Johnson sadly.

"What happened? Any problem?" –asked Walter after

listening Johnson.

"Actually the problem is … we have lost our important papers

and the D-Street route map" – answered Johnson.

"They were with me even the last night. I went to the balcony

hearing some sound and when I came back I found the papers

missing." – said Johnson explaining what had happened.

"Stephen and Erlin were with you yesterday?"

"They may have seen them?"

"Haven‟t they?" –questioned Walter suspiciously.

"No, they were sleeping actually."

"When I returned from the balcony I found them missing." –

answered Johnson.

"Let us go to cartage and search again," – said Walter and

took them to the cartage. They searched for it to every nook and

corner but could not find any sign of it.

"Don't worry Walter! Am sure that they are in cartage. They

might have fallen somewhere mistakenly." – said Johnson

confidently.

"Ok then."

"We will leave now."

"Just call me Johnson when you find the papers," – said

Walter leaving the place.

Walter and Sedrick left to the D-Street in their car. While they

were travelling in the car, Sedrick asked shockingly –

"Why Walter?"

"Why did you leave Johnson alone without helping him!

"Nothing Sedrick! I feel something wrong with Stephen and

Erlin."

"Do you remember, while we were talking yesterday in the

Highway Bar, Stephen interfered saying the D-Street, also the

bearer warned me about their visit. So I think the papers might be

stolen by Stephen or Erlin," – said Walter.

Sedrick was just shocked listening to Walter.

"So, Walter."

"You are saying that the papers are stolen by Stephen or

Erlin!"

"If so, then why would they steal and what important is lying

in it. – asked Sedrick out of excitement.

"I too do not know. But there is something important

information in it. Johnson too knew it, but he is hiding with us," –

answered Walter intelligently.

"How can you say strongly that Johnson too knew it?" –

asked Sedrick excitingly.

"Simple."

"The last evening while we were at the relax room, when

Stephen began to talk about the D-Street, Johnson interrupted,

warning Stephen angrily. This proves that he knew it, – said Walter

to Sedrick.

The next morning, the archeology team went to the Highway

Bar. As usual, they found the bearer cleaning the bar.

"Morning, bearer!"

"You are busy as usually cleaning the tables," - greeted

Johnson jovially.

"Nothing Sir!"

"It‟s my responsibility to look after the bar," - replied the

bearer smilingly.

"If you don‟t mind, can I ask you one question?"

"I have not seen your paymaster."

"Is he on the voyage?" – asked Johnson curiously.

"Actually, this bar owner lives in Mexico. He runs a casino.

He guides and looks the needs of the bar from there itself. My work

is to send him the profit via wire transfer. I do this once a year," –

answered bearer.

"It sounds good."

"So you are a worker as well as the owner," – smiled

Johnson.

"Not like that," – said the bearer walking to other room.