- "Hello"

- "Come fast at Anupam's residence, Ankit!"

- "Why? What happened?"

- "Police have come to arrest him. A big chaos has been created here."

- "WHHAAAT?!! Ok ok. I am coming."

I ended up the call, hurriedly dressed up (a casual t-shirt ) and rushed there. When I reached there, the police had already taken him into custody. "The inspector took him to the police station" - exclaimed Arijit.

Basically me, Arijit and Anupam are highschool friends. Now, in our thirties, we are almost settled in our life, have a decent job and a house to live in. Though I live in a rented apartment, I am still hoping to buy a flat.

I entered Anupam's house. Pretty tidy, just a chessboard on the table, whose

pieces are messed up, some lying on the floor. I asked Arijit, "What's the matter?"

- "Yesterday night, a murder took place near his house. The victim was a 20 yrs old boy, who had a crush on a girl with whom, Anupam used to play chess sometimes after coming back from office."

- "I didn't knew all that. Who's that girl? Why did she use to come here?"

- "As far as I know, she is a friend of Anupam's niece. Maybe she loved to play chess, and was fascinated by Anupam's style of playing. After all, he was a chess champion in our school."

- "Indeed. He just lost it at the end. But never stopped playing it. But why was he taken into the custody?"

- "The police are suspecting that he has committed the crime. On the accusation of murder, they took him to the police station."

We went to the station, tried to convince the inspector, but failed. Then we discussed that, let's go to our houses and sleep for now and will hire a lawyer tomorrow for his bail.

Tomorrow morning, we went in search of a professional and a good lawyer who can be hired for this case. But after few hours of search, we figured out that the rates of a well experienced and professional lawyer are too high, not affordable for us.

We were exhausted after the huge session of searching. We went to a nearby cafe to take a break from this excess intake of Vitamin-D.

We had a seat in the corner and were about to have a discussion, when suddenly, a girl came towards us and asked Arijit, "Aren't you Anupam uncle's friend?". Arijit replied "Yes."

She then sat with us and gave us her opinion on the case. From what she said, we got a good news and a clue about the mystery.

Her father is a lawyer. But unfortunately, he is out of town right now, will be back after two days. He might help us to bail Anupam.

She added, "That boy was such a pervert. I am glad he is dead. What he used to do with me was nothing less than a harassment. That night, I was returning from my tuition, when I found out that he was following me. I became terrified. I took a different route and went to his house. He was awake. I didn't told him the real matter, instead, told him that I wanted to play a chess match with him. After a few minutes, we heard a loud scream. We went outside and saw his body. I still don't know how he died."

I thought for a moment. There must be an involvement of a third suspect, other than that girl and Anupam. She gave her number to us and asked to call us whenever there is need of her in this case. She stood up, bade goodbye and before moving out, spoke out,"By the way, my name is Nina."

We both looked at each other and sat there speechless for some time. We were kind of relieved that we found a lawyer who can help us, but have to wait for two days. We went out and decided to visit the police station to inform the news to Anupam.

As soon as we entered the police station, we could hear a blast of laughter. Somebody spoke out, "That mental's friends have come, poor fellows." We somehow ignored them, went to the inspector and asked him if we could have a talk with Anupam. He replied, "You can, but I think he is a mental patient. We might need to shift him to a mental hospital. He keeps on talking rubbish most of the time.

Me and Arijit looked at each other, clueless. We went to him and gave the news. He was somehow happy, as it seemed. He was explaining how hard it has been for him, as he was unable to chess there. At the end, he just said, "I think what she did was nothing wrong. Such men disturb to be punished. She did it for my sake. Even after so many years, I still love HER!"

Now, almost everything, to some extent was clear to us, raising some other different questions in our mind. We silently left the police station.

It has been a week since he has been shifted to a mental hospital. One day, Arijit called me and told that Nina wants to talk to us about something. So I have to come to his house. As he said, I went to his house. Nina was already there. I went to his room and sat on the bed.

Arijit whispered in my ears, "She wants to know about that traumatic incident that ended Anupam's chess career." I was shocked. Why is she suddenly asking about an eighteen year old incident?

Nina broke the silence and said, "I went to meet him in the police station. They told that he has been shifted to the mental hospital. I went there and saw him in a drastic condition. He was looking so weak, more like a real mental patient and kept repeating one sentence - 'You did nothing wrong. I am proud of you.' So, could you tell me if it is an effect of his past experiences or there is some other mystery?"

We had no options but to tell her the truth. I tried to narrate it as simple and short as possible. I started:-

"Look, I know it's a bit strange, even we don't know what connection it has with this case, but what we have heard from Anupam, this is the only conclusion we could get to.

We were in 11th standard at that time. An U-18 Inter-School Chess Championship was about to take place. Anupam represented our school in that competition. He was probably the best chess player in our school at that time. Many students from different classes knew about him. But what they didn't knew about him was that, he had a school crush at that time. Her name was Avantika. He told that only to me and Arijit, and promised himself that if he reaches the final of the competition, he will confess his feelings to her. Gradually, he was excellent in his field. As a result, he confidently and comfortably reached the final. Just a day before the final, he told us to call Avantika to a nearby tea shop. We did as per instructed by him. He was serious and very much ready for it. We were very much excited. But as we reached there, we saw something we never expected. A truck has crashed into the tea shop. Avantika's body was found there in a devastated condition. We took her to the hospital, but the doctor said that it was too late. That one incident affected him so much that, he never pursued his career in chess. He always used to blame himself for her death. That was a real tough time for him and for us as well. We didn't knew how to comfort him. After a few years, he again started playing chess. That's when we were satisfied that he was becoming normal again. And now, after so many years, he is thinking about her again. I have a bad feeling that this will lead to a further complex conclusion."

I drank water after such a long speech session. Nina was dumbfounded after hearing all those stuffs. After a minute of silence, she spoke out, "Let's go and visit him now."

We couldn't refuse. We also wanted to meet with him. Therefore, we agreed.

When we reached there, we heard a shocking news. Anupam had run away from the mental hospital. There was a chaos in the hospital. Even the police were there.

We went and asked them that how did it happened. They almost ignored us, only one of them told us that they are still investigating and that he left a note before running away.

We read the note. It had the following things written:-

"Even after so many years, it seems that I have been unable to forget her. My first love. When I first came to my house, I could remember, I could feel that she was around me. Previously, it used to be her house. Her parents had moved away and I bought it. Every night, I could hear what she was trying to say to me. One night, I confessed and apologised to her. I cried a lot that night, I remember. From the next day onwards, I used to come from office and play chess with her. She became my chess mate. If some normal people hears that I am playing chess with a dead person, they will obviously think that I am mental. Maybe I am. I don't even know that myself. But I know that she killed that boy for my sake. She protected me and Nina. And now, I want to be free from these shackles. I am finding it hard to breathe here. Hence, I am going, to search freedom, freedom from this human life. Goodbye."

We hurriedly went to the police and have our opinion that where he could have gone. But at the end of the day, it was a failure. I returned home, exhausted. A notification popped up on my mobile. It was the notification of a news, "The missing flight MH370 has finally been found deep down the Indian Ocean." I switched off my mobile and went a deep sleep.

It has been over a month now after his disappearance. The police never found a trace of him. Also, I bought his house in less than half the price, as no one was going to buy it after hearing that it was haunted.

One day, a letter came to me, with no address written on the envelope. I went to the post office to complain about it, but surprisingly, it was closed for the past few weeks.

I came back home and opened the envelope. What I read further blew my head:-

"Hey Ankit,

I know you are living in my, sorry, OUR house now. You maybe afraid after hearing that I used to live with a ghost. But you will be happy to know that you are absolutely safe there now. Avantika is with me now. We are resting in the heaven. Hopefully someday, you will join us too. "

As I finished reading it, the doorbell rang. I opened the door. The police inspector was standing there, along with Arijit. He said, "An utter mysterious thing has been found out. You remember about the missing flight MH370, which was found just a month ago. The dead bodies of some of the passengers were also found. DNA tests were also possible for some of them. And surprisingly, one of them matched exactly with your friend Anupam's DNA, as far report have been concerned. The recognized passenger's name is found to be Christian Kozel....."

THE END