The next morning, Meera was her usual cheerful self as she bid them goodbye before leaving for her office trip. "See you in two days, guys!" she called out before disappearing into a cab.
Neither Aryan nor Karan knew that this was the last time they would see her like this.
Days passed, but Meera did not return. At first, Aryan and Karan assumed her trip had been extended. But when five days went by without a single text or call from her, Aryan felt uneasy.
"She hasn't replied to any of our messages," Aryan said, frowning.
Karan nodded. "Yeah, even I tried calling her yesterday. Her phone's off."
A bad feeling settled in Aryan's gut. Meera was never the type to disappear without informing them. Something was wrong.
At work, Aryan approached their senior, Mr. Verma. "Sir, do you know when Meera will be back? It's been five days."
Mr. Verma looked confused. "Meera? She didn't go for any office trip."
Aryan's blood ran cold. "What do you mean? She told us she was traveling for work."
Mr. Verma shook his head. "No, she never came with us. She didn't even report for the trip. We thought she was on leave."
Panic surged through Aryan. He rushed back to Karan, who was waiting at their desks.
"She never went on the trip," Aryan said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Karan's face fell. "What?"
"She's missing."
A heavy silence settled between them. For the first time in years, their trio was incomplete, and the void left by Meera's absence felt suffocating.
Little did they know, this was only the beginning of something much darker.
Without wasting a second, they grabbed their phones and tried calling her again. As expected, her number was still switched off. Karan then dialled her emergency contact—her father.
The call connected after a few rings.
"Hello?" came the deep voice of Mr. Sharma, Meera's father.
"Uncle, it's Karan. We were just calling to check on Meera. She hasn't been to work for five days, and her phone's off."
There was silence on the other end. Then, Mr. Sharma spoke, his voice tinged with worry. "What do you mean, she hasn't been to work? She left home that night, saying she had to catch a bus for an office trip. She hasn't returned since."
Aryan's stomach dropped.
Karan swallowed hard. "She didn't go on any office trip, Uncle. No one at work has seen her since that day."
A sharp intake of breath was heard from the other end. "Oh, God… We've been trying to contact her, but we thought she was just busy with work. My wife and I even called her office, but they said she was on a work trip."
A sinking feeling settled in Aryan's chest. "Uncle, have you filed a missing person's report?"
"We were about to," Mr. Sharma replied, his voice breaking slightly. "I'll go to the police station now."
"We'll meet you there," Aryan assured him before ending the call.
Karan and Aryan exchanged a glance, their expressions grim. Meera wasn't just missing—something far worse had happened to her.
The local police station was buzzing with activity when Aryan and Karan arrived. Officers moved about, handling different cases, but their eyes were fixed on Mr. Sharma, who was already at the counter, speaking with an officer.
"Uncle," Aryan called out, rushing over.
Mr. Sharma turned, his face pale with worry. His wife, Meera's mother, sat on a nearby bench, wiping away tears.
The officer, a stocky man with a thick mustache, looked at Aryan and Karan. "You two are her friends?"
"Yes," Karan confirmed. "We're the last people she spoke to before she disappeared."
The officer sighed, jotting down notes. "We'll need details—where she was last seen, what she was wearing, anything unusual."
Aryan and Karan recounted everything they knew. The officer nodded, listening intently. "We'll start tracing her phone and checking CCTV footage from the area."
Just as they were about to leave, another officer walked in with a small plastic evidence bag. Inside it was an ID card.
Aryan's breath caught in his throat as he recognized it immediately.
Meera's office ID.
The officer who had been speaking with them took the bag, then turned to Mr. Sharma. "We need you to come with us."
"Why?" Karan asked, his heart pounding.
The officer hesitated before speaking. "We found a body."