Uncanny

By Anamika B.U

The day was calm in rain until  a dead body was found in cemetery. It was the body of a rape suspect  who got released three days ago, because the Jury returned the verdict of  not guilt. The body was found near the grave of the victim. Autopsy says the death was due to heavy blood lose from broken skull. This news spread quickly and widely than the news about rape case. Some people believed that he killed himself because of guilt, some believed the victim’s ghost took his life and some keep asking “was he murdered?” But on the other side, Isn’t this the JUSTICE?! If not it’s the PUNISHMENT.

As usual the news only live until another one born. And of course the police couldn’t find anything about the body which was found at the cemetery because of the lack of evidences. So they filed it as a suicide. Not so long another news born. Missing of three siblings, two brothers and their sister. But it didn’t catch much people’s attention, maybe they thought it was just another missing case just until a body found at the river side. The elder brother was an autistic person. The day after they went missing some people found him unconsciously lying on the road with a cut on his forehead and took him to the hospital. When the police asked about the incident, he got all scared and said something repeatedly like- “they made him bleed —they took them away!” He kept saying that for hours .

And the body which was found at the river side was his younger brother’s who was beaten to death by someone. And that third person is still missing , and they are still searching.

Three or four days passed and the body of a sixteen-year-old girl was found in a box at the railway station. Further identification confirmed that the body was that of the missing girl. She was not just murdered but also brutally raped . Severe internal and external injuries were the other reason for her death. The CCTV footage shows that it was a group of four men in black who carried something in a box and placed it there . (all of them were masked except for one)  From the outside footage, it is clear that the suspects left the station in a black colour car with it’s number plate covered . But the same car was seen in the CCTV footage of the spot where the autistic man was found unconscious, it was confirmed that it’s the same car in both footages. An officer visits his autistic brother in hospital to find out more and gave a photo of one of the four whose face was not covered . He Identified him with a terrible urge of panic and fear. His voice was hurried, “He bad mouthed my sister—– he— smacked him––he— smirked –ugh !! I  can’t remember!! I couldn’t do anything…I tried but something banged on my head and suddenly felt dizzy.” He started moving his head so fast and everyone tried to calm him. 

It was confirmed that those four men were the culprits. The police toughened the investigation but couldn’t capture him , he slipped through.  Then finally they found him but not alive . They found his motion less body with severe injuries all over the body especially on his head. Everybody knew that it wasn’t a suicide.

“He was killed, right?!”

“I think the police don’t have to investigate his death he is a murderer after all.”

“They don’t deserve to be lived just by taking others life.” 

“They should feel the pain too.”

The case broke a smoke among the people.

The sky went cold and even tried to soothe the earth with it’s rain petals .  calm, but things  started to burn even more.

A young man broke Into the police station all panicked . He was panting as if someone had run him over. He got on his knees and started yelling ,

“ Sir please arrest me!! I’m one of them– it was me who killed her! HELP ME!!  I’m being chased…They going to kill me too … Arrest me!! Put me in the cell !! ..” Everyone got shocked by the scene and an officer kicked him from the back then  handcuffed him and put him into the cell immediately. Before the police started asking any questions he told them again that he was being chased by a shadow, a masked person in black. Then the police asked him about the other two of them. And the answer is –“ I don’t know.” They asked him some more questions like “why did you do that? , Is there any motive?” Then he replied, 

“we  were drunk.”

When the smoke break out a fire among media and people  , another question raised- “ is being drunk a license to do any crime?!”

“sir believe me, it’s that shadow who killed him. He told me that he got a feeling like he was being chased and even asked me to leave the country”  he yelled from the cell. An officer rushed into the cell and grasped a fistful of his hair squeezed him against the wall, he clenched his jaw and said “ How dare you murderer, you killed that girl and now asking us to help you! To believe you?!  I’m a father too, criminals like you don’t deserve to live!!  The officer crunched his fist on his face until the man faints. Some other officers saw the sight and rushed to the cell, tried to separate the officer from him and check that the man was still breathing.

On the trial day, before entering the court, the sight of a masked man made the suspect panic– who has been watching him from the press crowd. “That Shadow kill him …I know that wasn’t a suicide!” he yelled. Before the media starts asking any questions the police forcefully took him inside the court. 

During the trial the defendant confessed. So the law gave him 14 years of imprisonment. 

The words spilled by the defendant in front of the media was like fuel to fire. “THE SHADOW WHO KILLED MURDERS”, “THE JUST”– headlines like these appeared on every media. Following these the police search the murder history from past 3 years. There is almost 15 cases related to the in evident murder of criminals–especially the rape suspects. But the police are not so ready to reveal these things to the media because they are afraid “what if the public starts supporting or be sided with the shadow man”

The media brings out what the police have tried to cover up, no matter how confidential. They gathered around the police station to know more. “Sir are you hiding the murder history from the media?,” asked the reporter. “The case is burning day by day, why is the police not taking action?,” impatiently asked another reporter. “See, we have not hidden anything from the press or the public. We want it to be more confidential because we don’t want the public to panic. And you’re the one who burns things,” said the officer exasperated. “No sir, the public will not panic but they are curious to know the truth because the victims are not innocent common people but are murder suspects, rapists, so it’s our right to know and inform them about  what’s happening.” “Is there any relation between the past fifteen cases and the shadow person?,” continued the media.

“No––”

“What about the two missing suspects?,” the nonstop questions from the media couldn’t even let the police to find excuses.

As the only one who saw the masked person is that imprisoned suspect and according to him, that person was dressed in a black hoodie and mask – didn’t have any weapons visibly. But he suspected that the person might be a woman. Because he said the man had his long hair tied up – he saw it for a moment before being followed. But the police didn’t care about his doubt, because nowadays people grow long hair irrespective of gender.

As the investigation moved further, they went through the nook and corners of past similar cases. All those cases has different mode of murdering. But then they unfold a case which is more suspicious, because it happened two or three months ago  in the same locality and has some similarities also –The case that the body of a rape suspect found at the cemetery with skull injuries. Still the mode of killing doesn’t match . The murderer didn’t use any special weapons to do the crime –it seems like he let out all the anger.

The police went through the case because of some similarities. But they realized that a key piece of evidence they had left behind in the case was hidden –a CCTV camera which was placed on a tree near the cemetery which haven’t studied yet. They dived into it and found the visuals of only one person who entered the cemetery after the victim at midnight — a woman in black.

By Anamika B.U