Bijoy Dasgupta was not from an ordinary family. He was the son of a thief and the brother of a priest. But he liked neither. He left his father when he was sixteen, eventually finding a job at a local dhaba. His brother Aurobindo left them both long before when Bijoy was just nine. But that was not the reason for disliking him. Bijoy has been deep into science and technology since childhood. So much so, that he was just about to become a thief himself. A thief who stole books. But thanks to his generous neighbors who noticed his interest in science, they would give him all the old books of their children.

He never believed in a higher power like God. When he found out that Aurobindo had become a priest, he couldn't believe that his brother was so much different from him. Although he was still in contact with his brother, he never spoke to his father since he left him.

All of this, his past, and how he had come to this point, becoming a lecturer of Physics at Collegiate School was like a mystery to him. He sat on the bed of his single-bedroom flat and wondered how different the three of them were. His brother was a man who saw the world as a holy place, the creation of God. His father, saw the world as just another wallet to pull out money from. And he himself, saw the world as a mere arrangement of atoms and nothing else.

While he wondered about all this, the telephone on the desk rang. Who would call him? Those days phone calls were expensive, especially during the day. He knew there could be only one man who would spend so much on him.

He lifted the phone and said, "Dada".

"Bijoy, I have bad news", his brother, who was on the other side said. Bijoy noticed a hint of fear in his brother's voice.

"What happened?"

"Baba… baba has disappeared", Aurobindo said.

"He might be looting another house. I'm not surprised", Bijoy replied sarcastically.

"No, Bijoy"

"Did you check the neighborhood homes?"

"Bijoy… it… it is on his desk"

As soon as Aurobindo said that, Bijoy's eyes dilated. Now he was also trembling.
"Are you at his place?" He asked his brother.

"Yes… yes"

"Be right there. I'm coming. And don't call the police."
Bijoy immediately hung up and ran outside looking for a taxi.

***

The taxi driver switched through frequencies on the FM radio in his taxi until he was tuned in to the local news.

A female voice on the radio spoke, "We are reporting live from Uluberia where the last known disappearance occurred. The house we are in now belonged to a family of four. The locals here claim that the owner showed them the cursed pearl the night before the whole family disappeared. While there has been no physical evidence of the pearl, the localites believe that the pearl is cursed and whoever takes it to their home disappears. This is the eighty-sixth disappearance in the state. The pearl is nowhere to be found in the house. Some say it has disappeared too while others claim that it was stolen. While we wait for the official report from the government, we have Professor Jagdish Chatterjee with us who will give his point of view about the series of events in the past few days…"

All this started about two weeks ago. A man claimed to have found a large red pearl while fishing on the nearby lake. He didn't let anyone see it because he assumed it would be very expensive. But that night, the man mysteriously disappeared. He was dead or not, nobody knew. But he was never to be found again. And so was the pearl he claimed to have discovered. It was nowhere to be found in his house. The next night, another person disappeared. This time it was a woman who apparently had some relationship with the man. Locals said that she had stolen the pearl and disappeared that night. Slowly, the pearl traveled through the rest of Kolkata, being stolen from one place to another. Soon, the news spread everywhere. Some people claimed it was a cursed pearl and anyone who touches it disappears. Others said it belonged to the Gods and anyone who steals it is punished by them. But throughout the two weeks, nobody had any evidence of the pearl's existence. It was all word of mouth. But now that Bijoy's father apparently disappeared too, Bijoy finally had the chance to see the pearl with his own eyes.

As soon as he arrived near the house, he ran straight into his father's room where his brother was also standing. He looked around the house. He hadn't been to that place in years and some memories from his childhood flashed in his head. Some of his old books were still there. Perhaps his father missed him after he left. While he wondered all this, Aurobindo placed his hand on his shoulder and pointed to a desk in one corner of the room.
There it was, what everyone seemed to be scared of, and yet kept stealing it and bringing it with them. A shiny red sphere the size of a golf ball. Its surface appeared smooth as if polished with a machine. The deep reddish-brown color was stunning.

"I can't believe it," Aurobindo whispered, "this is it. This is what we were hearing about all this time"

Bijoy didn't reply. He kept staring at the pearl.
He said to himself: What are you? How did you do this?
He walked closer, keeping his eyes fixed on it. You didn't do all that, did you?

"Saabdhan Bijoy", Aurobindo said and held Bijoy's arm. "Don't go close to it".

Bijoy stood there without uttering a word. Aurobindo spoke. “I think we should call the police”

Bijoy still stared at the pearl, not replying to him.

“Bijoy, are you listening?”

“Uh… yes, yes. Let’s call the police”, Bijoy replied after a pause.

“Are you sure? I thought you wouldn’t agree to that”, Aurobindo said with surprise.

“I didn’t want to. Because who knows what he has stolen and kept in this house. If the police found something suspicious, we could get in trouble too. But…”

“But, what?”

“I think we have solid evidence here. Nobody had seen the pearl before. At least nobody who hasn’t disappeared”

“You are right, I’m calling the police right now”

“Dada, let’s go out of here and call them. I’m not really comfortable in this place”, Bijoy said.

“Okay, shut the door and come outside”

***
As the two waited for the police outside the house, Aurobindo started explaining about his views of the pearl.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this thing. This pearl. Some brahmins in my temple were telling me about the origins of the pearl. It was created by a sacred clam that lived in the water which originated from Lord Shiva’s crown and flowed into the holy Ganga. The pearl grew very pretty and big, unlike any other pearl that ever existed. The Lord wanted to gift it to Devi Durga. But before he could do that, some demons stole the pearl. That is when Lord Shiva cursed them saying that whoever steals the pearl will be exterminated. We must return the pearl to the Lord”

Bijoy didn’t really like all that God stuff his brother was behind. “And where will you find Lord Shiva?”, he asked.

“In the Himalayas”, Aurobindo replied swiftly.

Bijoy responded with a burst of loud laughter. Aurobindo was aware of Bijoy’s atheism, but he didn’t interfere.

“All I am trying to do is protect you”, he said to Bijoy.

Then two policemen stopped before them on a scooter. “Aurobindo, Aurobindo Dasgupta?”, one of them asked.

“Yes sir. This way please”, Aurobindo said, showing them the way to the house.
As soon as Aurobindo opened the door and entered the room, he was stunned. The pearl had disappeared.

“No! No, no, no!”, he screamed.

“Where… where is it?”, Bijoy said.

The two policemen walked in and searched around the house. Aurobindo stood there without moving an inch. Bijoy looked around the table. He touched the spot where the pearl was placed earlier and moved his finger along the table surface as if he was collecting dust.

“Are you sure you saw it?”, one of the policemen asked.

“We both saw it”, Aurobindo replied.

“Yes sir, I had seen it too”, Bijoy followed.

“I warned you. This is not a pearl you play around with. Lord Shiva is testing us. Who knows who will fall into the trap next”, Aurobindo said with fear.

“We believe it is the brainchild of some kidnappers. They are playing a prank with this pearl to distract us from their actual crime. We are sorry to say, but from our investigations of the previous cases, we believe your father might have been kidnapped, Mr. Dasgupta”, one policeman said. “But if you are saying that you have seen the pearl, they might have done something to make it disappear. So there is no evidence left”

“Black magic”, another policeman whispered.

“Or simply, sublimation”, Bijoy replied.

The three others looked at him.

“Subli- what?”, the policeman asked.

“Sublimation. The phenomenon where a solid turns to a gas, skipping the liquid state. The pearl might have been made of some compound that is solid just below room temperature. As soon as it gets warmer, it sublimates, turning to a gas that we can’t see. It is a common thing. The same way naphthalene tablets disappear in your closet after a couple of days”

“But I was here a long time, why did I not see it disappear?”, Aurobindo asked.

“He brought it here last night. And you were here early in the morning. It was cooler then. When we went outside and the sunlight got stronger, the so-called pearl simply became a gas”, Bijoy explained.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves with theories. But Mr. Bijoy, your theory does explain why all the disappearances happened at night. For now, you two should file an FIR. Please come with us”, one policeman said.

“And Mr. Bijoy, can you give us your theory in writing? With some more detail?” Another policeman said.

***
After filing the FIR, the two brothers returned taking the same taxi.
“Hey Bhogobaan, I hope nothing bad is coming our way”, Aurobindo kept saying in the taxi. Bijoy assured him it was nothing supernatural, and soon the scammers behind it will be unmasked.

After dropping Aurobindo at his place, Bijoy headed straight to his house.

As soon as he got off the taxi, he paid the fare and ran inside. He closed the door and took off his jacket. He passed his right hand into the pocket in his trousers, pulled out something and held it right in front of his face. It was the same reddish-brown sphere, reflecting the lights in the room and sparkling with all its glory. It was the cursed pearl.

“Let’s see what you can do”, Bijoy said and placed it on the desk in front of him.

Continued in part 2…

© arpan

#thriller #shortstory #mystery #crime