house of the Death

Atul’s Story.

Atul’s Story. 

On Mr. Charles Jones’s request, Atul is not taken into the police station in the district of Shimla. Instead, he is brought to Mr. Jones’s house where he will be interpreted and questioned about the person. He is taken inside the library room and make to sit down on one of the chairs. The other officers are standing near the entrance of the room so that he can not run from there. Mr. Jones takes his usual seat near the window on the opposite side where Atul is sitting. Mr. Jones begins to speak,

“If you help me I can promise you that you will not be punished. Now it is your choice do you want to help us or be punished for hiding evidence from the police.”

To which the boy node his head in a positive way of agreeing to his proposal. So, Mr. Jones asks Atul to tell them everything he knows and does not hide anything and if he hides anything it will harm Atul only. Now the young boy begins,

“It was one day before the night of the disappearance of the children, a strange-looking man comes to reside in my house. He was a tall man nearly about 6 fits, he was in his mid-forties. First of all, he was talking pretty strange to me and hiding his face with his hat so that I can not see his face. First, I do not agree with his proposal as he looks quite suspicious to me and I do not want to get into any trouble as I have to face many obstacles in my daily life and struggles a lot. But, he was providing me a good sum of money which I could not disagree with as I had not eaten properly for many days and I feel voracious and accept his proposal.

The first day he does not go anywhere and stay in the house. He has provided me a good amount of money to get the ingredients for preparing a good meal for both of us. I was pretty happy with this as I was going to have a great meal after a long time. The whole day the strange person was hiding his face with his huge cowboy shape hat and by night we become so accustomed to each other that we become good friends that he started believing me and remove his hat while we were having our dinner.

The next day, we have a good talk and he tells me that he would go out in the evening for some work and it would take some time so he would return by late at night. He went out in the evening and returned nearly at one’o clock at midnight. His clothes were covered with mud and when I asked that if everything was alright, he said to me not to worry. The next morning he was packing his luggage and before going he gave me a card and asked me if I need work I could visit him to the location and called the given number for assistance.

The next day when the police arrived I was working in the field and when I saw the cops and heard that they were searching for a man who wore a cowboy shaped hat, I got very much scared and hence hide my self in the wilderness. The next day when I saw the police I did the same thing. I thought that they would arrest me for giving residence to the person they were looking for and I would be penalized for my fault.

Today when you all again come for the investigation I was very much scared and therefore was hiding my face but Mr. Jones saw it and called me. I could not run because it would further prove I was guilty and would be harsher for me. When Mr. Jones asked me to leave I had decided to go to the strange person who had given me the card and leave this place forever. But you all caught me before I could leave the village.”

After hearing the entire story everyone present in the room gets a bit of emotional and had great sympathy for the young boy. Mr. Jones tells Atul to give the card to him and asked him if he can make a sketch of the person. To which Atul said “yes”. Further Mr. Jones asked Mr. Nirmal the officer in charge to forgive the poor boy and do not take him under custody. Mr. Nilesh after discussing with the other officers agrees with Mr. Jones and decides not to arrest him. Furthermore, Mr. Jones offers Atul to work with him as an assistant and take care of his house for which he will be paid well and do not have to worry about his stay or food. Atul feels very grateful to everyone present inside the room and especially to Mr. Charles Jones for giving him another opportunity to lead his life from a new beginning.