"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY FUCKING ADVICE OF YOURS, I WANT MY SISTER BACK!" Monika yelled at the officer, whom they hired to find out Mallika. From childhood, she knew her and she was like a younger sister to her. It had been two weeks since they couldn't find her whereabouts. Now they became restless.

"Last try. That old mansion." the inspector declared looking at everyone.

"That's of no use, sir. We already searched there. The key is with us all the time. If there is anyone, how on earth do they lock it by outside? And I don't think who kidnapped her would be that foolish to hide her there." Siddharth left a sigh.

"But Mr. We've been searching everywhere for so long, but we haven't found her yet. Now it's our only chance." said the inspector calmly.

"Please, then go there. Sir has a point. What if he's more clever?" said Mr. Prasad as they all nodded positively.

"Then let's go!" They all headed towards the mansion with the full police force.

When they reached they noticed the entrance door was locked as usual as they left it when they last came.

They walked over to the big house. As the inspector ordered the other police to cover the area. He hushed them and tried to hear by putting his ear on the door.

And to their surprise, a short noise was coming from inside which meant there was someone.

"It might be some rats."

"Shh... no..."

"Let's break the lock, carefully."

They took out a hard rock from there and broke the big iron lock.

They barged into the house quickly in an alarming state and the inspector raised his gun firmly.

But the whole mansion was empty with not a single trace of human.

"M-my gut saying, Mallika is he-here. I can smell the Jasmine scent of her hair." Monika exclaimed, her voice quivering in fear, excitement, and anticipation.

Inspector instructed them all to go and search in different directions. They nodded and strolled to their path.

Whereas Siddharth, who was about to go to Sumedh's cabin, noticed a running figure was coming in his direction.

Before he could decipher who was, that person bumped into him very hard and they both stumbled back due to the impact.

Siddharth's eyes widen to see Mallika in a vulnerable condition– panting for air, messy hair, dark circles covered under her eyes, she looked terrified of something.

"Mallika!" Siddharth spoke shaking her shoulder.

At first, she flinched, and next when noticed it was his, she clung to his chest and started sobbing vigorously.

He cooed and tried to comfort her as her sobs became even more louder. Mallika wasn't in a condition to speak or explain them anything, so he somehow managed to drag her body to the main entrance, looking for his companions to inform he found her.

"Leave.her." A voice came from behind as they froze in their places.

Mallika's breath hitched as they both turned to see a furious Sumedh was standing there with a sharp knife in his hand.

Mallika gasped as she stood in front of Siddharth.

"Don't you dare to do anything foolish!" she warned him.

"Oh my darling, don't worry I'll never harm you. I'll just cut that bastard's hands in several pieces, where he holds you." in a blink of an eye he pointed the knife at him and threw it across his forehead as blood splashed over her whole face.

Siddharth's grip on her loosened as his dead body fall to the ground with a loud thud.

"SID!!" She screamed and rushed towards him as he was trying to tell her something.

"We-we a-all c-co-come he-here. Th-they a-are in-inside. Ru-run." he took out his last breath and she cried in agony.

But Sumedh didn't stop, he came near them and started chopping his fingers and hands, the knife was drenched in fresh blood.

She, could no longer cope up with all this, ran from there.

One is already dead. She couldn't afford to lose anymore.

Not so far she found Monika and others were searching for her.

"Mallika!" They all exclaimed in happiness as Monika hugged her so tightly.

"We've to run from here. He's-he's a monster. He-he ki-killed Sid..." She breathed out as everyone gasped in horror.

"And now I'll kill you all. Surprise!" Sumedh came out of nowhere and started grinning at them creepily.

The Inspector shot him across his leg, but to their surprise, it went past his body like a fog without any harm. He shot two more times but he didn't even budge.

"Enough playing with these toys. Now take my shot." he threw the knife at him and it hit across his heart as he coughed blood.

"Mallika, hide there. Fast!" Monika ordered out of breath. Though Mallika didn't want to leave them in the danger,  she was pushed into a back door and locked inside.

She could hear gunshots and skin slapping together. She heard one more scream and recognized it was none other but Prasad Sirs.

She couldn't think of anything. She felt out of oxygen. Her eyes started dropping, legs shaking. Her brain didn't want to stay still anymore. She held the table firmly to steady her balance.

As soon as she looked around the place, she found it was Sumedh's cabin.

An idea popped up in her mind. She tried to find something which could kill that monster or at least stop him. So she started to find hurriedly,

After about five minutes of search, she noticed a big red curtain was hanging in the far corner of the room.

She went near it. Her hands were shaking as she revealed it in one go as the curtain dropped to the floor.

She let out a gasp as there was an old painting of Sumedh in a king's dress. It looked very old. But what feared her more was the date which was quoted right under the photo.

(1783-1814)

"1814... And now it's 2021!" She staggered back, realisation hit her hard. It was as if the fog started clearing out from her visions.

That was the reason why he always claimed himself as a king.

That's when a rotten smell entered her nostrils as she closed her nose by her palms to prevent from puking.

A smell was coming out from behind the picture.

She slowly lifted it up and became shocked to see a small door that was unlocked.

She kept the frame aside and opened the door cautiously and in the next moment screamed in horror to see a rotten corpse lying there, staring at her.

She couldn't process it and started moving backward.

'He's dead. He's dead. It's his body. He's dead for so long. Dead. Dead.'

The words started ringing in her mind when her back bumped into something hard.

To her surprise, Sumedh was standing there with a sly smile on his blood-painted face. Blood was dripping down from the knife which he was holding.

She couldn't think what should she do. She felt like crying. But now It was of no use calling for help as he had killed everyone by now.

She was shaking vigorously. It seemed like her eyes got dried, every teardrop was dried. She gulped and threatened him with a shaky voice,

"St-stay aw-away fr-from m-me... yo-you ki-kill ev-everyone. Yo-you are a mur-murderer."

"No darling, I only kill those who tried to separate us-"

"Your and my worlds are DIFFERENT! YOU'RE DEAD. DEAD YOU'RE. CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND IT?" she pointed to the picture and the corpse as he was taken aback. His eyes widened to hear her statement as if like he didn't even know these days he was dead.

"N-no. I'm not. I'M NOT DEAD! I'm ALIVE!" he tried to hug her but his body went past by like a mist. He couldn't catch her nor did he hold her no matter how many times he tried to.

"NO. NO. NO. THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"

"YES. YES. YES. IT IS HAPPENING. YOU'RE NOT A HUMAN. YOU'RE A MONSTER IN HUMAN DISGUISE!" Mallika yelled with so much venom and turned her back to leave.

But.

She paused in the midway. Her body went numb. No senses were coming as her body didn't respond.

When she looked down to find blood was pouring out from her belly and the tip of the knife could be seen only.

Sumedh twisted the knife in her back again and again.

"If I can't stay with you, I won't let you belong to anyone else. You're all mine. I'm obsessed with you. Let's go now, darling. Will you? You see, our world is same now." he whispered into her ear and she went limp in his arms.

From onwards Police sealed the palace as a haunted area and no one dared to look in that direction anymore.

It was heard that once King Sumedh married his ladylove. But on their first night, his wife stabbed him with a knife and hide his body under the basement door of his favourite cabin and she became the queen.

He was always fond of love but never found one. Whoever he tried to love left him forever.

No one in this world could fulfill the poor king's last wish by loving him.

•••

THE END!

Thanks to all who supported the book from first to last. I hope you like this short story. If yes then please it would be great if you give a shout-out to this book. Lots of love. ( ◜‿◝ )♡