Chapter 3

“What’s your name?”

“Divya”

“Which grade are you in?”

“Eleventh”, Divya replied. “B Section”, she added as an afterthought.

“At what time did you go to your classroom when you found the boy?”

“Around 3.40”

Divya and her parents were in the staffroom along with her English teacher. A police constable had arrived there to take her statement. Her mother was sitting with her in the bench and her father was standing a little behind near the window, leaning on the wall. The constable, a dark man with a large belly and a big moustache, was sitting in a chair opposite to them and taking notes in a notepad.

“Were you going to the classroom alone?” the constable asked.

“Yes”

“What happened when you went inside the classroom?”

As Divya recounted all the events to him, he carefully took notes.

“Did the boy say anything to you?”

“Yes”

The constable looked up. “What did he say?”

“He said someone killed him.”

“Divya..” her mother said as she held her hand. “Are you sure?”

Her father also came to stand near her and looked at her inquiringly.

The constable cleared his throat. “What were his exact words?” he asked.

Divya thought about it. “He said… ‘Killed me’”

“Alright” the constable said. “Did you meet anyone suspicious before you went inside the classroom?”

Divya racked her brain for what happened before she went to the classroom. Two boys from her class but different section were racing down the third floor stairs laughing about something. She had seen the Headmaster was walking towards the second floor corridor probably to do his rounds. But none of these seemed suspicious. So she answered -

“No, nothing suspicious.”

“Did you see anything suspicious after you came out of the classroom to get help?”

“No”

The constable closed his notepad and stood up. “I’m done here. Let me know if you remember something else.”

He then nodded to father, who asked Divya and her mother to wait in the car till he spoke to the constable.

***********

After forty five minutes, they had all reached Divya’s home where her younger sister Aishwarya was already waiting for them dropped off by their driver from the school. Divya was asked to take some rest in her room upstairs and by the time she was called for dinner, her mother had talked to all her friends’ parents about the death of Harish. She was convinced that Harish had died naturally because of his epileptic condition and Divya was just imagining things that he had told that someone killed him.

As always, Divya didn’t argue with her mother about it and instead asked her father on what the police said.

“They said that the investigation would start only when the autopsy report is ready” he replied.

“Also, you can take off for school tomorrow if you want. I’m going for a business meeting to Mumbai tomorrow. I’ll be back in 3 days” her father said.

Divya looked at her mother, whose face was tight. Her father’s frequent business trips were one of the reasons that caused arguments in the house. But her mother didn’t say anything that day.

“Okay, I’ll take leave tomorrow” she said to both of them and went to lay awake in her bed thinking about the day. Slowly, sleep came to her with nightmares.

*********

Divya went back to school two days after Harish’s death. The previous day had all gone with her mother giving dealing-with-post-trauma advice. When she stepped inside the class, there was a general murmuring among her classmates and her friends bombarded her with questions about the fateful day. For the first time, she was relieved to see her class teacher/math teacher enter the classroom.

After the math class was over (which seemed to go on for three hours), the teacher asked Divya to meet her in the staffroom in the break.

When Divya went to the staffroom, no other teachers were present.

“Hi Divya, are you alright now?”

“Yes ma’am”

“I know it takes time to get over what you saw. But if you need any help at all, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.”

“Sure ma’am”

“We have organized a memorial service for Harish this Saturday in the school. It would be good if you can attend it. Only if you’re up to it ”.

“Okay ma’am….and ma’am, what did the police say about Harish’s death?”

“Um…I checked with the Headmaster today morning. He said that as per preliminary investigation, it was death by natural cause.”

“What about the autopsy report?”

“He didn’t say anything about it. But I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”

“But ma’am, Harish-”

“Yes” she interrupted. I know that you had said that Harish told that someone had killed him. But you might have heard something wrong.”

Divya was silent for sometime.

“Okay, let’s see what the police finds” Ms. Sandhya said in a final tone.

“Okay ma’am, thank you”.

When she was near the door, her class teacher called out to her

“Divya, don’t tell Harish’s parents that he said that someone killed him if you see them.”

Another one of her classmates was waiting outside the staff room. So Divya just nodded to her teacher and left.

The next morning when Divya was getting ready for school, her mother got a couple of calls. When Divya asked her about it, her mother replied in a grave voice,

“Your class teacher Ms. Sandhya committed suicide in the school building”.