Spells

Chapter 1: Notice

                                2012

Vijay

Vijay Mahawat stared at the envelope, and the envelope stared back with its small but bold black letters stating, 'CONFIDENTIAL'.

His expressions remained pensive, but hid a sea of turmoil beneath them. He expected this order. For a month, maybe more, he had been hearing rumblings about it. He had asked his chief, even almost pleaded to stop it, but the reply was always an excuse. "It came from higher ups."

That spineless prick!

And now, here it lay, sitting on his table in a spotless white envelope. His small desk was a mess of piled up documents, files, paper balls, pens and used paper cups covering every inch. The envelope covered just a tiny part of it, but made the biggest impact. Vijay already knew what the letter contained - 'A Transfer notice'.

It was inevitable. Transfers were a part of his job. But he still wished it was postponed. He dreaded telling his children that they were moving, in the middle of the year, to a tiny town none of them had ever heard of.

He picked up the envelope and contemplated opening it.

What if I didn't open it? I can claim I never recieved it. Might delay the process a bit.

He opened it. The letter was just a formality, his fate was already decided.

He skimmed through it, pausing at the only important thing. Although he knew the location in advance too, there still was a flicker of hope in him.

Let it be Delhi, or maybe Jodhpur, or Udaipur.

It could be any place for all he cared, as long as it was close to Jaipur, the place where he resided in now. But again, no such luck. It was to Kuldhara, Himachal Pradesh... A place more than seven hundred kilometres away. No one he had asked knew much about it, just that apparently it was a small remote town situated high in the mountains.

"Hey man, got your transfer letter I see!" Dileep's voice interrupted Vijay's thoughts. He was leaning heavily on the doorway, and just one look told Vijay that he was truly sympathetic. His sad expressions fit perfectly on his small child-like face. Despite his youthful visage though, the rest of him screamed police officer. Looming over six foot six, with toned muscles and large holsters strapped to his thighs, he looked like a perfect law man.

Vijay, on the other hand, paled in comparison to Dileeps' buff build. He was short, flabby, and had a belly. His hair was thinning and his face was sagging making him look almost a decade older than he actually was.

"Yeah." Vijay sighed. "I wished they at least waited for the year to get over. I hate to pull the kids to a new school in between. And their midterms are coming up soon too."

Dileep nodded. "Yeah, I understand. But hey, stop worrying about it now. We are going to have a banger of a party for you. Everybody is contributing."

"Everybody?" His eyes rose up in surprise.

"Yeah. We all will miss you here."

Vijay didn't know about others, but Dileep definitely would. They had been working together for nine years. Dileep was his mentee when he joined the post nine years back. They even tackled a few cases together. Though Vijay opted for a desk job soon after. He couldn't continue risking his life... He was scared to. Dileep had understood and respected his decision. If something happened to a person when he was a single parent, well then, it's a hell of a ride for his kids to adulthood.

"'Well, at least it's a desk job there, and I read the file and it seems like the crime rate in Kuldhara is non-existent. So you don't have to do much there... Except for dieting, I guess ."' Dileep chuckled.

Vijay rolled his eyes. But he knew what Dileep said was true. He was definitely out of shape. He had to make new holes in his belt, and was constantly out of breath. And even getting up from his chair was getting harder each day. He wished he was fit like Dileep.

Why couldn't they transfer him?

Vijay looked at Dileep with envy, then scolded himself for the thought. Dileep had a three year old and a baby on the way too. More than that... He always took his side in the internal fights he had over the years. And there had been many. Vijay wasn't liked much, and his temper was extremely short. He had even argued with Dileep on more than a few occasions.

Wonder if my anger caused the transfer. Should definitely try to control it in the new place...

Vijay sighed.

But first problems first, how to tell the kids about the transfer?