082 Raid

Among us kids, usually, it is Anuchi who gets up first. But today, I woke up first because of body pain.

I got out of bed without waking up Anuchi. I went to the kitchen and mom was cooking there.

"Huh? Why are you awake so early?" Mom asked me.

"My... body pains," I complained.

"Hahaha... That's because you worked hard yesterday. Your muscles are growing." She kissed me to lessen my pain.

I smiled and nodded.

Mom helped me brush.

By then, Anuchi woke up. She slowly walked into the kitchen and sat beside me with a gloomy face. Then, with a sad face, she asked, "Mom, will you be sad if I die?"

"Huh?" Both of us looked at her confusedly.

"Will you take care of the babies properly if I die?" she asked again.

"Did you see any nightmare dear?" Mom asked. Anuchi was always scared of nightmares. When she was smaller, whenever she had a nightmare, she used to grab her pillow and come to the bedroom of our parents at night. After I started sleeping with her, whenever she had a nightmare, she would hug me tightly.

Anuchi shook her head. "I think I have some big disease."

"What?"

"I think my full body has some disease," Anuchi said dispiritedly.

I struggled my best to not laugh.

"Hahaha... Does your  whole body hurt?" Mom asked.

Anchi nodded.

"It is because you worked hard yesterday." Mom explained. After hearing the explanation, Anuchi's face brightened.

"But, I cannot even walk."

"That is ok. You will be alright by tomorrow. You will be stronger also."

"Ahhh... Couldn't you have warned me yesterday? I was so worried for the younger ones. Wooshh..." Anuchi wiped her forehead exaggeratedly.

"Not just you. Your younger ones also have body pain." Mom just laughed and consoled Anuchi. Anuchi went to get the kids ready for the school.

Within a few minutes, Pichu came out crying.

"Ammaa... I.. I..." He struggled to talk while crying. He hugged Mom's legs tightly.

"Did your sister say that you are going to die?" Mom asked.

Pichu nodded.

"ANUUU...." Mom roared before consoling Pichu.

"Hihihi...." Anuchi came with her iconic stupid laugh. She had her hand around Piya's neck. Piya was struggling to walk.

"I will punish you in the evening." Mom wasn't happy. But since she wanted Anuchi's help to handle us in the morning, she decided to punish Anuchi in the evening.

"Stop crying. Do you even know what dying means?" Mom kicked Pichu lightly. Pichu stopped crying and started wondering what dying meant.

So he was crying in the morning without even knowing what dying means? I too wanted to kick him.

My body hurt the whole day. But I wasn't sad. It was so funny watching Pichu and Piya trying to walk around while making the minimum movements to reduce the pain.

In the evening, we all went home on the school bus. When the bus neared our home, I noticed a large crowd around our home.

I suddenly had a bad premonition.

"What is happening?" Anuchi was also worried. The kids looked around confused. All the kids on the bus craned their necks to see what was going on. The driver honked to signal Mom.

"Make way." Mom came to pick us up.

Mom is fine. I was a little relieved. But the way the people looked at us gave me a terrible feeling.

"What happened?" I asked Mom worried.

"Don't worry dear. It's some jobless people throwing a tantrum." She replied while smiling.

I was a lot relieved to see her smile.

Among the crowd, there were reporters and many familiar faces from our village. Since reporters were trying to shove the mic in front of Mom's face, I walked in front. One thing I learned in this life is that reporters are scared of kids. They will be in trouble if I even trip accidentally on their foot. So they are usually careful around kids, especially the kids of influential people.

Once we were inside the house, I noticed that there were more people inside the house. Arjun's mother was there. Our dad was not there. The television was showing the news. In that news, our house was being shown.

"The police and media have surrounded the area. Since it is a high-profile case, we are currently waiting for the tahsildar to oversee the raid." One reporter on the television was giving a live commentary from the courtyard of our house.

"Raid?" I asked Mom.

"Dear, go to your room and change. This is just a time pass for some adults. You can ignore it. Since there are people outside, play in your room." Mom pushed me away. Arjun's mother had her eyes glued on the television.

I was in no mood to play. I went to the room, took a bath, changed and returned to the living room in less than five minutes.

"This is a very unfortunate news. We all believed that Philip John was a new hero who would fight against all the corruption. But the news coming from his house is absolutely shocking. The one who exposed the corruption is none other than the security at his house. Currently, we have him with us in our studio. Mister Roy, can you tell us what happened?" The news anchor on the television introduced our security. His face appeared on the screen. He was still wearing the security uniform he used to wear. I could see the excitation in his eyes. But he had plastered a fake sad expression on his face.

"Let me say this from the beginning. I was born into a very poor family. My father used to work in the mud every day to earn bread. He was a very good man and never cheated even a coin from another. My childhood was very harsh. I wasn't good at studying either. Did I cheat in exams? No... I was a very sincere man from my childhood. I have never touched a coin that..." The security started the story with a very sad face.

I looked at Mom and Arjun's mother. They were listening to the news with their mouth agape.

"Didn't his father elope with his neighbour's wife?" Mom asked Arjun's mother.

"Yes. As a revenge, the neighbour married his mother." She replied.

"Mister Roy, please tell us about the corruption." The news anchor wasn't a bit interested in the story.

"Ahh... Yes yes. I was getting to it. In that family, there is a little angel. She is truly innocent and well-behaved. She was the one who found the clue about the corruption." He continued.

All our heads turned towards Anuchi.

Angel?

Innocent?

Well behaved?

"See... There are people who actually understand me." Anuchi pointed at the television proudly.

Before we could reply, the security continued the story. "Yesterday, she found some secret hidden by their father. Then she and her siblings found the secret stash of gold."

"Gold?" Mom asked in disbelief.

"I found it yesterday?" Anuchi asked in shock.

We were struggling to connect the dots.

"How did they find it?" The anchor asked.

"Well... they didn't actually find it. They found the location and started digging there. I went there to investigate. But I was stopped by their mother. Still thanks to my intelligence, I managed to find the truth. All the gold they have amazed over the years is hidden there." The security said while adjusting on the chair.

"What in the fourteen worlds?" Arjun's mother was the first to react.

"This traitor!" Mom reacted a bit too late.

"Is he talking about our poop tank? Are they going to raid our poop tank?" Anuchi asked the important question.

"We have an update from the location. The Tehsildar has just arrived. We are going to dig the site." The news anchor shared the latest news.

All of us rushed to the terrace of our house for a better view.

None of us knew what to say.

I didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

They were going to raid our septic tank!

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(will be continued in the next chapter)