“Ma’am, are you okay?”, the junior forensic officer called out to Sarah as she was reminiscing about her past. “Huh, these female officers are no good to work, they sleep in a murder scene”, She heard Rajat telling someone and laughing. Angrily she turned her head towards him, stared at him for a few seconds, and returned to her work. She searched the entire place by herself twice but ended up finding nothing but a partial footprint. She sat in the car with a dissatisfied look, unconfident and tired way while Rajat kept laughing from outside the car. 

Her entire day was filled with disappointment, and she left the place. She went back to her place and sat on the sofa crying that she didn’t even find one clue regarding the case. After a disappointing dinner, she felt sleepy and jumped into her bed. Her eyes started to blur out again, “Oh Crap! Not again!” she felt herself getting unconscious.

In the middle of the night, there was a weird dream of her running on the road, the vision was blurry but the experience didn’t feel like a dream. It felt different. It felt realistic, but she didn’t give it much thought and felt herself getting unconscious again and her vision getting blurry. She woke up to see herself holding her blind stick and on the sofa. When she ran to see the doctor again, she comes across Rajat coming out of the room. “Any problem, Sarah? You want a leave coz you aren’t able to handle the stress of this case?” Rajat asked her sarcastically “Nothing Like that!”. Hearing this at his door, the doctor came to the door and joined the conversation, “Hey Sarah, do you know Rajat?”, “Yes, he’s the head of my team”. “Oh yeah, I remember now. You both work in the same team. By the way, why are you here and in such a hurry? Is the sleepwalking happening again?”, “What sleepwalking?” Rajat asked. “Nothing!” shouted Sarah. “Okay Rajat, we’ll meet again. Hopefully when you are healthier.” said the doctor and sent Rajat away. Rajat was left wondering if Sarah had problems sleepwalking. 

Inside the room, Sarah explained the whole thing to the doctor, and he;

D: You sure that you’ve dreamt it?

S: I don’t know. It does feel that way.

D: Tell me everything you saw around you.

S: I can see the crime scene. I saw the house, the backyard. There was a fenced wall in the backyard and there was another house’s backyard in that fence. There was water, I think I was trying to wash something away. Something like a……….. Wait. Wait I’m sorry I have to go!

D: Stay Safe!           (He shouted)

Sarah rushed to the crime scene and checked if the house behind them has a similar backyard. After a little argument, the owners let her into their backyard and when she checked if it had the same footprint, it did. Sarah was shocked to notice this, she took a picture and was ready to leave but felt unconscious for a minute. She regained herself and went back to Rajat to tell him about this. “You’re hallucinating, Sarah!” he shouted. 

R: Stop seeing things to satisfy your need of finding clues. 

S: No, I did see something there, a footprint. You have to believe me. 

R: What proof do you have?

S: Here, I took a picture. 

R: There is nothing here.

S: Wait what!? I swear, I swear to God. I saw a footprint here. You have to believe me, Rajat. It is the sole clue that we have right now. It can give us the details of the blinder. You have to believe me.

R: You are overstressing yourself and you’ve started to see things, Sarah! Don’t stress yourself this much. It’s okay if we find nothing. It is what is expected from you women anyways. Go home, take some rest, and come back when you feel okay or if you want to waste more of our time. Hush now!

S: Rajat Please! You have to believe me. I did see a footprint there. I took a picture. I don’t know how it disappeared. I did see it. 

R: Go Home, Sarah! Don’t make me suspend you or take you out of the team for medical reasons. LEAVE! NOW!

Sarah left the room. “Crazy woman!”, she heard from Rajat’s room. She went back to her place with her head low and in complete disappointment and disbelief in herself. After crying for a while. She gets tired and dozes off to sleep but sets up the recording just in case.

The next morning she wakes up to find herself in the hall and when she inspects the recording. It doesn’t exist. “I specifically remember setting my phone to record me. How can it not exist? And if not why was my phone there”. She called the doctor, “I think you might’ve forgotten to press the record button.”, “Maybe…. But is there any other possibility?” She gets another call, “Doc, I’m gonna call you back.    (in a stern voice) What happened?”, “Another one….!” she rushes off to that place. “A 28 yr old man Rohan was killed by the Blinder last night. He has committed 17 murders and the police still haven’t had any clue regarding him. Sir, how do you wanna respond to that?” to which Rajat responds, “If only our forensics team is better”. There was a sudden mumbling in the press. “What are your comments on the news that you are having sexual relationships with one of your co-workers?”. “What now?     (In shock)”

“Breaking News: Assistant Commissioner of Police and the leader of the special team Rajat Sinha IPS is suspected to have conjugal relationships with a woman in the police department. It is unknown who the woman is, but CCTV footage was leaked showing him having conjugal relationships with a woman in a Police uniform. The video doesn’t showcase her face at all.” Rajat denied all the convictions and left the press meeting never to be seen again. The press surrounded his house and his wife started crying out loud to them, “He was a good man. I don’t know what went into him. But he was a good man. I can’t believe he did this to me. Rajat, I’ve stayed devoted to you all these years, how can you do this to me?”. 

Still, in search of clues at Rohan’s place, Sarah watched all of this on the TV. Once again they only found nothing but a partial footprint. Even combining this with the past footprint didn’t give much of a clue. At that instant, the assistant head of the team Nishant Kumar was suddenly promoted to the head of the team. Sarah was promoted to assistant head and also is the head of forensics. The police department responded to the press, “We are suspending Rajat for his actions, and also an investigation will be launched regarding his whereabouts. We are ashamed of such behavior from our department and we shall ensure that acts like this shall never be repeated.” After the press meeting was over, Nishant advised everyone to collect all the evidence as soon as possible and leave the crime scene as they are interrogated about Rajat. After this hectic day, Sarah came back home severely tired and triggered. As sleepwalking wasn’t a new thing for her then, she was used to the idea that she was going to sleepwalk and went to sleep. 

The next morning there was a bigger breaking news, “ACP Rajat Sinha is stroked dead by the Blinder. He was found on the banks of the river ‘Jaleshri’. Recently he was accused of being in a conjugal relationship outside his marriage and was suspended for non-morale behavior. Born in …….” Sarah hurried to the crime scene. There he was, Rajat. He was set to look like he was sitting on the bench of the park with sunglasses. Police and media surrounded him. From observing the crime scene, Sarah told her assistants to collect samples from his shoes as it was sure that he wasn’t murdered there. After searching through the samples, they found out that he was murdered on a highway. Checking the highways, there were blood samples found on NH-523 and after analysis confirmed that they were from Rajat. And there, there it was. The Police department’s first real clue about the culprit. A complete FOOTPRINT.