Arjun, 13 years old, lived with his grandmother in a tin-roofed shack along the outskirts of Kochi. His parents had died in a factory accident when he was just six. Since then, his frail grandmother, who survived by collecting scrap, had raised him and worked hard to keep him in school.

Every day after school, Arjun would cycle to the garbage dump near an old, abandoned industrial zone. It used to be a thriving garment factory but had been deserted for over a decade, now serving as a massive landfill. With old gloves and a burlap sack slung across his bicycle, Arjun scavenged for cans, copper wire, broken iron frames — anything that could help him buy rice or schoolbooks.

That afternoon, clouds loomed overhead, and the wind howled through the crumbling warehouse walls. As Arjun rummaged through a stack of moldy cardboard near a cracked wall, he stumbled upon a small wooden box, worn with age but still latched.

Curious, he gently pried it open.

Inside was a vintage cassette player from the 1990s. Strangely, it wasn’t moldy or broken. Though covered in dust, the wires were neatly coiled, and the batteries were still inside.

Arjun took it home and carefully cleaned it. Having a knack for tinkering with old gadgets, he checked the wiring and cautiously plugged it in.

The power light blinked on. A cassette tape was already inserted.

Driven by curiosity, Arjun hit “Play.”

The tape whirred. Then, crackling through static, came an old, hushed recording:

“Monday, 13th November. Site 9 compound. Strange sounds reported. Send alert to control. Repeat: Site 9 — unusual activity at 2:00 AM…”

Startled, Arjun played it again, listening carefully. The voice was strained, full of urgency, with sounds of footsteps and crashing metal — then abrupt silence.

He didn’t know what or where “Site 9” was, but the tone was alarming. When he played the tape again, a whisper followed near the end:

“Three missing… no response… lock down Warehouse 6…”

He wrote everything down and told his grandmother. She dismissed it, thinking it was just someone’s discarded prank. But Arjun believed this radio held something… serious.

The next morning, he took the player to the local police station.

Sub-Inspector Ravi, who knew Arjun from his scrap-picking runs, thought it was a joke at first. But once he listened to the tape, his demeanor changed instantly.

He called in his team, and they replayed it together.

An older officer suddenly sat upright:

“Wait… Site 9? Isn’t that the abandoned workers’ quarters in Shakti Industrial Zone?”

They checked the records. In 2007, three factory workers from Site 9 had mysteriously vanished. The case had been closed as “voluntary disappearance” due to a lack of evidence.

The tape could be the missing piece.

A formal request was filed to reopen the case. Voice analysis confirmed one speaker on the tape was Mr. Suresh Iyer, who had been the residential caretaker of Site 9. But Mr. Iyer had passed away three months earlier.

So why was the tape hidden in the industrial warehouse, and why was it discovered only now?

Police re-scanned the area where Arjun had found the player and checked old employment files. They learned that Mr. Iyer had worked night shifts at Warehouse 6 — the same one near the tape’s location. Investigators believed he may have hidden or discarded the device before his death.

During a search of Warehouse 6, officers found a sealed tin box behind rotting wooden crates. Inside was a handwritten letter:

“I heard screams from Room 3 on the second floor, but I was afraid. When I checked, I only found blood and a tape still recording. I never reported it out of fear. I’ve lived with regret ever since. If anyone finds this… please don’t let the truth stay buried.”

Along with the letter was the original recording and a floor plan of Site 9.

Police confirmed this evidence was substantial enough to reopen the case as a criminal investigation.