Based on a true story.
2:00 AM
Coorg, India.
The streets are dimly lit streets. The tall trees on either side of the road cast long shadows. A hooded girl carrying a bag pack –panting, is running. She keeps looking back.
“They are getting closer,” she thinks.
She hears faint footsteps from a distance where each step loader than the previous one.
“I must do something, I can’t breathe anymore”.
The footstep gets closer. She takes a quick left and at the stretch of it, the road divides into two. She quickens her pace. Two men following her also take the left turn, one hefty and the other slightly thin. They stop dead. She had disappeared.
“She could have taken either of these roads” said the hefty one with rather a gruff voice.
“Let’s split. Meet me at the other end. Quick" said the thin one and started running, the other followed.
Behind one of these tall trees the girl sat, her hands clasping her mouth tightly, preventing her from making any noise and muffling her breathing. She let out a moan when the men’s footsteps got faint. Leaning against the tree, she grabbed her head, placed her elbows on her knees, and started crying. Her bag lay beside her. After what seemed like eternity, she pulled herself together, carried her backpack onto her back and started walking into the densely treed area.
She walked until her legs gave up. She fell on the moist ground and instantly passed out.
6:00 AM
The chirping sound of the birds and rays of sunlight from between the branches woke her up. She sat up, dusted herself and looked around. The previous night slowly started to come back to her. Her eyes filled with panic and grief. She stood up rubbing her moist eyes and started to walk again. She eventually reached a narrow stretch of road.
An old man wrapped in a ragged rug, a woolen muffler and smoking a beedi sat squatting by the road. When he saw her, he stopped and looked at her intensely. It made her a little uncomfortable. She had very little choice and for all she knew she could have been walking in circles the entire time. She slowly walked towards him.
“s..sir, where is the closest bus stop?” she asked.
He examined her and after a while nodded left and continued to smoke his beedi.
“th..th..thank you”, she said and walked away.
The old man stared at her all the way long. He took out what seemed like a small phone from his ragged rug and made a call.
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