The Pursuit: Part 5

 

…continued from part 4. The whole thing, the events, the doctor’s revelation, everything was disturbing. Nothing was fitting in. Who were they? Was he accidently poisoned or with intent to finish the eye-witness. Were they on a run? Should he go to police?

 

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He had made up his mind. He decided to go back. Not only to find the truth of the events. But for the girl. He couldn’t forget the girl and it was almost everyday that he dreamt of her. Not that she was very beautiful but the whole extraordinary circumstance that she had appeared and disappeared made him curious. Her face with the silver ornaments shining against her face kept appearing before his eyes. They gentle way that her petite face had rose through the water with rain dripping was not the thing to be easily forgotten. Even then he had followed her enchantingly and she continued to enchant him in the thoughts. He had to meet her. After that he will be fine and continue with his daily life, he was sure.

 

When he reached the foot of the mountain he remembered the person who gave him lift last time had mentioned about the tribal village. He decided that he will make his way through it. The reason was that he had something that had added a thin possibility of discovery of the truth of the whole mystery. While changing the mobile phone he found that the memory card was undamaged. The photo he had taken of the tribal men was intact and he had brought a photo print with him. He was filled with apprehension as he saw the small huts that dotted closely on the mountain slope. Should he back out? What if the men in the photos were really goons. Was it that he was a fool who wanted to step in the lion’s den? Even as he thought his feet kept walking and he found himself facing a group of men under a large tree.

 

He skimmed the faces and as he eyes reached the last of them, he recognised. The two elder were sitting there. They had smile on their lips, it was clear that had recognised them too. The young guy and the kid were missing. He was glad about the absence of the young guy. He wanted to ask about that night but stopped when he realised that it would be vain as they would not understand anything he would say. Ram Ram, he greeted them. Ram Ram, he heard the greeting from behind, he felt his strength draining as the thought of the youth and his aggression passed his mind. He turned reluctantly and sighed as he saw the kid. But he noticed that the kid had greeted in common local language and not tribal. They smiled at each other and he gave a chocolate bar to him.

 

When they talked the kid told them about the night. It so happened that they had all dozed off to sleep and it was him, the kid who had woken up in the middle of the night and had found out that the storm had passed and the sky was clear again. He then woke up the rest. The kid then tried to wake up Rahul too but he was in deep sleep and did not respond. So they left him to rest.

 

Rahul sighed. It was all simple and he had been a fool to thing the other way. Probably he had done too much thinking. Or probably he was fantasizing a little too much. He wanted to ask them about the girl but remembered the reaction last time he had tried to talk on the matter. He thanked them and left. All was well but a simple fact that the kid was talking the local Marathi language while he refused it’s knowledge on that dark stormy night. He let it go. He was really fantasizing too much. He continued his way up the mountain taking rest every one hour or so.

…to be continued