MIZPAH

11 | warm aftertoons

No one had an answer to that, they just looked at each other.

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Birds chirped in the distance as the late afternoon rays filtered in through the cracked canopy of mango leaves.

Vrishti finished off the last piece of the sandwich, savoring the taste of mayo and spicy tomato sauce as she crumbled the transparent foil before shoving it into the pocket of her cargo pants.

She tried to move through the roots-covered ground with patches of moss surrounding them while trying not to dirty her white sneakers but it was inevitable. She winced when another spot adorned her once-white shoes.

She looked up above the tree tops where the largest tree was peeking out, the sun had already reached its head. The tree radiated under the lucent rays.

It wasn't far away, just some meters ahead. She could see it's the massive trunk in between the trees.

She hurriedly took long steps, trying not to fall from the spaces created by the interwoven roots. She didn't care for the dirt now splattering on her calf and the back of her pants due to her long strides.

She looked up once again and now the tree was just in front of her, its massiveness dwarfing her stature when her foot stuck on roots and she fell with a thump, the moss subsided the fall.

Her eyes fell on the small white flowers with a tinge of mauve on their tips while she looked back at the whole forest, little dots of white peeped at her with no traces of mauve.

strange

She turned back and tried to get up when footsteps appeared in the distance and a pair of ancient-styled footwear appeared before her.

She looked up as her eyes traveled the lean yet built stature adorned in shades of white.

She had met the brown eyes from a few hours ago. Maybe it was the genuine worry brushed on the smudged edges of his sharp features or the afternoon sun filtered all his blemishes and made him look almost angelic but Vrishti couldn't feel an ounce of fright in her when she stared at those earth-colored eyes.

Vidhyut stared back, he was concerned if the woman had hurt herself but on the inside, he couldn't wrap his conscious around the reality that the mortal before him could see him and feel his presence too, when she stopped him from running modern-day vehicle though it wouldn't have caused him any harm, just brushing past his translucent outlines.

Maybe it had something related to one of the many exceptions of Mother Nature, he wondered what this meant.

could it be-?

He tried offering his hand as she pushed herself up and supported her weight on her left leg, there was a slight limp on her right leg.

"Hey", she greeted cautiously.

He frowned a little as if the modern phrase for the greeting was a little too arduous for him, so she waved her right hand indicating it. He nodded and bowed a little, in return for the gesture.

"Are you from here? I-I mean do you live around here", she switched to Hindi as she asked him indicating the small village on the outskirts between the forest and the Ruins.

He looked back at the trunk of the distinguished tree behind her but met her eyes before she could suspect, "I used to."

"What are you doing here?", Vidhyut couldn't keep his curiosity.

"Oh, nothing just roaming around," she supported her lie by trying to shrug nonchalantly.

They stood in silence for some moments as the chirping continued along with the rustling of the leaves, and more leaves fell around them.

"It's dangerous in the woods, for a young female like you, you shouldn't venture alone", Vidhyut suggested.

Vrishti stared at the man maybe older than her by one year or so with a slight irritation wondering why a random stranger was reprimanding her in the middle of the forest. Some crows cackled in the distance and more leaves fell, the dried sap green looked a little out of place on the jade-green mossy surface, almost like....ashes!

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and they meet again!