CHAPTER - 11
"Since half of the day is gone, we will spend the rest few hours here only. You are allowed to saunter around but try to stay where we can see you. We are going to start distributing refreshments, wait for your cue", Mrs instructed the students.
She turned towards the foldable table with cartons of refreshments filled on top. She picked up her group list and started calling out names and ticking them as they received their refreshments.
Vrishti stood with her friends and the newest addition standing along with them with his hands tucked in the front pockets of his white-washed blue jeans.
She thought of the strange man and the even stranger encounter.
"It was really good what you did back there", Shayon stated genuinely jutting his thumb into the forest assumably towards the accident point implying the volunteering.
Vrishti looked up from a patch of mossy ground, she had been staring at and it took her a few moments to absorb her surroundings when she responded, "Uh-yeah so did you".
Shayon had volunteered too, he was one of the students who helped the injured women out of the car. Vrishti was so occupied with everything happening around her that she had only noticed him when he had joined her on their way back from the accident area.
"V, I am proud of you", Lee patted Vrishti's shoulder saying the nickname Naaz used for Vrishti while he imitated the former and wiped on his invisible tears.
Naaz punched lightly on his shoulder her pastel green hijab fluttering with the movement while everyone laughed at this.
"The Forest Department should look after the incidents occurring now and then. The place is really beautiful and the animals could really use some professional caretakers or else they might always be in threat", Namrita added thoughtfully.
"Humans are the biggest threat ", mumbled Vrishti, the words left her lips like the mellow breeze on a warm afternoon, it could be felt but one couldn't quite decipher it.
Nobody could catch what she had said," huh? What did you say?", Namrita looked at her dazed friend.
"What did I say?", Vrishti frowned in confusion.
"That -", before Namrita could finish with her question Shayon took their attention.
"Guys, it's our turn now", he informed looking towards the food table.
Lee sighed in relief while rubbing on his probably growling stomach as he took in the scent of bread, vegetables, and all the different flavored sauces, "I don't know about you all, but I am really hungry".
He strode towards the food stable with purpose in his steps and soon everyone followed.
"I don't know if I am hungry or this resort people really make good sandwiches", Naaz amused while stuffing a lettuce leaf in between the bread loaves.
"No these are actually good", Shayon added before taking a big bite of the sandwich.
Naaz nodded as her eyes skimmed over her friends when she realized, "Wait! Where is Vrishti?"
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!