The Panic Path

“No, this can’t be happening, this can’t be here” said Ganpat almost letting out a snigger in disbelief but there they were, lying exactly on the spot he had seen them in his dream. He took an involuntary step back and froze again.

“But I haven’t picked it up, no, I haven’t picked up the bangle” he thought.

For what seemed like an eternity he stood there, alone in the dark, listening hard to the sounds of the woods. He heard an owl call, heard the wind shimmy its way through the trees making them stir, and all this while his brain built up panic, panic that was about to burst at the slightest break of a twig.

Working as a night watchman in a town on the outskirts of Mumbai, Ganpat Rao had lived most of his life in misery and grievances. But tonight his dilemma was of a different kind, there were incidents, things happening that couldn’t be explained and they were all connected by one thing, a path, and tonight he would cross it to face his innermost demons.