The Quiet Path

Living in music was a lot easier than in the real world. 

People screaming their mind out, venting out the whole day without caring about the time and space— she absolutely hated it. Who, after all gave them the permission to ruin her mental peace? She simply couldn’t ignore them. In library, she hated the couples laughing their heart out, she also hated people studying loudly…couldnt they literally see that others were present? Idiots, she murmured under her breath. 

Her headphones provided her the only escape from this chaos. She could peacefully listen to sad songs without anyone asking why she looked miserable—what a relief it was! 

She glanced at the clock. 4: 47 p.m. It was getting late… the library would close at 5 today, after all it was a weekend. She never understood why her college library closed early during weekends…apparently, the students didn’t need books when they had free time. She packed her things and stepped outside. 

She wanted to dance, but she could already imagine the side-eyes. Halfway down the road, she noticed the leaves. They had gathered thickly along the edges, dry and brown, crackling beneath her shoes. A crumpled cookie packet lay half-hidden underneath them. People just throw things wherever they want. 

The road ahead was darker than usual. One of the streetlights had stopped working, leaving a long stretch of the path in shadow. Anyway she preferred to vibe to her song more than anything else. She strolled and finally reached the hostel. Now she had to sign in the register to mark her entry in the hostel- they, for real, were living like caged birds. 

Caged birds were afraid of the sky, she thought.

She shook her head. Enough overthinking. Her roommates were not there. Cehyn was supposed to return before her, she checked her phone. No messages. 

God knows where she is. Not her concern though, she peacefully drew the curtains, plugged her phone in, and went to sleep. 

“Wake up, wake up!” She groaned and pulled the blanket over her head. 

“What’s wrong bruh?”

No answer. 

She opened her eyes. Sheela was sitting beside her. 

“Cehyn is dead” 

For a moment, the words didn’t make sense. 

“What?”

“Cehyn.”

Sheela’s voice cracked.

“Is dead.”

She shot upright. 

“What!How?”

Sheela stared at the floor. 

“It was a murder.”

The room seemed to spin

“What?”

“Yeah. She was kidnapped this evening. They found her later.”

“Who kidnapped her? From where?”

“The road.”

Sheela finally looked at her.

“The road from the library to the hostel.”

Her stomach dropped. What?”

“CCTV shows it was 4: 58 p.m.”

4:58.

She stopped breathing.

The library closed at five. 

She had been on that road. 

Yesterday. 

At—

Sheela kept talking, “She screamed at the top of her voice… there was no one around.”

No one. 

She stared at her headphones lying on the desk. Her shoes, the leaves, a cookie packet and then… A scream!

Sheela continued, “Except—”

“Sto—” she couldn’t complete it. She stared at the ceiling, her headphones, at Sheela and finally the leaves beneath her shoes,still crackling in her memory. She pinched herself, desperately hoping it was a dream. 

It wasn’t.

It never would be.