Chapter 7: Return to Mundane Life
Long after their journey to Coorg, Vyom and Priya returned to the comforting routines of daily life. The city’s familiar sounds and patterns pressed in, soothing yet mundane. Yet, in quiet moments—a half-finished cup of chai on the balcony, the hush before sleep—the memories of that strange road, the mysterious village, and the lurking presence atop their car crept back, vivid as ever.
Days turned to weeks. The extraordinary seemed to fade, dissolving beneath the demands of work, errands, and the ordinary cadence of existence. But something had shifted; both Vyom and Priya felt it—a sliver of the unknown lodged in their hearts, refusing to let go.
At times, one of them would pause mid-sentence, eyes distant. “Do you ever wonder,” Priya would ask, “if we’d taken the same road home, would we have found that village again?” Vyom would nod, his gaze darkening with the memory. They never found answers, only endless questions. Was it truly Vyom’s steady hand and quick thinking that averted disaster, or had some unseen force guided them? Had the village existed at all, or was it a fleeting mirage conjured by the mountains and their own longing for adventure?
When they recounted the tale to friends over laughter and late-night gatherings, their story was met with scepticism, even disbelief. No one recognized the village or the temple, and their friends’ faces would cloud with confusion or polite concern. Yet, beneath the surface of every retelling, Vyom and Priya sensed the echo of that night—the inexplicable, the magical, the brush with something larger than themselves.
The road to Coorg had changed them. And though the world marched on, ordinary and unknowing, Vyom and Priya carried within them a secret: that sometimes, for those who dare to journey beyond the known, the extraordinary waits just beyond the bend.
Ink of Dread 
Leave a comment