Chapter 2: Entering The Village

All the memories came back flooding as Shiva heard the name of his hometown, Vasupur. It was the place where he had spent his childhood, spent time with his parents, although a very little but that would fill the emptiness of Shiva's life.

" Vasupur, I see," Shiva said glancing down and his face wore a grim.

" Hey brother, alright?," asks Mohan stepping towards Shiva and putting his hand on his shoulder.

" Yeah, it's nothing," Shiva replied.

" I know after all these years, after that incident, it will be hard for you to go back to that place where you lost your parents," said Mohan.

" Years have passed, and I wonder if anyone would still remember that incident," Shiva expressed. He cuts off the conversation with a sigh " I'll get ready "

" Yeah," saying this Mohan leaves.

" I wish I could know what happened that day," Shiva ponders.

******

Shiva gets ready and comes downstairs. Everyone was dressed up and ready to go.

" Ah!, am I the only one who's late?," Shiva asks keeping his bag in the car.

" Certainly," says Shruti giving her bag to Shiva.

When Shiva came to Mumbai he was very little and so did Mohan, as an elder sister Shruti took a good care of both of them.

" Hehe," Shiva smiles slyly keeping the bag.

" Everyone ready?," says Shiva's uncle, Girish.

Girish was a man in his forties with an average height and a mustache on a light skin face wearing a spectacle. He was the younger brother of Shiva's mother.

" Take your seats everyone," said Girish.

The six-seater SUV was enough to carry the whole family.

Reaching Vasupur wouldn't take too long as it was only a distance of three hours from Mumbai but it was shrouded by the forest at most of its perimeter, but Girish was familiar with the route. Traveling through the woods was safe as there were no wild animals but they had to be careful with snakes.

The plain route of the highway came to an end and soon they met with the rocky road leading them to the forest.

The forest was not so dense so it was easy for them to drive through the woods but then the vehicle stopped.

" What happened Girish," asks Vandana, Girish's wife.

" Seems like there's a problem," said Girish taking off his seatbelt.

" Shall we help?," asks Shiva referring to him and Mohan.

" Yeah, come out,"

There was a boulder that stood in the middle blocking most of the path. Three of them pushed the boulder aside and waited there for some time as Girish had a call from his office.

" This forest's scent...,"said Shiva.

" Yeah, it's great, the smell of the shrubs," Mohan said.

Shiva moved around observing the woods and taking in the aroma while Mohan found a pebble and fidgeting it he tossed it at a far distance.

THUNG.....

It was the sound of the pebble like it hit something. The sound drew Shiva and Mohan's attention.

" What was that?,"

" Let's see," said Mohan with a curious smile.

" Yeah," Shiva joined.

Both of them sprinted toward the direction from which the voice came. It was Mohan who reached first while Shiva stopped to tie his shoelaces.

" Shiva, come here," Mohan yelled.

" What happened?," Shiva asks reaching the spot.

" See this,"

Mohan said pointed toward the ground that stood a little downward from the one on which they were standing.

" What is it?," Shiva came forward to get a better view.

" Woah," Shiva amused.

Both of them jumped down from the elevated ground.

"Pretty old, right?," Mohan said.

" Yeah,"

" But what it is doing here?,"

" What do you mean?,"

" I mean this place is like a little away from the forest and sort of hidden, why would someone put his or her car in a place like this?,"

" Perhaps the car got out of control and came here crashing," Shiva offered.

" Yeah, seems logical though,"

" Or maybe the person got off the car and the snake bit him and he died," Shiva added.

" Excellent, how do you do this?,"

" Do what?," asks Shiva moving around the car, observing it.

" I mean how do you always solve the mysteries so quickly?,"

" This wasn't any mystery and it was just an assumption,"

" Whatever," Mohan said.

" I wonder which car it is," said Shiva.

" It is a Fiat 1100," Mohan told.

" A Vintage?,"

" Yeah, it's a Vintage car,"

" How do you know?,"

" Well, I have a good knowledge of cars," Mohan beamed.

As both of the boys were talking Girish finished his call and called them back.

" Hey boys come back, let's go," Girish called them

" Yeah coming," both said.

Before going back Shiva looked at the car, a puzzled look came across his face.

It took them half an hour to cross the forest and once again they met with a rocky road leading them to the Village and now they were in the village, the hometown of Shiva, Vasupur.