A Voice From (Y)onder

A Voice From (Y)onder

By the time Varun and Gayatri got back to the inn, it was 8 PM. They went to Gayatri’s room. She said, ‘We need to look at the last 5 lines of the verses to proceed further. They still don’t make sense to me.’ She pulled out the piece of paper on which she had written down the verses. They looked at the verses again.

Move backward in paths,
Known, well known,
Trace the route,
By which you came.

Move upward,
Go up and up,
Till you find what you want,
Then free it from its prison.

But whatever you do,
Someone must pay the price,
Someone will be fine,
The other will take the heat.

Varun said, ‘The first stanza has led us to this place. As we reasoned earlier, the first three lines of the second stanza probably point to the fact that my great-grandfather was Rama Vedan. Then as per the last line of the second stanza, we must release something or someone from its prison. Is there a prison nearby? And the first two lines of the last stanza could mean someone has to pay for something that has happened. And someone will be fine and the other will take the heat. I don’t think we can make any sense of this until I jump into the river tomorrow and do some exploring…’

Gayatri nodded apprehensively. Both of them could not make sense of several things. They were both very tired and hungry. Finally, they gave up and went for dinner. They had  it at the restaurant attached to the inn. After finishing dinner, they went back to their rooms. Early next morning Varun was planning to dive into the deep end of the river at the spot where they had filmed the scene.

Varun could not sleep for a long time. He felt extremely guilty about what had happened between him and Gayatri. He had not foreseen any such complications. He still felt love for Gayatri, but his middle-class upbringing would not allow him to ever leave Anandi unless… unless…

He sat bolt upright in his bed with an arrow of guilt piercing his heart. For a moment, without realizing it he had actually wished Anandi would die. He closed his eyes and tried to meditate, but his guilt and strong emotions would not subside. Finally, he decided to read something. He switched on the light and went over to where his suitcase was lying open on the floor. He pulled out a novel from his suitcase and read a chapter.

It was a gripping novel and at any other time he would have probably continued reading till the morning. But he felt so disturbed that he switched off the light again and this time he slipped into a semi-conscious slumber.

He began dreaming. Someone was calling out to him in his dream. He could see a woman standing in the distance. But he was unable to make out clearly who it was. But he knew it was an extremely beautiful face. He could see a red hue emanating from the eyes. He tried to get closer and find out who the woman was. But the closer he got the farther the woman went.

Was it Anandi? Was it Gayatri? He was not sure. He did not think it was either of them. He went nearer and nearer. He could make out that it was an extremely pretty and youthful face. The woman suddenly opened her mouth and said something. At first, he could not hear her clearly. Then he tried to hear as well as read her lips when she spoke. He was finally able to make out the words coming from her mouth, and he was stunned…

‘Please come quickly and free me from my prison…’

                                                                                             To Be Continued...

This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023

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