Loneliness. Vacuum. Longing.
These three were the only companions she had with her in the middle of this hilly area, unlike her hometown, the fast-moving city, Mumbai. Her life was surrounded by a vacuum now. A woman who shifted here some five years ago as a happy bride only to have her husband die shortly in a car accident. It was a cruel joke that the universe had played upon her, she was widowed just they had built their dream home, into which they had put their heart and soul. She had a kind of unspoken relationship with each and every inch of this house, which kept on reminding her about her husband`s presence long after he had passed away. A woman who had spent five years alone with no one for her company except loneliness and sounds of wolves in the middle of the night. Their howls echoed the resounding emptiness in her heart, in her life.
Swati had packed her things.
Today she was returning back to the city. She had made the decision when she heard the news of her father being diagnosed with cancer. His last wish was to be with his daughter. She had had enough of being isolated from other people. God, after all, had not created man to be alone, and after spending endless hours by herself, she had learnt how true that was.
Loading her baggage into the car didn`t take long. Ramu kaka and Hari had helped her with that. At long last, she was leaving. She couldn't look back at the one-room cabin. It still hurt too much, just as it did when her husband had died. It was a cruel reminder of all that she`d hoped for but eventually lost. A lifetime with someone who was to be her lover and friend.
But she had promised herself that she wouldn't dwell on the past. Things that could have been, were better left alone. And so she put the car in forward gear and drove towards Mumbai. She`d take a job, she thought. She didn`t care what that job was as long as it involved being near to other people who mattered to her the most.
She pressed down the accelerator with her foot, and the car sped forward as her mind was wandered. She was thinking about the last few years of her life. Suddenly her eyes caught something on the road ahead, she applied the brakes, and the car came to a complete halt making a loud screeching sound.
She saw him on the road. He was lying down, on his stomach, right in the middle of the road. She was scared, her brain warned her about highway robbers. But, suddenly horrendous images of her husband lying in the pool of blood flashed in her mind. She had made her decision.
She stepped down from the car, closed the door behind. rushed over to him. He was badly injured, with blood oozing from his head. It was lucky that he was still breathing.
"Help" she yelled as loud as possible.
No response. There was no one around. Not even any animal.
She tucked strands of her hair back under her hair band and knelt beside him. For the first time, she was looked at the man in front of her closely.
He seemed quite young in his late 20s, probably from some well to do family, evident from his Reebok T-shirt and Levi`s jeans. His hair ruffled in the wind, and his beard added to the roughness, the enigma, the maturity of his overall personality. Oh my God! What must he have gone through to end up like this? Her mind was wandering with numerous questions which were certainly not going to be answered until and unless the person comes to his senses.
She took a deep breath to settle her sudden anxiety. What if he dies on the way to the hospital? She glanced at the endless road and the horizon that spanned in all directions. If he is dying, should she carry a dead body with her? Or should she leave him to his fate and leave?