Chapter 04: Whatever

As Nate was praying silently, Rohit and Susan were lost in conversation. From a distance, Cecil watched as Susan was making quick, fast gestures. Rohit sometimes nodded his head in agreement, and at times, disagreed. Cecil was watching. But he did not notice it. Life seemed to have been stuck in glue, with all movable elements paused. Cecil’s thoughts were on one person only – Sudha. Where was she? Was she fine? God help her. Almost like a flash of lightening, the thought entered his head and was immediately sent up in prayer. He hoped. Again.

Having finished his prayer, Nate was walking back to the edge of the Highway, where Susan and Rohit were still lost in their conversation. Rohit was heatedly putting forth his own points.
“Hey guys. What’re you discussing?”
Rohit glared at Susan as she spoke up.
“Rohit feels that someone should go away. I disagree.”
She gave Rohit a sour look. She could be mean too, if she decided to be.
“Go away? I don’t understand. Where to?”
“Well, since this place obviously doesn’t have any mobile phone network connectivity, he thinks we should go off to someplace nearby which would have connectivity, and then call for help.”
“I only feel that we should do something about this, since standing here isn’t helping anyone. We’re just wasting time.”
“Oh, pipe down, Rohit. You don’t know the first thing about wasting time!”
“Really? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Nate broke in.
“Guys, we’re all tired. We’re all a little unsure of what’s going on. Let’s not turn upon each other. Please. We really need to support each other through this.”
With semi-guilty looks that spoke louder than any words could have spoken, Rohit and Susan embraced.
“It’s going to be alright, Susan. We’ll find them. Don’t worry.”
Nate was thoughtful for a moment. He was thinking about Rohit’s suggestion. He was weighing the possible good against the possible bad.
People generally tend to have very logical conclusions with regard to tough decisions that they are forced to make. When the situation itself is tough, the choices are easy. The decision takes longer to make, since the effects of the decision could have several far-reaching effects. Lives would be at stake, if not limbs.
This made Nate take his time in deciding. Cecil walked up next to him.
“What’s going on?”
“We’re thinking if we should search here, or go somewhere closeby from where we could call for help.”
“Somewhere matlab?”
“Somewhere along the National Highway, where there would be network range.”
Cecil didn’t even think for a minute. He wanted to go and see if anything could be done.
“Someone should stay here, though. All of us shouldn’t go.” Nate cautioned.
“I’m going. I don’t care what anyone else does. I can’t stand around here doing nothing.” Cecil declared in defiance. Defiance to the night, defiance to the Highway, defiance to the situation, defiance to life itself. Proud, strong and tall, he knew his place. He had prayed. He believed.
“Maybe you could go alone. The rest of us will stay here and look around. They must be around somewhere – they couldn’t possibly have vanished into thin air.”
Nate was still hopeful that they were somewhere here.
As Cecil walked over to his lovely bike, Nate leaned in close toward him.
“Dude. You need to ride like the wind.”
Cecil cracked a grin. A rare one, considering the grim nature of the circumstances that they were in. Like the sun bursting forth through gloomy clouds.
“Sure. I’m gonna be riding like a maniac.”

With Cecil vrooming off into the distance, Rohit decided that they should start doing some serious searching. He went to the spot where the bike tracks lead off from the Highway. He wanted to begin their search from that spot. To help in their search, he started his bike and brought it over to this spot. The headlight clearly lit up the surrounding area; it was obvious that a bike had been through this part recently – the dirt tracks were fresh. They followed the tracks slowly, looking all around for any signs out of the ordinary. There were none. The bike’s tracks moved on. They saw the tracks swerve a little now and then, and they wondered if Shiloh had lost control.
Walking a few paces ahead of the bike, Susan was the first to see it. The bike tracks stopped abruptly. They just didn’t go on any further. That is, they didn’t go on any further forward. Strangely, there were tracks in the dirt that indicated that the bike had been dragged to the right. Immediately, Susan fell to her knees looking for footprints. They had to be here somewhere. One, if not two, sets of footprints must be around here somewhere. She looked on both sides of the tracks. Then she found it. It wasn’t what she was looking for. But it was footprints. She had found marks in the dirt that indicated a foot being dragged across the dirt, along the same direction of the bike. She didn’t know what to make of it. How could she? The unknown is never feared or thought of, until one sees it face to face. The trio slowly followed the drag-marks uptil about a few meters away, where things seemed to get really messy. It looked like a whirlwind or a sandstorm of some sort had descended at that point. The intriguing fact was that the radius of the whirlwind didn’t seem to be more than half a meter. All tracks were virtually non-existent beyond that. There was nothing to the left, to the right, or beyond the strange whirlwind like tracks,
What fiendish phenomenon is this, thought Nate, that two people and a bike would disappear in such a manner, leaving such mysterious traces.
“Well... Whatever. Let’s keep looking.”
Susan’s words sounded confident, but her face lacked the conviction that her words emanated. She was not so sure that they were going to find Shiloh and Sudha soon, after all. She had hoped. That vain kind. When you know that nothing better’s going to come by. Her hope was fading as fast as a man runs when he’s being chased by a tiger.
Rohit didn’t like this. He didn’t like this one bit. From the start, he had been a little jittery about the whole thing – the way they had waited for Shiloh and Sudha to show up, then making their way back to this spot, the discovery of the tyre tracks, the drag-tracks and the whirlwind. None of it made any sense. None of it lead them even a step closer to where their two friends were. Rohit closed his eyes for a few minutes and wished that this entire situation would just vapourise. He believed strongly in the power of the mind. Now, if he could only wish it all away. Then things would be fine. If he could atleast wish himself and Susan out of here, that was enough for him.
His conscience chided him. He knew Sudha quite well. He called her chaechi, which meant sister in English. He was quite affectionate towards her. But he didn’t know her very well. Right now, he wished he had known her better. Then maybe he would want to find her and Shiloh more than wanting to be spirited away. Again, if he hadn’t known her at all, he wouldn’t be here.

The human mind can be a cruel thing at times. When a person is faced with the toughest of situations, the mind brings to the fore two contrary thoughts. One that would seem the easiest, but the more evil, and the other which would be tougher, harder, but was more sugar-coated. At times like these, the mind never ever presents the alternative. To ignore such pointless flights of fantasy, and focus on the physical reality of the present, which would then chalk out its own path into the future – whether easy or tough, good or evil; whatever it was, it could be endured. It must. If one wanted to survive.

Looking at Rohit’s expression of despair, Susan knew that she couldn’t go on much longer. She was tired, she was hungry, and she wanted to get back home. As Rohit looked up and her eyes met his, she wanted something much much more. She wanted to be held. His arms... His scent... His strength. She wanted to be safe, comfy and assured right then. Her eyes said so. His eyes read hers. He wanted to hold her too. It would be the nicest thing. If only Nate wasn’t here.

Scientists have researched it. Healers have vouched for it. Babies still prove it. The healing power of touch. When one human being reaches out to another through a physical medium of communication, it embodies trust, confidence and a deep emotional bond. A bond that destroys darkness, and all powers wrought by it. A bond of love. Simplistic and pure, this bond can break down barriers and walls. It has. And it will. Yet again.

“Quick! Over here!”
The urgency in Nate’s voice was unnecessary. Susan and Rohit may have been thinking of other things, but they knew the dire depths to which the current situation had sunk to. They quickly moved to where Nate was bending over a bush. He was picking up something white and thin from the branches of the bush. As Nate held it up for them to see, they could make out something, some fabric which was coloured white. The material looked thin and flimsy. If Susan didn’t know better, she would wager that it was a ripped off piece of a stocking. The question was – what was it doing here? Neither Shiloh nor Sudha had worn clothing that resembled anything like this. Was there another person involved? Who was he? Or she? And what did they want?

Oh well. Another bunch of pointless questions to which they wouldn’t get any answers for now. Rohit felt that if they could write down every single question that had cropped up in each of their minds over the past two hours, that would make a decent-sized book. Maybe even one that was worth reading. Whatever. Time to keep looking.

Whatever. The mind tends to dismiss much. What the mind does not fully comprehend, what the mind does not fully see, what the mind does not fully like, the mind dismisses. Much of it, stuff that shouldn’t be lightly treated or dismissed. Oh well. Whatever.