Chapter 4 : Voice from the distance

"Hey depressed boy"said sira 

Again, someone called me depressed… I'm not depressed. That word makes me rage.

I ran toward her like I was going to punch her right in the nose.

But she kicked me—in between my legs.

I fell to the ground.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked.

"You were about to jump from there, depressed lad. What do you think you are? Some superhero or something?"

I grabbed her collar.

"It's none of your business, bitch. What do you get after saying all this, huh?!"

"Your hands… they're turning black," she whispered in a small voice, looking directly into my eyes.

I'm doing the same thing again. I'm always the one who starts the fight first… I'm a monster. A jerk.

I just sat there on the floor with my head down.

"Again with your head down… Anyway, you asked why I called you depressed? It was just to stop you from jumping and becoming a suicidal maniac," she said.

"You won't gain anything by saving me. I'm always in the wrong. It's my fate to die here. You can't change that. Even I can't. I've gone too far."

"Who said you can't change your fate? If you can't, I can," she said firmly.

"I can rewrite your fate. I've done it many times before."

I didn't know what she was talking about.

"You know the myth people say—that everyone's fate is written in books? I know where fate is written. And I can rewrite it too."

"I can change your fate as well."

The sun shone brightly, and its light fell on her face like a beacon. It felt like a bright light had entered my life.

"What do you mean by all this?"

"I'll take you to that place. Tomorrow. The place where my life became bright. I'll make you feel like living again."

As I looked at her face in the sunlight, glowing like a fairy, something changed in me that day.

"__________."

The Next Day

We met again, at the same spot below the building.

I was with my bicycle.

"Okay, shall we go? I'll sit behind you—I can't ride double seat," she said.

She sat behind me and we went the way she told me, and I was riding my bicycle uphill.

"You're too heavy, Sira…"

She yelled at me for saying that. Do girls always get this mad when you call them heavy?

We reached a Hanuman temple. She took me inside, prayed, and took blessings. Then she led me behind the temple, where there were rows of banyan trees.

It was the place where Sira's family planted trees.

Sira prayed at her grandma's tree and watered it from a tap.

"Tejas, okay, I'm done. Can we go see the place of faith now?"

What?? She took me all the way uphill for her family work?

"What do you mean? Isn't this the place where you change fate?"

She replied, "Yeah, I can do that—but only on my grandma's birthday, which isn't today. So we have to go all the way back down."

I had no other option. Again, I cycled all the way downhill.

She led me to an underground chamber tunnel. I parked my cycle there.

Sira jumped inside the tunnel and did what she called a "mind-blowing stunt." She walked across a pipe to the other side. I just took the regular path and jumped into the tunnel. I realized girls can also lack common sense.

We noticed something off—a dog nearby was eating some dead flesh. But Sira still took me deeper into the tunnel.

"Man, are you planning to murder me or something?" I asked.

She laughed. "No, just follow me."

"You also make jokes and talk like a normal person? I'm actually surprised."

I meant that I am normal, but some people won't give me a chance. With Sira, I had that chance—I could talk to someone cheerfully.

Then we saw some small pig babies ..inside the tunnel..shaking 

I get it..these pigs are not safe here the dog outside was eating some flesh…

"Sira these pig babies…they will die if they stay here"I said

"Yeah..poor..but wait we can just take them with us…they will live happily in place of faith…"

Sira carried those pigs

As we walked deeper, we reached an underground water body—a small lake with tree roots hanging into the water from above.

"These roots are from the same tree I prayed to some minutes ago," she said.

I asked her, "So what now?"

She started throwing those pigs in water

"Here goes one,two,three.."

"Hey sira what are you doing…stupid those will die"i said

She said..don't worry..just believe in me they will be alright 

"They will be alright how.?she's something else..now what should we do??where's place of faith"

"Jump in."

"Hey… are you trying to drown me and take my kidney or something? I can't swim," I replied.

"Can you drown?" she smirked—and pushed me into the water.

She jumped in after me. I opened my eyes, about to panic, but Sira grabbed my nose and signed me not to breathe.

After a few seconds, we sank deeper. Suddenly, we rotated underwater and started moving faster. I saw a light coming from the bottom. We came out of the water from the opposite end—it felt like we flipped into a parallel world.

I surfaced and saw a breathtaking view:

Huge glowing banyan trees stretched to infinity, their branches shining so brightly our very souls felt dim in comparison. Glowing peacock feathers replaced the leaves, and floating books hovered in the air. Glowing feathers were writing inside them by themselves.

It was the Place of Faith.

The trees wrote fate in the books.

The ground was covered in roots. Above us, the dark bluish night sky sparkled with stars.

It was… magnificent.

"Do you believe me now? That fate is written in books?" Sira asked.

I walked closer to the books and tried to touch them, but Sira stopped me.

"Don't touch the books, or you'll turn into a monkey."

A monkey?? I should've laughed—but after seeing all this, I could believe anything Sira said.

Sira picked up a glowing peacock feather from the ground and held my hand.

"Look at this feather closely."

"I can even show you my grandma—the one I prayed to at the temple."

She held my hand tightly and raised the feather.

I blushed slightly. It was the first time I had ever held a girl's hand.and i held those pigs from my another hand

As we stared at the feather together, a bright light flashed.

(Sira's View)

Sira opened her eyes.

A beautiful landscape stretched before her—mountains, valleys, green grasslands, and a clear blue sky. The wind carried leaves that danced through the air. The sun was so bright she could hardly open her eyes.

"Tejas, look! This is the afterlife," she said, pointing toward a banyan tree. Behind it, an old woman sat calmly on a fence.

"Tejas, look there—my grandma is there!"

Those pigs jumped down from tejas hand..to start new life in that place..and 

Sira ran toward her grandma, hugged her, and smiled.

"Grandma, look! I brought a new friend with me."

"Where?" her grandma asked.

Sira turned to look.

Tejas was still frozen, standing in place.

"Hey, Tejas, come here!" she called.

But Tejas didn't move. His eyes widened.

"Sira… why are you… two of you there?" he asked in a terrified voice.

"Hey, Tejas, what are you doing? Come here. Look at this beautiful view."

"Beautiful view? Sira, you think this is beautiful?"

His hair swayed slightly in the wind. Reflected in his eyes was not green grass...

But devastation.

A dark, dead land. Cracked from drought. Smoke-filled skies. Fire on the grass. Lava pools bubbling between jagged mountains. Red clouds of smoke filled the air.

In the distance, on a small platform surrounded by lava, sat a girl.

She was bleeding, injured, crying.

It was Sira.

But another one.

Two Siras.

"Hey, Tejas, what happened?" Sira asked.

But Tejas remained traumatized, his eyes locked on the other Sira.

"Sira… a…" Tejas whispered, his voice small and full of fear.

"Tejas… I'm not happy here," the injured Sira whispered from afar, in a broken, crying voice.