Dark Night

It was midnight, and his car broke down while traveling back home. He had no choice but to take refuge in the nearby village for a few hours and search for help if possible.

The village was typical with its huts and wells. Dim lights could be seen in one of the houses, allowing him to knock on the door.

To his surprise, a beautiful girl in her typical Rajasthani got up and opened the door. He was taken aback by her charm. She was so beautiful. She asked her in, and he saw she lived with her old father.

They gave him food and a blanket to sleep on. But he couldn't hide his mind from the girl sleeping in the next room.

He had no choice but to get up and wander, and to his surprise, he saw the girl sitting beneath a banyan tree at that odd hour.

He took it as an opportunity, walked toward her, and asked if he could join. She looked at him and said, "yes, you can sit here."

They exchanged stories and ultimately landed up liking each other.

The girl told him how her father is stubborn about getting her married to a guy she doesn't want to get married to. He decided he would rescue his damsel in distress.

He proposed the plan of running away from the village overnight, to which she agreed.

They began crossing the village when he saw a gang of villagers running towards them with weapons. They seemed to be very angry.

Watching a girl from their village running with an outsider was a shame to them, and they had no choice but to kill the invader.

They began to run faster when finally he suggested she hide behind the bush, and he would go and return back soon with some help for their escape which would distract the villagers too.

She agreed, and he escaped the furious villagers.

While he running and searching for help, he bumped into a villager with a bicycle. He pleaded with the villager to give him the bike, to which the man agreed.

He rode as fast as he could to reach the bush where he had left his girl.

When he reached the place, he couldn't find her anywhere. His heart skipped a beat. He was afraid of what if the villagers found her and took her away and, god forbid, killed her.

Without a second thought, he rode to the village to rescue his love.

When he reached there, he saw something he couldn't have imagined in the worst of his nightmares.

A barren land.

The silence of that place was screaming out loud the story of nonexistent human life.

There were no huts, no wells, and no villagers.

He could not believe his eyes.

Was he dreaming? No, he wasn't.

Was all that he encountered the whole time an illusion?

How could it be? Where was that girl?

He fell down... unconscious.

The following day he found himself in a shop. And asked the shopkeeper how did he get there.

The shopkeeper said he found him lying unconscious on the ground on his way to the shop.

Out of curiosity, the shopkeeper asked him what he was doing at a place no. one visits.

He told the shopkeeper his story of last night.

The shopkeeper looked at him as if he was a crazy drunkard and told him how could any of what he said might have happened when that village was destroyed 15 yrs ago by an epidemic and had no signs of life after that.