Kalarikkal House [4] - Thread 5 link posted - Page 54

Chapter 50: The Fog

Music Selection

The beams of the headlights from the car parked on the dirt road leading up the house shone directly at him when he opened the gate. There was a heavy mist that hung in the air that he had not yet seen around here before, its form shifting and swirling all around him as he turned back to get another view of the house.

If possible, in the partial darkness offered by the smoggy dawn, the house looked even more majestic that it had seemed that day when he had first set his eyes upon it. And for all that he had barely left its ground for the past four days, in this moment, it seemed more numinous that it had ever seemed before…

There was a lone bulb that shone on the verandah, the light it emitted barely enough to penetrate the mist. There was a slightly wavering in the air though when the main door of the house opened and he thought the light strengthened for a moment to hone in on her form as it stood in stark relief against the darkness inside. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before stepping her right foot out and then there was more certainty as she stepped out fully.

If he hadn't been anticipating her, he wouldn't have recognized her immediately. She was no longer in a half-sari, but a full-one, something dark and monochromatic that made her seem… not as he knew her… her hair too was unbound and it hung loose almost down to her hips as she turned back towards the door.

He felt a moment of unexplained trepidation… it took him a moment to realize that his hand was rubbing the left side of his chest, something he last remembered doing the night that he had arrived.

He expected Pallavi to come out after her and was surprised when no one did. She had merely turned around to close the door behind her. She had a small suitcase by her feet that she picked up before turning back around to resolutely walk down the steps. She didn't look back as she walked towards him, although he couldn't be sure that she was looking at him either. Her gaze seemed to be focused on nothing in particular as far as he could see.

When she was near him, she finally did look up.

Her eyes were unreadable as he looked into them and it was a moment before he leaned down to take the suitcase from her. It was light in not just appearance, but weight as well. It didn't seem like she had packed much. She gave it over without resistance and walked out of the gate and down the steps towards the car without looking back.

He looked back one last time and as his gaze swung up to the second story of the house, he saw what had not been there before.

A woman was standing by one of the top windows that was now open. His mind told him it was Pallavi. The swirling mist did not allow for confirmation. Another part of him knew the woman looked nothing like Pallavi or even Lakshmi even with the mist occluding his vision.

He could feel her gaze follow him as he turned back around to step out of the gate. It was an intense one; he could feel it scorch his back, reminding him of his turbulent dreams of days past.

He didn't turn around again as he walked toward the car and got into the front passenger seat.

It was a long two-hour journey back to his hotel in Ernakulam.

The driver shifted the gear to drive and turned the car around.

He heard the man make some remark about how unusual the fog was.

She remained quiet in the back seat, looking out the window that she had opened, her eyes once again seeming to focus on nothing in particular.

He too held his silence as the car gained speed on the road and watched the mist swirl around and around Kalarikkal House until it was finally shielded entirely from his view in the side-view mirror.

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