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The cerulean sky had turned orange as the sun prepared to hide behind the mountain at the end of the desert, and a gentle cold air swept through the sand, alerting Rahul of the approaching night. He was still lost in his doubts about Dansh and thinking about the worried looks on the faces of the villagers, and his stomach lurched as he tried to decide what to do. He feared Dansh could trap him and Elisa into something dangerous. He also knew that if he directly told Dansh they did not wish to stay here tonight, he’d upset Elisa. She was enjoying it here with the villagers, a lot more than any other famous city they’d been to. She seemed to be enjoying it even more than she enjoyed in Paris, the city of love, when they’d traveled there three months ago.
“Seems like something’s annoying you?” said Dansh, glancing at Rahul’s worried face.
“Not at all,” he said, pushing the thoughts aside, and pretending he was comfortable exploring the village with him. “I was just thinking about where we will stay.”
“You have nothing to worry about when I’m with you.”
“Still. I’d like to know,” Rahul added; he didn’t want to take any chances.
Dansh smiled, but it seemed like he was taking time to think about what to say. “It’s little further from here. Only five to ten minutes’ walk, though.”
“I’m sorry. I really don’t want to go further,” said Rahul. “It would be great if you could find us something here in the village. We like this place and feel safe here with the villagers.” Why would he take them far from the village? Rahul didn’t want to take any chances.
As he waited for Dansh’s reply, Rahul saw a man coming out of his hut with his son, who looked about nine years old. The guy stopped to look around, as if he was inspecting the villagers for some reason, then his eyes fixed on where Dansh was standing with them, the strangers. He looked at Elisa and then Rahul; their eyes locked for a moment, but he pretended to ignore them, turned around, and walked away. Dansh following Rahul’s gaze.
“Banjeet!” shouted Dansh, shocking Rahul for he sounded like a young man shouting aloud.
Rahul’s eyes shifted to him in wonder.
Dansh, perhaps suddenly realizing the wanderers were with him, coughed. It was clear he was pretending to older than he really was.
Banjeet stopped and turned around; his eyes fixed on Dansh. Just like other villagers, his look clearly showed vexation and anger.
Banjeet could tell that Dansh was having a hard time convincing the travelers to follow him, perhaps because they didn’t trust him. It had happened many times before, and he’d had to lie to make the travelers believe in Dansh. He could have ignored them, continuing to walk away if he wished. Yet, he knew he’d have to help Dansh. If he didn’t, Dansh would kill some villagers and his beloved ones instead. He had to give him the wanderers so he could use them to complete his sinful desire to wake up the churel, Dali. Banjeet didn’t want this at all, but he wasn’t courageous enough to see his beloved ones dying when he could do something to stop it.
Banjeet knew he couldn’t escape anymore, no matter how intensely he wanted to run away. He cursed himself for coming out of his hut at the wrong time.
“Uncle’s waiting after six huts,” he said to the boy. “Go and help him fix his door.”
“Aren’t you coming with me, Dad?”
“No. If uncle asks you, tell him I had to go with Dansh. He’ll understand.”
The boy nodded and ran straight away from him.
Banjeet shifted his look to Dansh and then walked over.
Rahul looked around. Many eyes were on them. The looks were strange; perhaps their senses were aware of a hidden danger.
Banjeet stood beside Dansh, facing Rahul and Elisa. Then he stared at Dansh.
“How may I help you?” he asked, his voice heavy and flowing with vexation. It seemed to Rahul that Banjeet hated Dansh. But then more thoughts rushed into his brain: Who to trust? My inner voice or Dansh? I don’t want to hurt him if he is actually a kind person. But what if I have really understood the others’ feelings of fear on their faces? He was baffled, but he had to do something, so finally, he asked Elisa, whispering in her ear, “Did you feel annoyance in Banjeet’s voice?”
“No, and stay quiet,” she said, for she had just begun recording a video again.
“You don’t see the weird expressions of fear and shock on the villagers’ faces?”
“It’s just your doubts that make you come up with this gibberish,” she said, glancing at a few of the villagers. “They might be thinking about their own issues. Stop worrying and enjoy the moment.”
Rahul couldn’t find any way to explain why Dansh wasn’t a trustworthy person. There was just something wrong with him. After traveling through five countries, and meeting hundreds of strangers, he had never sensed his heart pounding and the blood racing inside his nerves like this. He rarely succeeded in mastering reading others’ expressions, but today he was certain his reading was correct; Banjeet and other villagers feared Dansh. What could he do, though, except stay silent for a little while longer, at least until he could find a way to leave this place without upsetting Elisa?
“I need your help,” said Dansh.
“What do you need?” asked Banjeet impatiently.
“This guy here is having a tough time trusting me. It’ll be great if you could help clear his doubts on me.”
Rahul looked at him, his face a totally blank expression.
“Would you please confirm that there’s no place to stay here in the village?”
Rahul shifted his stare to Banjeet, who wanted to tell the two: if you want, you could stay with me. But he knew that doing so would infuriate Dansh, and then he would kill his son, the same way he killed his elder son two years ago.
He thought back to Deep, his elder son, tall and skinny, just like him. A man had reached the village’s border after losing his path, and Deep had rushed to meet him. Even before the lost wanderer could ask him for help, Deep told him to go back where he had come from. But Dansh reached the village at the same time, and he swiftly went to the traveler. He tried to stop him leaving, yet Deep revealed the truth about Dansh, telling the traveler how he was killing people to wake up the churel, once more urging him to leave. Dansh attempted to use his black magic skills to stop him, but Deep stopped him in his attempt, allowing some time for the traveler to escape. When the traveler was out of sight, enraged, Dansh strangled Deep. Banjeet couldn’t do anything except gape at his son dying.
“Is there anything wrong?” asked Rahul.
Banjeet was startled and returned to the present. “No.”
Dansh and Rahul exchanged a look, while Elisa’s focus was completely on shooting the video.
“Dansh is right. The guest house is outside the village. It’s a little far, but it’s safe,” said Banjeet. He managed to hide the fear in his voice, but he didn’t dare lock eyes with Rahul. He was scared that if the man caught his lie, they both would be in danger.
“That’s fine,” Elisa said, finally stopping the recording. “We’ll stay outside the village.”
“You don’t—”
“I don’t want to hear anything. We’re staying for the night. We have already paid him.” She looked at Dansh. “Let’s go.”
Rahul kept staring at her and muttered, more to himself than his girlfriend, “please try to understand, Elisa. You’re dragging us into something terrible.”
He wanted to say this to her and wanted to discuss the horror on Banjeet’s face when he was asked if something was wrong. He wanted to tell her to focus on their expressions instead of the videography. However, she paid no attention to him and began taking pictures of the sky, which admittedly was beautiful in its beautiful orange glow. It was slowly turning dark as the sun was going to sleep.
Dansh began walking again. “Follow me.”
Elisa walked after him, shouting goodbye to the villagers. “Have a great night and sweet dreams! I will see you tomorrow.”
Rahul sighed.
Elisa kept walking without even a glance back at Rahul. Her eyes were fixed in the distance, her cellphone ready in her hands, waiting for something beautiful she could capture. Rahul knew she didn’t care about his concerns at that moment; she believed he’d come after her and that once he reached the place they were staying, all of his dread would run out, just like it had when he began enjoying exploring the haunted Bhangarh Fort. And she was absolutely right because Rahul could never let her go alone, especially when he had suspicions of Dansh being a wicked man.
When Elisa didn’t turn around, not even to glance at him to check whether he was coming, Rahul dragged himself after her. But then, he suddenly stopped and spun back to Banjeet, finding the perfect moment, with Dansh’s ears already being out of range.
“I know you’re hiding something,” he said, his eyes locked on his.
Banjeet’s mouth stayed shut for a moment as he stared at him. Then he said, “Whatever you see is not the reality, and whatever is the reality, you don’t see.” Rahul remained perplexed. “Reality is an illusion here.”
Their eyes stayed locked—Banjeet’s seeming to be apologizing for not helping, even though Rahul very well knew of something deathly the man was trying to say indirectly to him.
Hearing Elisa’s loud voice in the background, Rahul turned around. He glanced back at Banjeet, but he still stood quiet and was now looking down at the sand.
Rahul rushed after her.
Banjeet looked up again, seeing the man running to catch up with his girlfriend.
He knew what was about to happen to them; however, for his village and the villagers’ safety, he was helpless. He only wished Rahul was smart enough to comprehend what he was trying to say when he told him, reality is an illusion here.
He remained in his place, gazing at the strangers going after Dansh, moving toward a deathly trap that Dansh had perhaps already created for them, for no other cause but to wake up Dali.
* * *
It had been about fifteen minutes of walking. Rahul and Elisa were far from the village now, which was no longer visible. The sun had set behind the mountains of sand at the far end of the desert, and only miles of sand could be seen now. In the darkness, on the moonless night, the desolate place looked terrifying, especially when the rapid cold air whooshed through their ears, moving the sand from one place to the other.
“May I ask something,” Dansh asked Elisa, “if you don’t mind?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“Why does your boyfriend act like he’s in a death zone?”
“He heard many occult horror stories from his grandma when he was a kid,” Elisa replied, chuckling. “So now, he’s scared to explore haunted sites and strange, secluded places like your village.”
“I can’t believe youngsters like him believe in superstitious matters.”
“How far is it?” asked Rahul, his voice loud as he was angry. “I’m tired. I didn’t pay you for this.” His intention was to infuriate Dansh enough that he would tell them to just return to the village. But nothing like that happened.
“We’ve reached it, sir,” said Dansh, politely. He stopped at a cave about ten feet away.
Silence fell as Rahul and Elisa looked at the cave. It seemed that it had been formed through erosion and was lit by some cressets. “Don’t tell me we’re to stay here.”
Dansh laughed.
“I’m sure you’ll love the place once you enter,” he said, continuing forward.
“What? Have you gone mad? You promised accommodation, not a cave.” He sighed and shook his head in incredulity. “What if it’s a cave of a wild animal?”
“This is desert, sir. You’ll not find wild animals here.”
Dansh’s reply didn’t matter to him at all, Rahul just wanted to leave the place immediately.
“Of course,” Elisa said, backing up Dansh’s words. “I’m sure it’s lovely.”
Not being able to do anything about it, Rahul just continued walking, silently, after Elisa.
“I’m excited,” she said enthusiastically. “This is going to be an adventure.”
Rahul exhaled in disappointment and kept progressing toward the cave. He would kill Dansh the instant he attempted to maltreat them.
