CONSPIRACY: THE THIRD WORLD

Chapter Thirteen│

©APOORVA2015

All rights including those in copyright in the content of this story are owned by Apoorva. It's Illegal to steal and/or copy.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

As the night rolled in, they set tents. Everyone was dead beat from a day of walking uphill and by the time they sat near the fire to have the broth that Tara and Yumi had prepared, their legs were painfully throbbing. Ekaa was already in her tent, pressing her thighs and massaging the calves with her thumbs to release the day's long fatigue and twinge. When everyone retired and went to their tents, Dr. Ambuj came to check on Ekaa.

"Do you want me to help you?" he asked politely, "I am a healer."

"Yes, I know," she answered, "no, I'll be fine. Besides, I know you have been healing others, you must rest."

"That's alright, I have had days were I tended ten patients in a span of thirty minutes," he smiled, "time has made me stronger."

She hesitated and said it was no big deal and that the pain was fading on its own now. In actuality, the excruciating pain was making her cringe and wanting to detach her legs from her body till the awful pain subsides. She assured him that she would be just fine, and he left.

She lay in the sleeping-bag, turning side from side, unable to die tonight. When the sleep did not come to her even after her eyes felt desiccated, she wrapped a shawl around her shoulders and went out. She did not expect anyone to be up at this late hour, and snores from Tara's tent were another indication that people were already asleep. She sat on the grass by the fire, staring into the majestic flames that were dancing with the stream of air. She hugged her knees as soon as the ache returned, groaning.

It was only after lengthy fifteen that were dragging on like forever did she notice someone's silhouette by the bush, a little farther away. Her first instinct was to get up and run back, second was to scream for help, but when that someone moved closer to her with scrawny steps, she lost all reason and sat there in anticipation for the faceless stranger to reveal himself. For an unknown reason she guessed it was Him, which made her heart enlivened with exhilaration. When the stranger's face glowed from the orange tinge of the flames, she disappointingly sighed.

"What are you doing up so late?" she asked

"I can ask you the same..." the boy answered suspiciously

"You scared me for a while there"

"You didn't look anywhere near scared though"

"But my question remains unanswered"

"So does mine"

"Herman, right?"

He nodded his head. She asked him to sit down, patting the grass with her hand. He dubiously looked at her then at the ground, and then sat at some distance.

"Aren't you tired?" she asked

"Aren't you?"

"Question is not the answer of a question."

"Then what is?"

She looked at him with a gloom, like his presence was allowing the sadness she had locked inside her to run riot.

"Why are you being different?" she asked sympathetically

"Because I am..."

"That's not what I meant"

"I know"

"I mean you never talk to anyone, or sit with them or-"

"I am now," he said, looking at her