When the Sun meets the Moon

Phoenix

Shivaay kept tossing and turning since Ann left. It was almost dawn, and he headed down to the front desk, where a lanky boy covered in a wool blanket was dozing off listening to a folk song.

"Excuse me! I need to make a call! AHEM..." Shivaay interrupted.

"Chicken? We don't have chicken...."

"I need to make a call.." Shivaay patiently replied again.

" A call? Oh I'm afraid the lines are down, since last nights storm!"

"STORM? When...when was it?"

"Last night Sir..."

"What time was the last train to Shimla yesterday?"

"Midnight? Around the time of the storm..."

"FUCK..." He swore.  "Do you have a carriage? Or a horse? I need to check up on someone..."

"To the station? Err...It will take at least a half a hour sir..."

Shivaay dashed out on foot, towards the station. The woman, she never listened to him. If she got caught up in the storm, her colossal ego might have stopped her from returning back to him. He didn't think that she would dare to sleep it out at the station, all alone, in the middle of the night. Arrrgh or did she?

He finally reached the station, and knocked on the ticket counter.

"Mister...HEY...WAKE UP! Did your train operate last night to Shimla?" He asked a man who yawned and opened he shutter.

"In the storm? NO" the grumpy man shut the window back.

"Mister please...do you recall, seeing a woman, or anyone...anyone with red hair" he asked recalling that she was travelling in disguise.

"Wha..What?" The man scratched his head curiously.

" Look Sir, it's too early in the morning to answer these questions...Please go home and sleep"

"Do you have any idea when the telephone lines will be back up?" Shivaay asked frustrated, seeing that the man was no help.

"How do I know? I work at a train station! You ought to ask that from someone who works the lines mister!"

Shivaay angrily kicked a tin can that was on the floor. He just hoped and prayed she was safe.

Stubborn woman...You are the death of me!

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Ann disguised herself back as a boy, tucking her long locks inside a woolly red hat. With the help of the house keeper Kamala, she snuck inside the Razdan mansion. She recalled an eerie feeling, that made the small hairs on her body stand up when she entered the dark hollow mansion. The maid led her through a narrow hallway, leading to the servants quarters. Connected to that was a small bedroom. She gestured at Ann to go in.

Ann nervously, went inside the small room, and closed the door behind her. She saw a small boy, sleeping soundly. There was a strange chemical smell in the room, and she saw an empty bottle of bleach under the bedside cupboard.

Looking at the little boy from a far, Ann didn't know how to feel. She couldn't really recall the day she became a mother, or the time she carried him inside her. She only felt a hollow space, deep within her gut—The sorrow of losing him. Are you really my baby?

Shakily, she placed a hand on his head. The little boy, softly opened his eyes, and stared back at her confused, with piercing blue eyes. She tried to find any resemblance in him, with her, and she couldn't. Then the little boy touched her face, with his forefinger. It was as if he was checking if she was real.