Sagarika

At my side, Siddh walked steadily, his pace easy, his expression composed, but there was an alertness about him now that had not been there earlier.

It was subtle, but unmistakable. He was unusually alert. Far more than anyone else.

At one point, when the guide paused and one of the women gave a startled cry at the sight of a small lizard darting across the path, I glanced at Siddh.

He was smiling. But it was not amusement. It was awareness. As though he was noticing things the rest of us were missing.

The path began to climb more steeply, narrowing at places until we had no choice but to walk in single file.

Just then, without warning, the rain came.

It fell suddenly, heavily, soaking through the thick canopy of leaves in seconds. The guide quickly handed out large umbrellas, and I found myself sharing one with Siddh.

We walked close, the umbrella barely wide enough to shield both of us properly, the sound of rain striking the leaves around us loud and constant. But for a change, Siddh was not complaining about it.

In fact, it seemed that he was enjoying himself.

"You seemed to be enjoying this." I teased him.

“It’s something you get used to,” he said.

“You told me you’ve never been here before,” I replied, glancing at him.

“I haven’t,” he said simply. “But one forest is very much like another.”

There was something in his tone that made me feel as though he was speaking from experience he had not shared.

I did not ask.

---

As we moved deeper into the forest, the light began to fade further, the thick canopy above blocking out more and more of the sky.

The air felt heavier now and I found myself increasingly aware of every small movement, every sound, every accidental brush against Siddh as we walked too close in the narrow spaces.

It was not just the forest that made me uneasy anymore.

It was the feeling that something was not right.

After a while, Siddh checked his watch, his expression tightening slightly.

“We should be heading back,” he said, moving ahead to speak to the guide.

The guide shook his head immediately. “Not yet,” he insisted. “Not much further.”

The words lingered in the air longer than they should have.

Not much further.

I felt hot and sticky and was longing for a shower. Perspiration had dampened my hair, and my mouth felt dry. I was also beginning to regret the lunch I had refused, distinct pangs of hunger assailing her. I had some biscuits in my bag, but it was too much effort to put it down and search for them. Everyone else seemed tired too; everyone, that was, apart from Siddh, who despite the sweat stains marring his shirt, still seemed able to keep up with their guide without flagging.

---

Fifteen minutes later, I saw the guide stop. We had reached a small clearing where a fallen tree had created just enough space for all of us to gather.

With groans of relief, the small party came to a standstill, with the exception of the guide, who for some reason appeared to be slightly nervous.

He remained standing, his eyes moving quickly around the clearing, scanning the surroundings with a tension that sent a chill down my spine.

I watched him as his eyes darted around the clearing as though looking for something. A strange unease is settling deeper within me.

Siddh came to stand beside me.

“Something’s wrong...” I said under my breath. He did not deny it.

His gaze had sharpened, fixed on the guide with a quiet intensity that did not match the casual tone of his voice. There was a flicker of something in his eyes—alertness, unmistakable and immediate—but it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, masked beneath his usual composure.

He turned slightly toward me, his tone deliberately light, as though nothing was out of place.

“Ready for the return journey? I don't care what the guide says, we are going—”

He never finished.

Because in the very next moment, the forest changed. Before anyone could react, before anyone could even understand— the clearing was invaded.

Men started stepping out from the trees as though they had been standing there all along, waiting for the exact moment to reveal themselves.

One after another, they stepped forward until there were six of them.

Camouflage uniforms. Armed. Prepared.

Machine guns are already raised.

For a single, suspended second, no one reacted.

It was as though the human mind refused to accept what the eyes were seeing, as though reality itself lagged behind the moment unfolding in front of us. The world seemed to stop for a moment.

And then everything collapsed into motion.

What the hell was going on??

A sharp scream cut through the stillness. Someone stumbled backward. Another voice rose in panic. Before I could even process what was happening, we were being forced together—hands shoving, bodies colliding, confusion turning instantly into fear as we were herded into a tight, helpless cluster.

I lost my footing against an exposed tree root, the uneven ground betraying me as I lurched forward—

—and froze.

The cold, unyielding pressure of a gun muzzle pressed against my throat.

My breath caught sharply, my entire body going rigid as instinct overrode everything else. I didn’t dare move. Didn’t dare even swallow. The world seemed to narrow, shrinking down to that single point of contact, to the terrifying clarity of one thought—

This was real.

At my side, I heard Siddh swear under his breath. It wasn’t loud, nor panicked, but controlled in a way that cut through the chaos far more effectively than shouting would have.

“Just what the hell is all this about?” Siddh addressed the question to the man who was obviously in charge of the small group, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world for him to take command; none of the other men challenged his right to do so, and I suspected they were all too dazed to think of asking the question 'why'.

There was no hesitation in him. No visible fear.

And somehow, without discussion, without decision, the moment shifted toward him. It felt natural—inevitable—that he would be the one to speak, to step forward, to take control of a situation that none of us had even begun to understand.

No one questioned it.

No one else even tried.

Because while the rest of us were still struggling to comprehend what was happening, Siddh had already moved past shock and into action.

The man who appeared to be their leader stepped forward, his weapon still trained on us, while two others positioned themselves with deliberate precision, their guns raised in silent warning.

“You are to be held hostage,” he said in fluent, measured English, his calm delivery making the words far more chilling than any shouted threat, “until our government releases the men it wrongly imprisoned six months ago.”

Everyone fell into stunned silence.

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Chhavi ❤️