Faizal Alkazi sighed as he looked up at the craggy, uphill path in front of him. He'd heard that the trek up to Pratapgad Qila was quite a laborious task, but he hadn't imagined the condition of the route to be quite so untraversable.

Nevertheless, Faizal knew that he couldn't back out of the hike now. He'd spent far too much money on the transport he'd used to travel from the homestay to the fort. He'd managed to find an autorickshaw right at the crack of dawn, at around six-thirty, and convinced him to make the ninety minute drive to the fort so as to earn some quick cash.

The fact that the driver had taken nearly double the usual rate hadn't really bothered Faizal this time around. In fact, Faizal was desperate to leave the homestay and clear his head.

Somehow, the events of the previous night had rattled Faizal more than he was willing to admit. The sheer expression of terror on Mr. Batra's face had been enough to spook him considerably. He'd barely managed to suppress his own fears and placate Mr. Batra, by making him believe that he'd just been hallucinating- a fact he wasn't fully convinced of himself.

Was it possible that the stories circulated in the valleys and villages of Mahabaleshwar were true?

Had Gauri Batra's soul been the victim of unrest due to her traumatic death?

Moreover, since her body hadn't been found, was there a meagre chance that she was still alive?

These were the questions swirling in Faizal's head when he decided to take a break from all the overthinking and indulge in a high-stress, endorphin releasing activity which would temporarily put his mind at ease.

Faizal hiked up the severely sloping path, and found himself getting increasingly energised and refreshed as he covered more ground. It was a little more than halfway to his destination, when his calf muscles began to tire slightly.

Uncannily enough, just when he was about to take a drink of water from the bottle he'd been lugging around, a familiar figure in the distance caught his attention.

He took a few steps forward only to realise that the figure belonged to the very same elusive damsel he'd been trying to pursue ever since he first set foot in the homestay.

Faizal didn't waste any time contemplating the finer aspects of 'Fate' and 'Destiny' and decided that this time, she wouldn't manage to give him the slip, no matter how hard she endeavoured to.

She was standing a good few metres away, and Faizal tried to cover the gap between them as discreetly as possible, until he was standing right behind her.

He took a deep breath as he made up his mind as to how to start the conversation with her. This feeling of nervousness was quite alien to him. He'd always been suave enough to strike up conversations with the most coy ladies, but Meera's apathetic behaviour towards him was something he'd never encountered before.

Unfortunately, before he could alert her to his presence, she turned around abruptly and froze.

We've got to stop meeting like this. Faizal reprimanded himself for alarming her yet again. Frightening her off was the last thing he wished to do.

For a moment, Faizal thought that she'd bolt once again. However, to his relief, she seemed to have weighed her options of escape and had decided to stand her ground.

She took a step back, composed herself and said in a tone of acute annoyance. "Are you following me?"

Faizal was quite tense at the overtly hostile tenor she'd taken while asking him the question, but it wasn't about to make him back down.

"I could say the same about you Ms. Meera...but I won't." Faizal said, as a ghost of a smirk graced his lips.

It wasn't as if Faizal minded her odd appearances and subsequent disappearances, but he had to admit, there was something fairly strange about them.

If she had an evening shift at the homestay, then what had she been doing in the woods at dawn? Furthermore, why hadn't she been at the reception desk the previous night?

She looked puzzled for a few seconds. Her mouth parted slightly as she searched for words to defend herself, but she ultimately decided to forgo a response and continue up the hill.

Faizal decided to take this as a win for himself as he started to walk beside her.

"You really do live up to your name, don't you?" She said, panting slightly as she continued on.

"Yes. I'm honoured that you've deemed me worthy of your company today, instead of avoiding me as you usually do." Faizal said with a smile as he kept up his pace.

"Well, it's not as if you've given me much choice in the matter." She said, rolling her eyes.

"What were you doing in the woods yesterday morning, anyway? I thought you worked the evening shift at the homestay." Faizal asked her the question playing on his mind.

"It's not as if I owe you any answers, but...um...I live close by. I just went for a run to clear my head..." She said, awfully quickly.

It wasn't hard to infer that she was lying to him. If there was any truth to her words, why had she been dressed in the same attire at dawn, as she'd been during his first encounter with her?

Nevertheless, Faizal decided that he wouldn't pry further and parked the subject for a little while.

"Clearing my head...well, that's what I've come to Mahabaleshwar for. The city's getting awfully noisy, you know..." Faizal tried to change the topic of conversation.

"Well, I'll bet. You haven't published anything in the last few months. I'm sure your publishers are growing anxious." The words slipped out of her mouth rather casually.

Faizal took a moment of reprieve to absorb her words. They certainly amused him a great deal. For all the disinterest she'd shown in him, she seemed quite knowledgeable about his life. This meant that she'd either known of him before their meet, or she'd looked him up immediately after. Either way, it was proof that she cared.

"I thought you didn't follow my work." Faizal said cheekily, still standing at the same spot.

He watched her stop short. She evidently hadn't meant for this factoid about his work to slip off of her tongue.

"Um...I don't. But my friend does. That's why your name seemed familiar." She said with a plastic smile, turning around.

Nice save. Faizal thought to himself as he tried to catch up to her once again.

He could tell that she was trying to lose him as she quickened her pace.

However, before Faizal could get close enough, he watched as she hit her foot on a large boulder by accident, and fell fast and hard onto the rough surface of the slope, sliding down by a couple of inches.

"Meera!" He called her name worriedly as he jogged up to her and knelt down to face her.

From her contorted expression, he could tell that she was in a decent amount of pain. But her pain hadn't translated into any tears or cries of agony.

"Are you okay?" He said, as he tried to place his hands on her shoulders to support her while she stood up.

However, before he could lay a finger on her, she held up her hand in objection and said. "It's fine. I'll manage."

"You sure?" He asked, his tone anxious.

When she nodded her head, Faizal stood up and took a step backward so as to give her some space.

He watched as she struggled to stand up by herself. The maniacal determination in her eyes was truly a rare sight. The kind of determination that only stemmed from continuous trials and obstacles in one's life.

Ab na khauff hai in aankhon mein,
Na bebasi, na majboori.

Ab na khauff hai in aankhon mein,
Na bebasi, na majboori.
Ab inki tawajjo ko haasil kiye bina,
Seh na sakenge in se doori.

There it was again! It was almost as if she was a mystical presence that accentuated his creativity!

Faizal shook himself out of his rumination as he watched her dust off her pants and wrap a handkerchief around her palm, which appeared to be bleeding a tad bit.

"Let's get on with the trek." She said, trying her best not to limp.

Faizal looked at her leg rather doubtfully and said. "Are you sure you're okay to go on? I can accompany you downhill if you want. Perhaps we should get a doctor to look at-"

"I came here to trek to the top of Pratapgad Qila. We're barely fifteen minutes away and I'll be damned if a small graze is the reason I abandon my plans." She said, her face devoid of amusement.

Faizal was fairly ambivalent about her attitude. On the one hand, the fact that she barely complained unlike most of the other attention seeking women he'd come across in his twenty-seven years, was a definite positive. On the other hand, her carelessness about the wound made him a tad panicky...

He ultimately decided that arguing with her was pointless. When it came to obstinacy, she'd unfortunately proven to be a formidable competitor.

"Alright. As you wish." He said.

She gave him a look of satisfaction as she began to take small but sure-footed steps up the hill.

"You don't like accepting help from others, do you?" Faizal asked, as he observed an expression of discomfort on her face while she moved forward.

"Well, I've done fine on my own since I was a child. I'm not about to change my ways now." She said sharply as she continued to climb up.

"Your parents?" Faizal asked with raised eyebrows.

"My mother's been dead for over twenty years. And my father...well, let's just say he wasn't around." She said disgustedly, as she concentrated on her path.

"I'm sorry." Faizal said apologetically, swallowing.

His assumption about her rough life had proven to be correct thus far.

"Don't be. As far as I know, he isn't worth it." She huffed.

Her clinical attitude towards her father succeeded in shocking Faizal mildly, but he decided that he'd reserve his questions about her parents for another time. The topic seemed too heavy and personal to discuss with an acquaintance, whom she barely knew.

They walked in silence for the next few minutes, until they reached the top of the hill. Faizal could see the ruins of the boundaries and walls of the upper and lower fort spreading out all across the peak, and he smiled involuntarily upon beholding the wondrous sight.

"Looks like we've made it." Faizal said, grinning at her.

For the first time since they'd met, a genuine smile made its way to her lips as she looked at him and nodded her head in affirmation.

As much as Faizal hated to admit it, the smile set his already heightened pulse sprinting, immediately.

What's happening to me? He asked himself, as he avoided eye contact with her in order to slow down his heart rate.

Faizal coughed slightly and said. "Um...we should get a good look at the view."

He looked at her and observed that she was apprehensive about getting to the viewpoint.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

"I'm sure you've realised that I'm not much of a people person." She said, as she angled her eyes towards the gaggle of tourists standing at the best vantage point of the fort, with the famous red flag hoisted right in the middle.

"I have." Faizal said with a smirk.

"Let's walk this way instead?" She asked, pointing to the northwest direction of the fort.

"Sure." He replied promptly.

He realised he would do just about anything to make her comfortable. Even if it resulted in him missing out on exploring some parts of the fort.

It took a few minutes for them to arrive at the spot.

He watched her as she walked around freely, and examined the walls of the fort as if she were a seasoned historian.

"You know that Pratapgad Qila is also called 'Valour Fort', right?" Faizal asked in amusement.

She turned around and scoffed when he'd barely finished his sentence.

"Of course, I do! I also know about the battle of Pratapgad and all about Afzal's Khan's betrayal..." She said, in a smug voice.

"Woah...you know your history." Faizal said with a smile.

"I like to be thorough, no matter what I do..." She said, her tone firm.

As she looked around, Faizal realised that in his rush to get out of the homestay early, he'd forgotten his breakfast entirely.

As if it were divine intervention of sorts, Faizal noticed a young boy of about ten, selling tea and little packets of strawberries. He felt his mouth salivating as he looked at the ripe, juicy berries in the child's basket.

"I'm famished. I'll just go buy some fruit..." Faizal said casually, as he pointed to the child.

She nodded absent-mindedly in response and he set off towards the boy, immediately after.

Once he reached the boy, he bent down to gauge the quality of strawberries in the basket.

He finally found two satisfactory bunches, lifted it up and brought it up to the boy's height.

The boy, who was busy making another sale, finally noticed him and said. "Ek packet, dedh Sau, bhaiyya. Dedh Sau."

He looked at the minuscule creature in front of him and realised that even the children in this town were con men.

However, he didn't have the heart to haggle with the little boy over a mere hundred rupees.

"Theek hai, yeh dono packet de do. Ek mere liye, aur ek didi ke liye..." Faizal said, pointing to where he'd last left Meera standing.

"Okay, bhaiyya." The kid said happily, as he collected his three hundred rupees from Faizal.

When the boy was about to hand over the boxes, however, he looked at Faizal with a puzzled expression.

"Kya hua?" Faizal asked, finding the little boy's curious expression quite entertaining.

"Kaun si didi, bhaiyya? Wahan toh koi nahi hai..." The child questioned.

Faizal was fairly confused at the child's words. He turned around immediately and expected to see Meera waiting for him.

Not only did he see the spot before him empty, he also couldn't locate her once he spun around to scan the entire fort.

And just like that, she'd vanished again without a trace.

~*~

Faizal walked into Paradise Homestay, exhausted and devoid of energy. Once he'd gotten over the initial disappointment that'd crept up on him due to Meera's abandonment of sorts, he'd gone on to explore every nook and cranny of the fort. He'd even hired a government appointed guide in order to learn about the true historical significance of the Pratapgad Qila. Fortunately enough, the guide seemed to be more interested in doing his job rather than cooking up ghost stories, like the autorickshaw driver Faizal had encountered earlier. He'd even made a trip to Afzal Khan's Dargah after his visit to the fort, and spent quite a while there as he sent his own prayer of gratitude to the almighty.

Faizal had never been overly religious, but somehow the strange happenings of the last few days had made him slightly paranoid. Reconnecting with allah had succeeded in calming his mind to a certain degree.

As Faizal walked past the receptionist's desk, he noticed a girl writing into the guest register, craning her neck in the process.

Meera. He thought to himself ecstatically, as he approached her.

He wasn't about to let her off easy, without obtaining an answer as to why she'd suddenly forsaken him at the fort. Especially since they'd been getting on so well with each other...

"So, why'd you ditch me?" Faizal asked with an amused expression.

The girl lifted her head up and stared at him, baffled. "Excuse me?"

That's not her. The realisation dawned on Faizal almost instantaneously as he observed the girl's face.

Faizal's palms began to sweat acutely. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach while he tried to compose himself.

There's got to be a logical reason as to why she isn't here. Faizal tried to assure himself.

"Um...I'm sorry. I was actually looking for someone else...Is Meera around tonight? Or are you filling in for her?" Faizal asked, his throat dry.

Faizal wondered whether Meera's wounds had prevented her from coming in.

Had her condition worsened?

"Sir, perhaps there's been a misunderstanding. I'm Meera. And I'm the regular receptionist here at Paradise Homestay." The girl said, with frown lines on her forehead.

Faizal felt his stomach churning rather violently. His pulse was speeding up as well.

If the girl before him was the one Mr. Batra had spoken of on the first day he'd arrived, who was the one he'd spent every waking moment thinking of, ever since?

"Um...excuse me...um...Sir. I see that you're a guest for four nights. Can I help you with anything? Perhaps you'd like to order dinner?" She asked, hopefully.

Her words partially succeeded in bringing Faizal out of his limbo.

"No thanks. I've lost my appetite." He remarked, before walking off from the reception, bewildered and woe-begone.

~*~

Faizal shut his notebook in frustration and flicked his pen aside somewhat violently. He'd tried his best to go to bed and wake up with a fresh mind to tackle the situation, but the mystery of his muse's identity had prevented him from getting even a wink of sleep.

Angry and irritated, Faizal had hoped that working on his poetry in the common study area of the villa would soothe his mind to a certain degree.

But alas! Ever since he'd discovered that his latest inspiration was an impostor, his creativity had all but dissipated again.

Who is she?

What does she want?

What was she doing in the homestay, if she didn't work here?

Was she trying to steal something?!

Faizal tried to jog his memory to the best of his abilities to remember if she'd retrieved something from the receptionist's desk. However, he'd been so enamoured with her that he hadn't taken notice of anything else.

There was something far more sinister brewing at the back of Faizal's mind at the same time. Something he was in denial about, himself.

Somehow, the ghost stories about the town didn't seem so preposterous anymore.

Could there actually be a plane beyond this one?

Is it possible that the girl is a paranormal being of some kind?

Faizal stood up from his chair and flicked the dust off of his pants as he gathered his belongings. He decided to put these thoughts out of his head immediately. His body and brain were quite oppressed from all the introspection and overthinking. Even if he couldn't sleep, he decided that he'd go and lie down on his bed since he'd confirmed that he wouldn't get any writing done any time soon.

He walked out of the study and his eyes flitted towards the balcony, at a small distance away.

He noticed a silhouette right at the edge of the verandah, and was shocked when he realised that the person was making an attempt to climb over the railing.

Fuck! Is he going to jump?! Faizal cursed to himself as he rushed to the balcony.

He pushed the doors open vigorously, resulting in his possessions tumbling to the floor.

When he was close enough, he placed his palms on the individual's shoulder and yanked him back with all the force he could muster.

The individual toppled to the ground and let out a cry of pain as his back hit the floor with a loud thud.

"Aaah!" The man screamed.

It took Faizal merely a second to distinguish the voice. In the wan moonlight, he bent closer to the man to confirm his identity, and sure enough, Faizal had recognised him without a glitch.

"Mr. Batra! What the hell are you doing out here? Why were you trying to jump?!" Faizal screamed, angry and frightened at the same time.

"You shouldn't have stopped me! I can't bear it anymore!" Mr. Batra yelled as he tried to lunge towards the railing once again.

Faizal was quick to act this time around as well. He caught Mr. Batra by the waist and dragged him away from the balcony until they were well inside the villa.

"What are you talking about?! Bear what?" Faizal asked, frown lines marring his face.

"I see her. I see her whenever I shut my eyes. When the nightmares stopped five years ago, I thought she was gone, but she's here again...and she won't spare me this time..." Mr. Batra said, shivering.

His eyes were severely bloodshot, signifying that he hadn't slept at all in the last thirty hours or so, rendering him increasingly frantic and delusional.

"Who? Who won't spare you? Gauri? She's not real, Mr. Batra! You're hallucinating!" Faizal exclaimed, trying his best to remain rational.

"No! You don't understand! She's coming for me! To exact her revenge!" Mr. Batra shouted in bits and spurts, as his face grew increasingly off-colour.

Faizal raised his eyebrows involuntarily. Mr. Batra's dramatic and absurd claims were more than he could handle, after all he'd been through.

He grabbed Mr. Batra firmly by the arms and exclaimed harshly. "Revenge for what? What did you do to her, huh?!"

Aakash Batra's face went as white as a sheet as he puckered up the courage to answer the question.

His response came out in a light but macabre whisper.

"I killed her."

~*~