📅 Early December — Nandanpur & Devgarh
The river flowed as if nothing had happened.
No bodies.
No trace.
People whispered in hushed voices.
The river had claimed them… or had it?
The truth remained unknown, a silent weight pressing on every heart.
---
The Aftermath
Abhay and Ishanvi returned home under the grey sky, cold and exhausted.
The scooters were parked. Siblings clustered, eyes wide. They didn't speak; they only stared.
Vaidehi asked, trembling:
"Did… did you see them? Are they—"
Ishanvi shook her head, careful not to answer.
Abhay simply stared at the river in the distance, silent.
They aren't gone.
They can't be.
Yet no one could prove it. Not yet.
---
Unspoken Weight
That night, their room felt impossibly heavy.
Books lay forgotten.
Papers scattered.
Tea gone cold.
Abhay and Ishanvi didn't speak much. Their hands hovered near each other, but neither reached.
Every thought circled the same question:
How can we explain something no one can understand?
The river had taken its secrets with it.
---
Siblings in Focus
Meanwhile, Raghav, Vaidehi, Aariv, Meera, Vivaan, and Vrinda coped differently:
Raghav: Silent, guilt gnawing from the morning argument he never got to apologize for.
Vaidehi: Overwhelmed by fear, clinging to every small reassurance.
Aariv: Confused, wanting someone to protect him.
Vivaan & Meera: Whispering prayers, trying to make sense.
Vrinda: Stoic, but eyes betraying worry.
Abhay and Ishanvi realized — their siblings would need them more than ever now.
---
A Quiet Promise
In the stillness of the night, fire and water pulsed faintly inside them. Weak, uncertain… but alive.
Ishanvi whispered, almost to herself:
"We'll get through this. Somehow."
Abhay pressed a hand to the window, feeling the Sudarshini flowing beneath the moonlight.
"We have to. For them… for everyone."
And with that, they closed their eyes.
Not because they believed in rest.
But because the storm of emotions had no other outlet.