Station Announcement:
"Attention passengers approaching convergence: proceed with caution. Memories may manifest physically."
The industrial yards of Sion rose like the rusted skeleton of a forgotten world.
Giant warehouses.Broken pipelines.Abandoned machinery large enough to be mistaken for extinct creatures.Every structure streaked with rust, every lane cracked by weed and rain.
And at the far end —a towering blue gate, faded and peeling, but unmistakably the same colour as in Akshay's drawing.
Kannan stopped walking.
His breath hitched.
"That's it," Arun whispered, eyes wide."That's the place in the map."
Sara placed a hand gently on Kannan's back.
"You're not alone," she murmured.
He nodded — but barely.
1. The Gate That Waited
They approached slowly.
Every step felt like peeling back layers of a wound that refused to close.
Nish scanned the surroundings.
"According to Devika's notes," he said quietly, "this area used to be a hub for migrant labourers. Some lived inside the warehouses. Some disappeared from here."
Arjun frowned.
"Disappeared?"
Ananya exhaled. "This place has history. Not the kind Mumbai advertises."
As they stood before the blue gate, Arun ran his fingers along its surface.
The metal was cold.
But something else—a faint groove.
"Someone scratched something here," he murmured.
Ananya knelt beside him.
"Wait—don't rub it. Let me angle the light."
She used her phone flashlight.
Slowly, letters emerged — shallow, uneven, carved by a trembling hand:
A K S H A Y
Kannan staggered back.
He pressed both hands to his mouth as a sob cracked out of him.
"My boy…my boy was here…"
Sara held him tightly as he cried.
Arun touched the letters gently.
"He waited," he whispered. "Just like he wrote."
2. Inside the Yard
They pushed the gate open.
It groaned like a creature disturbed from sleep.
Inside the yards, dust swirled in the wind like restless shadows.
They walked through rows of abandoned machinery and shipping crates.
Rohit's voice cut the silence.
"Look."
He pointed toward a wall.
A small chalk drawing — faded but visible:
A circle.A stick figure inside it.Arrows pointing outward.
Leena frowned.
"That's a symbol for… escape?"
Arun shook his head.
"No. It's a symbol for… direction. He was mapping where he might go next."
Ananya leaned in.
"And look. Numbers beside it."
"301," Basil read softly.
Arjun stilled.
"That's not a number," he said."That's a train."
Sara's breath caught.
"Central line," she whispered."Train 301. It stops at Dadar, Kurla, Thane…"
Nish finished the thought:
"And farther north."
Kannan whispered:
"He was following the trains…"
Arun nodded.
"He believed his Appa could pass through any stop. So he chased the line."
Nish scanned the dusty ground.
"We need more than symbols," he murmured."A trace… something physical."
Arun walked farther in — eyes scanning the debris with an intuition sharper than logic.
He stopped suddenly.
"Chechi!" he called. "Sara!"
Everyone rushed over.
Arun pointed to the ground.
Half-buried under dust and rust flakes was something small —fabric.Blue.Threadbare.
Arun lifted it gently.
A piece of a shirt, torn at the edge.
Sara turned it over.
Inside the collar was a faded marking:
A
Kannan sank to his knees.
Trembling, he whispered:
"He wore a shirt with his initial stitched by his mother…"
Sara covered her mouth, tears pricking her eyes.
"Then this is his," she whispered.
Kannan held the scrap like a holy relic.
"Akshay… you were here… you were so close…"
Arun hugged him from behind, tightly.
3. A Witness Emerges
Suddenly, a voice echoed from behind a crate.
"I remember that boy."
Everyone turned sharply.
An elderly man emerged — thin, hunched, with eyes that had seen too many nights in the open.
He held a metal mug and walked with a limp.
Nish stepped forward carefully.
"Ajja… did you see him? A boy around twelve?"
The old man nodded.
"Quiet boy. Thin. Sat by the gate every evening. Always looking toward the railway tracks."
Kannan's breath stopped.
"What happened to him?" he asked desperately.
The man hesitated.
"He talked to the trains," the old man said."He said every train carried a chance. A direction."
Sara whispered:
"Did he leave with someone?"
The old man nodded slowly.
"Yes. After a few days, a woman came."
"A woman?" Arjun repeated.
The old man scratched his head.
"Short woman. Hair tied. She wore a uniform. Blue sari."
Leena's eyes widened.
"That's a railway volunteer uniform."
Nish's heart accelerated.
"What did she do?" he asked.
"She sat beside him," the man said. "Talked to him for long time. Then she held his hand and said she would take him to a 'safe place.'"
Arun asked quickly:
"Did he go with her willingly?"
"Yes," the man said."He trusted her. She smiled at him like a mother."
Kannan closed his eyes, a shiver running through him.
"Do you know where she took him?" Nish asked.
The man nodded.
"They walked toward the tracks. Toward the central line."
Nish pressed:
"Which direction?"
The old man pointed north.
"Toward Kalyan," he said.
Kannan whispered the word like a prayer and a wound:
"Kalyan…"
Arun grabbed Kannan's hand.
"Then we go there."
4. One More Clue
Before leaving, Arun noticed something else scratched into the concrete behind the crate.
He brushed away dust.
A date.
14/07/2014
Sara breathed out slowly.
"That's the day he left this yard."
Rohit whispered:
"He left a marker… for his father."
Kannan touched the date.
He closed his eyes and murmured:
"Fourteen. July.I was in the Gulf that day…I was alive when he was looking for me…"
Tears fell again.
But this time, not only from pain.
From connection — fragile but real.
Arun squeezed his shoulder.
"We're following him," he whispered."He's guiding us."
5. The Gate Closes Behind Them
As they walked back through the blue gate, Sara looked back one last time.
She whispered:
"Thank you, child.For leaving signs.For believing someone would follow."
Arun whispered:
"We're following. We're coming."
Kannan held the bracelet close to his heart.
The blue gate swung shut with a long metallic groan.
But for once, it did not sound like an ending.
It sounded like a beginning.