Station Announcement:
"Passengers arriving beyond the last timetable: some stations exist only for those who refuse to turn back."
The final stretch of the ascent began before sunrise.
The air was thin enough to sting the lungs, each breath a deliberate act.Mist clung to the mountains like a second skin, and the path ahead revealed itself only a few steps at a time.
They walked in silence.
No one wanted to disturb whatever still lingered here.
Jeevan led, steady and sure.Arjun followed with the ropes.Sara stayed close to Basil.Nish, Ravi, Rohit, Leena, and Ananya moved carefully, eyes scanning stone and sky.
And at the center of it all, Kannan walked as if pulled forward by an invisible thread.
Arun never left his side.
1. When the Clouds Part
The monastery revealed itself suddenly.
One moment there was only rock and mist.The next, stone walls emerged from the clouds — weathered, cracked, ancient.
Prayer flags fluttered weakly from broken poles, their colors faded but stubborn.A bell hung crooked at the entrance, silent for years.
Ghyaru Monastery.
Not abandoned by time —abandoned by people.
Sara whispered:
"This place… it feels like it's waiting."
Jeevan nodded.
"It always does."
They stepped inside.
2. The Courtyard of Footprints
The courtyard was wide and bare, stone slabs uneven underfoot.
At first, it seemed empty.
Then Arun stopped.
"Kannan-ettan," he whispered. "Look."
On the stone floor, faint but unmistakable, were marks.
Bare footprints — small ones — pressed into dried clay that had hardened years ago.
Children's footprints.
Kannan dropped to his knees.
"My son…he stood here…"
Sara knelt beside him, tears spilling freely now.
Ravi whispered:
"They waited here.Many of them."
Arjun scanned the edges.
"There's more."
Near the far wall, scratched into the stone with charcoal and sharp stone fragments, were circles.
Dozens of them.
Overlapping.Uneven.Some broken.
Akshay's language.
Arun's voice trembled.
"He was here a long time."
3. The Three Prayer Flags
Jeevan moved toward the back of the courtyard.
"Come," he said quietly.
At the edge, tied to a half-broken railing, fluttered three prayer flags.
One red.One yellow.One blue.
The blue one was different.
Cruder.Hand-tied.
Kannan's hands shook violently as he reached for it.
Knotted into the cloth was a tiny folded scrap of paper.
Arun inhaled sharply.
"Kannan-ettan…"
With trembling fingers, Kannan unfolded it.
The handwriting was small. Careful. Familiar.
Akshay's.
He read aloud, his voice breaking with every line.
"Appa,if you are reading this, I am not here.But I was."
Kannan's breath shattered.
Arun held his shoulder.
Sara closed her eyes.
Kannan continued.
"They brought us here.I was scared.But I made circles so I wouldn't forget which way to hope."
Tears streamed freely now.
"Some children cried at night.I told them stories.I said my Appa would come.I said all fathers come late but they come."
Kannan sobbed openly.
"A man said we will go higher.He lied before.I don't trust him now."
Everyone stilled.
"If he lies again, I will not go with him.I will walk down alone."
Arjun whispered:
"He planned his escape…"
Kannan continued, voice barely holding together.
"If you are looking for me,don't look here.I am going where trains don't go."
Arun frowned.
"Where trains don't go…?"
Kannan read the final lines.
"I will follow the river.Rivers always lead to people.Appa, I am not afraid anymore.I am walking toward light."
Silence fell.
Deep.Sacred.Unbearable.
Sara whispered:
"He left by choice…to save himself."
Jeevan nodded slowly.
"Yes. This is when some children escaped."
4. The Broken Dormitory
They entered the dormitory.
Inside, thin mattresses lay in disarray.Walls were etched with drawings — trains, mountains, circles, stars.
One drawing stopped everyone cold.
A tall man in khaki.A group of children.One child stepping away.
Kannan pressed his forehead to the wall.
"You chose to walk alone…like I did…and you were braver than me…"
Arun whispered fiercely:
"He didn't run away.He chose life."
Ravi wiped his eyes.
"He became his own rescuer."
5. The Monks Who Remembered
From behind a side passage, a voice spoke.
"You are looking for the boy who drew circles."
Everyone spun around.
An elderly monk stood there, wrapped in a faded maroon robe.
His eyes were sharp.Kind.Unforgettable.
Jeevan bowed slightly.
"Tenzin-la."
The monk nodded.
"He was here," Tenzin said softly."The quiet one."
Kannan stepped forward, shaking.
"My son… Akshay…"
Tenzin's eyes softened.
"Yes," he said."He had a strong spirit."
Arun whispered urgently:
"Did he leave safely?"
Tenzin nodded.
"He left at dawn. Alone.He refused to go with the man in khaki."
Relief and fear collided in the room.
"He followed the river," Tenzin continued."He asked me which way led to people."
Sara whispered:
"And you told him?"
"Yes," Tenzin said."I told him to follow the water down the valley.I gave him food.I gave him shoes."
Kannan collapsed to his knees.
"You saved my son," he sobbed.
Tenzin shook his head gently.
"No," he said."He saved himself."
Arun asked the question no one dared to say aloud.
"Is he alive?"
Tenzin met his eyes.
"I do not know," he said honestly."But children who choose their own path…often survive longer than those who are carried."
6. A New Direction, Not an Ending
Outside, clouds drifted slowly past the monastery walls.
The river Akshay wrote about glimmered faintly in the valley below.
Nish whispered:
"If he followed the river…then the trail continues downstream."
Jeevan nodded.
"Yes. Toward lower villages.Toward markets.Toward places where a child could disappear… or belong."
Kannan stood slowly, clutching the note.
His voice was no longer broken.
It was steady.
"He didn't wait for me anymore," he said."He walked."
Arun nodded.
"And now we walk after him."
Sara placed her hand over Kannan's heart.
"He left this so you wouldn't stop here."
Kannan looked at the mountains, the clouds, the monastery that held his son's courage.
"Akshay," he whispered,"I heard you.I'm following the river."
The prayer flags fluttered.
The bell stirred faintly in the wind.
The monastery released them.