Short Stories collection

Shadow of Silence(3)

The soft buzz of her phone pulled Ruhi out of her thoughts. It was late morning, and the house was quieter than usual. Her parents had left to attend another business function, leaving her with the usual sense of  emptiness that she had grown accustomed to in their absence. The only sound now was the soft rustle of the wind outside and the ticking of the old clock in the hallway.

She stared at the message for a moment, almost expecting a follow-up text, from her only friend Radhika, or something dismissive or patronizing from her family. But there was nothing. Everyone had their own world, and Ruhi's problems were, as always, irrelevant to anyone. She placed the phone down and sighed, the familiar weight of being overlooked settling in her chest again.

It was one of those rare days when Ruhi decided to step outside the confines of the house, feeling a strange urge to get away from everything. She grabbed a light sweater and slipped out the door, heading toward the park near their house, a small patch of greenery where she would often go to clear her head.

The park was quiet today, almost too quiet. The sun filtered through the leaves of the trees, casting long shadows on the ground. Ruhi wandered along the pathway, her footsteps soft against the dirt trail, the wind rustling through the branches above her. It felt peaceful.

For a brief moment, she closed her eyes and let herself simply be. No labels, no judgments, no expectations. Just the sound of her own breath and the rustle of leaves.

"Ruhi?"

The sudden voice made her jump, and she turned around, startled. Standing before her was a man she hadn't seen in years—Maan, her cousin Abhi's younger brother. His face was familiar, though he had changed since she last saw him as a child. He had grown taller, more confident, and his face carried a quiet intensity that made him seem older than he was.

"Maan?" Ruhi asked, squinting in the sunlight. She hadn't expected to run into him here, let alone at all. He was back in India after completing his education in the United States. She'd heard about it, of course, but hadn't really thought about it until now.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Maan said with a warm smile. There was a genuineness in his eyes, a softness that immediately put her at ease. "How have you been?"

Ruhi felt an unexpected tightness in her throat at the simple question. For a moment, she didn't know how to respond. It had been so long since anyone had asked her that without judgment or expectation. She wasn't used to this kind of attention, especially not from someone like Maan.

"I'm alright," she said finally, her voice uncertain. "Just... thinking."

Maan nodded, as if understanding more than she had said. "I get it." He paused for a moment, looking at the trees. "Sometimes, it's nice to get away from all the noise, right?"

Ruhi smiled faintly. "Yeah, exactly."

They walked together for a while, the conversation flowing easily between them, surprisingly natural despite the years of silence. Maan spoke with an easy confidence, but there was something in his manner that was different from the other people in her life. He wasn't talking at her—he was talking  with her, as if her thoughts actually mattered.

"So, what's been going on?" Maan asked casually, as they sat on a bench by the edge of the park. "How's the life going?"

Ruhi's fingers fidgeted in her lap. She wasn't used to being asked about the family. Not from someone who seemed genuinely curious.

"Same as usual," she said, the words slipping out almost automatically. "Everyone around is still perfect, and the all of them... well,".... "Me useless.." she did know how to find the perfect words in dictionary.