Shadows

.1.

Hope you all like the fic and give me your support. 😍

Moving on... 💃💃💃

"Words on double quotes" - Talking.

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts.

Chapter 1 - Changed Meetings

The little birds chirped as their parents came back to the nest with food. They nuzzled into their warmth chirping merrily.

The sky seemed to paint a canvass from different hues of red, yellow and orange, basking in the different bright emotions of the natural world as another beautiful day came to an end. The sun set, passing on his duty to the full moon to light up the sky in its nocturnal light, and also with a promise to return and bless the earth with another day of sunshine.

The kids too laughed out in joy as their parents returned from work. The parents, relieved to see the bright faces of their children after the day's toil. Be it carpenters, shopkeepers, blacksmiths...or be it engineers, doctors or teachers. Whatever their job, whatever their payment...the only thing that mattered was that they were the heroes for their children. And isn't that one such devotion which even money couldn't buy?

Along the distant woods, wolves howled, trees creaked, squirrels squeaked...all returning to their place.

A place that they could call home.

However, the busy roads of the streets seemed too ignorant of the nature's schedule. The horns, traffic, dust, pollution...a tragedy rising out of the busy city life, an example of people becoming slave of industrialization.

However, even that seemed to dull to some extent as night approached.

That's why she preferred to come there at dusk.

When the noise in the park was almost negligent, except for the sounds of crickets, moths and bats. When owls hooted nearby, and fireflies came out to glittering like stars.

Ragini sighed to herself in contentment as she walked down the road. For her, evening was the best part her day. She never missed her evening walk. It was like a must for her.

The days when she didn't get to come out for it, she refused to have her dinner or talk to anyone at home. She would only offer glared, sneers, sighs and snarls. Her mother, father and Dadi often refer to it as her "Dnd mode", not bothering to cheer her up, knowing it would be fruitless. After all, they know she would be depressed the entire next day until she got her walk the next evening. After she gets it, she swaps back to cherry and sweet Ragini.

It was her special time. After all, amidst the social world of man, there are times when one wants to enjoy loneliness.

Loneliness too has its own beauty.

Everyday she would walk around the block at dusk, and when the sun completely set around the horizon, she would enter the park.

The park was at the end of the town, from where city life connects with the rural, well removed from the central hubs of the busy life.

She would sit there on the bench in the darkness. She would take the bench at the end where the lights of the park failed to cast a proper light. Apart from her, there would be only a few people there. It was either old folks or some joggers.

Ragini would watch the city towers in the distance with a smile, enjoying the sounds of nature around her and breathing in the fresh air.

Her eyes moved from the city towers to the stars in the sky, to the trees who's leaves danced as the breeze touched them, to the water in the pond that glistened like it was sprinkled with diamonds.