Chapter 4: Return to the Empty Cattle Shed

I searched the grassland for three days and finally found the hut of the Hajiya couple.

My legs ached, my throat burned. I scavenged what little food I could, hiding from every shadow. When I saw the familiar hut, I almost wept with relief.

But when I sneaked into the cattle shed at night, I found that Ma was gone.

The place was empty, eerily silent. The cows shuffled nervously, as if sensing something was wrong. My chest tightened with dread.

The iron chain that had locked her ankle was discarded around the stone block.

It lay coiled on the ground, the lock broken. I knelt, running my fingers over the rusted links, searching for warmth that wasn’t there.

On the stone block, there was a salty, bloody smell.

My nose wrinkled. The scent was sharp, unmistakable—fresh blood, mingled with old tears and hopelessness.

The smell of blood.

It was thick in the air, choking. I pressed my forehead to the cold stone, whispering every prayer Dadi ever taught me—Hanuman Chalisa, Gayatri Mantra, anything to bring Ma back.

"Ma..."

My whisper trembled in the darkness, swallowed by the silence. The cattle shed, once a prison, now felt like a tomb. I clung to the chain, sobbing quietly, praying to every god I knew. The wind outside howled, and I waited, hoping for a miracle, for a sign, for Ma to return—even if just in a dream.