A skunky smell was gripping their senses. It was a large and spacious hut but not big enough for a jittery group of backpackers who had lost their way in the dense forest. The shaky wood pillars were devoting their last ounces of life to hold the ageing structure together. They had been wandering cluelessly for more than two days. Some were filled with all the hope of a new morning, some were distraught like a dark night and others didn’t care to express themselves, but everyone equally participated in the fiery debates of finding out who was responsible for those deep waters. The frequent swamps were making their boots dirty and sticky, thus effectively contributing to the difficulty in walking. There was water almost everywhere, but not a drop to drink. They didn’t have anything to eat with their supplies finished, since they hadn’t planned for this. What they had planned for was a beautiful trip with the magnificence of mother nature. While they were grateful that they had found the hut to spend the night safely in, the smell from a mysterious source was making them believe otherwise. Estimations and guesses started lining up and a few suggestions to leave the hut were made but no one dared to actually do so. It was still dark when someone tried to enter the hut and the tourists woke up due to the noise. They were scared and at the same time, were devising a plan to safeguard themselves against the intruder. And the moment the door gave up its latch, they saw three men standing at the entrance. A few moments of silence later, things took a drastic turn and the reality shocked them to the core.
By-
Palak Dixit
Third Year
B.A. Prog
[Edited by Guniya Sharma and Mehak Aggarwal
Art curated by Ishika Kiran]
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