"Huff! Huff! huff!!?" was the sound heard as Ayush was running toward his destination to catch the bus that he should have been caught up to now.
One of the key aspects of success in a person's life is discipline. And time management also comes under the giant conglomerate that is discipline. And it was this part that Ayush was especially weak against. I mean look at it, it is almost a matter of life and death and even in such a crucial moment he somehow finds the time to be late and even that is not fasionably late but pathetically late.
While running towards his destination Ayush realized how empty the once busy roads felt. It was almost as if he was passing through an abandoned city. The empty streets, the free roads, and the closed shops. It was an eery thing to experience the once busy city so empty.
Finally, after 7 or so minutes of running Ayush realized that he might not be able to find any auto and so decided to use Rapodo to call a bike taxi. As he pushed his hand inside his pants he realized
'FUC! I forgot my phone'
With this realization also came the realization of the reason why he did not receive any call from the college even though he woke up just 5 minutes before the bus's departure time.
'The bus must have left without me' but despite this being the most prominent possibility he continued to have hope. Maybe if he went there instead of the planned bus he may be able to use some other bus or some other sort of arrangement to get out of the city. So with the earbuds still in his ears, he continued running towards his destination.
While running towards his destination he suddenly felt a very strong smell. It smells rotten as if a thousand bodies burning simultaneously. The stench was so strong it almost forced him to a stop.
The smell was coming from an alley. It was almost like a call, almost like a catcall of a seductive lady at the end of the party. The smell that should make a person go away from it was somehow having an attraction similar to an aunti. No matter the danger somehow it just forces you to have a look at it. With a look as if making a decision that he knows he will regret in the future, he turns towards the alley.
With small steps, Ayush changes his direction and goes into the alley. The alley was empty without any kind of life in it, as if even life itself found that place to be undeserving of its presence. Yet the alley was relatively clean. If you compare it to a similar empty alley, it is like comparing a garbage dump to a dirt road. It was not crystal clear but it was very clean if we compare it to other similar alleys.
As Ayush entered the alley the smell which was to this point too disgusting suddenly stopped as if it was all just a lie, a mirage just to ensnare a traveler into making a detour and forgetting his original destination. Yet the temptation to go deeper into the alley remained, forcing him to go inside the alley.
As he went deeper into the alley, he suddenly started to feel lightheaded yet he kept moving forward as if something was calling out to him tempting him to go deeper. Alas, his body gave up before his desire could and he collapsed in the alley falling on the dirt like a bag of sand.
After a few hours
Opening his eyes Ayush saw only darkness with a slight light reflection coming from inside the alley, with a sandy taste in his mouth he grogily stood up with almost a clueless look on his face not knowing exactly why is he there.
'What exactly am I doing in here?' Ayush mused still not fully conscious from his drowsiness.
After some time, Ayush comes fully awake and realizes how he got here, and he notices another peculiarity with himself. Somehow he was not smelling any kind of particular smell from the alley now. In fact, it was almost as if the alley was without any smell, it was the only way that he could think of how to describe it now.
'It's as if there is nothing. I can't even smell anything. Air, dirt, or even myself, it's almost as if nothing exists in this alley.'
With these thoughts, Ayush decided to go inside the alley towards the faint light not knowing what even lies there.
'Come to think of it, I don't think there would be anyone left who would help me get out of here. I guess I would need to go home and call the emergency number so that they can take me out of here. Mom would be especially worried, I should call her as soon as possible.' Yet contradicting his thoughts he was going inside the alley. Almost transfixed, neglecting his thoughts as if his body had given up on listening to his thoughts and had now started working on autopilot. He is going further inside the alley towards where the light, which was coming from a turn in the alley.
After turning right in the alley towards the direction of the light, what he saw shocked him.
'W-What's that!?'
It was a blue circular structure, almost like a wormhole, no exactly like a wormhole. Without any kind of support to the land, it was almost as if it was hanging from the air, with cloudy things stuck to its perimeter, vibrating with a wave-like intensity almost as if it were a heartbeat giving an illusion as if it were its wings.
"Just what exactly is it?" mused Ayush and started to walk near it.
"Wait is it even safe for me to be here" As if this thought came to Ayush for the first time in the last few hours, he hesitates if he should even go near the wormhole.
'But all those strange things happening to me lately, what if I can get their answers from the wormhole.' mused Ayush. But 'will I even be able to come out of it if I go in it. What if I am not able to come out of it once I go in'
And in the end, Ayush decided to not go inside the wormhole.
"Woof" came a terrifying (in Ayush's opinion) sound from behind startling him and almost edging him to a hard attack.
"AAh" and with that, his leg slipped and he fell inside the wormhole.