I saw a construction site up ahead. It was strange. I was here two weeks ago, but the site seemed older than that. But one thing was for sure that my therapist’s office was nowhere in sight. I approached one of the workers and asked if he knew where the new clinic was. The worker gave me a confused look. Some others who overheard my query gave me fearful looks. A man, who I assumed was their supervisor, approached me asked, “Enaayitu, madam?” I informed him I did not speak Kannada, and repeated my earlier question. He responded, “But, madam, this has been a vacant lot for years. There was never any clinic or office here.”I was not sure if this was a prank. Then, I noticed the clipboard in his hand. The date was on top of the sheet. August 2nd2114. What was happening? The supervisor looked at me strangely. A man appeared beside me and with a brief hug exclaimed, “Oh! I’ve been searching everywhere for you! Where have you been?!” His eyes seemed to convey, “I know what’s happening.” I followed my instinct. When we were out of earshot, he said to me, “And it rained that night?”I did not comprehend. “What?”He slapped his palm to his forehead and asked, “Last night! I meant, last night! Did it rain?” I nodded. “Yes! You’re finally here!”All this was very confusing. “What’s happening? Why does his sheet say 2114? Where am I? Why did you ask about the rain?”“It was the last night it rained in Bangalore – a hundred years ago. Wait! Hear me out. We all slipped into the future through different wormholes. And we have been waiting for our savior - the one who would reach here from that last rainy night. 'And it rained that night?' is a kind of password we wrongly assumed you would know.”I did not believe a word he said, “Is this a prank? Are there cameras hidden somewhere?”“Please! Believe me! You have to find the skylostari in the forest. It has the key! Only you can find it. We have to go back to our time!”“I have to find the what?”“The skylostari! It’s an animal – half dog and half lion. It has a key of some kind that will take us back to our own time! Listen to me!” with those words, he began to shake me violently. My eyes flew open and I looked at the familiar ceiling. I was safe in my bedroom. It was raining outside. Oh!The next day, as I neared my therapist’s office, I saw a building under construction. The site looked more than two weeks old. And the ground looked like it hadn’t seen rain in a long, long time.This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.This is a Friday Phrases-inspired short story. My original tweet is below:There was a construction going on. She asked a worker where her therapist's new office was; he informed her it had been an empty lot #FP
— Sreesha Divakaran (@petrichorclouds) August 1, 2014
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