A Dead Girl In My Chat

After traveling a long distance, I reached home, freshened up, and sent messages to my handful of friends to check if they had reached safely or not.

After some time, Nivi replied to my text, saying that she reached home but shared that a ferocious tiger had escaped from the Elephanta hill near her village. She even described how she and her father saw the tiger clearly as they were riding through the village on her father's scooty. She mentioned that the tiger killed a girl brutally.

When I asked her if she was safe, she replied that she was a bit shaken. I assured her and advised her to take rest as our journey was tiring. After that, I went to sleep.

The next day started as usual, with a cup of tea after a warm and filling breakfast of upma. As I was skimming through the newspaper, a news article suddenly caught my attention. It was the report of the girl who was killed by a tiger in Nivi's village. I didn't bother to read the whole article but skipped to the end, and in the end line, it was written that "...Nivi will be missed by her friends and family." I felt compelled by a gut feeling to read the part where the dead girl's name was written, and I was shaken when I read that it was the same Nivi, my friend, who had texted me back last night, had died in that tiger attack!! But then, one thing boggled my mind, and I opened my WhatsApp to reread her chat. To my astonishment, the text I had sent asking her if she reached home... there was only a single tick!!!

I had chills running down my spine.