Alone On A Deserted Road

Darkness had started descending on Earth. The roadside trees which had looked so beautiful in the day breeze, gave a ghostly feeling. Yet ghosts were furthest from Amareesh’s mind. He was used to driving on completely deserted roads. He liked the solitude of such roads with only sounds coming from birds or forest animals happening to stray on roads.

He had traveled on this road so often that he knew it as the back of his hand. He had intended to start during daylight, but by the time he could excuse himself from the meeting with a client, it was already cow-dusk time.

Just to be on the safe side he switched on Google Maps.

Although he wasn’t in favor of using Maps for the journey on the path he knew well, it was sometimes helpful in avoiding traffic jams by suggesting alternate routes. The road at this time would be so deserted that there wouldn’t be any humans for miles to help him in case he forgot the path.

His decision to use Maps gave him instant results as he was able to avoid congested roads and come out of the city in ten minutes. Normally it would have taken half an hour to come out of the city to join the highway.

Once on the highway, he kept the App on but did not need to look it up as he knew the route very well. He put some music on and settled to drive on the journey of a little less than sixty miles. He expected to be home in less than two hours even after wading through the city traffic in his hometown.

The first sign of trouble came when he noticed that the distance to his hometown had increased from what he saw a few minutes ago. He must have traveled at least five miles since he looked at the Maps last. He decided to ignore it thinking that he might have misread the distance earlier.

He kept on driving, but after about ten minutes he looked at the remaining distance again. To his surprise, the remaining distance had increased by two miles. Now he was clear that he was not on the right road. He wondered how did it happen. Perhaps he had relied on his own mind rather than Google Maps.

Concerned, he tried to look for familiar signs but could notice none. The entire road appeared alien to him. The roadside eateries he was so used to noticing on the way were not visible. The trees on both sides of the path appeared to be different. He was dismayed with himself for having gotten lost on the path on which he had traveled so many times.

In the meantime, Google Maps kept on giving him instructions. He knew that this was not the time to rely blindly on the software. The software was not as omniscient as it claimed. Perhaps they had not covered this part of the earth. He needed some human guidance. He had not been scared in life too many times, but today fear had started creeping into his mind.

Just when he felt that he was hopelessly lost, he noticed a few people standing in the middle of the road. They seemed to have appeared all of a sudden as the road had appeared deserted only moments ago. Still, he was thankful for their presence.

He parked the car on the roadside and walked towards those people.

The first thing he noticed about them was that they were all wearing the same kind of weird dress. In the faint light, it appeared quite eerie. Since he had never encountered any supernatural in his life, he had no belief in ghosts. It was better to talk to someone rather than stay lost. He looked at his mobile, the distance to his home had not reduced much in the last ten minutes of the drive.

 As he approached those people, he could make out that they were yet to notice his presence. He tried to get their attention by walking very near to them. He could see that he had their attention. All of them looked at him questioningly.

He explained his predicament to them and asked for directions to his hometown. For some time, no one spoke. He was disappointed and took a step back towards his car. One of the persons signaled for him to stop.

The man started speaking, the voice was not very clear, but Amareesh could follow his words. “Many people get lost in this place during night time. But don’t worry, we shall guide you.”

He continued, “All of us had our shops here before they were demolished by the Government for widening the road. We were hopeful of getting good compensation since we had lost our livelihood.”

He stopped for a while. For a while, Amareesh forgot that he was lost and listened to the person with rapt attention.

The man was looking at him as if to judge whether he was getting bored.

Amareesh nodded, indicating for the man to continue.

“We pursued with government agencies for compensation, but we encountered demands for bribes everywhere. We were in no position to offer bribes as we had already lost our livelihood. With our livelihood gone, we were left with no option but to commit suicide.’

Amareesh interjected, “Thank God, you did not exercise that option.”

The man smiled enigmatically without verbalizing his response.

He changed the direction of the conversation. “OK, let us forget our problems. You go straight from here. You will find your way.”

Amareesh looked at the person. Since he was lost on this road, how could a straight road lead to his hometown?

 

He got into the car and rubbed his eyes to get a clear focus. He opened his eyes to see a clear road ahead. He realized that he had been too abrupt in walking back to his car. He had even forgotten to thank those people. He looked for the people who had helped him, but there was no one on the road. How could those people disappear so fast?

He shook his head. Perhaps while he was rubbing his eyes, those people had walked off the road to their homes.

He looked at Google Maps to check on the remaining distance. To his surprise, it showed the remaining distance only twenty miles. He was sure when he got out of the car to talk to those people, the App had been showing a distance of fifty miles. The road also appeared familiar for the first time. He knew this road very well.

 

He decided to forget about those people or the confusion about the remaining distance for the time being. He was home in another forty-five minutes.

Later, he searched the net and found out that many similar incidents had occurred on that road. The same set of people had miraculously appeared on the road to guide people toward the correct path. However, as per the information, there was no human habitation near that road.

As he searched further, he found a news item from a few years ago. The news was sensational at that time. It stated that some people who lost their roadside shops had committed suicide after their compensation was delayed by the government functionaries on one pretext or another.

The suicide led to immediate settlements of their claims. The money was received by their families. But it was of no help to dead people.