Short Stories

Traffic. Rain. An accident up ahead—and a pause long enough for Aashay to watch a family in the car beside the bus, whole in a way he’s never known. Then his phone buzzes: Where are you? A relationship that only exists in borrowed hours. In the wail of an ambulance, something in him finally turns: those lives aren’t temporary. He is.

Unseen, unheeded strands of existence. Unheard is their sound of silence. A roadside tea stall at the edge of a narrow road A roadside tea stall clung to the edge of a narrow road; its handcart blackened with years of grease and patience. The blue that was once its true color survived only along the frayed edges, thin streaks of memory resisting erasure. They gathered quietly in unnoticed corners, trying to preserve their originality. The fading light caught these subtle evid