The steps of the ghats were cold from the winter chill, even more than the nip in the air. But he was numb to either bite, sitting there eyes focussed into infinity. Within his gaze were the leaping flames of the funeral pyre, burning brightly, the blaze slowly growing into a firestorm in his mind, though offering him neither warmth nor respite. He began to get up, turning to look to his right, his hand instinctively outstretched to grasp hers as he always did on the countless instances they had been together at that place; but she wasn’t there this time. The desolation of his entity hit him hard across the face, his soul suddenly shrouded in a bitter frost. And the first tear escaped his eye…
– Narendra Nayak © 2017
Devastated, is the first of a series of short crisp narratives which will be put together to form a collection titled “Add Salt to Taste”.
