When the lights came back on, everyone in the room was exactly where they had been, except one person.
Rahul was leaning against the window grill, peering out. His hands grasped the bars, his knuckles white. His crutches were resting against the wall. One of them slowly slid down and clattered to the floor.
Even amid the shock, Rahul’s mother rushed to his side and retrieved it for him. The grey-haired lady joined him at the window, absentmindedly handing him the crutch. She squinted into the bright sunlight and asked Rahul, “Do you know him?”
“No,” said Rahul.
The rest of the room came alive now. Seema, his sister, was the next to speak.
“But how, then…” she said.
Rahul turned to Seema.
“Sis, you should know better. All these big-time fans of yours wanting your darshan.”
Seema smiled. “Yes, of course. Who wouldn’t want to meet the Beauty of the Year? But I don’t know all of them.” Seema had won the State Beauty Pageant, and today’s party was one of those being held to honour her.
Rahul took two slow steps, recalling how he had once been the Student of the Year, and then came the accident. Mr. and Mrs. Hoshiyar, Rahul and Seema’s parents, had been so proud of both their children.
They had encouraged their children to love life and enjoy the moment.
Seema came up to Rahul.
“Bro, you know…”
Rahul wore a sullen face while he raised his hand midway to silence Seema. Seema knew it was best to leave him alone with his thoughts and walked towards her enthusiastic fans. She glanced at him from a distance with overwhelming concern, since he had spent many sleepless nights in agony, before she began to sign a few autographs as impatient hands thrust blank scraps of paper at her.
Tonight’s celebration did nothing to elevate his mood. Rahul shuddered as the images of that fateful night danced before his solemn, hollow eyes. He experienced another bout of nausea, and his hands broke out in cold sweat. His mother hastened to his side, and he managed a breathless whisper, “Ma, I can’t.”
Rahul’s mother steered him to the couch in the corner, away from the glare and noise. He pushed her away, desperate to ease the suffocation clawing at him.
Unlike his recurring nightmares, he could see everything with clarity.
What stunned him wasn’t the searing pain or the smell of burnt rubber and blood. It was a singular moment his mind clung to and refused to let go of: Seema, a few feet away under the lamp, with the mysterious man beside her.
Rahul screwed his eyes tight and forced himself to breathe. The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique gradually helped, even as his mind tried to connect the dots and his heart still raced double time.
What was his sister doing there? And her expression… Rahul shuddered.
Rahul often had brain fog and sometimes some weird visions. As he adjusted his crutches in the wings, he suddenly remembered the day of their accident. As if he could smell the charred rubber, it triggered violent memories of their car accident on the highway. He also had a vivid memory of a stranger with a scar on his hand who saved both the siblings. But the stranger had vanished after saving him and Seema.
As his sister smiled in her glory with her beauty crown, Rahul observed the same stranger sitting in the front row. His face was hidden in a hood, and he often exchanged glances with his beautiful mom.
Rahul’s blood ran cold.
He examined the stranger, unable to decide whether fear or recognition made his heart pound in his ears. The scar on the man’s hand appeared brighter under the chandelier light. The stranger raised his head and thanked the waiter for the glass of whiskey. Rahul’s eyes met his, and for one heartbeat, Rahul remembered the voice from the night of the accident, whispering his name through smoke.
Seema noticed the discomfort on her brother’s face and hurried toward him. Before she could speak, the stranger got up and walked toward the exit. Rahul tightened his grip on his crutches and asked Seema if she knew him.
Seema stood still, staring at Rahul.
“He cannot be silenced now,” she understood.
She nodded her head slowly as if Rahul could not guess if it was a “Yes” or “No.”
“I must talk to Mom after the party. Before Rahul could finish joining all the dots, Mom and I must be well prepared to face him,” she thought and moved away from his glance.
Rahul did not believe Seema. He stood baffled, recalling the sight of the scar on the stranger’s hand.
Left hand… near the elbow. He was now very sure.
Rahul gazed at his left hand. An exactly similar scar near the elbow made his heart skip a beat.
“Keloid scar” – inherited one – he remembered the words of his dermatologist.
That specific moment rewound all the possible scenarios he had made in his mind. It crumbled when faced with this reality. The stranger was in the same room as him… but who was that man? Why did he seem so acquainted with his mother? All these questions fueled the traumatic breath back and forth…
Just as he was about to say another word, their beautiful mother came to them. Tears in her eyes and her heartbeats spoke through. She handed them an old photograph of his sister and himself with a younger version of that stranger. Rahul and Seema chuckled for a moment.
“That man is your estranged father…” she whispered.
“Father?” Rahul stumbled, and Seema held him to prevent him from falling.
“What is he doing here now?” Rahul’s voice was high. “Where was he all through our childhood? When you struggled to bring food to the table. When we got bullied and called all sorts of names because we were fatherless.”
“Stop, Rahul,” his mother raised her hand to her lips. “He might hear.”
“Duh!” Rahul rolled his eyes. “He should hear. He cannot suddenly come back and expect us to embrace him. Where was he all these years?”
“He was in an enemy country on an espionage mission sent by our government. I wasn’t supposed to tell you this, but I cannot let you hate him,” Mother cried.
Rahul froze as his mother spoke. He was not listening, only hearing those words. Government. Espionage mission. Hate. FATHER! All words began to echo in his mind along with the accident memories coming alive once again.
He was trying to connect all the dots and process this information. But all he could see was his and Seema’s incomplete, struggling childhood.
There’s a bright celebration awaiting them outside, but inside his head, it was only a dark abyss Rahul was falling in.
“Rahul! Rahul! Say something.” Seema’s push brought him back to the present.
Before Rahul could gather himself and utter anything, that man had turned and was now standing in front of him. Now, with a scar under the left eye too.
“So, what now?” Tears rolled down his cheek.
Beyond the doorway, the party went on. Clinking glasses, cheers and chatter. Inside, time stood still.
The keloid scar on his left arm. Right near his elbow.
Memories from that night came rushing back. Burnt rubber, shattered glass, a shadow dragging them out. Everything clicked.
This man was their saviour, but his covert world had put them in the crosshairs to begin with.
Rahul gripped his crutches harder. Beside him, Seema’s hand rested on his shoulder.
Twenty years of silence. Twenty years of absence. Twenty years of being called a fatherless boy.
Yet, seeing the old man – his old man – stand in the wreckage of his own regrets, Rahul’s rage receded slowly.
“Pull up a chair,” Rahul said, his voice cracking. “Start talking.”
Author Credits
Beyond the Box is the first platform in India to have conducted an Online Write-A-Thon which encourages collaborative story writing. In the months of Sep-Oct 2026, 46 participants made Season 5 of this exciting event a memorable one. They were divided into 4 groups and each participant in the group contributed to the ongoing story in 100 words approximately. The 11 writers of Team 4 (Adults) who came up with this story are: (Names mentioned in the sequence allotted to them for the Write-A-Thon. A line has been used in the story as a separator to indicate change in the writer.)
| Sequence Number | Team 4 (Fastest Finishers) |
| 1 | Prathiba Satish |
| 2 | Madhu Mehrotra |
| 3 | Vandana Ashok Kumar |
| 4 | Srivalli Rekha |
| 5 | Soma Mukherjee |
| 6 | Shrreya Ajoy |
| 7 | Padmapriya Suresh |
| 8 | Alshaad Kara |
| 9 | Sheena Gupta |
| 10 | Anami Mittal |
| 11 | Ramya Vivek |
| – | – |