Station Announcement:
"Attention archivists: facts may contradict memories. Please collect gently."
The rain had settled into a soft, contemplative drizzle when Nish Nambiar arrived at the Houseboat Hospice with his recorder and a backpack full of notebooks.He had sensed tension the moment he stepped off the bus.A kind of charged quiet—like the atmosphere after lightning strikes the same place twice.
When he climbed aboard the boat, he saw it instantly.
Arun wasn't meeting anyone's eyes.Kannan looked like the storm had passed through him, not around him.Sara's smile was warm but tight.Arjun stood still, his gaze unusually guarded.Basil watched everything with a new solemnity.And even the river seemed heavier.
Nish lowered his recorder.
"What happened?" he asked quietly.
Arun answered first.
"We… found something out. Or… thought we did."
Kannan looked away sharply.
Sara gestured Nish inside.
"Let's talk," she said.
1. Kannan Tells His Story
They gathered in the small common room — Nish, Sara, Kannan, Basil, and Arjun.Arun lingered near the doorway, unsure whether to stay or flee.
Nish placed his recorder gently on the table but did not switch it on.
"Only if you give permission," he said.
Kannan nodded.
"Record," he murmured. "I'm done hiding."
Nish pressed the button.
Kannan began telling his story — haltingly, painfully, but with a clarity built from exhaustion.
The lost job.The mounting debts.The decision to leave home.The small son begging him not to.The letters unwritten.The shame.The final attempt to return, too late.The empty house.The vanished boy.
Nish listened without interruption, his pen poised but motionless.
Finally, Kannan finished with a whisper:
"I don't know if my son is alive.I don't know if he hates me.And I don't know if he ever will forgive me for what I failed to be."
A long silence followed.
Basil's eyes glistened.Arjun exhaled softly.Nish scribbled one line in his notebook:
Some fathers return years later. Some return only as regret.
He looked up at Kannan.
"I'm going to help you find him," Nish said quietly.
Kannan's shoulders tensed.
"I don't deserve—"
"Deserving has nothing to do with truth," Nish cut in gently."And this is a story that needs its ending, not its punishment."
Sara closed her eyes briefly in gratitude.
2. The Contradiction Emerges
Nish turned to Arjun.
"You said you saw Akshay?"
Arjun nodded slowly.
"For a short time. A few months. The boy was skittish. Quiet. He would stay after class sometimes even though he never spoke much."
Nish frowned.
"What year was this?"
"2014," Arjun replied.
Kannan inhaled sharply.
"He would've been around… twelve," Kannan said."Yes. That fits."
Nish waited a moment.
"And he disappeared after that?"
"Yes," Arjun said."He came one day. Then stopped. No explanation."
Nish flipped back through his notebook.
He frowned deeper.
"Kannan," he said softly, "you said the neighbours told you he disappeared after you stopped sending money."
"Yes," Kannan whispered.
"And when did you return to Kerala the first time?"
"2015."
Nish froze.
Arjun slowly lifted his head.
Sara blinked.
Arun stepped closer, brow furrowed.
Nish looked between them.
"Kannan," he said carefully,"you said Akshay disappeared around 2014?"
"Yes."
"And you returned in 2015?"
"Yes."
Nish swallowed.
"That means… the neighbours told you he disappeared before you returned."
Kannan blinked, confused.
"Yes. That's what I said."
Nish's voice softened, almost trembling.
"Which means… when you returned to your house… you were not the last person to see him vanish."
Kannan froze.
Arun whispered:
"Then who was?"
Silence, thick and electric.
Arjun stared at the floor.
Sara's eyes widened.
And Nish slowly reached into his bag, pulling out a torn page from an early interview conducted months ago — one he had almost forgotten.
Arjun looked at the paper.
His face changed.
Color drained.
He whispered:
"Oh God."
Nish read aloud:
'A boy named Akshay left a note with the church father before disappearing.He wrote: I am leaving home. I am going to find my father.'
Kannan felt the world tilt violently under him.
The air vanished from his lungs.
He choked out:
"He… came looking for me?"
Nish nodded slowly.
"Yes. That's what his note said."
A sound escaped Kannan — half sob, half disbelief.
He stumbled backward, gripping the wall.
Sara rushed to steady him.
Arun's eyes flooded.
Arjun whispered, "That poor boy…"
Nish continued softly:
"And the last recorded sighting of a boy matching his description was not in Kerala."
Everyone turned sharply.
Nish held their gaze.
"It was in Goa."
Kannan collapsed onto the nearest bench.
"He followed me," he whispered."He followed me all the way to Goa."
His tears fell silently, soaking into his palms.
Arun approached him.
"Kannan-ettan," he whispered,"we'll find him."
Kannan looked up.
His face was a map of devastation and hope.
"You'd help me?" he croaked.
Arun nodded firmly.
"You're not alone."
Arjun stepped closer."So will I."
Basil whispered, "All of us."
Sara placed a hand on Kannan's back.
"And me."
Nish lifted the recorder gently.
"This," he said,"is not just a story anymore."
He paused.
"It's a search."
3. The River Listens
As their voices softened, rain began again — slow, steady, rhythmic.
Kannan wiped his face.
"You really think he might be alive?" he whispered.
Nish answered honestly:
"I don't know."
"But—" Sara added, "—what we have now that you didn't have then… is direction."
Arun stepped forward gently.
"And people."
Kannan's throat tightened.
He whispered:
"Akshay… my boy… wherever you are… I'm coming."
The river responded with a long, deep murmur —as if acknowledging the vow.
As if promising something in return.