Lost in thought, I didn't even notice when the clock slipped past midnight.
My mind had been circling the same thoughts for hours, looping and tightening until they turned into noise.
The room felt too still. Too silent. My chest felt heavy in a way I couldn't shake.
Then a voice sliced through the quiet.
"Hi… Hi…ra… Hira." It is broken, but I know for sure to whom it belongs.
I jerked up. My bracelet was flashing blue—fast, urgent. I tapped it immediately.
Jarvy appeared… barely. Its form glitched like a hologram drowning in static.
"What happened to you, Jarvy? Why did you go offline? I tried connecting to you again and again. You didn't respond. What's wrong? Are you—"
"It's not my fault… Hira…" Its voice cracked, each word breaking into fragments.
"There is… presence… unknown… in the atmosphere. It is interfering with our link to the Mother A.I. It is… disrupting my connection… to your OC. It's like it appeared suddenly in our atmosphere."
A chill ran down my spine.
An Unknown presence.
Appeared suddenly.
Atmosphere interference.
And instantly, the word surfaced in my mind—OJAS. That strange new energy discovered on Earth that the captain told me about.
Scientists still hadn't completely figured out what it is. It bent the rules. It didn't act like normal energy. It didn't follow any pattern.
'Is OJAS causing this?' I wondered. 'Is that why Jarvy can't connect to me or the Mother A.I.?'
Before I could ask, Jarvy's structure began breaking, dissolving like smoke in wind.
"Hira… before… going offline… I want to… tell something… important…"
"What? Jarvy, speak!"
"The disturbance… 3rd August… not natural… unknown in the… space…"
And just like that, it vanished. Offline. Silent again.
I sat there on the bed with the dark pressing in from all sides. "Disturbance… 3rd August… not natural… unknown in space…" I repeated under my breath.
None of it made sense.
My thoughts tightened again. My frustration boiled over. Sitting felt impossible. So I stood up and stepped out for some air.
As I opened the main door, the cold night breeze brushed against my face—and I froze.
Someone was sitting in the garden, a small, hunched silhouette.
I approached quietly. As I got closer, the moonlight revealed her profile—Dadi.
She sat in front of a… grave.
I didn't breathe for a moment. I didn't need to read the name. But I did.
Kapil Vedman. My grandfather.
Only then did it hit me—I hadn't even seen this earlier. When I came home, I was too nervous, too overwhelmed, to notice anything except familiar walls.
Dadi sensed me behind her and turned quickly, wiping her tears before I could pretend not to see them.
"What are you doing here, Hira, so late in the night?"
I ignored the question. "Why didn't you tell me Dada didn't get a proper funeral? That he's buried here… in our garden?"
My voice came out sharper than I intended. Her shoulders stiffened. A quiet fell between us, almost painful.
"…It all happened too fast," she whispered. "Then the lockdown was ordered. There was no chance for a proper burial."
Guilt punched me in the stomach. "Dadi… I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
"I know," she said softly. "Why are you awake at this hour?"
I wasn't sure what to tell her about what Jarvy told me, about OJAS, about disturbances in space. I barely know about any of it myself.
"Just couldn't sleep."
She sighed, her breath trembling. "Even I couldn't sleep at first. Sitting in this house alone… it felt like the walls were closing in. So I come here. Talk to your Dada. It makes the loneliness bearable."
I sat beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're not alone now. I'm here. And Papa and Maa… they'll wake up soon. Just like Professor Arjun did."
A tiny smile formed on her lips. "Yes… I hope so."
For a while, we just sat there. The night air was cold, but sitting beside her felt warm.
After a moment, she glanced at me. "Hira, you still haven't told me about your trip to Uttarakhand. How was it?"
I took a long breath.
"It was beautiful… at first. The mountains felt unreal. We climbed halfway up. The view was insane—clouds under our feet."
Her expression softened as she listened.
"I kept teasing Yash because he got tired halfway. I kept telling him to work on his stamina. But does he listen? Never."
She chuckled. "He is fit, Hira. You're just fitter than him."
For a moment, I let myself smile.
Then her voice shifted. "What happened that day, beta? I heard about the landslides… the quakes… they were very frequent after that day."
I looked down at the grass. I couldn't tell her everything. So I built a story with half-truths.
"There was an army camp in the forest. For people who'd collapsed in the mountains. I woke up there, disoriented. The captain told me how the world had changed. He arranged for me to come home. During the whole train ride, all I could do was pray you all were safe."
Her eyes filled with tears—not falling, just shining.
Silence wrapped around us again.
Then Dadi suddenly jolted. "Wait… what time is it?"
"When I came out, it was 12:20," I said. "Now it's…" I checked the time. "1:13 a.m."
Her face lit up in a way I hadn't seen in months. "Then it means today is…"
"Today is What?"
"Today is the 3rd of March." She suddenly hugged me tightly. "Silly boy. It's your birthday. Happy birthday, Hira."
I didn't react at first. I had completely forgotten.
After everything—Yash disappearing, my near-death in the mountains, maa and papa being hospitalized, Dada's grave—my birthday wasn't even on the edge of my mind.
But hearing her say it, feeling her arms around me… something settled inside my chest.
"Thank you, Dadi," I whispered.
A. N: Jarver Sandesa - Jarvy's message.