The couple

It was a boring weekend. Mohit had finished reading a book, finished the web series that he had been binge watching, cooked, and ate. He had absolutely nothing to do and insomnia had decided that it was its night to dominate. Mohit was bored and was unable to sleep. There was only one thing to do: drive to the lake and take a walk.

Mohit generally would walk to the lake but this time he decided to take his car. He parked his car near the lake and started with his stroll. It was past midnight but he was determined to take the walk. The lake appeared dark and mysterious yet serene in the midnight. While Mohit was taking walk he saw a young couple sitting at one of the benches at the lake. Mohit thought that these must be night owls like him. He thought of striking a conversation but later thought maybe they were a couple and wanted to spend some time together at a romantic spot. He did not bother and continued to walk.

After finishing the first lap he returned to the same spot to find that the couple hadn't moved an inch and were blankly staring at the lake. He still decided not to interfere and continued walking. Sometime later when he returned they were still there without any movement. Mohit wondered if the couple had a fight and now had been giving silent treatment to each other. Mohit smiled to himself and decided to sit for away from the couple where they would not be in his sight.

It was almost 1:00 a.m. when he decided to go back to his home. While he was walking back the parking space, he glanced at the bench where the couple had been sitting. He saw that the bench was empty. He assumed that the couple must have gone back home as it was way past the midnight. Mohit sat in his car and started driving.

After a few minutes while driving Mohit looked in his rareview mirror. To his surprised he saw the man and woman from the lake sitting still in the backseat of his car as if they belonged there. They were completely silent and motionless. With this frightening sight, Mohit hit the brakes and turned around. He only found out that the backseat was empty. The ones who were accompanying him in the car were his racing heart and shallow breath. Mohit was absolutely sure that he had not been hallucinating or dreaming. He had seen them. But he had no answers to how they appeared in his car and then disappeared within a second. Mohit was covered in swrat not because of the exercise but the visuals that he had seen.

Mohit did not stop and drove straight home. He had still not recovered from the shock. To distract his mind from thinking about the incident he put on a comedy show. Mohit decided to get to the bottom of this and the only way to find out was to discuss with his elderly neighbours.

Mohit watched the comedy show for a couple of hours before falling asleep. Next morning when he walk up he had only one mission in his mind - asking the neighbours to tell him the truth.