Prologue

Bangalore.

It was an early morning well before dawn. The city was still sleeping. There was a deafening silence. It was not a calm comforting silence. It was almost cold... ice cold... freezing even. And the weather mirrored it. There was no soul awake. Even the trees were sleeping. The only sound that came was the whispering of the wind. But today even they seemed drowsy. As if they were lulling the city to sleep a little longer. The only light visible was the streetlight and that too was flickering feebly. Even the moon was not visible. It was almost as if even the moon was scared of the darkness all around.

It was the kind of atmosphere that you expect a horror movie plot to start with.

Then out of nowhere, the silence was broken by a loud noise. A mixed sound of an engine running and the sound of tires screeching against the streets... and then came the visual of a bike flashing bright headlight as if it was trying to awaken the lulled streets.

The motors made loud noise killing the silence. A few birds made noises as if they were grunting for being awoken before time. You could hear them flapping their wings restlessly before going back to their nests.

On closer inspection, it looked more like a racing bike. It was all black with a strip of fluorescent paint running throughout the bike that reflected brightly with the night light. And it was racing through the city alright! (Do not miss the sarcasm.) FAST AND LOUD. The bike blurred across the empty street within a blink of an eye.

The person riding the bike wore a leather jacket and tight jeans. The face was hidden behind a helmet. He was murmuring some song which was probably jarring into his ears. And he carried a backpack.

He sped through the empty roads as if he was racing against the wind... or maybe time.

The streets did not seem asleep anymore but it wasn't awake either. It seemed almost as if it was grumpy. It was almost as if they were complaining of being disturbed in their sleep.

The bike slowed down after a long while and came to a standstill on top of a bridge. It was a high-hanging bridge at the edge of the city.

From there the whole city was visible in all its glory. Tall buildings casting shadows over the streets around them, blocking away even the tiny amount of light. While street lights were desperately blinking to drive the darkness away.

From there, you can see very few office buildings with lights on. Even then, only a few floors seemed to be light up.

The rider took off his... wait for a second... it's a girl, a very pretty girl with an odd taste in fashion.

Don’t know why people end up assuming just because it was in the middle of the night and it was a bulked-up badass-looking bike that the rider has to be a man!? That is so hypocritical!

Anyways, the rider girl had very short buzzcut hair that was sticking out all over the place. Her skin was fair but looked tanned tough like she is used to working out. She was lean with muscles but not skinny and had brown eyes.

Her eyes... at first glance they were awake but there was something dead in them... cold… emotionless may be. But then again it can be wrong to judge them by a mere glance.

She kept her helmet in front of the bike and leaned on it by folding both her hands. After a while, she put her hands on her jacket pocket and pulled out a cigar, and balanced it between her lips. With a click, she lit it up and white smoke filled the air.

Once again there was silence.

But then this silence was unheeded by the girl since she still had her headphones on. And you can tell that it was too loud because you can almost hear the music jarring outside. She was shaking her head and tapping her fingers on the helmet as if she was enjoying the music but her face remained expressionless... her lips tight.

She just stared at the city blankly while puffing on her cigar every now and then.

She just stared as the time pass by, right in front of her eyes... leaving her behind... all alone.

And then the city came alive slowly. The street lights went out and were replaced by sunlight. The coldness of the night received and warmth spread.

The girl leaned back and unzipped her jacket. She had a cropped tank top underneath her jacket.

The girl observed keenly as each leaf came alive, as each bird came awake. And slowly even the skies came alive. That seems to excite her for some reason. The avid calm observant student was gone. A small kid given a cup of ice cream replaced it.

Her lips spread towards her ears and her eyes gleamed. If one hadn't known better, they wouldn't have recognized the dead eyes that they first saw as the same girl's eyes. That's how much alive it was right at that moment.

The sky turned orange... quickly the girl opened her backpack. Out came a camera... a huge one.

The girl started clicking shots of the sky and that of the city as it came awake.

Everything had a touch of orange and brought color to the whole city.

The sun rose and she was gloriously in orange spreading warmth all around awakening every living being. As her rays touched, it was as if even the non-living being came to life. And the girl captured everything on her camera.

In no time the city was brimming with life and with that, the girl stopped clicking shots. Other vehicles started making noises in the streets and birds were chirping and people were everywhere.

The girl stared at the city for a few extended minutes. Then quickly, she packed her camera and disappeared into thin air... just the way she came.