Published on May 26, 2026

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The Echo of Our Choices

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date May 26, 2026

The Echo of Our Choices

‘It is our choices, far more than our abilities, that show who we truly are’- Albus Dumbledore, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’. Countless times in life, we encounter people who may be very intelligent, very talented. However, sometimes no matter how talented they are, you just can’t seem to like them because of certain choices they made. Choices are an important part of life that determine what kind of person you are.

Indeed it has been proven time and again in history, and continues to be proven even today.

What better way than to prove it with examples?

One of the prominent figures from history that proves this quote is Hitler: the cruel, ruthless politician who was responsible for instigating World War II. Under him, Nazi Germany committed mass murder on an unparalleled level. The Jews were killed in several locations using several methods. It was a holocaust. It may be hard to believe, but Hitler had good intentions. He was a determined and encouraging individual. His ideologies caused him to put the whole world into a state of devastation while being under the misconception that he was making his nation better. Hitler had the ability to reshape the world in a positive way. He had the ability to paint well. However, it was his rapacious choice to dictate the whole nation- rather the whole world- into a frenzy. Despite his extraordinary abilities, to us, he is no more than a vile dictator.

Another notable figure, who further proves the quote is Socrates: “the founder of western philosophies”. Socrates had never been politically sound, nor did he have any military experience. In his time, such skills were conventional, and his disinterest caused his unpopularity and eventual condemnation. He lacked ability. Yet, just the mention of his name rings a bell today. Despite the absence of capability in times that valued everything but what

Socrates stood for, he managed to make his mark in history; a positive one too. Socrates chose to question the unjust authorities. It was his choice to dedicate his life towards knowledge and virtue. Despite the paucity of ability, to us, Socrates is a figure to look up to. He is a philosopher. Choices define what you do. Choices define how you do something. But most importantly, choices define YOU. Of course, ability is a vital aspect of who you are too; but it is worthy to note that it isn’t the ONLY aspect. Everyone has an ability. You could be born with it, or you could develop one over time. What is important is how you choose to use these abilities: whether you do it for the greater good, or you end up being the root of all evil. To conclude, I would like to say that good choices are made by good people. Yet, one bad choice doesn’t make someone evil; it makes them human. At the end of the day, what you do will always be more memorable than what you can do.

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Memory Loss

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date May 26, 2026

Memory Loss

On March 27th, when I was driving home after work, I saw something strange; a man, looking like he was in his mid-20s, was being dragged into a van in front a house, and moreover, that man seemed sweaty and extremely pale. The men dragging him were wearing gloves and masks, I observed them silently. I felt dubious about the situation.

As I had memory loss I quickly noted all the details I could get in a notebook.

On March 28th, I made most of the moment and reported to the local station. The officer enquired me and I told him all about yesterday. The man however, seemed a bit distressed, so I kept my notebook to myself. “You are young, so why don’t you take my advise and take a not my monkey not my circus approach?”The officer asked in a pity. But that means he is hiding something, so, I gave him a submissive look as he expects me to, “Then I shall stay out of it. Then if I must.” i said as I stood up to leave.

On March 30th, I went back to Blue street, where the incident happened three days ago. I went and enquired every house in the street, asking them about it, but nobody showed any sign of knowledge about it, until I went to the last house in the street with no hopes. I went inside and asked him about that particular house. He didn’t wait a moment before asking, “What do you know?” He knew that there was something off with that place, so I told him everything that I knew. Dr. Vihaan, told me about his knowledge, “That man Aarvik, was infected with ’rabersiminon’. It’s caused by a plant that was believed to be extinct but it wasn’t.

Somebody got their hands on that plant and they’re dropping the poisonous plant in the water supply and unfortunately, rabersiminon doesn’t have a cure and it’s communicable.” I didn’t know how to reply, he also said that if one were ever infected with this, their mind will no longer be their own and that it’s better to kill themselves cause death will come when it’s time till then the person will suffer.

I gave him my notebook and told him that we will meet up tomorrow as I have to get home before it’s late. I believed him even though he felt strange, he didn’t have shadow.

On March 31st, I went to Dr. Vihaan’s house as I had said. “How about we inform the public?” I asked, in a way of greeting. “No” he said, ”I’ve tried, that’s why they think I’m crazy. We’ll have to do this the hard

way – find the bad guys and stop them.

From what you’ve written in your notebook, Rua, I think that they’ve taken Aarvik to the locked down hospital, down the street.” “Why would they do it?” I asked. “Instead of preventing the infection, they’re trying to find the cure for rabersiminon. It’d be painful for the patient” He said. This isn’t what I expected. “Let’s get him out of there, then.” I said. “Yes, but you must remain in the car while I go gethim and if I don’t come back within thirty minutes, you have to go back.” He said. I didn’t object because it’d be pointless anyway. We took precautions so the virus doesn’t spread and then left.

We executed the mission as planned. Barely fifteen minutes passed before I saw Dr. Vihaan again. He rushed into the car and asked me to drive away immediately. He seemed to be petrified by fear. “Aarvik isn’t the only one there, he’s dead.” He said.

April 2nd, “Rua is in the active phase of schizophrenia, it’s the active stage where the person hallucinate, it’s dangerous she might hurt herself.” I hear my doctor say.

I’m again at the hospital.

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The Mirror Between Worlds

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date May 26, 2026

The Mirror Between Worlds

Yutika’s longing for her brother was over, he was coming over for the sumer. The Rathores were going on a road trip to the ruins of Rajasthan tomorrow. The twins always stayed together. Yutika wakes up with a greeting from the sunlight. She sees her brother blushing while chatting with someone. “Such a jerk he is..” she wonders in a bitter-sweet way seeing his attention locked on someone else made her feel.

The Rathores arrived at their log house and called it a day. The next day ended beautifully, but Yutika was thinking of getting a little thrill.

Yutika could feel the warmth of the wooden floor on the balls of her feet. She knocks on her brother’s door, but he does not answer; hence she with all due respect to privacy lets herself in.

There he was sleeping, dumbass.

The twins sneak out of the log house at thirty-past-one. Yutika could feel the sand beneath her feet even though she was wearing her sneakers.

The twins were walking for an hour when Yutika felt a thump. And there he was, her brother lying unconscious. Her heart sank. But no. Adiksh must have been tired for all the plush softie that he was.

She picked him up, and kept walking; for stopping would mean laying another glance at her brother, to allow her mind to wander through all the possibilities.

Amid walking back to their loghouse, she feels a force attracting her. Something was pulling her toward it. And, what she might as well be hallucination. There stood hanging in the air yet within her reach a mirror. But something was odd: it didn’t reflect her back, it had a watery surface; as if you could pass your hand through it.

And no longer could she resist the pull of the mirror or whatever that thing for fuck’s sake was. You feel that you are being pulled through a thousand worlds at the same point of time from each bit of your body. And then, you see yourself standing in a tunnel; so red it was.

You feel a push and suddenly, you are in a memory of you and your family on a picnic when you were four; but something is missing —- where is your brother?

Something pulls you back, and you go into another with your brother missing, in a matter of few seconds you relive your entire life, but he wasn’t a part of it.

You get sucked again, but this time there he was with that blinding smile of his, or was he? Guess you may never know. And it did not matter, with him around smiling, nothing ever did.

Her heart beat is rising. Someone get the doctor! She is coming back!You hear voices, and they sound eerily familiar. Wait! Was that your father?

Yuti. Hear me, do you sissy?

Ohh heavens! And there he was, standing only a few feet away. You could feel his presence like it was an extraction of your own body. This Yuti, this is not real. None of this is. I am not real. I

AM DEAD SISSY.

“Look Adi, this is not the time to play please. What is this place”

No Yuti, that day — I died that day out of hypothermia and it is not your fault so stop blaming yourself, you have been stuck in this cycle for a week now. You have a life sissy, go live it.

No. This can’t be it. How could you when he was stuck here? And here you could be with him forever, reliving those memories till dear eternity. After all, all you ever longed was to be with her brother.

“NO.”

Published on May 25, 2026

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The Ruins in the Space Between

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date May 25, 2026

The Ruins in the Space Between

When you feel horror, what comes to your mind?

Jumpscares unnerving, Voices petrifying,

But is the chill going down your spine?

Residing in Udaipur is Mridula, an aspiring architect- sweet, stubborn and her mother’ssweetheart. She has been dreaming of becoming an architect since the age of 8 and her biggestproject is to remove the fallacy of Bhangarh.

Her goal is to reconstruct the fort, turn it into a royal palace hotel and bring back the town. Little does she know, a dark force is waiting for her- waiting to ruin her.

History has it that every part of India has got its own way of describing their folklore and overtime Indian mythology has made it evident through forts in ruins, spirited waterfalls and ghosts living under trees at night. Even so in Bhangarh lurks a ghost, undefined and pristine.

…

Meet the ‘NISHI’-

A ghost destined with a ghastly past, a wicked present and a deadly future.

This ghost is not like the others, she doesn’t wander around or place curses. She imitates voices of each prepossessing man’s loved one she sees, lures him, binds him to kill that loved one and turns him into her slave till the time he does not cripple to death.

But that’s not all. This ghost stays in the Bhangarh Fort. Legend has it that the fort originally belonged to the lineage of Raja Bhagwant singh till Ratnavati, the first daughter abolished it.

Is that what really happened though?

When Ratnavati and her elder brother, Ajab were growing up, the town kept her like a jewel and disliked Ajab to an unimaginable extent. He knew the throne would go to her and his wrath compelled him to meet Shankar, a tantrik well known for black magic and put a curse on the kingdom.

However, the moment Shankar laid eyes on Ratnavati, he fell madly in love with her and was ready to transcend all barriers. He knew that his age would be a spanner in the works and so he kept a condition in front of the prince.

He created a concoction of a love spell and handed it over to Ajab to give it to his sister but little did they know that Ratnavati’s hand maiden came to know of this plan.When Ratnavati found out, she was furious and went straight to her brother, ordering both him and Shankar to leave at that very moment. Her anger had taken over and paved the way for her demise.

Shankar was enraged and placed the curse. However it wasn’t the same as before. Bhangarh was burnt down along with the palace, Ratnavati, Ajab and Shankar himself too.

This is how Bhangarh became HAUNTED.

…

Coming back to present times, Two months later, Mridula moves to Bhangarh with her designs but every architectural firm she speaks to, instantly denies on hearing the name of the fort. She decides to find out the reason behind the misconception and is finally introduced to the Nishi by a local but begged by him to return back.

In the next few minutes, she comes across 7 phantasms about the Nishi but instead of backing down, Mridula decides to work in solitary and find out the backstory. .

After burning a candle at two ends for quite a while, Her visions turn to hallucinations of two men, a fire burning and ash.

She goes back to the stranger and shows the evidence. The only thing left is the transcription of the message written on the entrance of the fort- मम पुनजन्म तव भस्म:

Once he reads it, he isn’t able to believe his eyes.

It translates to- MY INCARNATION IS YOUR ASHES.

…

Amongst Shankar and Ajab, who has reincarnated?

Who is the Nishi? And is Ratnavati alive?

The answer is now in Mridula’s hand and so is the fate of Bhangarh.

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Enjoy the Ride

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date May 25, 2026

Enjoy the Ride

Avanti romanticized a life without having to worry about children.

For one, she could retire from her busy job as a professor of Biology. She could spend hours with her husband, and perhaps they could travel more. She could hire a cook and finally forget the diet requirements of her three children. And she did. Nearing 65 years of age, she finally retired. But, to her surprise, the worrying only grew. It had been ten years since fate knocked on her door, and taken all that she loved away.

This, much to her surprise, began with the eldest child moving to the UK for his undergrad.

Soon enough, the other two followed in suit. And when cancer, the world’s most popular antagonist, silently creeped up on her loving husband – she gave up the chase for happiness.

She had no one to love. No one to talk to.

Avanti called her children everyday, and if they did pick up, it was always the same conversation: “I’m fine Ma! Stop worrying.”

Stop worrying? Do they not remember the countless nights where she stayed up just to console them? She was always there – calm, comforting – be it before exams, after nightmares and through toxic friendships.

Yet today, a new kind of motivation found her striding across the streets of Mumbai. A hope – that someone, or something – could benefit from her futile existence.

First stop – Alice’s Bakery.

When the children were small, Avanti would bake them snacks and treats. She loved watching joy spawn under her old, plastic whip. It made her feel good.

She walked into the store.

Weakly upholstered chandeliers swung above her. The AC – coming from god knows where – sent her into an instant fit of sneezes.

“What would you like, Ma’am?.”

An eager salesman caught her off guard.

She quickly began to clarify the intentions behind her visit.

“Good morning – I hope you are well. I saw the little sign you had outside your shop – the baking job – can I please apply for it?”

He smiled, but it was more of a pitiful gaze.

“I’m so sorry Ma’am. We already have a new chef. Would you take a cupcake instead?”

Avanti could not stand his bickering.

Turning sharply on her heel – in a way most impressive and risky for her age – she walked out of the store.

Her next stop was the tailor. A sheet of printer-paper taped to the street-light claimed that he needed assistance. Soon enough, however, she walked back out of the shop as she had evidently missed the “ five years of experience” part of the notice.Avanti stood adjacent to an exhibition. It was small, and quite humble – but it caught her attention. On its front, the words “Map Museum” were smoothly inscribed.

She entered the gallery.

All of a sudden, she was surrounded by maps of all shapes and sizes – maps of the world, maps of India, state maps, political maps, physical maps – every single type of map possible.

One by one, she studied each map. Then and there, in this tiny store in the middle of Mumbai, she finally realized how very big the world is. And how very tiny she was.

It came to her instantly. Like a glimpse of the universe and everything pure and true.

She worked so hard to have a peaceful retirement. Now, she was willing to undo decades of hard work. Just to feel important. Truth be told, we only live because we’re alive. And we’re here by some sort of fluke – so best we don’t make any sense of it. We have so many worries, so many! But when we think of ourselves as just another cluster of cells we remember how insignificant we are. But it’s really a blessing. By being a nobody we can sit back and muse at the wonders of life. We can enjoy the ride.