– Fiction by Douglas Pereira –
Featured in Issue 20 of Dreamers Magazine and First Place in the 2025 Sense of Place & Home Contest
The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere. The doors wheezed open, spilling cold air inside.
Vani gripped Vinita’s shawl tighter. She had been warm, curled against her mother’s side, but now the wind nipped at her nose.
The driver said something to the man beside him, but Vani didn’t pay attention. People shuffled in the seats around them, hesitant to leave their warm refuge. Then Jayan stood, zipped up his jacket and popped the hood over his head.
“Come, let’s go,” he said to the two of them. Her father’s voice was firm, it made Vani feel safe.
When they’d go to the Sunday market back home, Jayan would weave effortlessly through the crowded roads on their rusty old scooter. He always knew the way. She followed him with a gingerly pace.
The snow swallowed their boots with a soft crunch as they stepped off the bus. Vani was bundled in layers and tiny mittens and a colorful trapper hat that she’d picked out at the airport yesterday.
Vinita tugged on the little girl’s drawstrings and then scooped her up.
The others stepped off behind them – six more people, wrapped thickly, their breaths turning white in the dark. No one spoke. A man at the front gestured. Jayan nodded, adjusting the straps of his rucksack. They started walking.
Vani lifted her head, blinking up at the night sky as she bounced in her mother’s arms. The black stretched endlessly above them. And speckled across the darkness, the stars flickered back at her.
“There are so many,” she whispered.
Vinita glanced up but said nothing, focusing on her footing. The snow was uneven, groaning under her feet with every step.
Jayan kept his phone in hand. He spoke in low tones to Vinita, but Vani couldn’t hear. She didn’t care. She was busy counting the stars.“Seven!” she exclaimed, a puff of white wafting up around her.
“Hush, my love,” her mother said.
Vani didn’t know how long they’d walked. She wasn’t even sure where they were. The thought escaped her as she marveled at the trail of steps behind them, winding off into the trees. The others moved farther ahead of them, their figures shifting like shadows in the dark.
Soon, the snow began to fall harder. The wind sliced at their cheeks. Vani buried her face in her mother’s neck.
“Where are we going, mama?”
“Somewhere warm,” Vinita said, “Somewhere better.”
Jayan walked beside them, his phone gripped tightly, checking something – directions, a message, maybe both.
Vani peeked up at the stars and started tallying them again out of boredom. One by one, she poked at them with her mittens.
“Five,” she whispered, “There’s only five, mama.”
Vinita didn’t answer. She quickened her steps to keep up the pace. The others were much farther ahead now.
“Mama, there’s only five,” Vani said again, twisting her head around, bewildered, searching for the missing lights. She twisted her hood loose and a sudden gust tore the hat off her head.
“Mama!” she cried out as the wind whipped through her hair.
Vinita spun, searching desperately for a speck of color in the sea of white.
“Come on! We’re falling behind,” Jayan bellowed through the wind.
He stomped back and nudged Vinita back on course. Vani sobbed. Jayan turned to his daughter and grabbed her trembling hands. “Listen to me, beta,” he said, his voice quiet but fierce. “I can get you a new hat. I can get us a new house, but…” he swallowed,
“I can only give you one future. I want to give you the best one.”
Vani sniffled. She looked up at him, confused.
Jayan exhaled and took her from his wife. “We go forward. No looking back.”
Vinita felt a pang in her chest.
They hurried now, pushing through the deepening snow. The flurry engulfed them, erasing their footprints almost as soon as they left them. And their group had disappeared into the storm.
Vani didn’t know how much longer they walked. She only looked up at the stars, there were even fewer than before. Her mittens were wet. She rubbed them together, trying to keep warm, but the cold was inside now, gnawing at her fingers. She remembered her bed back home, a thin foam mattress that made her itch all over. Sometimes the power would go out and she’d be frightened of the night. But her mother would lie down beside her and sing a lullaby until she drifted off into sleep. She wouldn’t mind any of it now.
Soon, the trees were far behind them. Jayan looked at his phone, at a message that had come earlier.
“Near a post up ahead,” he muttered.
They kept walking. It seemed like forever. Vani grew heavier in her father’s arms, her small body shivering despite the layers. Vinita’s hands were rigid in her gloves.
Then, they reached the place.
It was nothing. Just an empty road, a sign caked in ice, and a hollow in the snow where something might have been.
Jayan handed Vani back to his wife. Vinita whispered his name desperately, but he was already dialing. The call rang once, twice – then a voice crackled through, muffled and far away.
“We lost them,” Jayan said. “We – where are we?” he looked around, “There’s a sign. A road.”
The wind knocked against them, trying to push them over. Jayan was listening to the phone, nodding, then shaking his head.“What is it?” Vinita asked, clutching Vani close.
Jayan’s voice sharpened. “No, we’re here. We’re exactly where you said.” He paused. His breath was jagged. “You said -”
Vani felt her mother stiffen.
A long silence. Then, her father said weakly, “They said to go back.”
“Back?”
“They said – we missed it,” he exhaled sharply. “They said to go back.”
Something inside Vinita cracked. “Jayan.”
He didn’t answer. He turned, looking back at the way they’d come. There was no path, no markers. Their footprints, erased as if they were never there. The road ahead winded into the endless horizon.
Vinita’s arms tightened around her girl, and her breath shuddered against her tiny cheek. Vani was tired. She wanted to sleep, just for a little while. She leaned in, but Vinita shook her gently.
“No, my love. You have to stay awake.” Tears frosted around her eyelids. The world blurred around them. There were no more stars in the sky.
And then, Vinita hummed.
It was quiet at first, nearly lost to the winds. A melody, distant but familiar.
Vani knew the song. It was the one her mother sang when the lights stopped, when the night threatened to consume them.
Jayan looked away, past the road, past the horizon, searching for the future that had escaped them. Vinita sank to her knees in the snow, cradling Vani closely.
“The sun is coming,” she promised, pressing her lips against the girl’s forehead. “And tomorrow, we’ll be warm.”
Vani smiled, her breath small and soft against her mother’s chest.
She believed her.
About the Author – Douglas Pereira
Douglas Pereira was born in Goa, India and raised in Toronto, Ontario. A software engineer by trade, he recently rekindled his passion for writing. He is drawn to stories of love and loss, hope and resilience, mystery, fear, and the immigrant journey. After years of writing in the quiet, he has begun to share his stories with the world.
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