Messua

Where had Mowgli gone?

She had searched all over the village for him. Up and down, on the rooftops, around the gates, and then in between each house thrice over.

When she had woken up that morning, she went upstairs to greet her son and, perhaps, apologize for her husband's behavior. They were only looking out for his safety, especially since the last time there was a hunt they reported that there was a tiger prowling nearby. Judging from the stories that he had of living out there in the jungle, it seemed probably that this 'Shere Khan' and the tiger were one and the same. Although animals don't simply go after people with revenge in mind, she thought.

But much to her surprise, Mowgli was nowhere to be seen. When she had asked her husband where he had went, he had zero clue that their son had even left. Running out to the town square, she asked them if they had seen him; no one had seen Mowgli that morning. Although one kid informed her that they did hear a call for a, "Wild animal," the night before, although they were sure that that was a prank pulled by someone playing a game.

Upon further inspection, with the help of her husband, they discovered something peculiar: bear tracks near the village. On top of this it appeared that Ranjan had discarded his loincloth, so now they had to worry about that, and worst of all, Shanti's mother had come to them asking if they had seen her as well.

It was a complete mess.

Messua sat by the kiln, reminiscing on the events of this morning. She kneaded the bread in her hands, trying her best to calm herself during this terrible event.

Had they been too harsh on Mowgli? Perhaps they should have just let him indulge in going out to the jungle occasionally, with someone to look after him of course. Or maybe have some other outlet for him to tend to more often, like looking after the cattle or learning how to hunt.

Everything made her so anxious. She was trembling, remembering how eleven years ago, they had lost their son to a tiger attack. Or so she had thought; Mowgli looked exactly like her boy, all the way down to having his father's eyes. If she had lost him again, she wasn't sure what she could do moving forward.

The door opened to their home, and she kept her head low.

"Messua, we're going to look for them."

Nodding, she kneaded her bread, trying her best to smile. At the very least, she could rely on her husband. He was a strong man, having survived a tiger attack in his youth, and was built like a bear. If anything, the animals in the jungle should fear him.

He sat beside her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we won't lose our son again. And we'll find Ranjan too."

"Of course." Rolling her shoulder, she looked up at him, giving him a genuine grin. "Hopefully we'll be back by sundown. It shouldn't take too long to find them. Did you get the best hunters?"

"Well that's the thing. From the looks of it, only Shanti's mother is going to come along. We'll have to rely on the three of us."

Her hands stopped in place, frozen as the dough dipped back into the bowl. "What? Why?"

"Superstition. They saw the bear tracks, and they believe that it's a spirit that's taken away the kids. Some of those people have always been suspicious of Mowgli's stories, and they claim that this proves that he was bad luck. They don't wish to anger the spirits."

"That's…" Messua's face flushed red, her brow furrowing. "That's ridiculous! Those are three children that are lost out there in the jungle!" Raising her voice, she stood up, crossing her arms. "Honestly, we need to go as soon as possible. The faster we can find them, the better."

"I feel the same." Getting back up onto his feet, he briskly moved towards the table, grabbing several torches from the nearby pot. "I'll pack some supplies. We'll leave in an hour. Just don't lose hope, we'll find them."

His words were reassuring, but Messua had a strange feeling, crawling in the back of her mind. Some shadow of doubt at this. She couldn't explain it, but given that they've been gone since last night, there was always the possibility that…

No. She pushed those thoughts away. He was right; they'll find them.