As a child, Raju had always been scared of the dark. Once, when thirsty and looking for a glass to drink water in, he had mistaken a shirt spread out for drying for a phantom without a head and screamed aloud - only to wake up his family members at midnight. He felt proud at this moment for having conquered his fear. At any cost, he had to carry on - to prove to himself that he could do it. He shifted his bag onto his other shoulder to relieve the aching one, and tried to whistle a pop number to lighten the gloomy ambience; but gave up the idea lest it should awake the hidden and undesirable life around him. The things around were a lot clearer now, the biggest crack yet in the roof being only a few yards away. He could see the rusting rails, the bats hovering around, the dragonflies executing their static flights and a spider hanging from its invisible web. He was astonished at the amount of life inhabiting this place - a place that mankind had so conveniently deserted - neglected to rot on its own. He tried to peep out of the crack in the roof - to look at the blemishless sky - a sapphire that glared alight at this noon hour. He hoped he could find something to take home from the tunnel - something that could show his friends that he had achieved the impossible - impossible at least for a lad like him. But everything that he could see around was either immovable or too undignified or slimy to be touched. He tried to read the label embossed on the wall-bricks, but having withered for decades, they were not in the least interested in revealing their origins. He planned to pick up a broken brick, but gave up the idea fearing it might infuriate some dozing scorpion.

Raju was sure that the exit of the tunnel was not far away now. He knew the tunnel was not a long one. Only a few more yards -- and he would complete the voyage. So the story of the tunnel's being haunted was untrue indeed. He would tell his friends how foolish they had been in believing the rumours, and it was he who had dared to uncover the mystery himself. In the distance, he could already see the exit of the tunnel. Relieved, he opened his water bottle and took a long sip of the refreshing mango squash. His eyes took quite a while to adjust to the light. With a sigh of relief, he wiped the sweat off his face. At this moment, it occurred to him how glorious it would be to have his lunch here. Once out of the tunnel, he sat down on the little patch of wild grass that had grown on one side of the rails, to celebrate his brave act. He plucked a wild flower growing nearby and kept it in his bag as a memento of the tunnel - for himself at least. Humming an old song, he decided to eat his leftover lunch. When taking out the tiffin box from his bag, all of a sudden, he spotted a burnt-out cigarette stub lying by its side. The bravery dried up. Thunderstruck, he picked his bag and sped back screaming aloud; trampling the flower underfoot.