CHAPTER 0 — THE ABANDONED ROAD
India, 2001
Bihar (Saharsa)
The road was silent.
Too silent.
Every day, Kartik and Raj walked through this road on their way to school. It was the shortest path between their home and school, yet no one else ever used it. People said it was abandoned. People said strange things happened there.
But for them, it was just a road.
That day was different.
Their exams were finally over, and summer vacations had begun. Both of them were laughing, talking about games and plans, enjoying the freedom that only holidays could bring.
Suddenly-
"Kartik."
Raj froze.
"…Raj."
Both of them stopped walking.
Their smiles disappeared.
"Did you hear that?" Raj whispered.
"Yes," Kartik replied slowly. "Someone… called our names."
They looked around. The road was empty. No people. No vehicles. Only an old, huge house stood beside the road, its windows dark and broken.
Then Kartik noticed movement.
A figure.
A girl was standing inside the house, looking at them through the window.
Raj felt relieved for some reason. "Maybe she knows us," he said. "She called our names."
Kartik didn't answer.
Something felt wrong.
"How does she know our names? " Kartik asked quietly.
Before Raj could reply, the girl disappeared into the darkness of the house.
"Raj," Kartik said firmly, "we're leaving. Right now."
Raj nodded.
They ran.
The next day, they returned to the same road, this time to go to the market-the only route available. The place felt normal. Too normal.
But while returning…
"Raj."
"Kartik."
Their blood ran cold.
They turned.
The same girl stood there.
But this time… she looked different.
Her face was pale. Her smile was wider.
And her eyes felt… wrong.
Raj stared at her face. "Kartik," he whispered, "look at her makeup…"
"Kartik," the girl said softly, stepping forward.
"That's enough," Kartik snapped. "We're going home. NOW."
They ran again, not looking back even once.
Two days passed.
Nothing happened.
They began to relax, enjoying their holidays, forgetting homework, forgetting the road.
Until one night, Tow friends "Harsh" and "Utkarsh" decided to test themselves-physically and mentally-
They went back.
To the abandoned road.
The next morning…
People gathered.
The road was blocked.
The two friends "Harsh" "utkarsh"
They were killed brutally.
One head was cut off, and another body looked as if it had been eaten by a monster. (I can't explain this)
This was enough to shock everyone. People immediately called the emergency number, and soon the police arrived at the crime scene. The officers searched carefully, but they couldn't find any clues about who had done such a horrifying act. The bodies were sent to the hospital for post-mortem.
Even after the investigation, the police couldn't identify the killer.
But one thing became clear-
this was not the work of a human.
A few days later, the school reopened.
Kartik and Raj were sad because they hadn't completed their homework during the vacation. While walking to school, they passed through the abandoned road and noticed that the entire area was sealed.
Both of them were confused.
Why was the road sealed?
Still, they didn't care much and crossed the area to reach school. On the way, they kept talking about the sealed road and tried to guess the reason behind it.
During class, one of their classmates whispered,
"You don't know about that case?"
Kartik asked, "What case?"
The classmate replied in a serious tone,
"Don't talk about that topic… and never go near that abandoned road."
Kartik and Raj were now completely confused.
Raj said softly,
"Bro… maybe we should help that girl."
Kartik replied,
"If there really was a killer, and that girl got trapped with that psycho… she might need help to escape."
After school, both of them decided to go back to that road and find the truth.
They both decided to rescue that girl after school..
They finally reach their way...
They talked quietly about that kid as they slowly opened the gate and stepped inside the huge house.
A strong, rotten smell filled the air-
the smell of something unnatural, something dead.
It made the house feel even creepier.
As they moved further inside, they noticed something strange.
The house looked surprisingly clean, but the smell kept getting stronger with every step. They tried to control themselves, forcing their fear down, because they were determined to rescue the girl.
Kartik whispered,
"What the hell is this place…?"
Raj replied nervously,
"Why did we even stop here? We should have called someone."
Suddenly, they saw her.
The girl's body lay motionless on the floor, and beside her was something that did not belong to this world. Both of them froze in fear.
The girl had been killed brutally.
At that moment, they understood-
this was not done by a human.
Kartik couldn't control himself anymore. Blood slowly started dripping from his eyes.
Raj was completely shocked. He grabbed Kartik and tried to calm him down.
The bleeding stopped, but Kartik's eyes looked different now… empty and cold.
Raj said in a trembling voice,
"Bro… we have to leave right now. We need to tell everyone about this."
As Kartik stepped back, he noticed something strange behind the girl's body...
A portal-like crack in the air.
Something moved inside it.
A dark presence began to come out from that space.
But Kartik laughed softly, as if he couldn't fully understand what he was seeing.
They ran.
They didn't look back.
No one could clearly see the monster, only the shadow of something feeding on the girl's body… and then disappearing back into the darkness.