THE SOUND FROM THE WATER
The first time Ritam heard the sound, he thought it was rain.
It was 4:17 a.m.
He remembered the exact time because he checked his phone when the noise woke him.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Not heavy rain. Not even steady rain.
Just a slow, hollow sound. Like water falling into water.
Ritam lay still in his bed, staring at the ceiling of his small village house. Outside his window, the world was wrapped in early morning fog. Winter had arrived, and the air carried that cold silence that makes every small sound feel louder.
Drip.
Drip.
He sat up.
The sound wasn't coming from outside.
It was closer.
He looked toward his bedroom door.
For a moment, everything was quiet again.
He almost laughed at himself.
"Just a dream," he whispered.
Then he heard it again.
Drip.
This time, it came from the direction of the old pond behind his house.
The pond had been there longer than anyone could remember. Covered in moss. Surrounded by leaning coconut trees and broken bricks. People rarely went there anymore.
Especially after what happened last year.
Ritam tried not to think about that.
Instead, he got out of bed and walked to the window.
The fog outside was thick — unnaturally thick.
It swallowed the trees. The road. The sky.
And then he saw her.
A young girl.
Maybe fourteen.
Standing near the narrow path that led to the pond.
She was wearing a simple white dress that hung loosely around her thin frame.
Her long black hair fell over her shoulders, slightly wet, as if she had just come out of water.
She wasn't moving.
She was just standing there.
Facing the pond.
Ritam's heart began to beat faster.
He didn't recognize her.
No one in the village looked like that.
"Hello?" he called softly through the glass.
No response.
The girl slowly began walking.
Barefoot.
Step by step.
Toward the pond.
Her movements were calm.
Too calm.
Ritam felt something pulling him — a strange urge he couldn't explain.
Before he could think, he left his room and stepped outside into the freezing air.
The fog wrapped around him instantly.
Everything felt muted.
His own footsteps made almost no sound.
Ahead, he could see her faint silhouette moving closer to the water.
"Wait!" he called.
She didn't turn.
He followed.
The pond appeared slowly through the mist — dark, flat, silent.
The girl stood at the edge.
Her toes almost touching the water.
Ritam stopped a few feet behind her.
"Why are you here?" he asked, his voice trembling.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she slowly raised her right arm and pointed at the center of the pond.
The water there began to ripple.
Just slightly.
Ritam stepped closer.
He looked into the water.
At first, he saw only fog reflecting on the surface.
Then—
Something pale beneath.
Floating.
A shape.
His breathing grew heavy.
It looked like a body.
Wearing white.
Face down.
His chest tightened.
"That's not real," he whispered.
Slowly, the floating body turned.
Face up.
Eyes open.
Staring directly at him.
It was her.
The same girl standing beside him.
Ritam gasped and turned—
But she was no longer beside him.
She was standing in the water now.
Farther out.
Impossible.
The surface of the pond was still.
Yet she stood there.
Her white dress spreading around her like mist.
She tilted her head.
Her lips parted.
And in a voice that sounded like water moving through a drain, she said—
"You didn't help me."
Ritam stepped back in shock.
"I—I don't even know you!"
Her expression did not change.
"You saw."
The fog thickened suddenly, swirling around him violently.
The water began to rise.
Not splashing.
Not flooding.
Just rising silently toward him.
The girl slowly sank beneath the surface, her eyes never leaving his.
The last thing he saw was her hand reaching upward from under the water.
Then everything went black.
Ritam woke up screaming.
Sunlight filled his room.
Birds chirped.
A motorcycle passed on the distant road.
He was in his bed.
Sweating.
Shaking.
"It was just a nightmare," he said to himself.
He grabbed his phone to distract himself.
There was a notification from the local news page.
Posted 20 minutes ago.
His heart began to pound again.
He opened it.
"Body of Missing Teenage Girl Found in Village Pond Early This Morning."
His fingers trembled as he read.
"The girl, reported missing last night, was discovered at dawn in the old pond behind the eastern houses. Witnesses say she may have been seen wandering near the area around 4 a.m."
Ritam's mouth went dry.
He scrolled down.
A photo appeared.
Blurry.
But clear enough.
White dress.
Long black hair.
Empty eyes.
The same girl.
The exact same face.
The phone slipped from his hand onto the bed.
He stared at his bedroom door.
Trying to breathe normally.
Trying to think logically.
"It was coincidence," he whispered.
"Yes. Just coincidence."
Then—
Drip.
He froze.
Drip.
Water fell onto his floor.
He slowly looked down.
A small wet footprint.
Near his door.
Another one.
Leading inward.
Drip.
A drop of water fell from the ceiling onto his hand.
Cold.
Very cold.
The room temperature began to drop.
His breath became visible in the air.
The bathroom tap was off.
The windows were closed.
There was no leak.
Drip.
He followed the line of wet footprints with his eyes.
They ended beside his bed.
Right where someone would stand.
Watching.
A faint whisper filled the room.
"You saw."
Ritam slowly lifted his head.
At the foot of his bed—
A faint outline.
White.
Still.
Not fully visible.
Not fully gone.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't scream.
Outside, the morning sun shone brightly.
Villagers began their daily routines.
Life continued as normal.
Inside the room, the dripping sound did not stop.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
And even when the sound finally faded—
The wet footprints did not.