The silence was oppressive.
Ava perched on the brink of the ancient bed, her hands shaking ever so slightly as they gripped the strap of her backpack. The safe house was too quiet—too empty. She could still hear Rohit's words ringing in her head, assuring her he'd be right back. Just had to check something. Just five minutes.
That was nearly three hours past.
The longer she remained there, the more her mind started to unravel at the edges.
Where was he?
Why hadn't he phoned?
What if something had occurred to him?
She tried to call him again, fingers trembling on the screen.
No answer.
Only the empty beep of a line that had been disconnected.
The air within the motel room became denser, weighing down on her chest as if it were a burden. She stood up and paced around, her bare feet dragging across the draughty wooden floorboards, each groan louder than it ought to have been.
A shadow moved across the window.
She turned around—throat constricting—but it was just a passing car, headlights gliding by like a phantom without sound. The building creaked softly as the wind buffeted its weakened walls, and for an instant, Ava felt she wasn't alone.
She moved to the table where Rohit had left a stack of papers and notes—maps, photographs, and scrawled thoughts that resembled obsession rather than investigation. One photograph drew her attention.
It was her uncle.
Younger. Smiling. With her mother and… someone she didn't know. A man, stern-faced, standing a little too far from the rest.
Her brow furrowed.
She turned it over. No writing.
Just as she was going to put it down, something on the floor beneath the table caught the dim light. A small glint of silver.
She leaned down and retrieved a phone—Rohit's.
Her stomach sank.
He wouldn't go without his phone. He never did.
Her palms went icy. Her pulse started pounding in her ears.
Where the hell are you, Rohit?
Suddenly, the landline at the motel rang. Sharp. Violent. Ava leapt, the piercing sound cutting through the stillness like a blade.
She gazed at it. One ring. Two. Three.
She answered it on the fourth.
"Hello?"
Nothing. Static alone.
Then—
"He's not coming back, Ava."
Her breath hung in mid-air.
"Who is this?" she whispered, the receiver cold in her hand.
"You always ask the wrong questions," the voice whispered. Male. Calm. Too calm. "Not where he is. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁."
Her mouth dried. "Where is he?"
The line clicked.
Dead.
Ava froze, the receiver still against her ear. Slowly, she hung it up.
She had to get out.
Now.
She grabbed the backpack, stuffed the papers and Rohit's phone inside, and ran toward the door—when a knock froze her where she stood.
Three sharp raps. Silence followed.
There wasn't a creak from the hallway beyond.
Ava remained still. Remained breathless.
Then the doorknob turned—once, twice.
Locked.
Whatever was out there didn't try again.
Ava moved away, clutching the strap of her bag so tightly it bit into her flesh. She scanned the room. Window. Open it.
She sprinted to the side window and forced it open. Sharp air cut in, slicing across her face as she hooked her leg over the sill and dropped down into the alley behind the motel.
The night was wet. Heavy. Full of threat.
She ran.
....
𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐄𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 - 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐘𝐀:
Priya's fingers shook as she poured herself a cup of tea in the silence of her apartment. The old radio hummed quietly in the background, a faraway voice reading the news, but she wasn't paying attention.
Her mind was elsewhere.
Something was amiss.
A mother just knew.
Ava hadn't called her since yesterday, and while silence was not rare in the course of arguments, this was different. Heavy. Ominous.
She picked up her phone and wavered, her thumb an inch from Ava's contact information.
What if she didn't answer?
What if she already—
No. Stop.
Priya moved over to the window and pushed apart the curtains. The street life below was placid. A woman walked by with her dog. A couple waited at the corner for a cab. Mere moments. The world moved on.
Her world wasn't normal anymore though.
The past never actually lay buried.
She turned away, walking into the study. The desk drawer groaned as she opened it, showing a stack of old newspaper clippings, some yellowed and others newly printed.
A picture of Ava's uncle glared back at her from one article's yellowed page.
Businessman's House Burns Down in Suspected Arson. No Arrests Made.
She recalled that night.
The fire.
The screams.
The deal that had gone wrong.
She pressed a shaking hand to her lips.
If Ava was reaching the truth… then she was in greater peril than she suspected.
Priya lifted the telephone and dialed.
"I have to see you," she spoke into the mouthpiece.
Silence.
A man's voice replied. Strained. Reluctant.
"You know what that implies, Priya."
"I don't care," she replied. "It's regarding my daughter."
....
𝐀𝐕𝐀 - 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘:
She ran till her lungs were on fire.
Past alleys. Past sleeping cars. Past lives still untouched by whatever this nightmare was.
Finally, she came to a streetlight and stopped, gasping for breath.
She had no plan.
She just knew she couldn't go back.
She took out Rohit's phone and checked it again. Locked. No password.
Weird.
She snooped through the recent messages. Most of them were blank. Deleted.
Except one.
A thread called "𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗿."
Ava's hands turned ice cold.
She opened it.
One message.
"𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿. 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹."
No name. Just a series of numbers.
She glanced at the call log. One call out. Right before Rohit disappeared.
To that same number.
Her blood pounded in her ears.
He was keeping something from her. Or someone was making him.
But what?
Ava took a step back into the cover of the alley, pushing against the wall, trying to calm her mind.
Footsteps.
She held her breath.
Someone was approaching. The gentle thud of boots on concrete. Not hurried. Deliberate. As if they already knew where she was.
She crouched behind a dumpster, heart racing, and looked out.
A black-hoodied man, tall, walked by, eyes sweeping the street.
Not a look in her direction.
But he hesitated.
Nodded his head.
Then turned and went into the alley across from hers.
Ava didn't hesitate. She ran across the street into a different alley, darting through the city as if chased by something, until the lights disappeared and the quiet resumed.
She didn't pause until she came to a location she hadn't been in years.
Her former school.
The building towered before her, the doors locked for the night.
But she remembered an entrance.
Still trembling, Ava slipped through a broken side gate and into the playground. The silence here was heavier—like memory hung in the air.
It was here, beneath this very tree, that she first told Rohit about the nightmares.
It was here she once believed the world was safe.
She slumped to the ground, tears threatening to spill over.
"I don't know what I'm doing," she whispered into the dark.
And somewhere in the shadows, something watched.
.........
𝑬𝑵𝑱𝑶𝒀𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀? 𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑫𝑳𝒀 𝑫𝑶 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬 𝑹𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮. 𝑰𝑻 𝑯𝑬𝑳𝑷𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀 𝑻𝑶 𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑾...!
𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨.