CHAPTER 9 : Taken by the White
919 Words
CHAPTER 9 : Taken by the White
Vihaan’s POV
The more we try to push the fog away, the more our arms get tired. The fog rolls in for all of us, in various forms and with various functions.
The forest vanished, folded inward, like someone had cupped their hands around us and blown out the light.
“Nope.” I stopped walking. “Absolutely not. This is how horror movies start, and I refuse to die before my career peaks.”
My phone buzzed.
The screen flickered.
Vani’s camera light jerked, stuttering like it was fighting the air. Her voice followed half a beat late.
“Vihaan…” She swallowed. “Why is my screen lagging?”
I turned.
Yash wasn’t moving.
Not frozen—set. Like something had pinned him in place.
The fog pressed against my face.
Cold.
Damp.
Heavy.
Not mist.
Weight.
“Okay,” I said, forcing a grin my face didn’t want to hold. “New rule. Nobody moves. Nobody panics. We pretend this is a very aggressive cloud.”
Aarav laughed.
It came out wrong—too loud, too sharp. His shoe threw to me .
“My drone feed’s gone,” he said. “Like—gone gone. Ten meters up and then—static.”
I squinted upward, half-expecting shoe to drop onto my head.
White.
Nothing else.
“That’s because it flew into heaven,” I called. “Congratulations. First sacrifice accepted.”
Silence.
Vani edged closer.
I could hear her breathing now, quick and uneven, like she was trying to inhale through cloth.
“Vihaan,” she whispered. Her phone shook in her hand. “The footage… it doesn’t match.”
My smile slipped. “Doesn’t match what?”
“I rewound. Ten seconds.”
She turned the screen toward me.
“We’re not there.”
My stomach dipped.
“Not there where?”
Her fingers tightened around the phone. “We’re standing behind the shrine. In the video.”
No one spoke.
The fog thickened around us, muting sound, swallowing distance.
Yash finally broke the silence.“We crossed already.”
Aarav frowned. “Crossed what?”
Yash didn’t look at him.
He was looking at me.
“The line,” he said. “He crossed first.”
I scoffed, because fear hates being laughed at.
“Oh please. I tripped. Big deal. The forest didn’t imprint on me like a cursed puppy.”
Yash grabbed my wrist.
Hard.
His fingers were cold. Steady.
“Stop joking.”
I looked down at his grip. “Relax. I lit incense. Spiritual. Respectful. Very ‘I’m trying my best.’”
“You lit it with a lighter, it was ok but” he snapped. “ you also lit a cigarette.”
The ground pulsed.
Not a shake.
A beat.
Like something massive rolling over beneath us.
Vani made a small sound in her throat.
My joke died before it reached my mouth.
“Okay,” I said softly. “So maybe the mountain’s… mildly offended.”
Aarav swore. “My compass is spinning.”
Of course it was.
The fog shifted.
Not drifting.
Sliding.
It cut between us.
“AARAV —!”
I reached out.
Nothing.
His voice came from the wrong side of the fog. “I’m right here!”
“No, you’re not!” Vani cried. “I hear him behind me!”
Sound folded in on itself. Close became far. Far pressed against my ear.
Yash tightened his grip. “Don’t let go.”
“I’m not—”
Vani screamed.
Sharp. Sudden. Gone.
I lunged.
The fog grabbed me.
It wrapped around my legs, my chest—dragging, resisting, like wet cloth with hands.
“VANI !” I shouted. “Yash—hold on!”
Something yanked my jacket.
Hard.
I twisted
Yash.
His hand was slipping.
“Vihaan,” he said, breath breaking now. “It’s pulling.”
“I’ve got you,” I grunted, heels digging into roots that scraped my calves raw.
My palms screamed as I tightened my grip. Skin split. Wet warmth smeared between our hands.
Vani’s voice drifted from too far away. “Don’t let go—please—”
“I won’t!” I yelled. “I SWEAR —!”
The fog surged.
Not wind.
Force.
My lighter slipped from my pocket, hit the ground, sparked.
The earth answered.
A low vibration rolled through my bones.
Yash’s rudraksha snapped.
Beads scattered, swallowed by white.
His eyes went wide.
“VIHAAN —!”
My foot slid.
Pain tore through my palms as my grip ripped open skin already burning.
Blood streaked.
Warm.
“s**t—!”
The fog bit.
It wrenched Yash sideways—precise, violent.
I grabbed—Missed.
Empty air.
“YASH!”
Gone.
Vani screamed again—closer this time—then cut off like a door slammed shut.
I staggered forward, heart battering my ribs.
“Vani—VANI!”
Nothing.
My phone vibrated once in my hand.
The camera app opened by itself.
Fog.
Me.
And behind me—Something tall.
Still.
Watching.
The screen went black.
The phone died.
The forest exhaled.
The fog thinned just enough to reveal the path ahead.
Open.
Waiting.
Behind me—nothing.
No sound.
No trail.
No voices.
Something had decided.
I wiped blood onto my jeans, forced my spine straight despite the fire screaming through my hands.
“Okay,” I whispered into the white.
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