Chapter - 1 The Photograph
521 Words
The rain had been falling for six hours when Arjun Rao received the photograph.
He was sitting alone inside his apartment in Hyderabad, working on an old laptop while the city outside disappeared beneath sheets of rain.
It was 11:43 p.m.
His phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
Arjun ignored it.
The phone vibrated again.
He glanced at the screen.
Another message.
This time, there was an image attached.
No text.
Just a photograph.
Arjun opened it.
For several seconds, he didn't understand what he was looking at.
The photograph showed an enormous ruined fort standing on top of a mountain.
Its walls were black.
Not dark brown.
Not grey.
Black.
The structure looked as though it had been burned centuries ago.
Behind it was a moonless sky.
A narrow staircase climbed toward the main gate.
At the bottom of the photograph stood six people.
Five men.
One woman.
All of them were facing the fort.
Their faces were impossible to see.
Arjun zoomed in.
The image became blurry.
He zoomed again.
Then he noticed something.
There was a seventh person.
Standing behind them.
A tall figure.
Very thin.
Its head was tilted unnaturally to one side.
Arjun's stomach tightened.
He stared at the figure.
Then the phone vibrated.
A second message appeared.
YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN THERE.
Arjun frowned.
"No."
Another message.
YOU JUST DON'T REMEMBER.
He immediately typed:
Who are you?
The message showed as delivered.
No reply.
Arjun waited.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Then his phone rang.
The same unknown number.
He answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
"Who is this?"
Nothing.
Then he heard breathing.
Slow.
Heavy.
Very close.
As if someone were standing directly behind him.
Arjun turned around.
Nobody was there.
He looked toward the apartment door.
Locked.
Windows closed.
He swallowed.
"Hello?"
A man's voice finally spoke.
It was barely a whisper.
"Don't go to Rudra Giri."
The call ended.
Arjun stared at the phone.
He had never heard the name before.
Or at least...
he thought he hadn't.
He opened his laptop.
Without knowing why, he typed:
Rudra Giri Fort Andhra Pradesh
The search results appeared.
Most were useless.
Travel pages.
Old photographs.
A few local history articles.
Then one result caught his attention.
A scanned newspaper article dated thirty-seven years earlier.
The headline read:
SIX STUDENTS DISAPPEAR NEAR RUDRA GIRI FORT
Arjun's eyes widened.
He clicked the article.
The page loaded slowly.
The six missing students had been archaeology students from a university in Hyderabad.
They had entered the forest surrounding Rudra Giri Fort during a research expedition.
None returned.
Search teams spent nineteen days looking for them.
Nothing was found.
Not their clothes.
Not their bags.
Not their bodies.
Nothing.
The final paragraph said:
Local villagers refused to enter the forest after sunset. According to them, the fort was "awake."
Arjun laughed nervously.
"Superstition."
He closed the article.
Then he noticed something else.
The newspaper photograph showed the six missing students.
Arjun leaned toward the screen.
His heart stopped.
One of the students looked familiar.
Very familiar.
He enlarged the photograph.
The student's face became clearer.
Arjun whispered:
"Impossible."
The student was his father.
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