"𝘼𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙚 𝙆𝙖 𝙃𝙖𝙖𝙡 𝙃𝙖𝙞 𝙆𝙖𝙛𝙞 𝙂𝙝𝙖𝙯𝙖𝙡 𝙅𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚,
𝙆𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙆𝙚𝙝𝙣𝙖 𝙃𝙖𝙞 𝘽𝙖𝙨, 𝙇𝙚𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙒𝙤𝙝 𝘼𝙙𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝘼𝙡𝙛𝙖𝙯..."
Naina Malhotra:
"As I looked across the room, my eyes fell upon him. He was tall and athletic...
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The air was filled with the soft, melodic laughter of two children, their voices carrying a sense of pure, unbridled joy. In the distance, tall pillars stood like ancient sentinels, surrounding a vast playground that stretched as far as the eye could see. The sun bathed everything in a gentle, golden light, making the world seem endless and full of possibility. They were playing Hide and Seek, their laughter echoing off the pillars as they ran and hid from one another.
One of them, a child in a light purple frock, had her sleeve smeared with mud, a sign of carefree abandon. She darted between the pillars, her bare feet pounding against the ground as she ran with all her might, chased by the other. Their faces were blurred, hidden behind a strange haze of whiteness, as if their identities were lost in the innocence of the game.
They were untethered by time or reality, existing only in the moment - until that moment shattered.
Without warning, the golden light dimmed. The once vibrant world around them began to fade, as though someone had poured ink over the sun. Shadows stretched across the ground, long and oppressive, swallowing the laughter that had once filled the air. The playground, once full of life and light, was now engulfed in an unsettling silence, an unnatural darkness seeping in from every corner.
The children stopped, frozen in their tracks. Their playful energy drained away, replaced by confusion and an underlying sense of fear. The one in the purple frock turned, searching for her friend, but the other child was lost in the thickening shadows. Her heart pounded in her chest, a feeling of dread creeping into her bones as she called out, her voice swallowed by the suffocating silence.
The pillars, once simple markers in their game, now loomed large and ominous, their towering forms casting menacing shadows that seemed to shift and move with a life of their own. The air grew colder, heavier, and beneath her feet, she felt something wet and slick. Looking down, her breath caught in her throat.
The ground had turned into a thick, black goo, cold and slimy, creeping up her legs and pulling her down into the inky darkness. She tried to scream, to cry out for help, but her voice was lost in the black void surrounding her. Her arms flailed as she struggled, but the more she fought, the deeper she sank into the sticky abyss.
