The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

21. Ominous darkness

Her shrieks reverberated off the stone walls and died down a few seconds later, but the grip on her shoulders tightened. The blood in her veins turned cold, and sweat beads trickled down the sides of her face when despite shouting for help, no one came forth to assist her.

"Turn back."

When the whisper fell on her ears yet again, a low whimper escaped her throat, and she was unable to hold onto her determination regarding not swerving around. Her grandmother had always cautioned her against these supernatural elements going bump in the night and calling from behind. One should never respond to their calls for their own safety, but the more she resolved not to spin at her spot and come face to face with something dreadful, the more she was sucked into the vortex.

A shadow loomed over her body, and she could clearly discern it in the faint moonlight flitting inside the temple. Trembling from head to toe, she slowly turned at her spot, and a gasp slipped past her mouth when she saw the black silhouette standing at the doorframe, prohibiting more light from coming inside the sanctum. Her eyes swelled in terror all over again, and her first instinct was to push away the darkness with her tiny palms so that she could sprint outside to the warmth and safety of the fire.

But she couldn't accomplish a single thing, for the forbidding shadow held her arms in a vice-like grip. The frigidity of the touch scared her to the core, and she lost her ability to scream and call for help. As she stood rooted to the spot, her eyes widened beyond normal in trepidation, her breathing unsteady and rash, and the sinister being's grasp loosened.

She let out a short sob, and her voice came out croaky and quivering. "Wh-who a-ar-are y-you?"

"Did you forget me this soon? Damn! I am hurt."

Her mouth hung agape when she heard the voice, and her fear was superseded by sheer anger. From being on the verge of a weeping mess, she found herself yelling at the top of her lungs. "Such an insolent person you are! I could've died of a heart attack, but no! You never care about Ishita Verma, do you?"

"Yeah, right!" He scoffed. "I don't care about you, and that's why I followed you inside this dark room in the middle of the night when wild animals roam the fort and there are ghost stories churning by the hour. What was the need to come inside?"

She pursed her lips and crossed her arms in front of her. "You are a mad person, Rudra Sharma. It's a temple. I... I heard strange sounds coming from here, and when I checked, it was a mouse. But I wanted to light the lamp in front of the idol."

He huffed. "Let's go. All of us had enough fun at your expense. Siya is taking out the dinner packets. I am famished."

She twisted her lips and crouched down. Roaming her palms on the cold floor, she stopped the movements and picked up her phone once she felt the smooth expanse of the capacitative screen under her fingers. "I feel like I shouldn't have come on this trip. All of you are big-time meanies and not my friends. All I want is for morning to arrive so that I can go back home."

He was mighty irked at her comment, and a scowl formed on his face. He loved her company over the trip. He was finally able to share his strange nightmares with someone his age, someone who told him that he wasn't delusional, someone who realized that these outliers of his brain troubled his very existence. In fact, he was finally able to see past her overly girlish demeanor and see her for who she was. A lovely person inside out. A girl with a golden heart. A friend who would do anything for him and for whom he would not blink before giving up his life. Hence, hearing that she was impatiently waiting for morning to arrive had him piqued and nettled to the extent that when she stood up straight, he tugged at her arms and drew her closer, sifting his hands through her hair and tugging at the base of her head firmly but gently. "What did you say?"