ajaypanchal20
Chapter 1: The Village Where Shadows Speak
Parsola was no ordinary village. Hidden deep in Rajasthan's dry lands, it was the kind of place where silence screamed louder than words, where nights were longer than days, and where the people whispered of a curse older than time itself.
When Ajay decided to move back from the city with his wife Khushi and younger brother Krish, he thought he was choosing peace. A quiet life. No traffic, no noise, just simplicity.
But Parsola was not peaceful. It was waiting.
On their first night, Khushi woke up to a sound outside their small mud house. A woman crying. The cry wasn't loud, but haunting-like it was inside her head. She shook Ajay's shoulder.
"Ajay... do you hear that? Someone is crying outside."
Half asleep, Ajay frowned. "It's just the wind, Khushi. Go back to sleep."
But the next night, she heard it again. This time the sound was followed by a laugh. A shrill, bone-freezing laugh.
Ajay stayed awake the third night. At first, there was nothing. Only the dry desert wind. But around midnight, he heard it too-a child's cry, right outside the window.
Ajay rushed outside with a stick in his hand, but the yard was empty. Only sand shifting in the moonlight.
That was the first time he felt it-the invisible eyes watching him from the darkness.