Petrifiedsoulss
The room felt suffocatingly quiet. Rain tapped against the windows in uneven rhythms, and every drop seemed louder than it should have been.
Then Chhaya's voice broke the silence.
"I told you!" she shouted, her voice shaking as tears streamed down her face. "I told all of you not to go near that stupid ship!"
Anurag stood in front of her, completely still. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out at first.
"Chhaya... Hum sabko kya pata tha ke kuch aisa ho jayeng-"
"Exactly!" she cut him off. "You didn't know because none of you wanted to listen! I told you that mujhe woh jagah kuch thik nahi lag rahi thi. Mai baar baar keh rahi thi tum logo ko...But, everyone just laughed like it was some horror movie adventure."
Her voice cracked halfway through the sentence.
"Now Varya, Ishaan and Dheeraj are just... missing."
The word gone hung in the air, heavy and awful.
Ahalya stared at the floor, twisting her fingers together so tightly her knuckles had turned pale. Vansh leaned against the wall, his arms crossed.
Ahvi finally stepped forward.
"Chhaya, we didn't do it intentionally. Stop blaming him," she said gently, though her voice sounded tired. "Hum sab mein se kisi ne nahi socha tha ke kuch aisa ho jayenga..."
"I'm not blaming him, I'm blaming all of us. Because we all ignored the one thing that could have stopped this."
Ahalya's head snapped up. She hesitated before speaking, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Do you guys feel it too?.."
Everyone looked at her.
"Feel what?" ahvi asked.
Ahalya swallowed nervously.
"Like...something followed us back."
The rain outside suddenly grew louder, hitting the windows in sharp bursts.
No one laughed.
No one even tried to say that she was being paranoid.
Because deep down, every single one of them felt it too...that heavy feeling in their chest.