THE DEATH BED | #WITWC2025

''He becomes a part of the past he was unknown of.''
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Surjyo Sengupta, a pragmatic archaeology student, finds his modern world colliding with a haunting past. Lost in a dense, storm-ravaged jungle, his only hope for shelter is an abandoned mansion. Inside, a perplexing scent of jasmine fills the decaying air, unsettling him.

His professional curiosity, however, overpowers his unease. While exploring, he discovers an anomaly that defies all logic: a perfectly preserved four-poster bed. This pristine object seems to call to him. Exhausted, Surjyo surrenders to its inexplicable comfort.

His rest is shattered by a vivid, terrifying dream. He is an unwilling witness to a century-old murder, a scene of shocking brutality where a beautiful woman is chained to the very bed he now occupies. A group of people condemn her as a witch, but her pleas are heartbreaking; she insists she is innocent, performing a ritual to call home her beloved husband, Rudra. As her life is tragically cut short, her last breath is a chilling promise. Surjyo's terror peaks when he sees a man in a photograph who is her husband-and his spitting image.

Waking in a cold sweat, Surjyo's panic turns to dread. The whisper, soft and chillingly intimate, confirms his worst fears: a love story twisted into a tale of vengeance, and a tragic past that has been waiting for its lost husband to return. The bed, a hauntingly beautiful relic of a tragic past, is no longer a place of rest-it's a trap, a haunted trap, and Surjyo is its prisoner. Her story is far from over, and now he is a part of her story. A very central one.

BASED ON THE PROMPT OF THE CONTEST- WHAT IN THE WATTPAD?!- ONE BED..AND ITS HAUNTED!
[REPUBLISHED ON OCT 24, 2025]