"Ding dong!"
The doorbell echoed through the silent house like a warning shot.
Deepak, Kapil, and Lalit froze. Their eyes met—wide, panicked, and alert. The memory of the shadow chasing them still clung to their minds like smoke. The spiral mark on Deepak's palm had cooled, but the tension in the air had not.
"Who could it be?" Kapil whispered. "No one knows we're here…"
Another ring followed. "Ding dong!"
Lalit's voice dropped. "What if it followed us?"
Deepak sat upright on the bed. His heart raced. "It can't be… right?"
A third time, the bell rang slower, heavier. Every second felt longer than the last.
Kapil took a deep breath and walked slowly to the door, his fingers trembling as they reached for the handle. He looked back once more.
"Be ready," he whispered. "If it's that thing again, we run."
Lalit picked up a metal lamp from the table, ready to strike if needed. Deepak stood, tense, the faint scar of the spiral still tingling slightly on his hand.
The door creaked open.
And a tall figure stood just outside.
He was wearing a long coat and a hat his form casting a stretched shadow on the floor. The way the light hit him, it made him look eerily similar to the shadowy creature from before. For a moment, no one breathed.
"Don't move!" Kapil shouted. "Stay back!"
The figure stepped forward into the light.
And just like that their fear snapped into confusion.
"Dad?" Deepak's voice trembled.
The man removed his hat. His familiar face emerged under the hallway light tired eyes, rough features, the lines of worry etched deep into his forehead. It was indeed Deepak's dad.
Lalit lowered the lamp, stunned. "It's… your dad?!"
Kapil exhaled the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "You looked like the shadow in the dark... damn!"
Deepak's dad stepped in, his voice filled with concern. "I rang the bell three times. What took you boys so long? Are you okay?"
Deepak's body relaxed, but his mind spun in confusion. "I... yeah, I think so. I didn't expect you wait, how did you get here? Why now?"
Before his dad could answer, his eyes moved quickly from Deepak to Kapil and Lalit. His gaze locked onto their bandaged arms, torn clothing, and bruised faces.
"What happened to you two?" he asked sharply. "Why do you look like you've been in a fight or a crash?"
Kapil and Lalit glanced at each other, then at Deepak.
"Uh… we kind of slipped near the old fort," Lalit said, scratching his head awkwardly. "Loose rocks… we tumbled pretty hard."
Kapil nodded quickly. "Yeah. Dumb move. Totally our fault."
Deepak's dad raised an eyebrow. He didn't seem convinced, but didn't press further.
"Hmm," he muttered. "You should be more careful. Those injuries look serious."
"We're fine now, sir," Kapil said, forcing a smile. "Just a few cuts and bruises."
Deepak's dad looked at Deepak again his son strangely unharmed despite what looked like total chaos.
"I had a feeling something was wrong," he said softly. "When I came in, I heard shouting. You boys looked like you saw a ghost."
Kapil mumbled under his breath, "Something worse…"
Lalit tried to shift the mood with a nervous laugh. "We thought the shadow came back again."
Deepak managed a faint smile, but his eyes remained serious. "It's good you came. Really. But… we need to talk."
His dad nodded, stepping further into the room. "I think you're right. There's something happening here, and I have a feeling it's just the beginning."
The mood shifted once again relief softened their fear, but the weight of the unknown still loomed large.
Outside the window, the wind rustled the trees.
And unseen, across the street… a shadow moved.
Inside the room, the heavy tension that had gripped them finally began to fade. For the first time in what felt like forever, they were safe.
Deepak, Kapil, and Lalit sat down quietly. The lights were on, the doors were locked, and the shadows outside had vanished for now. They could breathe again.
Kapil leaned back on the sofa, rubbing his face. "It's finally over… at least for tonight."
Lalit sighed deeply. "I still feel like we're inside some weird dream."
Deepak didn't say much. He stared at the spiral mark on his palm now faint but still there. His mind was full of questions: What is this mark? Why me? What was in that letter? Why did that shadow chase us? And how did I heal so fast?
He looked up at his friends. "I don't know about you both… but I need to find out the truth."
Kapil nodded. "Yeah, we should. That letter… that well… it all means something."
But Lalit stood up slowly. His face had changed tired, heavy, and serious.
"I can't do this anymore," Lalit said quietly.
Kapil frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I've had enough," Lalit replied. "I've faced too much already. I almost died. We saw something no one else would even believe. I just… I just want to go home."
"Lalit, listen," Deepak said gently. "We all went through this together. We can't just stop now. We have to "
"No!" Lalit raised his voice a little. "You want to keep chasing after answers? Fine. But I don't. I just want to live. This… this thing is not normal. I'm scared, okay?"
Kapil stood up too. "I understand, bro. But running won't change anything. What if that thing comes back? What if it follows you home?"
Lalit shook his head. "Then I'll take that risk. I can't live in fear like this anymore."
A long silence followed. None of them had anything more to say.
Lalit grabbed his phone, slipped on his jacket, and walked to the door.
"I'm sorry," he said. "But I need to be with my family now. Please don't follow me."
He opened the door and stepped out.
Deepak and Kapil watched as he walked down the road, disappearing slowly into the quiet night.
Kapil shut the door gently.
For a few seconds, nothing was said.
Then Deepak whispered, "We still have to find out what this all means."
Kapil nodded. "We will."
Outside, the wind was calm. The danger was gone.
But somewhere, beneath the surface, the mystery waited deep in the well, within the mark, and in the silence that followed their friend's footsteps.
After Lalit left, silence took over again. Deepak sat near the window, looking out into the quiet night, while Kapil paced around the room, clearly thinking hard.
"We can't just sit here," Kapil finally said. "That mark on your hand, the shadow, the letter it's all connected. But where do we even start?"
Deepak turned slowly. "I was thinking the same thing. Everything began the moment I touched that letter. It mentioned Lord Rama, Ravana… even Kalki. It's not just random."
Kapil suddenly stopped pacing. His eyes lit up.
"Wait… that's it! Everything is about Ramayana, right? That letter was for Lord Rama. So, we need to start with the Ramayana itself!"
Deepak raised an eyebrow. "Start with the Ramayana? What do you mean? It's a holy epic, not a guidebook. What exactly are we trying to find?"
"I don't know yet," Kapil admitted, "but maybe there's something in it some forgotten detail, some hidden part that connects to what we saw. Maybe about the demon who wrote that letter Lobhasura or the mark. We have to look deeper."
Deepak thought for a second, then sighed. "Okay, but where do we look? We can't just Google 'How to fight a shadow demon from Ramayana.'"
Kapil grinned, but then his expression grew serious. "Your dad… he's a mythologist, right? He knows everything about Ramayan and old scriptures. What if we just… talk to him?"
Deepak's face instantly changed. He stood up straight, voice firm. "No. We can't involve him. It's too dangerous. You saw what happened to us. What if that shadow comes back? What if it hurts him?"
Kapil tried to reason with him. "But he could help us, Deepak! He might already know about things like this ancient scrolls, hidden meanings. He might even know about that mark..."
"I said no," Deepak cut in, shaking his head. "He's my dad. I'm not putting him in danger. End of discussion."
The room went quiet again for a few seconds.
Kapil didn't push more. He understood.
But Deepak's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Wait… the library."
Kapil blinked. "What?"
"My dad's personal library," Deepak explained. "It's huge. Full of old texts, books, scrolls everything about mythology. Ramayana, Mahabharata, even lesser-known scriptures."
Kapil's eyes lit up again. "That's perfect! If we can't ask him directly, maybe we can go through his collection. Quietly. Find something that connects to the letter or the spiral mark."
Deepak nodded. "Yeah. We'll wait until he's out. Then we'll go through everything. But we have to be quick and careful."
Kapil gave a small smile. "Now we're thinking like detectives."
But Deepak didn't smile back. He stared at the spiral mark on his palm again.
"Whatever this thing is," he said softly, "it's not just a mark. It's a warning. Or maybe… a key."
Kapil looked uneasy. "Let's just hope it's not a curse."
Outside, the night deepened but inside the room, the path forward was beginning to form.