Ravenshade had always been a quiet hill town, wrapped in soft fog and the smell of pine trees. Nights here always felt frozen in time—crickets chirping, dogs barking, and the steady hum of wind sliding down the valley. Nothing strange happened
But at 12:03 AM something unusual happened. Arin Mehra lay in bed wide awake, looking at the ceiling. He didn't know why he was restless. Maybe it was the strange cold breeze slipping through his slightly open window. Maybe it was the odd silence outside.
Arin closed his eyes, hoping sleep would finally come. But suddenly he felt like someone shook his bed. At first he thought that it was his dream. But then the vibration grew into a deep. Now he understood that it was an earthquake.
Across town, Mira Sen was still at her table when the quake struck. Her pencil rolled off the table and fell down. The ground vibrated again, deep like a giant heartbeat under the soil. After all this, the lights flickered again and again. Mira, after all this, was stunned; her heart hammered in her chest. She went near the window and pulled back the curtains; her house faced the outskirts of Ravenshade Forest.
She thought that the forest trees would be swaying violently, birds would be flying out in panic, and the animals in the forest would roar, but nothing like that happened. Mira saw that the trees stood still, and that frightened her more than the earthquake.
On the other hand, Kabir was having his midnight snack when the quake came. He froze for a minute; every plate in the kitchen trembled. Kabir was also shocked; he questioned himself, "How can an earthquake come here? I have been living here for years, and nothing like this has happened before."
After a few minutes when Mira felt normal, she came out of her house, and when she came out of her house, she couldn't believe her eyes as she saw that a white flash was coming from the ravenshade forest. It was not the light of the torch or electricity, but it was something different that Mira had not seen before.
The quake instantly grew stronger for 2 minutes and then stopped completely. The silence that followed was louder than the shaking. After a few seconds Arin ran to his window and stared and asked himself, "What was that white light?" He came out of the house in search of the answer; as he came out, he saw that his neighbors were also out of their houses and were talking about that white light and the earthquake.
Arin went towards his neighbors and asked the same, but none of the neighbors had an answer to his question.
The neighbors were also shocked after what they saw and felt. One old-aged neighbor of Arin told him that he has been living here for 74 years and has seen a white light like this coming from the forest. Then Arin asked, "Have there been any earthquakes here?"
Then the elderly neighbor replied, "No."
After listening to the elderly neighbor, Arin was in a state of shock; he knew that it wasn't natural—it was something else.
On the other hand, Tara whispered to her grandmother, "Is this normal?" Then Tara's grandmother shook her head no. "She said this isn't nature. Something else woke up tonight." For several minutes, the entire town remained frozen, staring continuously at the forest as if they were expecting another flash.
But nothing happened. The glow faded into the night sky, swallowed by the darkness. The trees returned to stillness. The ground stopped trembling completely.
Arin's mother called Arin and asked, "Are you okay?" Arin replied, "Yeah. I am okay; nothing to worry about." Tara's grandmother whispered prayers; she was still staring at the forest.
Within ten minutes, most residents returned indoors, shaken but unharmed. Except the four friends.
The earthquake had ended. But the mystery had just begun. That night would be remembered as the moment Ravenshade changed forever. The moment the town woke up to a silent danger waiting in the shadows.
The moment the earth shook and something else woke up with it.