Chapter 1: The Midnight Decree
It was 8:30 PM. The silence in the hallway of the old school science lab felt like a heavy, suffocating shroud. Outside, a torrential downpour lashed against the walls, and the roar of thunder echoed through the corridors, making the stillness even more ominous.
Mr. Verma's face wasn't flushed with rage, but with a terrifying, calm despair. There was a strange glint in his eyes—one that made Arjun feel deeply unsettled to his core.
"Didn't finish the job? You fools!" Mr. Verma's voice was cold and flat, sounding like a knife scraping against stone. "Tomorrow morning, the Board of Directors will inspect this storeroom. You two have turned it into a hellhole! Dust, cobwebs, and these rotting specimens... is this the discipline I taught you?"
Arjun was trembling. He looked at his friend Vicky, who was trying to put on a brave face, though beads of cold sweat were clearly glistening on his forehead.
Mr. Verma took a step closer. His voice dropped to a whisper, which was somehow more frightening than a scream. "Listen, you both stay here. Until the very last corner is spotless, you shall not budge. And remember... you are not alone here. He who watches this room will watch you. and once he sees you... you won't be able to stop him."
Before Arjun could utter a word of protest, Mr. Verma turned and vanished into the darkness of the hallway with heavy, rhythmic footsteps.
"Vicky, man! Do we really have to do this tonight?" Arjun's voice shook. "Look at the rain outside... and here... it smells like rot and rusted iron. Like something is decomposing right under our feet."
Vicky pulled an old flashlight from his bag and clicked it on. The pale yellow beam sliced through the dancing dust particles and landed on the storeroom door. With a faint, forced smirk, he said, "Chill out, Arjun! Verma is just trying to spook us so we don't slack off. Let's just finish this fast and get out of here. Lock the door so no one disturbs us."
As Arjun's trembling hands pushed the heavy iron door shut and slid the bolt into place, a massive bolt of lightning struck outside. In that split second of blinding light, Arjun thought he saw a dark shadow flicker past the lab's glass window. A moment later, a wave of freezing air seeped through the broken ventilator, chilling their very souls.
They didn't realize that by locking the door, they hadn't kept the world out—they had locked themselves in with something that had been waiting for years.