The night I learned shadows could love was the night i almost died .
I was not supposed to be in satighat after sunset.
Everyone in the town knew that rule. When the temple bells stopped ringing and the river turned black , satighat no longer belonged to the living.
Because if i didn't find my brother tonight , I knew the river never would.
My brother had gone missing three days ago . The police said he had drowned. The preist said the river had taken him . And my mother - she just sat in silence , staring at the door as if waiting for him to return.
So i came alone , holding a weak torch , my feet shaking on the stone steps of the ghat.
The aur felt wrong . Too worm . Too quiet.
My shadows stretched unnaturally long on the ground , twisting even when I stood still . I told myself it was fear. I told myself shadows were just light and darkness.
I was wrong.
A whisper brushed my ear.
"Go back"
I spun around . No one was there .
The river moved slowly , thick and dark , like it was breathing . The torch flickered. My heart started pounding so loud I thought the whole ghat could hear it .
Then my shadows moved .
Not with me.
It peeled itself off the ground.
I screamed and fell backward . The torch slipped from my hand , rolling down the steps and dying near the river. Darkness swallowed everything.
Something cold and heavy wrapped around my ankel , dragging me towards the river.
I kicked , crying , trying to crawl away , but the grip tightened. Shadows rose frome the ground , curling around my legs , my arms , my throat . They didn't burn.
They felt..... warm.
Familiar.
I couldn't breathe.
Then a voice spoke from the darkness - low , calm , terrifying .
"They won't hurt you ".
A figure stepped forward . Tall. Still. His face was hidden , but his eyes glowed faintly like dying embers.
"They only obey me ".
"W-who are you?" I whispered.
He looked away , as if the answere itself was a curse . "I am what the river left behind ", he said .
"And you... " The shadows tightened , lifting me off the ground .
"....You shouldn't have come here".
The river rippled.
And for the first time in my life -
The darkness looked back at me.