The ticking of the clock echoed slowly in a deserted room
of the house. In that room, a 14-year-old weak and scared
boy named “Darsh” was sleeping. It was one o’clock in
the night when a scream was heard from the room; it was
Darsh’s scream.
“Darsh, what happened? Are you okay?” his elder
brother, who was sleeping on the bed next to him, asked.
“Yeah, maybe it was a bad dream,” Darsh replied.
“Here, drink some water and go back to sleep,” his elder
brother said while handing him the water. Both of them
lay down again. But Darsh was still awake. A serious
thought was racing in his mind. It was that bad dream that
made him wake up. He had seen himself in a graveyard,
covered by dense forests. The wind was freezing cold, and
someone placed a hand on his shoulder from behind.
That’s all he remembered, as he woke up right then. Lost
in such thoughts, he finally drifted to sleep.
The next day, when he reached school, he learned that his
school was organizing a trip, which was scheduled to take
place in four days. The school performance, cultural
activity, and the selection of five students by the teachers
would take place, and they would be taken on a tour of
Shimla’s scenic beauty. The tour would last for five days.
Darsh was a very quiet boy; he was also intelligent in
studies and participated in all the school cultural
activities. He was the favorite of the teachers, which is
why many of the classmates used to tease him. He hadonly a few friends. So, it was almost certain that Darsh
would be one of the five selected students.
Because of this, two boys, Aarav and Ashish, were
discussing in the corner of the class. They considered
Darsh their enemy, so they made a plan. At the end of the
school day, they stopped Darsh and said, “Hey, bro, there
was a question in Math class that we didn’t understand.
Can you explain it?”
“Yeah, sure, which question is it?” Darsh replied.
Darsh was a simple person who would agree to anything
someone asked sweetly. Aarav and Ashish took
advantage of this.
“Thanks, friend. You explained it well. We understood it
immediately,” Aarav and Ashish said. Their classroom
was on the second floor. So, taking advantage of the
moment, Aarav and Ashish pushed Darsh from the
second-floor railing. But Darsh didn’t fall; somehow, he
managed to hold onto the lower part of the railing with his
hands.
“Hey Aarav, it seems like he survived,” Ashish said
jokingly.
“Doesn’t matter, Ashish. In a while, his hands will slip.
But if no one sees, we can hit him with a stick and push
him down,” Aarav replied.
Ashish went to the class to get the stick.“Why the hurry, Aarav?” A loud voice rang out in style.
It was Darsh’s friend, the coolest boy in class, and our
fiction writer, Siddharth.
“Siddharth, you here?” Aarav asked, panting.
“Yeah, Aarav, I just remembered that this fool is stuck
with you two, so you must have planned something,”
Siddharth replied with style.
“You dare...” Aarav quickly charged towards Siddharth.
But Siddharth was faster, reaching Aarav and delivering
a hard super kick to his face.
“Aarav is unconscious,” just then, Ashish came with the
stick.
“Aarav, are you okay?” Ashish shouted quickly.
“Darling, he’s still in a fainted state,” Siddharth said while
laughing.
“Aarav! Help, my hand is slipping!” Darsh screamed.
“My friend, just 30 seconds. Don’t worry, there’s no one
who can beat me here,” Siddharth said with attitude.
“Siddharth, you won’t survive today,” Ashish threatened.
“Ha-ha-ha,” Siddharth laughed loudly.“Ashish, words filled with the nectar of flowers don’t suit
you and especially not me. Long time since I heard a good
joke, well, not long ago, just heard one this morning,”
Siddharth started mocking Ashish.
“Then Ashish ran towards Siddharth with the stick, but
the same thing happened to him. Siddharth snatched the
stick from him and beat him with it. And finally, he said
one line, ‘You mess with the wrong guy.’”
“I hope you’ll learn your lesson now,” Siddharth said,
after easily saving Darsh from falling.
“If it weren’t for you today, I don’t know what would
have happened to me,” Darsh said in a humble tone.
“Hey, you hurt my feelings,” Siddharth said, mocking
him.
“Let’s go, it’s getting late,” Siddharth said as he left.
After that, both of them reached home, and soon after,
Ashish and Aarav regained consciousness and went home
too.
The next morning, Ashish and Aarav arrived at school in
their condition. All the boys and girls were laughing at
them.
“Hey my handsome friends, what happened to your
beautiful faces?” Akash teased.“Akash, he was from their class. He was also a friend of
Ayaan and Siddharth.”
“Nothing, brother, they must have accidentally put their
hands into a beehive. And when that happened, the bees
must have stung them. Now when you tease, you’ll get
stung too,” said Siddharth, who was standing right behind
Aarav and Ashish.
“And that bee was you, jerk,” Ashish mumbled softly.
“Did you say something, Ashish?” Siddharth asked.
“No, nothing at all,” Ashish said, laughing.
“Alright, now the teachers are going to announce the
names of the selected students for the trip. Have you
forgotten? The trip is tomorrow,” Akash said to the three
of them.
And soon, with a loud voice, the principal announced the
names of the five students who were going on the trip to
Shimla. Their names were:
1. Siddharth
2. Darsh
3. Akash
4. Vikramaditya
5. Aarav
“All of you pack your bags and essential items and be
present at the school by 10:00 AM tomorrow,” the
principal said.
It was nighttime, and Darsh was having dinner with his
family at the dining table.
“Tomorrow, you’re going on the trip, right? Have you
packed all your essentials?” his father asked.
“Yes, I’ve packed everything,” Darsh replied.
Morning came. All the boys going on the trip had gathered
at the school with their bags.
“Hey Shweta,” Shweta heard a voice calling her from
behind.
“Who?” Shweta asked.
“It’s Aarav, I need to talk to you urgently,” Aarav said.
“Yeah, tell me,” Shweta replied.
“You need to stop Darsh from going on the Shimla trip
today. You have the key to the computer lab. I saw you
taking it from Computer Sir earlier. Lock him in there. No
sound will come from inside or outside. If you do this, I’ll
make sure you and your friend Ayesha get to go on the
trip,” Aarav said to Shweta.
“But how can you do that? Only five people can go on thetrip, and if you can do that, why isn’t your friend Ashish
going?” Shweta asked Aarav.
“Oh, I can do it, and as for Ashish, he’s already going.
Just wait for 10 minutes, and you’ll know everything. This
trip is being taken by Raghvendra Sir, and I recommended
him because I’m his favorite student,” Aarav said quietly.
“Alright, fine. I’ll try to stop Darsh from going,” Shweta
assured Aarav.
Somehow, Shweta tricked Darsh into coming to the
computer lab and locked him inside. The trip was just an
hour away, and Darsh was missing. Siddharth and Akash
started searching for him everywhere, but to no avail.
Only 30 minutes were left before the trip was supposed to
depart.
“This must be Aarav and Ashish’s plan,” Siddharth said
to Akash.
“But both of them are going on the trip, and so are Shweta
and Ayesha,” Akash said to Siddharth.
“But their goal was to make sure Ayaan doesn’t go on this
trip at any cost,” Siddharth said, thinking carefully.
“Stay here, I’ll be back,” Siddharth said and left, leaving
Akash behind.
“Hello Ayesha, wait a second,” Siddharth called Ayesha.“Yes, Siddharth, what’s up?” Ayesha said.
“Seems like you left your attitude at home today,” Ayesha
said, surprised.
“Forget it, just tell me, how are you going on the trip
today?” Siddharth angrily asked Ayesha.
“It’s all because of Shweta. I don’t know what she did,
but she asked me if I wanted to go on the trip with her, so
I said yes,” Ayesha said, calming down.
“By the way, where is Shweta?” Siddharth asked.
“She was talking to Computer Sir earlier,” Ayesha
replied.
Siddharth rushed to Computer Sir’s office and asked, “Sir,
have you seen Shweta?”
“She was just here, she came to return my computer lab
key, but she gave me the wrong key by mistake and kept
the other one. I’m looking for her too. If you find her,send
her to me,” Sir said to Siddharth.
“Okay, thanks, Sir,” Siddharth replied.
“Shweta did this intentionally, I need to find her as soon
as possible. Wait a second, what if Ayaan is locked in the
computer lab?” Siddharth thought seriously.
Siddharth reached the computer lab. Shweta was standingoutside.
“Shweta, you here?” Siddharth asked her.
“You’re looking for this key, Siddharth? But you won’t
find it. Sorry, but your friend won’t be going on the trip
today,” Shweta said, smirking.
“But I’m going, aren’t I? I’m your friend too,” Shweta
replied with cunning.
“Now I understand, first you told Darsh that Computer Sir
was calling him and tricked him into locking him here.
Then, when Computer Sir saw the key in your hands, you
gave him the wrong one. Truly, your plan was clever, but
you forgot that I’m also in this game.”
At that moment, a loud slap echoed. It was Siddharth
slapping Shweta and snatching the key from her. “You
raised your hand on a girl?” Shweta said, crying.
“That’s how the world works, I’ve learned from the
world. Whether it’s a boy or a girl, if they cross their
limits, they’ll get slapped. Now before I expose the truth,
leave, or else you won’t be going on the trip,” Siddharth
replied with swagger and attitude.
Then, Siddharth pulled Darsh out of the computer lab and
scolded him for being foolish enough to fall into anyone’s
tricks. After that, he returned the computer lab key to
Computer Sir.Now, the trip was ready to depart, and the eight of them
left. “Oh man Aarav, in the end, Siddharth saved him
again!” Ashish said quietly to Aarav.
“No problem, Ashish! I’ll tell them everything on the
trip,” they all had reached Shimla. They all stayed in a
room at White Lotus Hotel in the Summer Hill area.
Aarav and Ashish shared a room.
“Do you know, Ashish? There are many haunted places
around here,” Arav said to Ashish. “Then why are you
telling me?”
“I have a plan for revenge. You go and call everyone,”
Arav replied. All eight people had gathered in Arav and
Ashish’s room. “Tell us, Arav, why did you call us here?”
Akash asked. “Guys, Guys, Guys! Sit down, I have a
plan,” Arav told everyone. “So, what’s the plan now?”
Vikramaditya asked. “Let’s go, Akash. Why are we
sitting with this nonsense?” Vikramaditya told Akash.
“Hey, wait, where are you going?” Siddharth said to
Vikramaditya. “Arav, tell us, what’s your plan?”
Vikramaditya asked Arav. “Now this is the way to talk,”
Arav replied. “So listen, everyone, why don’t we have a
bravery test? It’s been three days since we came here, and
we’ve already explored many places. Now, only two days
are left for our trip. I’ve found a very interesting place.
Behind this hotel, if we walk a little, there’s a forest, and
after walking further, there’s an old ruin. It was probably
a church before. Why don’t we throw a party at that place?
It’s a beautiful place, and you all will definitely like it.
Just think about it, we’ll party there at 1:00 AM, and I’lltake care of the whole party. But there will be one
condition. The condition is that I and Ashish will reach
the ruin at 6:00 PM, and the six of you will have to reach
the ruin one by one at midnight. But yes, as soon as one
goes, the second must go 10 minutes later, and then the
third, 10 minutes after the second. Just like this, all seven
of you will have to arrive. The first three people to reach
the ruin will pass the test, and the others will have to do
two tasks as punishment. First, they will have to complete
every assignment of ours for each subject. Second, they
will have to spend the whole night in the ruin after we
leave. How do you like the plan?” Arav explained to
everyone. “I like it,” Siddharth said. “Look, I know most
of you will refuse to play this game or test, but this is the
right chance to prove yourselves. You’ll either have the
tag of bravery or cowardice. And if any of you refuse to
play, I know all your school’s secrets about the rules
you’ve broken in the last month, and I’ll tell Principal Sir.
You know what you’ve done, right?” Arav threatened
everyone. “Yes, yes, we agree,” Shweta said. “We all
agree,” everyone replied. The day passed. Arav and
Ashish called everyone and told them they had reached
the ruin. Now it was the turn of the other six. It was 12:00
midnight. “I’m scared, I don’t think I can make it to the
ruin,” Ayesha said. Vikramaditya went first, and exactly
10 minutes later, Akash went, then Shweta, Siddharth,
Ayesha, and finally Darsh. Now everyone was in the
forest, walking forward when a scream echoed, and it
seemed like Ayesha’s scream. “That sounded like
Ayesha, and she was supposed to come right after me.
That means she was behind me. There are many paths
here. We have to follow the small map that was given tous,” Siddharth thought to himself. A short while later,
another scream was heard, and this time it was Akash’s.
Hearing the screams of two people, everyone was
shocked, and Darsh, who was last, was now terrified. His
eyes were filled with fear, and he was so scared that he
started crying. An hour had passed, but the forest seemed
endless. Another scream was heard, this time from
Shweta. Now Siddharth understood that something was
wrong. After hearing this scream, Darsh turned back. But
Siddharth kept moving forward, and soon, he saw
someone standing ahead. As he approached, he realized it
was none other than Vikramaditya. “You here? I thought
you’d already reached by now,” Siddharth said softly.
“Oh, Siddharth, look here, this is a cemetery. Now listen
carefully. This is the place I read about. I don’t remember
the exact name, but it’s one of the best haunted places. We
have to save our friends somehow and get out of here. We
need to stay together now, because you and I both know
who we are. Though we don’t get along, we’re brothers.
And now we need to be together one last time,”
Vikramaditya explained to him calmly about the place
and said they needed to be united. Siddharth and
Vikramaditya are brothers. But no one knows about this,
even though they study together at school. Meanwhile,
Darsh somehow made it back to the hotel. As he was
about to go to his room, he noticed voices coming from
Arav and Ashish’s room. He pressed his ear against the
door and listened. He heard Arav and Ashish talking.
“See, Ashish, I told you I’d get my revenge on them, and
I’ve trapped them in such a place that they’ll probably
never return,” Arav said, laughing. Just then, Darsh
entered the room. “You did wrong, Arav,” Darsh yelledat Arav. “I’ll tell everything to Raghavendra sir.” Darsh
threatened them again. “You’ll tell him when you leave
this room,” Ashish said, laughing at Darsh. At that
moment, both Arav and Ashish lunged at Darsh. But
Darsh was not the same anymore. He looked completely
different. He was so strong that he beat both of them and
pulled out a rope from his pocket. He tied them both up
and made them sit on a chair. “What did you think? That
you could defeat me? I’ve always been this strong. I was
just quiet and watching everything. I knew you were in
the hotel. That’s why I came to finish you both. Our
thoughts are very similar, you know how? To kill
Siddharth,” Darsh said. Arav and Ashish were confused
and terrified at the way Darsh was speaking. “But
Siddharth is your friend, why do you want to kill him?
What nonsense are you talking?” Arav asked. “Ha-ha-ha-
ha,” Darsh laughed loudly like an evil laugh. Then he
revealed the truth. “I’ve always wanted to kill Siddharth
and Vikramaditya. You probably don’t know, but they are
brothers. “What?” Arav and Ashish both yelled loudly.
“Yes, you don’t need to scream. No one else knows the
truth, but me. It’s a long story, but ever since I met
Siddharth and Vikramaditya, they’ve never known me.
But they will now. I need to settle some old scores with
them. I need revenge. That’s why I planned everything
from the start. Giving the principal the idea of the Shimla
trip was also my idea. I became Siddharth’s close friend
from the beginning so that he’d do anything for me. After
all, Siddharth and Vikramaditya don’t get along, they hate
each other. That’s why I became Siddharth’s close friend.
I want revenge on both of them. Now the time has come
to kill Siddharth and Vikramaditya, and I’ll go deceiveSiddharth after dealing with you both.”
“Hey, wait a second, I have a good idea. I will definitely
kill you, but maybe not right now. You guys will also be
part of my plan,” Darsh said thoughtfully.
“But why do you want to kill Siddharth and
Vikramaditya?” Aarav asked.
“You don’t need to know all that. But if you’re so eager
to know, I’ll tell you when I kill you,” Darsh said,
frightening both of them.
“Now listen carefully, if you do as I say, I can assure you
that I might not kill you. So here’s my plan...” Darsh
explained his plan to both of them and asked them to come
along into the same forest.
Ayesha, and Akash? Ashish said, “But that’s a haunted
place, and there are ghosts there. Haven’t you heard the
screams of Shweta, trembling. Darsh replied, “You fool,
there are no ghosts there. And the person who told Aarav
that it’s a haunted place, that person was none other than
me. Remember, black hoodie, white round cap. And the
screams of Ayesha and Shweta were because I hit Ayesha,
Akash, and Shweta on the back of their heads with a
strong stick. Ayesha was in front of me and Shweta was
behind Akash. I know every corner and shortcut of this
forest, so I easily knocked these three unconscious to
convince Siddharth and Vikramaditya that something
strange is going on here. Now you two quickly follow me,
the game that started here, now it will endhere.” Darsh
said and took both of them into the forest. Meanwhile,Siddharth and Vikramaditya were separately searching
for the others. Suddenly, Akash reaches Vikramaditya
and says, “Vikramaditya, hurry up, Ayesha and Shweta
are lying unconscious there.”
“But are you okay, my brother? I heard your scream a
while ago,” Vikramaditya asked Akash.
“I screamed because someone hit me with a stick from
behind and then I fell unconscious. When I opened my
eyes, I saw you going far away, so I came to you,” Akash
explained everything to Vikramaditya.”Behind you? But
Shweta, Siddharth, and the others were behind Akash.
And before Akash screamed, I heard Shweta scream,”
Vikramaditya thought to himself.
After some time, Vikramaditya and Akash reached the
bodies of Shweta and Ayesha. Blood was coming from
the back of their heads, as if someone had hit them with a
stick from behind, just like you probably did to me,”
Vikramaditya said to Akash.
At that moment, Akash fell unconscious. When
Vikramaditya turned around, he saw that Akash was lying
unconscious on the ground, and Darsh was standing there
with a stick. “So my suspicion was correct, it was you,
Darsh!” Vikramaditya said loudly.
“Yes, it was me, but now it’s your turn,” Darsh said and
rushed towards Vikramaditya. There was a fierce struggle
between the two. But then Ashish and Aarav arrived, and
Aarav hit Darsh on the head with a stick.” And Darsh fellunconscious. At that moment, Siddharth arrived and saw
Aarav hitting Darsh with the stick.
“As you said, Vikramaditya, I did exactly what you asked.
I knocked everyone unconscious and now it’s your enemy
Siddharth’s turn. After that, we will throw everyone into
the pit behind the forest,” Aarav said to Vikramaditya.
“What nonsense are you talking? When did I say that?”
Vikramaditya asked Aarav, confused. Siddharth
overheard all of this. “I knew you wouldn’t change,
Vikramaditya. You did wrong,” Siddharth said angrily to
Vikramaditya. And then a fierce battle broke out between
the two. Vikramaditya kept telling Siddharth, “I didn’t kill
anyone, it was all done by your dear friend Darsh!”
But Siddharth was too angry and didn’t listen to him.
After a while, someone hit Siddharth and Vikramaditya
from behind with a stick, and both fell unconscious. The
one who hit them was neither Aarav nor Ashish, but Darsh
and Akash.
“Darsh, you hit them, I understand that. But why did
Akash do it when he was unconscious?” Ashish asked
Darsh, shocked.” Because we are brothers, and this whole
game was planned by us. Even Ayesha and Shweta, I
knocked Ayesha out, and Akash knocked Shweta out. To
make Siddharth and Vikramaditya believe that something
strange is going on, Akash deliberately screamed. Then
Akash pretended to be unconscious behind Vikramaditya
so that Vikramaditya’s suspicion would be confirmed.Then you two did your job very well. But you forgot that
I’m Darsh. You shouldn’t have trusted me,” Darsh said.
As soon as Darsh finished speaking, Akash hit both of
them with sticks on the back of their heads and knocked
them unconscious. It had been a long time before
Siddharth regained consciousness. He found himself
hanging from a tree branch, with Darsh and Akash, along
with everyone else, also hanging from tree branches.
Below was a deep pit.
“Does anything come to your mind, Siddharth Dev?”
Akash asked.
“Yes, this is the same place, the same time, and what
happened six years ago?” Akash asked again.
Then Siddharth saw Darsh.
“Why did you betray me, Darsh?” Siddharth asked.
“When did I betray you? You betrayed Vikramaditya,”
Darsh replied cleverly. After a while, everyone regained
consciousness, and everyone was terrified.
“Forgive me, Vikramaditya,” Siddharth said, apologizing
to Vikramaditya.
“Don’t apologize, Siddharth. It’s too late now,”
Vikramaditya replied.
“This is your personal matter, so why have you tied us totree branches? Whatever you say, we will do it. But let me
and Ayesha go,” Shweta said sweetly to Darsh, trying to
trap him in her words.
“Oh-ho, what did you think? That I would fall for your
words? I didn’t fall for it last time either. It was just a plan.
But fine, I’ll let you go. I’m not interested in anything,
especially not in you,” Darsh replied to Shweta with
attitude.
Then Darsh cut the ropes of Shweta and Ayesha, and both
of them fell into the pit. “There, I let you go.
Now does anyone else have a complaint?” Darsh said,
laughing.
“This is what you call sigma,” Ashish said softly to Aarav.
“Why are you two doing this?” Vikramaditya asked Darsh
and Akash. “Do you really not know anything? What did
you do to us six years ago? We could have finished you
off back then, but we wanted to take revenge slowly,”
Akash said angrily.
At that moment, Siddharth started laughing loudly, like a
demon. Everyone got scared hearing his laugh. “You may
be the creator of this game, but I am the one who will
change the game. Did you think, Akash and Darsh, that I
didn’t know? I knew from the beginning that you two are
brothers. And Darsh, you were pretending to be weak and
pretending to be my friend. Your acting was good, but you
forgot I’m a born actor. Actually, I have been controllingthis game until now. I was just waiting for this moment,”
Siddharth said.
Then, in one swift motion, he pulled out a knife, which he
had stolen from the hotel, and freed everyone. After that,
a fierce battle broke out between Siddharth and Darsh,
and Vikramaditya and Akash. No one was ready to give
up. Taking advantage of the situation, Aarav and Ashish
ran away. Vikramaditya was now exhausted, and Akash
took advantage of this and stabbed him in the chest with
the knife. Seeing this, Siddharth couldn’t stop himself and
pushed Darsh away, rushing toward Vikramaditya. But
before Siddharth could reach him, Akash pushed
Vikramaditya into the pit.
Siddharth screamed loudly. As he ran toward Akash for
revenge, Darsh stabbed him in the back with a knife. Then
both brothers pushed Siddharth into the pit.
As Siddharth fell, he said, “This game, you started it six
years ago in this very place, and I will finish it here. Wait
for me. I will return and give you the most tragic death in
this universe.” These were his last words before he fell
into the pit. Darsh and Akash started laughing.
From behind a tree, Aarav and Ashish, who were hiding,
had seen everything. Tears filled their eyes. Soon, Darsh
and Akash had left the place. Now, only Aarav and Ashish
remained there.
The story continues!