⏳ Four Months Later
Tanishka was gone.
Her death—captured on her DSLR in haunting clarity—and Aarvika's broken screams still lived, not in memory, but in a police archive file marked: Unsolved. Paranormal. Restricted Access.
But for Aarvika, the past refused to rest.
Guilt hollowed her.
Sleep evaded her.
And sometimes—when the night turned heavy—she heard it, like a whisper trapped inside her blood:
> "You will bring me back… one day."
Tanishka's last words.
---
📍 Return to Kolakham
For the final time, Aarvika returned to Kolakham.
The cursed mountains where it all began.
She carried only three things:
Tanishka's DSLR
The blood-stained page from the ritual
And an ache that no logic could silence.
Time: 2:45 a.m.
There was no moon.
Only fog. And darkness that felt… aware.
She walked alone to the old sacrificial site—Adhwan Tala.
She stepped inside the forgotten ritual circle, where the rocks still carried markings from that night.
And then… she began to whisper a forbidden chant.
---
✶ The Mantra (Translated) ✶
> "Om Hreem Kalika Chamundaay BhadraKaali in Human Form…"
(A call to the dark mother, goddess of death and war…)
---
The trees froze.
The wind died.
The silence… turned sentient.
And then—
From behind her, a voice she knew as well as her own, breathed:
> "You came… for me?"
Aarvika turned.
No one.
But on the wet ground—footprints.
Deep. Bare. Fresh.
As if someone had just been standing behind her…
---
🎥 Last Recording
Aarvika lifted the DSLR, hit record, and spoke softly:
> "If anything happens to me tonight… let it be known—
I'm no longer just Aarvika.
I'm the witness.
I'm the opening between worlds.
If I vanish… if I lose myself…
just know… I tried."
The camera began to shake violently.
Shadows moved.
Thunder cracked across the sky.
And then… the footage ends.
No sound. No scream. Just… silence.
---
📼 Four Days Later
The Kolakham police found:
An abandoned DSLR camera
Aarvika's torn backpack
No body.
Only one thing remained etched in the dirt beside the ritual circle:
> "She opened it."
---
🎬 Final Scene (Flashback Style)
A flicker of static. Then…
Aarvika, smiling directly into the camera.
But not her smile.
Not her eyes.
Behind her, a voice—Aarush's voice—low, cold, and triumphant:
> "She was never your friend, Tanishka.
She brought you here.
And now…
she is us."
---
📸 Last Image
A single frame.
Captured from a forest trail cam.
Aarvika standing at the edge of a cliff.
Her eyes pure white.
A twisted smile on her lips.
And behind her… a shadowy figure merging with her back.
Then, the frame darkens.
> "This isn't the end…
It's just the next doorway."
---
🔚 [THE END]
✒️ Written by Koushambi Debnath