Arav didn't remember walking out of the room.
One moment he was staring at the black vein under Rafi's skin,
and the next he was moving through the silent hospital corridors,
his steps too light, too quiet — like the floor didn't fully register his weight.
Rafi walked beside him, hands in his hair, clearly stressed.
"Bro, you're not listening. Two days. You vanished. Police were called. Aisha hasn't slept. And you— you're acting like a ghost."
Arav didn't answer.
His eyes stayed fixed on the shadows hugging the wall.
They shifted whenever he blinked — like something crawled just behind the edge of vision, always one step late.
The hallway lights flickered.
Rafi stopped. "See? Power's been unstable since morning. The hospital's old—"
"No," Arav whispered.
"It's following me."
Rafi frowned. "Who?"
Arav swallowed. "Not who. What."
Rafi stared at him like he was breaking apart.
Arav couldn't blame him — because that's exactly what he felt like.
His mind wasn't cracked… it was overwritten.
The heartbeat started again.
Not his.
Not human.
Thump-thump.
THUMP.
The Pulse.
Arav pressed a shaking hand against his temple. "Rafi… listen carefully. If you see something that looks like me—"
"What—?"
"—it's not me."
Before Rafi could react, a scream erupted from the far end of the corridor.
A woman's scream.
Sharp.
Tearing.
Cut short.
Rafi jolted. "What the hell—?"
Arav didn't hesitate. He ran.
His footsteps echoed unnaturally, like they were doubled — delayed by a half-second. The Pulse was syncing with the world, aligning itself with time, space, and breath.
The corridor turned left sharply.
Arav skidded around the corner—
And froze.
At the far end, under a flickering ceiling light, stood a woman in a hospital gown. Back facing him. Head tilted to one side, hair covering most of her face.
Her body was trembling.
No—
Vibrating.
Like something inside her was trying to escape through her skin.
Rafi whispered behind him, "Bro… something's wrong with her neck…"
It wasn't wrong.
It was dislocated.
Hanging at an impossible angle like a broken puppet.
Arav took a slow step forward.
"Ma'am… are you okay?"
The woman stopped shaking.
The entire hallway went dead silent.
Then, with a slow, tearing movement, she twisted her head fully backward — snapping bones and skin like fragile branches.
A smile split across her face — wide, too wide.
And she spoke in Arav's voice.
"You didn't wake up."
Rafi stumbled back in horror. "Arav— WHAT THE—"
But Arav didn't move.
Because the woman's eyes weren't her own.
They were his.
Blackened, hollow, reflecting nothing.
His reflection had found a body.
A vessel.
The Pulse was learning to imitate life.
The woman took one stiff step toward them.
Then another.
Her limbs bent wrong, like she didn't know how joints worked.
Arav whispered, "Stay behind me."
"No sh*t I'm behind you!" Rafi hissed, shaking.
The creature cocked its broken head.
"You shouldn't have left. Rooms keep you. Hallways take you."
The lights flickered again — and the creature VANISHED.
Rafi gasped. "Where did she—?"
THUMP.
Arav spun.
Behind them.
Behind Rafi.
The creature crawled out from under a metal gurney, upside down, its limbs bending like wet ropes. It lunged toward Rafi with a sudden, animalistic snap.
Arav reacted before thinking — grabbing a loose metal pole from the tray beside him and swinging it down with full force.
The pole struck the creature's jaw —
but instead of breaking, the jaw unhinged, stretching like melting wax.
It shrieked — no, Arav shrieked — his own voice thrown back at him in distortion.
Rafi stumbled away. "Bro RUN—"
The lights went out.
Pitch-black.
Except for two floating, pulsating dots in the dark.
Eyes.
Arav grabbed Rafi's wrist and sprinted blindly down the corridor.
The ground around them vibrated with the Pulse's rhythm.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
A door appeared ahead — the EXIT sign buzzing faintly.
Arav pushed Rafi through first —
then slammed it shut behind them.
The creature's voice whispered from the other side of the door.
Close.
Too close.
"You can leave the hospital, Arav.
But you will carry the room with you."
The door handle twisted violently.
Arav backed away, breathing hard, pulling Rafi with him.
Rafi clutched his chest. "Bro… what the hell was that? That wasn't a person. That wasn't—"
"It was me," Arav whispered.
And the worst part?
He wasn't wrong.