Aarav's hands ached from gripping the wheel too tightly. The road blurred beneath him, but no matter how far he drove, the highway refused to end. The signs he passed—mile markers, battered boards—seemed to repeat themselves, each whispering the same message in silence:
You cannot escape.
His eyelids burned from exhaustion. He had to rest, had to breathe, but the thought of stopping filled him with dread. Each time he blinked, he saw her—the bride—her veil dragging, her lips curled into that terrible smile.
Finally, the radio crackled to life.
Static at first, then a woman's voice, soft and trembling.
"If you hear this… turn back. Don't follow the highway…"
Aarav froze, staring at the radio. He hadn't touched it. The dial hadn't moved. The car's system wasn't even on.
The voice grew stronger, desperate.
"She was left here… waiting… a promise broken. Her groom never came. He fled, leaving her in the night. She wandered the road, searching. And when dawn broke—"
The voice choked, breaking into sobs. Aarav's knuckles turned white on the wheel.
"They found her body at Mile Marker 66. Still in her dress. Still clutching her chain. The chain her groom swore he'd bind their lives with."
Aarav's stomach twisted. His mind flashed to the rusted chain he had seen swinging in her hand.
The voice continued, sharper now, almost accusing.
"And now she binds others. Anyone who takes the road on the night she died. She waits for a groom who will never come… but she always finds a replacement."
The static roared, drowning the voice. Aarav slammed the radio off, his chest heaving. His reflection in the windshield stared back at him, pale and haunted.
His phone buzzed suddenly in the seat beside him. With shaking hands, he picked it up. A notification blinked across the cracked screen.
New Message – Unknown Number.
He opened it.
"Aarav. Stop running. Come to Mile Marker 66. Finish what he could not."
A picture followed. His car. Taken from behind. And in the back seat, half-shrouded in darkness, the bride sat waiting.
The phone slipped from his fingers, clattering onto the floor. His breath came in ragged bursts.
"No… no, this can't be real…" he muttered, gripping his hair. His vision blurred, panic swelling until he could barely see the road.
Then, without warning, the car jerked violently. The steering wheel twisted in his hands as though yanked by invisible force. The tires screeched, pulling him toward the roadside.
A sign loomed in the glare of his headlights:
Mile Marker 66.
The car shuddered to a halt. The air was thick, suffocating. Aarav forced himself to step out, his legs trembling beneath him.
The ground felt wrong here, colder, as if the earth itself remembered what had been buried in it.
The road ahead stretched into darkness, but at the edge of his vision, a shape moved. The bride emerged from the shadows, veil billowing though the night was still. The chain in her hand rattled, dragging across the asphalt with a sound that clawed at his ears.
Her hollow eyes fixed on him.
"You came back… my groom."
Aarav's knees buckled. "I'm not—" His voice cracked. "I'm not him. I'm not the one who left you!"
The bride tilted her head. Her lips parted, and a voice that wasn't hers spilled out—a man's voice, trembling, desperate.
"I'll meet you there, I swear it. At midnight, I'll bind us with the chain. We'll never part."
The words twisted into laughter, cruel and sharp.
The bride shrieked, a sound that split the night, and the air turned icy. She raised the chain high, and shadows surged around her, figures flickering in and out of existence—other travelers, other souls she had bound before him. Their eyes were hollow, their faces twisted in agony, mouths moving in silent screams.
Aarav staggered back, but his feet felt heavy, glued to the ground. The chain clinked closer, dragging toward him.
Her whisper crawled into his ears.
"If you won't come willingly… then I'll make you mine."
The shadows surged forward, icy hands grasping at his arms, his throat, his legs. Aarav thrashed, screaming, but their grip was unrelenting. His vision dimmed, suffocating.
Then, in a desperate flash of instinct, he remembered the words from the radio. She was waiting for a promise… broken.
His voice tore from his throat, raw. "He lied to you! He ran away! You're punishing the wrong people!"
The bride froze. The shadows halted, their grip loosening just slightly.
Her veil fluttered as she turned her head slowly, eyes narrowing, hollow sockets filling with a faint glimmer of pain.
For the first time, she looked less like a monster… and more like a woman who had been betrayed.
The chain slackened. The shadows trembled.
Aarav gasped for breath, seizing the moment. "You deserve the truth. Not this. Not… me."
The bride's lips quivered. For an instant, the rage flickered into sorrow. The figures behind her moaned softly, as if echoing her grief.
Then her face twisted again. The sorrow snapped back into fury, sharper than before.
"If he lied… then all men lie. And all will pay."
The chain lashed out, wrapping around Aarav's wrist, burning ice searing into his flesh. He screamed as the world dissolved into darkness.