Inner peace veiled by a flood of sobs.
A shroud of sorrow draped across Asha's face.
As if her entire world had crumbled.
Eyes glistening, her voice thick with heaviness.
Father lifted the basket from the storeroom.
The black form lying silent and still within the cloth.
Everyone moved outside toward the garden.
Beneath the shade of an old tree in the corner, Father began digging.
The sound of shifting soil echoed sharply in the stillness.
As Father reached out to lay the pup into the earth's embrace, Asha's trembling voice rang out.
"Papa... can I touch him one last time?"
Tears perched on her lashes, ready to spill down her cheeks.
A silent nod of consent from Father.
Asha leaned down, resting her fingers on the cold, rigid mass.
The touch felt icy, bone-chilling.
As she felt it, a bolt of triumph sparked in a dark corner of her mind.
Yet her tongue remained bound by silence.
"Papa... let him sleep now," she whispered through a choked throat.
Slowly, the soil veiled the dark silhouette.
"Papa, can we plant this small sapling over his grave?"
Asha asked, picking up a tiny plant nearby.
Father nodded, rooting the sapling into the fresh earth.
A few drops of water deepened the soil's hue.
Mother stepped forward, anchoring her hands on Asha's shoulders.
"Beta, if you stay home, the memories will only haunt you."
"Go to school; being with friends will offer some distraction."
"But Mummy... it's already so late," Asha gestured toward the ticking clock.
"Don't worry, I'll call the school and explain everything," Father assured her.
"It's better than staying here in grief. Otherwise, this sorrow will consume you."
Asha gave a slow, deliberate nod.
She cast one final glance toward the fresh grave.
Her fear now lay buried deep underground.
"Yes Mummy, Papa... I'll go," a calculated obedience in Asha's words.
She turned toward the dining table and slung her bag over her shoulder.
"I'm leaving now, or it'll get even later."
The moment her shoes crossed the threshold and touched the garden soil.
An icy smirk flickered across Asha's face.
No regret for the secret buried behind her, only a sense of profound relief.
The path to school felt quieter than ever today.
Passing through those deserted lanes, not a single shred of fear remained in her heart.
As the school building drew near, a new resonance and confidence filled her strides.
At the main gate stood the teacher on duty.
Usually wielding the sword of discipline, but today, he stood relaxed.
Seeing Asha, he swung the heavy iron gate open with respect.
No bag checks, no uniform inspections today.
"Beta, stay strong," an unwanted sympathy in the teacher's tone.
"He was just an animal, and how long do they live anyway?"
"Don't worry, wherever he is, he's at peace."
The teacher's words tickled something inside Asha.
Yet she maintained that sculpted mask of grief.
"I already received your father's call. He explained the situation at home."
"Go on, head to your class; no one will stop you."
Unchecked and unbothered, Asha advanced toward the long school corridor.
The same corridor where death had performed its naked dance yesterday.
The silent thud of her shoes and her shadow flickering against the walls.
Her classroom was now only a few paces away.
Right at the mouth of that very hallway.
Calculated confidence faltered at the classroom threshold.
Silence reigned within.
Asha lifted her gaze, requesting in a low voice, "Madam... may I come in?"
The teacher nodded with a faint smile.
But as Asha's eyes swept toward that dark corner of the room.
The blood in her veins seemed to crystallize.
That same last bench. That same haunted spot.
There, seated on that very bench, was the stranger girl once again.
Her face wore that same static, lifeless, soul-chilling smile.
Her eyelashes remained frozen like stone.
Asha's knees buckled.
A frigid shiver raced down her spine, paralyzing her entire frame.
With a violent thud, she collapsed onto the floor.
The air was sucked out of her lungs; her throat went bone-dry.
With wide, hollow eyes, she could do nothing but stare at that corner.
Her fists clenched so tightly that her nails began to pierce the flesh of her palms.
Her mind went numb, her limbs turning rigid as timber.
The surrounding noise, the teacher's voice, the students' whispers—
Everything dissolved into a blurred hum.
Her entire world was now condensed around that figure on the back bench.
Who had returned from the jaws of death to reclaim her once more.
Seeing Asha collapse, Nisha sprang from her seat like a lightning bolt.
Rushing out without permission, she reached her friend's side.
"Asha! Are you okay?"
The teacher's sharp voice echoed, "Nisha! What is this insolence?"
"Why did you run out without asking?"
Then, her gaze fixed on Asha, lying motionless on the floor.
"Asha... what happened to you?"
Asha's tongue felt locked.
No reply for Nisha's concern, nor for the teacher's query.
Just then, the gate-keeper teacher arrived and clarified the situation.
Hearing of the tragedy at home, Nisha's face fell.
She explained to the teacher, "Ma'am, she's likely in deep shock."
"Asha has been raising Shadow since the moment he was born."
"Loving him more than her own life."
"The grief of losing him must be overwhelming her mind."
The teacher nodded in sympathy and pressed no further.
But inside Asha's mind, a terrifying whirlwind of memories erupted.
Behind her closed eyelids, the scene from yesterday after school raced like a horror film.
The silence of the empty classrooms... that stranger girl... that bloodcurdling chase.
She remembered throwing the stone in desperation.
And then that sharp metal strip that severed the girl's leg from her body.
Her soul shuddered thinking how that girl, dragging her mangled limb.
Scuttled toward her on all fours like a beast.
Then, the monstrous image of 'Shadow.'
His tiny jaw suddenly splitting into four grotesque segments.
The sickening crunch of bones.
Followed by that massive, visceral tongue that whipped out like a serpent.
Coiled around the crawling girl, and swallowed her whole in the blink of an eye.
Everything gone in a single bite.
Asha slowly opened her eyes.
The same girl.
The same face she had seen die and be devoured with her own eyes last evening.
She sat there still, her cold smile piercing through Asha's very soul.
END....