Chapter 1: The Counting Child
Mehul learned to count before he learned to speak properly.
Not numbers.
Breaths.
He sat very still when people slept. His small chest barely moved as his lips shaped silent counts. When someone stirred, Mehul stopped immediately, eyes sharp, like an animal that knew when not to be seen.
Aarav thought it was just a child's habit.
Until Mehul corrected him once.
"No," Mehul said calmly. "You skipped one."
Aarav laughed nervously.
He hadn't been counting at all.
Chapter 2: The Tunnel Colony
They lived beside an abandoned railway tunnel—Tunnel 6.
No trains passed through it anymore, but warm air still breathed out of it at night, carrying the smell of rust and old things left behind.
People died often in the colony.
Quiet deaths.
No screams. No struggle. Just people not waking up.
The doctors called it coincidence.
Mehul called it practice.
Chapter 3: Mother's Hands
Kavita, Aarav's mother, worked as a night nurse.
She began coming home exhausted, her hands trembling while washing dishes.
"Patients don't fight anymore," she said once, staring at the sink.
"They just… stop."
That night, Aarav noticed something dark under Mehul's fingernails.
Dried blood.
Too old to be fresh.
Too clean to be accidental.
Chapter 4: The Dog
A stray dog slept near their door every night.
One morning, Aarav found Mehul crouched beside it, eyes focused, lips moving.
The dog exhaled.
Didn't inhale again.
Mehul sighed—disappointed.
"He gave up too early," Mehul said. "I was hoping for forty."
Aarav threw up behind the water tank.
Chapter 5: The Notebook
The notebook was hidden under Mehul's pillow.
No drawings. No schoolwork.
Just pages of tallies.
Each page had a name.
Each name had a number.
Aarav flipped faster, heart racing.
Neighbors. Patients from the hospital. The stray dog.
Then—
AARAV – 37 (ESTIMATE)
The page was not crossed out.
Chapter 6: What Mehul Really Did
Mehul didn't suffocate.
He didn't strangle.
He simply waited.
A small weight on the chest. A soft hand near the mouth. Just enough to make breathing harder.
People did the rest themselves.
"The body gives up before the mind," Mehul explained.
"I like watching the moment they agree."
Aarav realized then—
Mehul wasn't learning.
He was refining.
Chapter 7: The Nurse Who Didn't Wake Up
Kavita collapsed during her shift.
No struggle. No alarm.
When Aarav reached the hospital, Mehul was sitting outside the ICU, counting softly.
"She was strong," Mehul said. "Thirty-nine."
Kavita never woke up.
The doctor blamed stress.
Aarav blamed himself for every night he didn't lock the door.
Chapter 8: The New Rule
That night, Aarav tried to leave.
Mehul blocked the door.
"You can't," he said gently.
"If you go, I'll have to finish without you."
Aarav stared at the child's face and understood the rule:
Mehul couldn't move on alone.
He needed someone older.
Someone to teach him longer counts.
Chapter 9: The First Lesson
Mehul pressed Aarav down gently.
Not cruel.
Almost loving.
"Relax," Mehul whispered. "Struggling changes everything."
Aarav felt the room narrowing, breath shortening.
Then—
Mehul stopped.
"Not yet," he said. "You're still useful."
Chapter 10: Becoming the Assistant
Weeks passed.
People kept dying.
Aarav learned how much pressure was enough.
How fear sped breathing.
How hope slowed it.
Mehul watched closely.
Corrected him.
Praised him.
"You're better than me," Mehul said once. "Adults last longer with you."
Aarav stopped dreaming.
Stopped feeling sick.
Started counting without meaning to.
Chapter 11: Moving On
One morning, social services came.
Mehul was adopted.
A new family. A better area.
Before leaving, Mehul hugged Aarav.
"You'll keep the notebook," he said. "I'll start a new one."
Aarav nodded.
That night, alone, Aarav counted his own breaths.
Thirty-six.
Thirty-seven.
He smiled.
Final chapter
: The Sound You Don't Hear
In the tunnel colony, people still die quietly.
In another city, a small boy counts beside unfamiliar beds.
And sometimes, if you wake up suddenly at night and feel pressure on your chest—
Don't panic.
That only shortens the count.