That was the first thing Aadhira Mehra felt when consciousness slowly returned.
A sharp, unbearable pain throbbed through her head while her entire body felt heavy and numb. For several seconds, everything around her remained blurred. Her breathing was uneven. The faint smell of smoke, dust, and shattered glass filled the air inside the car.
Somewhere far away, insects chirped through the darkness of the night.
Aadhira blinked slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Her vision gradually began to clear.
The dashboard lights flickered weakly before dying again. The windshield in front of her was cracked badly, tiny pieces of glass scattered across the seats and floor. The front portion of the car had been completely crushed against the massive tree.
For a moment, she simply sat there, trying to understand what had happened.
Then the memory hit her instantly.
The highway.
The darkness.
The truck.
The crash.
Aadhira inhaled sharply and immediately regretted it as pain shot through her forehead.
“Damn…”
Her voice came out weak.
She lifted her trembling hand toward her head and froze the moment her fingers touched something wet.
Blood.
A deep cut near her forehead had stained the side of her face and neck.
For the first time in years, genuine panic flickered through her chest.
But only for a second.
Because Aadhira Mehra was not someone who broke down easily.
She closed her eyes briefly, forcing herself to breathe properly.
Think first. Panic later.
Slowly, painfully, she unfastened her seatbelt and checked the movement of her arms and legs. Bruised. Sore. But nothing seemed broken.
Lucky.
Very lucky.
The driver-side door protested loudly when she pushed it open, metal scraping harshly in the silence of the forest. Cold night air immediately hit her face as she stumbled out of the car.
The world outside was darker than she expected.
No highway lights.
No passing vehicles.
No distant buildings.
Nothing.
Only endless darkness surrounding the forest road.
Aadhira steadied herself against the damaged car and looked around carefully. Tall trees surrounded the area from every direction, their shadows stretching unnaturally beneath the weak moonlight.
The silence felt wrong.
Too deep.
Too empty.
She quickly moved toward the backseat and grabbed her handbag and laptop case. Thankfully, both were untouched. Her phone had fallen beneath the passenger seat during the crash, but after searching for almost a minute, she finally found it.
The screen was cracked slightly at the corner.
Still working.
“Thank God,” she whispered under her breath.
The battery percentage flashed weakly.
Three percent.
Of course.
Thankfully, Aadhira always carried emergency chargers and power banks during business trips. One habit her management team constantly teased her about had suddenly become the only useful thing tonight.
She pulled the charger from her bag immediately and connected the phone.
No signal.
Not even a single bar.
Her expression hardened.
“This cannot be happening.”
She stepped farther from the car, lifting the phone higher instinctively as if the signal would magically appear.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
A cold breeze moved through the trees, carrying an unsettling silence with it.
Aadhira returned to the car and opened the emergency kit stored carefully beneath the seat. Her hands were slightly shaking now—not from fear alone, but from exhaustion and blood loss.
She cleaned the wound on her forehead with bottled water before pressing antiseptic against the cut.
The sting made her jaw tighten painfully.
“Perfect,” she muttered sarcastically.
After wrapping a bandage around her forehead as properly as possible, she leaned back against the side of the damaged vehicle and drank several mouthfuls of water slowly.
The digital watch on her wrist displayed the time.
3:07 AM.
She had been unconscious for almost four hours.
The realization made her stomach twist.
Nobody knew where she was.
Her team was still at the hotel.
Her mother probably assumed the call disconnected because of network issues.
And somewhere on this empty highway road, surrounded by darkness and forest, Aadhira Mehra was completely alone.
For the first time in a very long time, control had slipped entirely out of her hands.
And she hated it.
That was the first thing Aadhira Mehra felt when consciousness slowly returned.
A sharp, unbearable pain throbbed through her head while her entire body felt heavy and numb. For several seconds, everything around her remained blurred. Her breathing was uneven. The faint smell of smoke, dust, and shattered glass filled the air inside the car.
Somewhere far away, insects chirped through the darkness of the night.
Aadhira blinked slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Her vision gradually began to clear.
The dashboard lights flickered weakly before dying again. The windshield in front of her was cracked badly, tiny pieces of glass scattered across the seats and floor. The front portion of the car had been completely crushed against the massive tree.
For a moment, she simply sat there, trying to understand what had happened.
Then the memory hit her instantly.
The highway.
The darkness.
The truck.
The crash.
Aadhira inhaled sharply and immediately regretted it as pain shot through her forehead.
“Damn…”
Her voice came out weak.
She lifted her trembling hand toward her head and froze the moment her fingers touched something wet.
Blood.
A deep cut near her forehead had stained the side of her face and neck.
For the first time in years, genuine panic flickered through her chest.
But only for a second.
Because Aadhira Mehra was not someone who broke down easily.
She closed her eyes briefly, forcing herself to breathe properly.
Think first. Panic later.
Slowly, painfully, she unfastened her seatbelt and checked the movement of her arms and legs. Bruised. Sore. But nothing seemed broken.
Lucky.
Very lucky.
The driver-side door protested loudly when she pushed it open, metal scraping harshly in the silence of the forest. Cold night air immediately hit her face as she stumbled out of the car.
The world outside was darker than she expected.
No highway lights.
No passing vehicles.
No distant buildings.
Nothing.
Only endless darkness surrounding the forest road.
Aadhira steadied herself against the damaged car and looked around carefully. Tall trees surrounded the area from every direction, their shadows stretching unnaturally beneath the weak moonlight.
The silence felt wrong.
Too deep.
Too empty.
She quickly moved toward the backseat and grabbed her handbag and laptop case. Thankfully, both were untouched. Her phone had fallen beneath the passenger seat during the crash, but after searching for almost a minute, she finally found it.
The screen was cracked slightly at the corner.
Still working.
“Thank God,” she whispered under her breath.
The battery percentage flashed weakly.
Three percent.
Of course.
Thankfully, Aadhira always carried emergency chargers and power banks during business trips. One habit her management team constantly teased her about had suddenly become the only useful thing tonight.
She pulled the charger from her bag immediately and connected the phone.
No signal.
Not even a single bar.
Her expression hardened.
“This cannot be happening.”
She stepped farther from the car, lifting the phone higher instinctively as if the signal would magically appear.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
A cold breeze moved through the trees, carrying an unsettling silence with it.
Aadhira returned to the car and opened the emergency kit stored carefully beneath the seat. Her hands were slightly shaking now—not from fear alone, but from exhaustion and blood loss.
She cleaned the wound on her forehead with bottled water before pressing antiseptic against the cut.
The sting made her jaw tighten painfully.
“Perfect,” she muttered sarcastically.
After wrapping a bandage around her forehead as properly as possible, she leaned back against the side of the damaged vehicle and drank several mouthfuls of water slowly.
The digital watch on her wrist displayed the time.
3:07 AM.
She had been unconscious for almost four hours.
The realization made her stomach twist.
Nobody knew where she was.
Her team was still at the hotel.
Her mother probably assumed the call disconnected because of network issues.
And somewhere on this empty highway road, surrounded by darkness and forest, Aadhira Mehra was completely alone.
For the first time in a very long time, control had slipped entirely out of her hands.
And she hated it.
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