Aarav couldn't sleep.
The message was still open on his phone.
“You will die within 100 days.”
He read it again.
Then again.
Maybe it was a joke.
Maybe someone from college was trying to scare him.
But there was one thing he couldn't explain.
The black mark on his palm.
It had changed.
A thin red line had appeared across it, almost like a crack in glass.
Aarav quickly covered his hand with his sleeve.
His phone suddenly vibrated.
Unknown Number:
Look outside.
Aarav's heart stopped.
He slowly walked toward the window.
The street was empty.
Rain poured down under the yellow streetlights.
Then he saw him.
Joon.
Standing alone in the rain.
Aarav immediately opened the window.
“Joon!”
Joon looked up.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Joon said something Aarav couldn't hear.
“What?”
Joon pointed toward Aarav's hand.
The black mark.
Then he pointed behind Aarav.
Aarav turned around.
Nothing.
When he looked back, Joon was gone.
---
The next morning, Aarav rushed into college.
He found Rhea near the library.
“I need to ask you something.”
Rhea looked at his face.
“You look terrible.”
“I saw Joon last night.”
Her expression changed.
“Where?”
“Outside my house.”
Rhea became completely serious.
“Did he say anything?”
“No. But he knew about the mark.”
Rhea looked around before whispering,
“Then you need to stay away from him.”
“Why?”
“I don't know everything.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
Rhea hesitated.
“There was a student here three years ago.”
Aarav waited.
“His name was Joon.”
Aarav's heart skipped.
“What happened to him?”
Rhea looked toward the old building at the end of campus.
“He disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“During a storm.”
Aarav stared at the building.
“Was there an accident?”
Rhea nodded.
“But the strange thing is…”
She lowered her voice.
“His college records say he never existed.”
Aarav felt a chill.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
Suddenly, Kabir appeared behind them.
“Guys.”
They turned.
Kabir was holding an old photograph.
“I found this inside the library.”
He placed it on the table.
It was a photograph of five students standing in front of the college.
Aarav stared at it.
His blood went cold.
There was Rhea.
There was Kabir.
There was Vihaan.
And standing in the center…
Joon.
Aarav looked at the date.
2019.
“That can't be Joon,” Kabir whispered.
Rhea's hands began shaking.
Then Aarav noticed something else.
A fifth student was standing beside Joon.
The student's face had been scratched out.
But around his neck was a silver necklace.
Aarav recognized it.
Vihaan wore the exact same necklace.
Aarav slowly looked toward the corridor.
Vihaan was standing there.
Watching them.
His smile disappeared.
“Where did you get that photograph?”
Nobody answered.
Vihaan walked toward them.
“You shouldn't have found that.”
Aarav stood up.
“What happened in 2019?”
Vihaan looked directly into his eyes.
“Ask Joon.”
“Where is he?”
Vihaan smiled again.
“Exactly where he has always been.”
Then the lights suddenly went out.
A cold wind swept through the library.
Aarav heard a whisper beside his ear.
“Remember me.”
He turned around.
Nobody was there.
But the photograph on the table had changed.
Joon was no longer standing in the picture.
Now there were only four people.
And written across the photograph in fresh red ink were four words:
“HE WAS NEVER HUMAN.”
Aarav's phone vibrated one more time.
Unknown Number.
One final message appeared:
“You have 99 days left.”
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