The next morning came wrapped in fog.
Kupam's skies had turned an unusual shade of dull gray, as if hiding something beneath. A strange hush had fallen over the school building—a kind of silence that made footsteps sound louder, whispers sound like shouts.
Roll call was taken at breakfast. Names ticked off. Everyone answered.
Except one.
Varun Desai.
Missing
A quiet boy. Average in everything. He wasn't friends with many, wasn't hated by any. He simply existed, floating through the trip with the grace of someone used to being overlooked.
But today, his bed was made. Untouched.
His locker unopened.
His toothbrush still wet from the night before.
"Maybe he overslept," one teacher muttered. Another rolled their eyes. "Kids these days—too many late-night phone calls."
But Rudra knew better.
People didn't just disappear. Not without noise. Not without a trace. Especially not in Kupam.
By mid-morning, the teachers began to worry. Staff searched the dorms, the mess hall, the library—even the toilet blocks. No one had seen Varun since last night.
Rudra stood beside the banyan tree as the chaos unfolded, arms folded, watching. His thoughts were cold. Precise.
Varun never went beyond the main gate alone. He had a sprained ankle two weeks ago. He walked with a limp. So where could he have gone?
The Investigation
At lunch, the principal called the local police. A report was filed.
That night, the air grew tenser. Students stayed in their rooms. Rumors exploded like fireworks.
"He ran away."
"No, someone took him."
"I heard he was cursed… something about that stone he picked up from the forest on the weekend."
Rudra ignored the noise.
Instead, he spent the night walking alone—retracing Varun's routine. The library. The backside of the science lab. The rusted fence near the pump room. Nothing stood out.
Until he reached the abandoned biology lab.
It had been shut for years—part of an old wing of the institute damaged in a landslide. It was supposed to be off-limits. Yet Rudra noticed something subtle: a trail of flattened grass, almost invisible, leading from the side of the new lab to the old building.
He followed it.
At the rear window of the abandoned lab, Rudra knelt. The lock on the grille had been tampered with—slightly bent, as if someone forced it open with a crowbar.
He didn't enter. Not yet. It was too risky. He had no backup, no reason to be there.
But his gut screamed.
Back at the dorm, he pulled out a map of the compound he'd sketched weeks ago. He circled the old lab, highlighted the blind spots in camera coverage, noted every room that had remained unsearched by staff.
He didn't know what he was about to uncover. But Varun hadn't run away. Rudra was certain of it.
Something darker was happening in Kupam.
And whatever it was… it had begun to notice Rudra too.