Vansh noticed a large lock fastened near the staircase.
At that exact moment, something flashed across his mind like lightning —
the words Viju bhaiya had told him when he first arrived at the hostel.
Back then, he had said…
In Room No. 710, a boy had taken his own life.
After that, strange and unexplained incidents began to happen there.
Since then, the entire 7th floor had been sealed.
The memory made Vansh’s throat go dry.
He was still trying to process it when suddenly
it felt as if someone had just walked past him.
He turned around quickly—
But no one was there.
The number plate of Room 710 was rusted.
Thick spider webs hung from the corners.
The door was half open,
as if someone had deliberately left it that way… waiting.
Just then, the lights on the 7th floor began to blink.
The whole corridor drowned in darkness—
Only Room 710 remained lit.
There was no other option.
Trembling, Vansh stepped inside.
The moment his foot crossed the doorway,
a sharp gust of cold air rushed past him,
and suddenly an old tape recorder started playing a song—
It felt as if someone was welcoming him.
Then—
BANG!
The door slammed shut on its own.
The lights flickered wildly…
and then everything went normal.
At that very moment, Vansh’s eyes fell upon a dark corner of the room.
There…
A shadow stood still.
Its long, messy hair covered its face completely.
And it felt as though
it hadn’t blinked even once—
as though it was staring only at Vansh.
Fear crawled through his spine.
He stepped back.
He turned around nervously—
The bed was covered with moss and dust.
The walls were cracked and peeling.
The entire room looked destroyed.
But something stopped him.
The study table.
And the chair.
Even in all that dirt and decay,
they were perfectly clean—
As if someone still used them.
As if someone still sat there to study.
Vansh’s mind went numb.
Why are they so clean?
And for whom?
He slowly turned back toward the shadow.
It was still there.
And now…
It felt like
it had been waiting for him all along.
A strong wind began to blow.
Strange whispers echoed in the air—
as if many voices were speaking together.
Then Vansh saw…
The shadow was moving toward him.
His hands and feet turned cold.
With a trembling voice, he said,
“Stay away from me… Who are you?
What do you want?”
A hollow voice echoed through the room—
“So… you finally came.
Now I won’t spare you either.
Everyone will die…
Everyone will fall by my hands.”
Sometimes it laughed loudly.
Sometimes it broke into sobs.
Crying, Vansh said,
“I didn’t do anything… please let me go.”
But the voice replied—
“It’s all your fault.
All of you are the same.
You pressure people.
You judge them.
You laugh at their failures.
You don’t let them live…
and you don’t let them rest in peace either.”
“I’ll destroy everyone…
I won’t spare anyone.”
Intermission
Vansh (emotionally):
“What happened to you?
Who are you?”
The Shadow (soft, broken voice):
“My name… is Mehul.”
(A few seconds of silence)
“I came here with big dreams.
I was good at studies.
At my family’s insistence,
I started preparing for UPSC.
When I arrived here,
I saw many people like me—
some from wealthy families,
some from middle-class homes like mine.
But one thing was common among all of us—
Pressure.
Some had been preparing for two years…
others for five or six years…
slowly wearing themselves down…”
(To be continued…)
Written by –
Yuvraj Singh Chouhan
