00:00:22
Arpan's finger hovered over the screen. A trembling shadow, flickering under the blood-red glow of the timer.
00:00:21
Samruddhi stared into the camera, lips trembling but firm.
Press my name.
The message echoed in his mind like gunshots in an alleyway. Short. Brutal. Final.
His hands shook. He couldn't feel the pain in his shoulder anymore. Couldn't hear the sirens in his memories. The shouts of boys bleeding in backstreets. The whispers of the gang. All he could see was her.
Her blood-streaked forehead.
The soft flicker of a tear.
And a single silent nod.
"Don't make me do this," Arpan whispered, voice cracking. "Don't ask me to become him."
00:00:15
His mind raced.
Rivan wanted him to lose. Not just the game—but the core of who he was. That's why he gave him a choice that wasn't a choice at all.
Kill her. Or kill yourself.
Because either way, Rivan won.
Arpan stared at the buttons again.
[AR] Arpan[SS] Samruddhi
He clenched his jaw.
There had to be another way.
"Think, Arpan. Think like the bastard you were raised to be."
He closed his eyes. Tried to feel the rhythm. The patterns. The logic behind Rivan's madness.
That's when he noticed it.
A delay.
Between each countdown number—there was a fractional lag. As if the timer was not synced in real time.
A stream delay.
And that meant…
The explosion wasn't live-triggered.
It was remote. Or pre-programmed.
Which meant—he still had a chance.
00:00:07
Arpan grabbed the broken toolkit, ripped out the backplate of the tablet, and jammed two wires into the circuit board. The screen glitched.
"Come on… come on, you little piece of—"
The screen flickered.
Rebooting…
Then—
ADMIN OVERRIDE MODE
A blinking command prompt appeared.
He didn't hesitate.
> KILL_FEED_VIDEO
> DEACTIVATE_TIMER
> EXECUTE
00:00:04
Error.
PASSWORD REQUIRED
His breath caught.
On the side of the tablet—etched in red marker—were four numbers.
1437
His heart stopped.
It was the date.
The day he and Samruddhi kissed behind the school auditorium. The day she called him her "sweet berry." The day they stopped pretending to hate each other.
His fingers flew across the screen.
1437
ACCESS GRANTED
EXECUTING…
00:00:02
Then—
ALL SYSTEMS DISABLED
The red countdown froze.
Then disappeared.
Arpan slumped against the wall, tablet falling from his hands.
It was over.
He had saved her.
But as the screen went black, so did the light in his eyes.
12 minutes later
He ran through the corridors of the abandoned school, every step a war cry. The building creaked around him like a dying beast.
"Samru!" he shouted.
No answer.
He turned a corner.
And there she was.
Still bound to the chair. Eyes closed. But alive.
"Samru," he breathed, racing to her side. "I'm here."
He gently peeled the tape from her mouth, untied her wrists. Her head lolled forward. For a terrifying moment, he thought she wasn't breathing.
Then—
She stirred. Blinked.
Her voice was hoarse. "You chose me…"
"I always will."
Tears fell silently down her cheeks. She leaned into him, burying her face in his chest. "I thought you'd hate me. After everything."
He held her tighter. "I don't care about the past. I care about the now."
"I don't deserve this," she whispered. "I don't deserve you."
He pulled back, brushing her hair behind her ear. "You're not a burden. You're the only reason I'm still human."
But before the moment could settle…
A speaker in the ceiling crackled.
"Touching reunion. Really, I'm touched."
Arpan's entire body tensed.
Rivan's voice.
Still alive.
Still watching.
"You think it's over? That this was the endgame?"
Arpan stood, placing himself between Samruddhi and the speaker. "Come out and face me, you coward."
"Oh, I will. But not here. Not tonight. You passed the first test, Ghost. But the next one won't be so clean."
"Next one?" Samruddhi rasped. "Why are you doing this?!"
"Because people like you… don't get to walk away with love and forgiveness. Because the world doesn't reward ghosts and gold-hearted girls. It buries them."
The speaker clicked off.
And the building fell silent.
Later that night
They sat on the school roof, overlooking the empty sports field. The sky was smeared with stars and smoke.
Arpan stared into the dark, jaw tight. "He's not done."
Samruddhi leaned against him. "Then we fight."
He shook his head. "You don't understand. He's not playing a game anymore. He's building a war."
"I don't care," she whispered. "I'm not leaving you."
Arpan turned to her, eyes burning with something deeper than anger. "You think you know me, Samru? You don't. I've done things… dark things. Back when I was the 'Ghost of Sector 9.' When I wasn't a lover—I was a weapon."
She reached out, took his hand. "Then let me be your reason not to go back."
His fingers closed around hers.
"I can't lose you," he said softly. "Not again."
Two Days Later
Samruddhi hadn't seen Arpan since that night.
His phone was switched off. His room was empty. His books, gone.
Panic churned in her gut.
She went to the old garage where his crew used to meet. Empty.
She even asked Vikram, his closest friend from the gang.
But Vikram only shook his head.
"He's gone back, Samruddhi. To the life he swore off."
"What?" she whispered.
"He said he had to become a monster… to kill one."
That evening, Samruddhi found a package at her doorstep.
Inside was a note, written in Arpan's handwriting.
Don't wait for me.Don't love a ghost.Let me burn alone.
Her legs gave out.
She collapsed onto the floor, clutching the paper, sobs tearing through her like broken glass.
"Don't you dare leave me," she whispered to the empty air. "Not like this…"
Meanwhile…
A dark room.
Dim lights.
Arpan stood in front of a rusted mirror, dressed in black. No school uniform. No softness in his eyes.
Just resolve.
Behind him, Vikram loaded guns into a duffel bag.
"You sure about this?" Vikram asked. "Once we cross this line… we don't come back."
Arpan's voice was cold.
"I already crossed it."
He pulled his hoodie over his head, stepped out into the night.
One Week Later
Samruddhi walked into her school corridor, exhausted. Her eyes were hollow, sleep a distant memory. Her mother tried to talk to her. Her friends tried to cheer her up.
But none of it mattered.
Then—
She stopped.
At her locker.
A single note taped to the door.
No signature.
Only three words.
Look behind you.
She turned slowly.
And her heart froze.
At the end of the hallway—Arpan.
But not like before.
His face was bruised.
His knuckles bandaged.
Eyes darker than night.
She ran.
"Arpan!"
He didn't move.
She stopped inches from him, breathless, broken, wide-eyed.
"You left."
"I had to."
"You said you loved me."
"I still do."
"Then why—why disappear?! Why make me think—"
He cupped her face gently, cutting her words off.
"I killed Rivan's right-hand man last night."
She staggered.
"What…?"
"I'm going to kill the rest of them too. I don't care what happens to me."
Her voice cracked. "You said you weren't that person anymore."
"I wasn't. But I have to be. For you."
A pause.
Then she whispered, "Don't do this."
He leaned closer, forehead against hers.
"I already did."
As they stood there…
Another figure watched from the shadows.
Smiling.
A glint of silver in his hand.
Rivan.
Alive.
To Be Continued…