I woke up on my bed.
Two other guys were in the room.
Three beds. Three corners. Small room.
One table. One cupboard. That's it.
Then yesterday hit me.
Every single thing.
The hostel.
The bus.
The basement.
The blood.
Everything was same as in nightmare.
My chest felt tight.
Was it real?
If I tell anyone… will they even believe me?
Sun rays were passing through the curtain-covered window.
I got up and opened the balcony door.
And…
It was beautiful.
Mountains.
Cold air.
Sun rising slowly over Dushanbe.
For some reason I felt happy.
A feeling I don't usually get.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jakeson whispered behind me.
Mini heart attack.
"Yeah… it is," I said.
But what I actually wanted to say stayed inside.
AJ woke up too and came near us.
He also looked amazed.
Then suddenly—
Hard knock on the door.
My body went cold.
Hairs rose up.
Jakeson opened it.
A short guy stood there.
"Ground floor. Warden meeting. Urgently."
Great.
I wasn't in mood for any meeting.
But Jakeson pushed me.
"Come on Bixa. First day only."
I took my toothbrush and paste and went to public bathroom.
While brushing, my paste slipped from my hand.
"Crap."
I bent down to pick it up.
And froze.
Tiny drops of blood on the floor.
Fresh.
My heart started racing.
I quickly washed and left.
Didn't look around.
Didn't ask anyone.
In 10 minutes we went down.
The hall was full.
When we entered, everyone's eyes turned to us.
For a second it felt wrong.
The warden lady looked at us. Long stare.
Then she continued talking.
Mess timing.
College timing.
What not to do.
No loud music.
No fighting.
No balcony after midnight.
No entering restricted areas.
Basement strictly prohibited.
Basement.
My stomach tightened.
"Attendance will be taken every night."
Every night?
Why?
The meeting went on for almost one hour.
Students were quiet.
Too quiet.
At one point I saw a boy at the back.
He wasn't looking at warden.
He was looking at me.
Not blinking.
When our eyes met, he slowly tilted his head.
And smiled.
After meeting, seniors said they will take us for college tour.
Most freshers got excited.
Clapping. Laughing.
I didn't care.
Jakeson dragged me again.
We walked out of Hostel 77.
In daylight it looked normal.
Too normal.
We got into the bus.
Music started blasting immediately.
Most of these freshers idiot started dancing.
I hated these things.
Crowd. Noise. Fake excitement.
Yet I was here.
Then that senior I met on first day dragged me to middle.
Before I could react, he started moving my hands like puppet.
I was embarrassed.
Damm it.
"Bitch," I said in my mind.
Jakeson and AJ joined too.
Clapping. Cheering.
The song was damn loud.
But…
I kinda liked it.
Just a little.
After hectic 20 minutes we reached our college.
Five year destination.
I stepped down from bus.
And my chest felt heavy again.
College… it's beautiful.
Like European cinema type.
Old stone buildings.
Massive.
Renovation going on in some parts.
Jakeson and AJ reunited with me and we walked as trio.
This Jakeson asshole keeps talking non-stop.
"Bixa see that."
"Bro look at that."
"Architecture mannn."
He's such chatterbox.
"Yeah it's beautiful."
"Yeahhh it's good."
Those were my constant replies.
Behind us one senior was walking with his girlfriend I guess.
He kept looking at us.
Damm him.
He must be younger than me.
The garden was huge.
Statues everywhere.
Old Tajik figures I guess.
Some broken.
Some without heads.
Just standing there silently.
We walked toward main entrance.
Huge door.
Like meant for titans.
Senior in front said,
"This entrance only for higher ups."
He smirked.
"For you guys, use that building."
He pointed to a sister building.
Smaller. Newly made.
We moved that way.
Then a fat guy with no mustache looked at me.
"Are you not tired? You look already dead."
"Well yeah," I said.
He laughed. "Bro someone forced you to come here?"
Two guys beside him joined.
Tall one with specs: "Amar. From Khujand."
Other curly hair: "Rusam."
"Bizam," I said.
"Indus ?" Amar asked.
"Yeah."
Rusam looked at me carefully.
"You look stressed bro. Everything okay?"
For one second I almost told them everything.
Basement. Blood. Shadow.
Instead I said,
"Didn't sleep well."
Amar nodded casually.
"First night in hostel always weird."
We all laughed lightly.
But I didn't.
Because the way he said it…
It didn't feel like joke.
We entered into the college.
Inside… it was even more massive.
A huge inner hall.
High ceiling.
Echo of footsteps everywhere.
Walls made of old stone but polished.
Long corridors stretching left and right.
Wooden doors with golden name plates.
Old clocks ticking slowly.
There were many portraits on the walls.
Old principals.
War-time doctors.
Historic figures.
Black and white photos framed in gold.
Glass boxes with old medical tools. Rusted. Ancient. Preserved.
It felt like walking inside history.
But something felt heavy too.
Then something caught my attention.
A painting.
Not normal size.
Huge.
Literally covering almost the entire roof above the central hall.
I stopped walking.
In that painting —
A man was stuck inside a pit.
Half his body hanging into darkness.
Below him… looked like hell.
Red. Black. Twisted figures.
He was barely holding on to the edge.
Above him, another man was kneeling.
Stretching his hand down to pull him up.
But—
A dark figure.
Monster-like.
Was reaching for his legs from below.
Trying to drag him down.
The stuck man's face…
It didn't look scared.
It looked confused.
Lost.
Like he didn't know which world he belonged to.
I was still looking at that painting above.
Lost.
Completely lost in it.
When I looked down—
Everyone was gone.
Silence.
A shock ran through my spine.
Damn it.
How long was I standing there?
Where the hell are they?
Which fucking way is out?
Or where to go?
I'm so stupid.
Heart beating harder.
Sweat forming.
Breathing strong. Loud in my ears.
One Tajik guy passing by looked at me strangely.
I started walking forward.
Looking for them.
Damn them.
Shouldn't they care?
I mean… we came together.
Assholes.
Corridor after corridor.
Rooms. More rooms.
I took one path.
Dead end.
"Shit."
Went back.
Took another route.
Wrong again.
Then I remembered something.
They said maybe they will go to roof.
To see whole Dushanbe from top.
Yeah.
I took the stairs.
Climbed up.
Fast.
Then—
"Yoooou stop."
A female voice from behind.
"Can you please stop?"
I turned.
"Do you know which way to rejoin the group?"
She was short-haired.
Beautiful.
Small breast.
And yeah… I was checking.
For one second longer than necessary.
She noticed.
I looked away.
"Yeah… I think they maybe up," I said.
"Matt akka mentioned from top we can see Dushanbe."
"Matt akka?" she asked.
"Matt is senior's name. Akka means elder male in Tajik. He forced us to call him like that."
She rolled her eyes slightly. "Typical."
We started climbing stairs together.
I don't know why…
But suddenly I was happy being lost.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Geetu."
"Indus?"
"Half. Half American, half Indus."
"Oh."
"You?" she asked.
"Full Indus. Unfortunately."
She laughed lightly.
First real laugh I heard today.
"So why you look like you saw ghost downstairs?" she asked.
I hesitated.
"Didn't sleep well."
She looked at me carefully.
"Same."
We reached another landing.
She continued talking.
"This morning I went a little outside hostel… there's some woods near hill."
"Woods?" I frowned.
"Yeah. Me and two girls. Just exploring."
"And?"
She showed her hand.
A ring.
Simple. Dark metal. Strange design.
"Found this there," she said.
"In woods?"
"Yeah. It was half buried."
"Why would you pick random ring from forest?" I asked.
She smirked. "Curiosity."
She tried to pull it out from her finger.
"It's tight," she said.
She twisted it.
Slipped.
The ring fell on the floor between us.
I bent down to pick it up.
The moment my fingers touched it—
It grew.
Not slowly.
Not illusion.
It grew.
Like expanding metal.
Heavy.
Cold.
The air changed.
A low vibration in ears.
Geetu looked at me.
"What the—"
A dark circle spread from the ring.
Like ink in water.
But on air.
Covering us.
Walls fading.
Light bending.
I knew.
That feeling.
That drop in stomach.
That same wrongness.
"Geetu—"
Too late.
Floor disappeared.
We both fell.
Not down.
Not up.
Just—
Fell.
And I saw it again.
That pit.
Like the painting.
Half world above.
Darkness below.