Shreya stepped forward.
The shadow lunged, a living nightmare twisting with impossible speed. But she didn't flinch. She concentrated on her heartbeat, on the memory of every second she had stolen, every life she had touched.
The wind screamed, the bridge cracked, and the fog coiled like serpents around her legs. The shadow's voice shredded her mind: "You cannot stop me. Tomorrow is mine."
Her fingers brushed the fog, and suddenly, everything froze. Time itself trembled.
Shreya realized what she had to do. She would anchor herself inside the moment, become the lock that held tomorrow at bay. Every pulse of her heart became a chain, every breath a barrier.
The shadow thrashed, screaming with voices of all it had consumed. She could see the dead man in its writhing mass, screaming silently for release.
With a final, shivering shout, Shreya pulled herself fully into the present, letting her essence fill the cracks of time. The shadow shrieked, twisted, and finally, with a sound like glass shattering, it dissolved into nothingness.
The fog lifted. The streetlights steadied. The world exhaled.
Aarav collapsed beside her, trembling. "Shreya… you did it…"
Shreya smiled weakly, but her body felt heavy, almost as if she carried the weight of tomorrow itself. She realized the truth: she had stopped the shadow, but she could never truly leave it behind.
In every mirror, every reflection, she would see it, waiting, whispering. But now, she was ready. She was the girl who outran tomorrow… and yet, she knew tomorrow would always follow, lurking just beyond sight.
As she looked at the bridge one last time, the wind whispered her name.
And Shreya smiled.
"Then I'll be ready."
The city slept, unaware. But she didn't.
And some nightmares, she knew, never truly end.