Rainwater slid slowly down the classroom windows.
Distorting the outside world into something unrecognizable.
Fitting.
Because Sarthak no longer recognized himself either.
"You were part of the incident too."
The message replayed endlessly in his mind.
Mr. Kurose disappeared.
The girl died.
Ten minutes erased.
And him—
Standing in the center of all of it.
"…Say something."
Ananya's voice sounded distant.
Sarthak stared at the burner phone silently.
"…Did I push him?"
The question came out hollow.
Ananya froze.
"…We do not know."
"But it looked like I did."
Silence.
And that silence hurt more than denial would have.
Sarthak suddenly laughed softly.
Not because anything was funny.
Because reality had become absurd.
"All this time…"
A pause.
"…I thought I was chasing the person who destroyed my life."
His eyes slowly darkened.
"What if it was me?"
"No."
Ananya answered immediately.
Firmly.
"You are jumping to conclusions."
"Am I?"
Sarthak finally looked at her.
"For years I could not remember those ten minutes."
A bitter smile appeared.
"And now suddenly there is footage of me fighting with a missing teacher."
Silence.
"…That is not coincidence."
Ananya stepped closer.
"…Listen to me carefully."
Her voice lowered.
Steady.
"If you actually killed someone…"
A pause.
"…why would somebody spend years trying to make you remember instead of exposing you immediately?"
That hit.
Hard.
Because she was right.
If the sender wanted revenge—
The video alone would have destroyed him.
Yet they hid it.
Fed him clues slowly.
Almost like—
They wanted him to reach the truth naturally.
"…Then what do they want?" Sarthak whispered.
Before Ananya could answer—
The classroom door slammed open violently.
Both turned instantly.
Riya stood there.
Breathing hard.
Eyes panicked.
"…You need to leave."
Sarthak's eyes narrowed.
"…What?"
"They know you found the video."
Her voice trembled badly now.
"…You should not have watched it."
"How do you know about the video?" Ananya asked sharply.
Riya froze.
Too late.
That reaction alone was enough.
"…Riya," Sarthak said quietly.
"…How much do you know?"
Silence.
Rain thundered outside.
And then—
Very slowly—
Tears formed in her eyes.
"…More than I wanted to."
The room went completely silent.
"…Start talking."
Sarthak's voice had changed now.
Lower.
Colder.
Not angry.
Terrified.
Riya shook her head desperately.
"…If I tell you everything now…"
A pause.
"…someone will get hurt."
"Someone already did."
The words cut instantly.
Riya flinched.
"…Please," she whispered.
"…Just trust me a little longer."
"No."
Silence.
Both girls looked at him.
And for the first time—
Sarthak's expression looked genuinely broken.
"I trusted people before."
A pause.
"…And somebody died."
The words hit the room like shattered glass.
Riya's tears finally fell.
"…You are wrong."
"What?"
She looked directly into his eyes now.
Shaking.
But determined.
"…She did not hate you when she died."
Heartbeat.
Stopped.
"…What?"
Riya stepped closer slowly.
"…That night…"
Her voice cracked.
"…the girl on the rooftop…"
A pause.
"…her last words were not fear."
Sarthak could barely breathe.
"…Then what were they?"
Riya closed her eyes briefly.
Like remembering hurt her too.
Then whispered:
"I'm sorry, Sarthak."
Silence.
The world tilted sideways.
Sorry?
Not blame.
Not anger.
Sorry.
"…Why are you telling me this now?" he whispered.
Riya looked shattered.
"…Because you are becoming exactly what they want."
Cold silence filled the room instantly.
"…Who?"
Riya hesitated again.
Then—
Finally—
"…The people who covered up what really happened."
Ananya's eyes widened instantly.
"…Covered up?"
Riya nodded weakly.
"…Mr. Kurose was not the only adult there that night."
Everything stopped.
Another adult?
"There were others," Riya whispered.
"…People from the school."
A pause.
"…Important people."
Sarthak's mind exploded with possibilities.
Not just students.
Not just trauma.
Institutional cover-up.
"…Why cover it up?" Ananya asked.
Riya looked toward Sarthak.
And answered with visible fear.
"…Because they were terrified of what he remembered after the fall."
Heartbeat.
Heavy.
"…What did I remember?"
Riya's lips trembled.
"…I do not know."
A pause.
"…But whatever you saw that night…"
Her voice nearly disappeared.
"…it scared adults enough to erase it from your memory."
Silence swallowed the room whole.
Because suddenly—
The story was no longer about a dead girl.
Or even a missing teacher.
It was about something bigger hidden beneath both.
Something powerful enough—
To manipulate memories.
To bury evidence.
To destroy lives quietly.
A vibration interrupted everything.
All three phones lit up simultaneously.
Unknown Number.
Message received.
"Interesting."
Another message immediately followed.
"Looks like the monster is finally waking up."
Sarthak stared at the screen.
Monster.
Not victim.
Not witness.
Monster.
And somehow—
That word frightened him more than anything else so far.
To be continued…