The police arrived soon after.
Their boots echoed against marble floors. Students were ushered away. Questions were asked. Statements taken.
But most eyes stayed locked on the white sheet.
The girl beneath it was no longer a student, a friend, a name in a roll-call. She was just... gone. As if the rooftop had swallowed her existence.
"Please go home. College is dismissed for the day."
That voice came from a stern-looking officer, who didn't bother softening the blow.
Some students lingered.
Others were too shocked to move.
Karna remained frozen near the gate until he overheard a constable whispering to another, unaware of his presence.
"...third girl this month. Three colleges, same age group. Suicide again, they say."
"No one's noticing the pattern. Too scared to call it what it is."
The words stayed with Karna like an arrow lodged beneath the ribs.
Third?
He glanced toward the lifeless form, now being loaded onto a stretcher. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sia-quiet and unmoving, her face unreadable.
Her eyes, though...
They weren't shocked. They were searching.
She didn't look away until the ambulance doors shut.
Just then, Yash, who had been characteristically serious all this while, spoke up as they began to walk home.
"Kaliyug. People our age are so desperate these days."
His voice wasn't mocking. It was tired. And perhaps... scared.
Karna said nothing.
Because he knew.
That girl didn't jump.
The moment kept replaying in his mind. The shadowy figure. The push. The smile that didn't belong on the face of a dying girl.
The sun dipped low by the time they reached home. For once, no one spoke over each other. No one argued over whose turn it was to order snacks, or what music should play in the background.
There was a heaviness in the air.
A certain kind of stillness that only death could bring.
Karna sat by the window, watching the light fade.
He had seen death more times than he could count. Kurukshetra was soaked in it. His life had been a trail of corpses and blood.
But this?
This was different.
There had been a smile on the girl's face-unnatural, eerie. Like she wasn't the one in control when she fell.
Like someone else had claimed her.
He gritted his teeth.
He didn't know this world's rules. But he knew what evil looked like.
---
By evening, Kavita and Meera returned home. They stepped inside, still holding their office bags, faces pale and drawn.
They already knew.
Karna wasn't sure how-perhaps through their gurus, or perhaps, in the way mothers always knew when something was wrong.
Rhea updated them on everything in a quiet voice. Even Shaurya didn't make jokes. Diya just clutched a cushion and refused to look up.
When Rhea finished speaking, the room fell into silence.
Meera folded her arms across her chest, staring into nothing for a long while. Finally, she said quietly,
> "We're going to the Krishna Mandir tomorrow. It's five kilometers from here. Let's pray for our kids' well-being. Karan already met with an accident once. I'm not taking chances."
Kavita nodded. "Yes. We'll go. All of us."
Her voice didn't rise. But her tone left no room for protest.
Radha, who had just entered the Malhotra house, looked up.
She had heard.
"I'll come too," she said. "With my daughters."
"You are taking me too,right?," Sia asked jokingly.
"You are my daughter too. Of course you are coming dear. Don't joke around now," Radha scolded her lightly.
Karna didn't say anything.
But something within him felt... warmer.
Not because of faith.
Not because of divine timing.
But because even amidst this strange, modern world-where many were absent, where mothers had the ability to run families on their own, and where death looked like a trick of the light-there was still family.
And where there was family, there was something worth protecting.
---
That night, Karna stared at the ceiling as everyone else drifted to sleep.
He thought of Draupadi's voice-no, Diya-calling him Karan Bhaiya.
Of Sia, standing still while others panicked.
Of Rhea, looking sadly at that dead girl's corpse,covered by a blood stained white sheet.
Of the smile that haunted him.
Of the strange figure on the roof.
And most of all-
Of the storm that was gathering.
Something was out there. Watching.
And tomorrow, they were heading to a temple.
Vasudev Shree Krishna. The Lord of the Universe. Of course Karna knew this since a long ago.
They would meet soon.
Karna closed his eyes.
And prepared for whatever came next.
---
đžAuthor's note:
Some votes and comments would be appreciated â€ïž