Blood in the Thread
The textile factory looked dead from the outside.
Rusted shutters. Cracked walls. A hollow wind that carried dust instead of breath.
But Arpan wasn't fooled.
He stood in the shadows across the street, hood drawn, eyes locked onto the factory's jagged silhouette. Beside him, Rudra checked his weapon—a modified stun rod. Another boy tightened his gloves. No one spoke.
Because when Ghost led a mission, you followed silence like a religion.
Inside Arpan's pocket was the twisted audio recording he'd received three hours ago.
Samruddhi's voice. Screaming his name. Screaming something else, too.
"Don't trust the one with the eyes you loved."
He'd replayed it 37 times.
Every word.
Every scream.
And still—he didn't understand what it meant.
Yet.
They breached the compound like shadows sliding between ribs—one after the other, ghostlike and deliberate.
The place stank of mildew, rust, and something deeper.
Fear.
They split up. Sector by sector.
Arpan took the east wing.
Hallways stretched like dying veins. Empty spools of thread hung from the ceiling, and water dripped steadily onto broken tiles, echoing like a ticking bomb.
He moved with precision.
His mind was cold.
His heart was something else.
He finally found Room 6.
Locked. But not sealed.
Inside—just a single chair. Shackles hanging empty. A flickering camera on the wall, red light blinking.
Watching.
Recording.
And in that moment, Arpan knew—
He was already too late.
Elsewhere in the compound…
Samruddhi was shoved into a room that wasn't like the others.
This one had mirrors.
Dozens of them.
On every wall.
And in every one, she saw a reflection that wasn't her own.
A girl in a school uniform.
A girl with innocence.
A girl before Arpan.
And then she heard the footsteps.
Familiar.
Measured.
And her heart sank.
"No," she whispered.
The door opened.
And he walked in.
Tall. Calm. Wearing the same uniform as them—but years older.
"You," she breathed. "I thought you were—"
"Gone?" he smiled. "I was. Until Arpan brought me back."
She stepped back. Shaking. "You're lying."
He tilted his head. "Didn't he ever tell you? That I was his first betrayal?"
Back in Room 6...
The red blinking light turned green.
A voice crackled through the wall speaker—low, venomous, familiar.
"Welcome back, Ghost."
"Did you really think saving her would be your endgame?"
"This isn't about rescue anymore."
"This is about your sins."
Then another voice chimed in—
Her voice.
But it wasn't recorded.
It was live.
"Arpan," Samruddhi whispered, broken, trembling.
"I remember now."
"You're the reason this started."
"You broke him."
"And now... he's going to break us."
[To be continued...]