Wrong-Turn
There are places in this world so dark, that even destiny hesitates to cross them. Deep within the forgotten forests, reality bends, and nightmares take shape.
It was late night when Ayan was driving back home after a grueling shift at work. The main highway was blocked. A horrific accident had completely shut down the road, creating a massive, chaotic crowd and a long traffic jam stretching as far as the eye could see. The police officials were busy managing the mess and ordered Ayan to take a detour through a side route.
As Ayan turned his steering wheel, his eyes drifted toward the wreckage. The crashed car was badly charred, a twisted metal skeleton completely destroyed by fire. But it wasn’t the car that caught his attention. It was the white shroud covering a motionless body nearby.
Just as Ayan looked, a sudden, violent gust of wind swept across the asphalt, lifting the cloth away.
What lay beneath made his blood run cold. The face of the dead body was grotesquely ruined, partially burned by the flames, but its unblinking, glassy eyes were wide open. It felt as though those dead eyes were staring directly into Ayan’s soul, pinning him with a sinister gaze.
Shaken to his core, Ayan quickly ignored the eerie feeling and looked away. Right there, he noticed an opening leading into a dense jungle route. Ayan stared at it, a sudden wave of confusion hitting him. ‘When was this road built? I’ve traveled this highway so many times, but I’ve never seen this path before...’ he thought to himself. ‘Maybe I just never noticed it.’
Shaking off the weird thought, Ayan stepped on the gas and drove straight into that unfamiliar jungle path. He thought he was escaping a tragedy... but he had no idea he was driving right into a endless night.
LET'S BEGIN....
The silence of the night consumed the entire forest. All around, towering, dense trees stood like silent sentinels, guarding some dark secret buried in the shadows. The road was utterly deserted. Not a single streetlight pierced the pitch-black darkness. Above, heavy, ominous clouds churned in the sky, while jagged streaks of lightning occasionally ripped through the dark, making the atmosphere even more terrifying.
With the howling wind, the weather was rapidly spiraling out of control.
A car hurtled down the empty road at breakneck speed.
Inside, the radio on the dashboard flickered, broadcasting a faint, static-heavy, and broken voice: “A severe warning has been issued for torrential rain and storms. Citizens are urged to remain in safe shelters...”
Suddenly—
A wild creature flashed directly into the car’s headlights.
“What the—?”
Panic-stricken, the driver yanked the steering wheel. The tires screeched violently, losing their grip on the asphalt.
The very next second—
The car careened off the main road, plowing straight into the dense forest.
CRASH!
The car slammed hard into a massive tree.
All around lay a wild expanse of tall, overgrown grass. After the brutal impact, everything went dead silent for a few agonizing moments.
Then—
Inside that pitch-black forest, the car’s horn suddenly begins to blare continuously. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP—
The headlights begin to flicker violently. On. Off. On. Off.
In that terrifying forest, those twitching headlights were the only fragile source of light.
Inside the car, a man lay slumped in a semi-conscious state, his head resting heavily against the steering wheel. He was dressed entirely in a black shirt and black pants.
After a few agonizing moments, he slowly, painfully lifts his head.
The very instant he does, the relentless blaring of the horn abruptly cuts off. Into a dead silence.
Groaning in pain, he desperately tries to force the car door open, but the impact of the crash had jammed it tight.
Ugh.
He puts every ounce of his remaining strength into it.
CLICK!
Finally, the door gives way.
He stumbles out of the car, barely holding his balance, when suddenly—
SPLASH!
A heavy, fat raindrop hits him squarely on the face.
Slowly, he tilts his head upward.
The sky had been completely swallowed by pitch-black clouds.
The next split second, a torrential downpour erupts.
Fierce winds begin to violently lash at the trees, sending a terrifying symphony of rustling leaves and snapping twigs echoing through the woods. The rain turns so blindingly heavy that the man instantly scrambles back inside the car.
Panic rising in his chest, he hurriedly pulls the door to shut it.
But just then—
His eyes darted toward a spot just a short distance from the car window.
Someone was standing there, swallowed by the darkness.
In one hand, the figure held an old umbrella; in the other, a lantern. The torso was slightly hunched over, like that of an old man. Due to the dense blackness and the blinding rain, his face remained completely obscured.
But every single time lightning ripped through the sky— For a fraction of a second, it became blindingly clear: someone was indeed standing there.
Seated inside, the man quickly pulled out his phone and switched on the flashlight. He thrust his hand out of the window, waving frantically. At the same time, he slammed his hand onto the horn, desperate to catch the stranger’s attention.
After a few agonizing moments—
The old man began to move slowly toward him.
The rain was becoming progressively violent, turning the ground below into a thick, muddy swamp. His steps were excruciatingly slow, yet he kept advancing toward the car without a single pause.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
With every flash of lightning, his shadow would stretch sharply for a second, only to be swallowed by the darkness once more.
As soon as he reached the car, the man inside switched off his phone’s flashlight. Taking a deep breath, he leaned toward the open window and said,
“My name is Ayan. I’m stranded here. Can you help me?”
The old man’s face remained utterly expressionless.
He leaned down further, bringing his face closer to the window. Then, a bizarre, unsettling smile stretched across his lips.
In a low, drawn-out voice, he rasped, “Right nearby... we have a hotel. You can check in there. If you wish.”
His voice sounded deeply eerie, cutting through the roaring chaos of the wind and rain.
Glancing at the relentless downpour outside, Ayan raised his voice to be heard. “Alright!”
Amidst the torrential rain, Ayan and the old man moved slowly under a single umbrella. Ayan clutched his backpack tightly against his chest, desperate to shield its contents from the water.
A suffocating darkness surrounded them.
The path ahead was illuminated solely by the flickering light of the old lantern in the elder’s hand. But even that fragile flame shuddered violently against the fierce gusts of wind.
“How much further?” Ayan asked as they walked.
The old man stopped dead in his tracks for a moment. Then, without turning his head, he murmured in a low voice, “Just a bit more. We are almost there.”
Silently, they pressed on.
After a while—
The old man came to a sudden halt. He slowly pointed ahead.
“There. We have arrived.”--------
This story is rooted in authentic Indian thriller and suspense. To capture its true cinematic essence, it was originally envisioned and written in Hindi. The official Hindi version is also available! If you wish to read it in Hindi, feel free to check my profile or drop a message.
