THE BITE
Chapter 1
The Bite
The summer heat hung heavily over the small town.
Even before noon, the streets looked deserted. The roads shimmered under the blazing sun, and the few people outside hurried from one patch of shade to another. Inside most houses, ceiling fans spun endlessly, fighting a losing battle against the scorching weather.
Inside a modest two-story house, twenty-two-year-old Avni Sharma sat cross-legged on her bed.
Books surrounded her.
Practice papers covered nearly every inch of her study table.
A half-empty cup of tea sat beside a stack of notes.
The competitive examination she had been preparing for over the past year was finally approaching.
And with every passing day, her anxiety grew.
She checked the clock.
11:38 AM.
Only three weeks left.
Three weeks to determine whether all her hard work would pay off.
She sighed and rubbed her eyes.
For the last four hours, she had been solving mock test questions.
Her head hurt.
Her neck hurt.
Even her handwriting looked tired.
Still, she forced herself to continue.
“Bas thoda aur,” she whispered.
Just one more chapter.
Just one more test.
Just one more day.
Then maybe she could rest.
Suddenly, her mother’s voice echoed through the house.
“Avni!”
Without looking up, she replied.
“Ji, Mummy!”
“Beta, piche cooler ki pipe nikaal de.”
Avni closed her notebook.
Of course.
The one moment she finally got into a study rhythm.
“Abhi aayi.”
She pushed herself off the bed and stretched.
The smell of lunch drifted through the house as she walked through the hallway.
Her mother was busy in the kitchen.
Pressure cooker whistles echoed in the background.
Everything felt ordinary.
Comforting.
The kind of normal day nobody remembers.
The kind of day that changes your life without warning.
Avni stepped into the backyard.
A wave of hot air immediately hit her face.
The afternoon sun burned overhead.
The cooler stood near the boundary wall, humming lazily.
The small garden looked exhausted from the heat.
Plants drooped under the sunlight.
Even the birds seemed too tired to chirp.
Avni walked toward the cooler and bent down.
Water dripped from the attached pipe as she disconnected it.
She began folding the pipe carefully.
For a few moments, everything was perfectly normal.
Then she heard something.
Rustle.
The sound came from the bushes near the wall.
She stopped.
Her eyes moved toward the bushes.
Nothing.
Not a single movement.
“Probably a cat.”
The neighborhood had plenty of them.
Shrugging, she continued folding the pipe.
Rustle.
The sound came again.
Louder this time.
Avni frowned.
The bushes shook slightly.
A strange feeling settled in her chest.
Not fear.
Just uneasiness.
The kind of feeling people get when they know someone is watching them.
She glanced around.
The backyard was empty.
No one was there.
Still, the feeling remained.
“Chal bhaag.”
She stomped her foot against the ground.
Nothing happened.
The bushes remained still.
Now irritated, she smacked her palm loudly against the wall.
THAK!
The sound echoed through the backyard.
For one second, everything was silent.
Then the bushes exploded with movement.
Something shot out.
Fast.
Far too fast.
Before Avni could react, a sharp pain shot through her foot.
“Aah!”
She stumbled backward.
Her heart nearly stopped.
A large gray rat darted across the yard.
For the briefest moment, she saw its eyes.
Dark.
Black.
Almost unnaturally black.
Then it disappeared beneath another bush.
Gone.
As though it had never existed.
“Damn!”
Holding her foot, Avni looked down.
Tiny drops of blood had already appeared near her toe.
The bite wasn’t deep.
But it hurt.
A lot.
Trying not to panic, she hurried back inside.
Her mother immediately noticed.
“Kya hua?”
“Chuhe ne kaat liya.”
“What?”
Her mother quickly put down the spoon she was holding.
“Kahan?”
“Pair mein.”
“Dikha.”
Avni reluctantly showed her foot.
Savitri examined the wound.
Fortunately, it wasn’t serious.
Still, concern appeared on her face.
“Ruk.”
A few moments later she returned carrying antiseptic cream.
“Laga le.”
“Mummy, it’s fine.”
“Fine nahi hai.”
She handed over the ointment.
“Laga le. Aur agar dard badhe toh doctor ke paas jayenge.”
“Theek hai.”
Avni applied the cream.
The burning sensation slowly faded.
Soon the incident became nothing more than an annoying interruption to her day.
Or at least that’s what she believed.
That evening, life continued normally.
Dinner was served.
The television played in the background.
Her father discussed local politics.
Her mother complained about rising grocery prices.
Avni nodded occasionally while scrolling through her notes.
Everything felt exactly the way it always had.
Normal.
Safe.
Predictable.
Yet every now and then, her eyes drifted toward the bite mark on her toe.
The wound itself wasn’t bothering her.
Something else was.
The memory.
Those eyes.
For some reason, she couldn’t forget them.
Dark.
Silent.
Watching.
As if there had been intelligence behind them.
The thought sounded ridiculous.
It was just a rat.
Nothing more.
Yet the uneasy feeling refused to leave.
That night, sleep didn’t come easily.
The house was unusually quiet.
The ceiling fan rotated lazily above her.
Its shadow moved across the walls in slow circles.
Outside, distant dogs barked.
Then silence returned.
Avni lay awake staring at the ceiling.
Her mind replayed the afternoon over and over.
The bushes.
The sound.
The bite.
The eyes.
Especially the eyes.
She closed her own eyes tightly.
“You’re overthinking.”
She laughed nervously.
“Ek chuha hi toh tha.”
Just a rat.
Nothing more.
Eventually exhaustion won.
Her breathing slowed.
Her eyelids grew heavy.
And she drifted into sleep.
The next few weeks passed without incident.
The bite healed.
The pain disappeared.
Life returned to normal.
Study.
Eat.
Sleep.
Repeat.
The routine never changed.
Sometimes Avni forgot about the rat entirely.
Other times she would glance at the fading mark on her toe and feel an inexplicable chill.
As though something had changed.
Something she couldn’t see.
Something she couldn’t explain.
A few weeks later, the annual cultural event arrived.
The entire town seemed excited.
Colorful lights decorated the streets.
Music echoed from loudspeakers.
Food stalls lined the event ground.
Families gathered together.
Children ran around laughing.
After weeks of studying, Avni finally agreed to attend with her friends.
“Bas do ghante,” she told herself.
Two hours.
Then back to studying.
The event ground looked beautiful.
Strings of lights glowed overhead.
The smell of street food filled the air.
Music played continuously from the stage.
For the first time in weeks, Avni felt relaxed.
No books.
No exams.
No pressure.
Just one peaceful evening.
A game competition was taking place on stage.
Two teams stood opposite each other.
The host explained the rules dramatically.
A song would play.
Contestants had to select the correct prop related to the song.
The audience loved it.
Cheers erupted after every round.
Avni wasn’t participating.
Instead, she stood among the crowd cheering for her friends.
“Come on!”
“Jaldi!”
“Arre woh wala uthao!”
Her friends laughed.
The atmosphere felt warm.
Comfortable.
Safe.
Then she noticed someone.
A girl.
Standing near the edge of the crowd.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
She looked around Avni’s age.
Simple cream-colored salwar suit.
Long black hair.
No jewelry.
No makeup.
Yet something about her immediately caught Avni’s attention.
The girl wasn’t watching the stage.
She wasn’t watching the game.
She was watching Avni.
Directly.
And smiling.
Not a creepy smile.
Not threatening.
Just calm.
Almost familiar.
A strange feeling washed over Avni.
As if she had seen this girl before.
Somewhere.
Sometime.
But she couldn’t remember where.
For several seconds, neither looked away.
Then Avni smiled back.
At that exact moment, one of her friends grabbed her arm.
“Arre idhar dekh!”
Avni turned for only a second.
When she looked back—
The girl was gone.
Completely gone.
Her smile vanished.
She searched the crowd.
Left.
Right.
Near the stage.
Near the food stalls.
Nothing.
The girl had disappeared.
As if she had never been there at all.
A strange uneasiness settled in her chest.
“Kya hua?” her friend asked.
“Kuch nahi.”
But it wasn’t nothing.
For some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about the girl.
Who was she?
And why had she seemed so familiar?
The questions followed her all the way home.
That night, as Avni prepared for bed, she found herself staring out the window.
The mysterious girl’s face lingered in her mind.
And deep inside, a feeling she couldn’t explain whispered a warning.
This was not a random encounter.
And this would not be the last time she saw her.
The next time they met...
Everything would change.
End of Chapter 1
