PROLOGUE
The entire darkness banished from the city, which always appeared brightly illuminated by sunlight during the day and electric lights at night, had gathered in one place, making the entire area extremely deserted.
With no human movement around, the only sounds that could be heard there were the rustling of leaves fallen from the trees, the cries of sparrows returning to their nests, and the movement of branches swaying in the wind.
Just then, a scorpion came there, taking its young one across the road. A car came rushing through, running over both of them, and hurriedly entered the area.
The time was 11:45 PM.
"Hey! Guys! The uncles didn't see us, right?" one boy asked after parking the car to the side and peeking out through the window to make sure no one was following them.
"Hey! Where have you brought us? It's so dark here," another boy sitting beside him said, looking around at the silent surroundings.
"Danger Way!" he read the words written on a board lying beside the road.
"Danger Way? Looking at this place, it seems more like a danger zone," he said, focusing his mobile phone's flashlight on the skull symbol and the words written beneath it.
"Sameer! Looking at this, I feel like some danger is waiting for us here! Turn the car around. Let's pay the police their fine and leave this place!" he said fearfully, looking at the trees lining the road and the terrifying shapes created by their shadows.
"Don't worry, man! If we go back now, the uncles will seize all the stuff we have. Besides, did we bring only drinks to pay the fine and manage the situation?" he said, gesturing toward the white powder he had with him.
Then, making it clear that going back was not an option, he added,
"If they see Preethi and Pooja with us too, they'll spoil our entire party mood."
"This isn't the time to be afraid, man! It's time to celebrate. And since this is a danger zone, nobody will come here. So we won't have any problem. What do you say, girls? Why don't we celebrate this party right here tonight?"
He waited for an answer from the girls sitting in the back.
Nodding in agreement, Preethi said,
"Hey, Amul Baby! We girls are so excited. How can you, being a boy, be this scared?"
Then, making fun of the boy, she said,
"Sameer, he always talks like this. You start the car! I know very well how to get rid of his fear."
Moving forward from the back seat, she kissed the frightened boy on the neck and gently bit his ear with her front teeth.
"What? Are you scared? How can you be scared already? I haven't even started yet!"
Hearing Preethi say those words in a frightening voice, the boy jerked forward.
"What!"
"Just kidding, baby!"
After realizing that Preethi had only been teasing him, he said,
"Hey! Demon! Show those dubbing-artist talents of yours somewhere else, not with me!"
Remembering the voice that had frightened him for a moment, he silently thanked God.
The car engine started.
Until then, the area had been completely deserted. As though he wanted to introduce their arrival to the darkness surrounding the place, Sameer began honking repeatedly and making a huge racket.
The girls in the back also started having fun, enjoying the song playing on the radio.
"Hey! Sameer! Why are you honking as though someone is on the road? Stop it!" the boy said nervously, afraid that they might be inviting danger themselves.
Just then, the girls noticed someone standing in the distance.
"Hey! You two, stop fighting for a while and look ahead while driving! There's someone there!"
As the car moved forward, the figure gradually came closer.
It was a little girl standing there asking for a lift.
"Lift, please!"
"Stop the car, Sameer! That little girl is asking for a lift, isn't she?"
She signaled him to stop by the side, even though Sameer continued driving without slowing down at all.
Seeing this, the other boy said,
"Hey! What are you doing, Preethi? Are you crazy? If nobody comes into this danger zone, how did this little girl get here? I don't know why, but I'm scared. Sameer, don't stop the car."
"Abhay! Will you shut your mouth? What now? Are you calling that little girl a ghost?"
She scolded him and continued,
"Maybe she came here after losing her way, just like us. Who knows?"
As the car came to a stop, she opened the door.
"Hey, cute little girl! What are you doing here? Did you lose your way? Where is your house?"
"Mom!"
The little girl pointed toward the road they were traveling on and looked at them cutely.
"Oh...! Did you come with your mother? Then where is she?"
"Mom!"
The little girl pointed in the same direction again.
"Mom is there alone. She'll be worried if I'm not there."
She said it while twisting her lips like a fish.
"Oh, okay!
Come! We'll take you to your mother."
Preethi helped her into the car and then looked angrily at Abhay.
"How can you call such a cute little girl a ghost?"
"Hey! Cute little girl! What's your name?"
"My name is Jyothsna! My mother lovingly calls me Jyo."
"Oh...! So this cute girl has such a cute name? Jyo?"
"Okay, Jyo! How did you come here?" they asked.
"Today, my friend Dolly and I had a running race, you know? He cheated me and stayed halfway along the way. I didn't notice. So I kept running all the way here."
After explaining everything that had happened, she suddenly said,
"Uncle! Uncle! Stop the car!"
Seeing her call Sameer "Uncle," everyone burst out laughing.
"Did you see your mother and that's why you're asking me to stop here?"
Sameer looked around angrily.
"Anyway, what is that great mother doing, leaving a little girl alone? If I find her, I'll tell her..."
He muttered to himself.
Just then,
"Look! My friend Dolly is right there."
The girl pointed toward the trees.
"Where, Jyo? We can't see anything!"
Everyone leaned forward, trying to look in that direction.
"Oh! You're all looking down. Look! He's sitting on that tree and watching us!"
She clearly showed them where to look.
Everyone looked toward a doll sitting on the tree.
"Dolly means a doll?"
They were shocked.
"Hey! Look there! Someone has stabbed its head with a knife."
Abhay pointed toward the doll hanging from the tree and the knife stuck into its head.
"Who could have stabbed a doll so cruelly?"
As they wondered about it, the little girl noticed that the car was continuing without stopping.
"I want my Dolly! I want my Dolly!"
She began crying and making a fuss.
Until then, the little girl had been speaking so cutely. But when she suddenly began crying, everyone was at a loss as to how to console her.
"Okay! Okay! Don't cry, Jyo! Wait, we'll stop the car!"
They stopped the car and opened the door.
Just then, Abhay and Sameer heard the notification sound.
They looked at the mobile screens in their pockets and read the message they had received.
"Preethi! Pooja! Wait! Don't go!"
They signaled the two girls, who were already getting out of the car behind the little girl, to stop.
They looked alternately at the injury that had suddenly appeared near the little girl's eyes in the car's mirror and at the message that had just arrived.
Then Abhay hurriedly said,
"Sameer, start the car!"
He made it clear that it would be better to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Until then, Sameer and Abhay had been fine. Unable to understand why they had suddenly reacted that way, Preethi asked,
"Jyo hasn't come back yet. Why are you starting the car?"
"She's not a cute little girl...
She's a cute little ghost!"
They turned their mobile screens toward Preethi and Pooja and showed them.
They read the message:
*"If you want this illness of yours to go away, find the girl mentioned in this horoscope!
Once you marry her, this medicine prepared specifically for you will work through the eyes of the first child born to you."*
After reading the message, they turned around and looked behind them.
And then they saw Jyo again.
She was standing there holding Dolly.
"Bye...! Bye...! Happy journey!"
But this time, she did not look cute at all.
She looked horribly distorted.
The reason was that someone had pulled out her eyes.
"Guys! Don't look at the child behind us. Look at the mother in front!"
Pooja tried to make them look at what she had seen.
Suddenly, Sameer saw it.
He sharply turned the steering wheel to the side and drove the car onto a rock directly ahead.
That's it!
Everyone inside the car was thrown into the air.
Some of them hit the roof.
Sameer and Abhay, who were sitting in the front seats, slammed into the windshield.
Meanwhile, no one knew what had happened.
Suddenly, a huge blast occurred there, powerful enough to frighten even the darkness.
And the peaceful surroundings that had existed until then were swallowed by silence.
