Riya woke with fear already sitting in her chest.
For several seconds, she didn't know where she was. Her eyes remained fixed on the ceiling while her fingers curled tightly into the bedsheet. She expected the white surface above her to change again—to become brighter, colder, unfamiliar. She expected voices somewhere beyond her sight, the scrape of metal and that sharp hospital smell filling her lungs.
Nothing happened.
The curtains beside the window were hers. So was the lamp on the bedside table and the photograph beside it. Afternoon light stretched quietly across the floor. Little by little, the familiar room pushed away the confusion in her head.
Home.
Riya released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"Riya?"
Aadhira's voice came from beside her.
Riya turned her head. Aadhira was sitting in the chair near the bed, but she didn't immediately lean closer or reach for her. That tiny hesitation didn't escape Riya.
"How did I get here?"
"The doctors checked you after you fainted. Everything was stable, but after what happened there, they didn't want you waking up in the hospital and panicking again. So they sent you home."
Riya tried to remember leaving.
Nothing came.
She remembered the hospital entrance, the wheelchair and Vikram beside her. After that, everything broke apart. A white ceiling. A metallic sound. Darkness. Smoke. Fear that had appeared so violently she hadn't known what was happening to her.
And Druve.
His voice reaching her through everything.
The steady beat of his heart beneath her ear.
Riya frowned. "I don't remember coming home."
"I know."
"Who brought me?"
Something suspicious appeared in Aadhira's expression.
Riya narrowed her eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like you're trying not to laugh."
"I'm not."
"You're terrible at lying."
Aadhira pressed her lips together.
"Aadhira."
"Druve carried you."
Riya stared at her. "What?"
"From the hospital."
Her face warmed instantly. "Why?"
Aadhira's control slipped. "Because apparently unconscious you had very strong opinions about letting go of his shirt."
Riya's eyes widened.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Very much yes."
Riya pulled the blanket higher. "Please stop talking."
"I barely started."
"Then this is an excellent place to stop."
Aadhira laughed softly, but Riya's embarrassment disappeared when another thought came to her.
"Where's Vikram?"
The amusement left Aadhira's face.
"Outside."
"Why?"
Aadhira hesitated.
Riya understood.
"Call him."
Aadhira went to the door and opened it. Vikram appeared almost immediately, which told Riya he had probably been waiting nearby. He entered but stopped several feet from the bed.
That hurt more than she expected.
"Why are you standing there?"
"I can stand wherever I want."
"Come here."
He moved closer, but still not enough.
Riya pointed at the chair. "Sit."
"Bossy after one nap."
"Vikram."
He sat.
Neither of them mentioned the hospital.
Riya looked at the hand resting on his knee and held hers out.
Vikram didn't move.
"Give me your hand."
"Riya—"
"Vikram."
He slowly placed his hand in hers.
The instant their skin touched, Riya's body tightened.
Something flashed through her head—a man's hand closing painfully around her arm, the desperate need to pull free.
It vanished almost immediately.
Vikram had already felt her tense. His hand began to withdraw.
Riya caught it.
"Don't."
His eyes met hers.
"I'm fine."
"You don't have to do this."
"You don't scare me."
He said nothing.
"I don't know what happened at the hospital, but it wasn't you." She tightened her fingers around his. "So stop looking at me like you're afraid to touch your own sister."
"I'm not afraid."
"You're sitting like I might explode."
From beside them, Aadhira murmured, "He does look slightly frightened."
Vikram turned. "Nobody asked you."
"Viki, I'm only helping."
"Don't call me that."
A laugh escaped Riya.
The sound eased something in Vikram's face. He finally turned his hand beneath hers and held it properly.
Riya remained quiet for a few moments before her smile slowly disappeared.
"Something strange happened in my head at the hospital."
Vikram looked at her.
"When I panicked, I kept seeing things that weren't there." She frowned. "A dark room. There was a chain around my ankle, I think. Some men…"
Her free hand moved unconsciously toward her arm.
"When you caught me, for a second I saw someone else grabbing me."
Vikram's expression changed.
"And there was fire. I was running somewhere. People were shouting behind me, and something heavy was dragging behind me." She glanced toward her ankle. "I think it was the chain."
She looked at him with visible confusion.
"I don't know what any of it was. It just kept coming one after another."
Vikram didn't ask another question.
A cold thought had already entered his mind.
Sruthi.
He couldn't know whether any of it had anything to do with her. But after everything that had happened around Riya, the possibility came before he could stop it.
If those few broken flashes belonged to Sruthi, what had that poor soul been through?
A dark room. A chain. Men. Fire.
Riya had seen only scattered pieces, yet those few seconds had been enough to leave her gasping for breath, fighting everyone around her and screaming when her own brother tried to catch her.
Vikram looked at their joined hands.
His sister was sitting safely in her own bedroom now, surrounded by people she had known all her life, and even here the brief image of someone's hand had made her tense beneath his touch.
If one small fragment could hurt Riya this badly, he couldn't imagine what would happen if everything surfaced.
And for the first time, his thoughts lingered on Sruthi herself rather than the mystery surrounding her.
If those flashes truly belonged to her, then she hadn't merely seen them.
She had lived them.
What had that poor woman suffered?
The question left a heaviness in his chest.
Then he looked at Riya again, and his worry returned completely to his sister. Whatever those flashes were, he didn't want her digging into them simply because everyone around her wanted answers.
"Vikram?"
He realized she was watching him.
"What?"
"You went somewhere."
"I didn't."
"You did. Your face became all…" She gestured vaguely at him. "Cold."
"I'm fine."
"Terrible liar."
"Runs in the family."
Riya gave him a suspicious look.
Vikram didn't ask her anything else about what she'd seen. Instead, his thumb moved once across the back of her hand.
"If it happens again, don't force yourself to think about it."
"I didn't force it this time."
"I know."
"Then how exactly am I supposed to stop my own brain?"
"You don't have to stop it. Just don't chase it."
Riya studied him. "You're worried."
"Yes."
The immediate answer surprised her.
Vikram didn't try to hide it.
Riya squeezed his hand. "I'm okay now."
He managed a small smile. "Stay that way."
She rolled her eyes. "Excellent advice. Very medically useful."
Aadhira folded her arms. "Don't encourage Viki. He already thinks he's qualified in everything."
Vikram glared at her. "I'm going to ban that name from this house."
"You'd miss it."
"I'd celebrate."
Riya laughed again.
None of them noticed the man standing outside the partially open bedroom door.
Druve had come upstairs after hearing that Riya was awake. He had been about to enter when her voice stopped him.
A dark room.
A chain around her ankle.
Men.
Someone grabbing her.
Fire.
He remained where he was, listening.
Riya remembered her life before the accident, but the accident itself and the time immediately surrounding it remained blank. She couldn't tell anyone where she had been, who had been with her or exactly what had happened before she was found critically injured.
Druve had already questioned that blank after someone later tried to kill her.
Now she was describing people she couldn't identify and fear she couldn't explain.
It could be nothing more than her mind mixing the hospital with the panic she'd experienced there. The flashes might be distorted, disconnected or meaningless.
But if even one of them belonged to the missing period before her accident, then it mattered.
A man grabbing her could become a person to find. A room could become a location. A voice, a smell, a name, even one small detail could give him somewhere to begin.
Druve quietly stepped away before anyone inside noticed him.
He waited.
By the time Vikram and Aadhira came out, Druve was farther down the hallway, checking a security update on his phone.
Vikram stopped when he saw him.
"She's tired."
"I won't stay long."
Vikram studied him for a moment. "Don't push her."
Druve gave a small nod.
Aadhira walked away. Vikram followed more slowly, looking back once toward Riya's room before leaving.
Druve entered.
Riya was adjusting the blanket when the door opened. She looked up at him—and her eyes immediately dropped to his shirt.
Druve noticed.
Riya noticed that he noticed.
Her cheeks turned pink.
"I'm not looking at your shirt."
"I didn't say you were."
"You were thinking it."
"You can't possibly know what I'm thinking."
"Apparently I behaved strangely while unconscious. I have the right to be suspicious."
Druve said nothing.
Riya frowned. "You could at least pretend you don't know."
"I could."
"But you're not going to?"
"No."
Her eyes narrowed. "You're enjoying this."
"No."
"You answered too quickly."
Druve looked at her.
Riya waited.
Before he thought better of it, he asked, "Would answering slowly make it more convincing?"
She blinked.
Druve realized a second too late that he'd allowed himself to be pulled into the conversation again.
A smile spread across Riya's face. "You made a joke."
"I didn't."
"You did."
"I asked a question."
"You're surprisingly argumentative."
"I wasn't arguing."
"You are now."
Druve stopped.
Riya's smile widened in victory.
He had come upstairs with a purpose. Somehow, within a minute of entering the room, Riya had him defending the speed of his answers.
He pulled the chair closer and sat.
Her smile faded slightly. "That looks serious."
"It is."
Druve rested his forearms lightly against his knees. "I heard some of what you told Vikram."
Riya's brows rose. "You were listening?"
"I was outside."
"That is usually how listening works."
"I didn't come there to listen."
"But you stayed."
"Yes."
The direct answer left her with nothing to throw back at him.
Druve watched her for a moment. "Tell me about the room."
Riya's expression changed.
"Why?"
"Because you don't remember your accident."
She frowned.
"You remember your life before it. But you don't remember what happened immediately before you were injured or how you ended up there."
"And you think what I saw has something to do with that?"
"I don't know yet."
"Then what exactly are you looking for?"
"Something that tells me whether it does."
Riya became quiet.
Druve continued, "Someone tried to kill you afterward. Until I know otherwise, I'm not going to assume the first incident was an accident."
The remaining humor disappeared from her face.
"You think someone did this to me?"
"I think there's a possibility someone was involved."
Riya stared at him.
Until that moment, the accident had been a blank in her life—frightening because she couldn't remember it, but still something that had happened and ended.
Druve had just made the blank feel far less empty.
"What do you want me to tell you?"
"Everything you saw."
"I already told Vikram."
"You told him the outline." Druve's gaze remained steady on hers. "I need details."
"What kind of details?"
"Anything you saw, heard, smelled or felt. Don't decide whether it makes sense before you say it."
Riya drew in a slow breath.
"The first thing was the ceiling."
"At the hospital?"
"Yes. I looked up and for a second it changed. There was another white ceiling above me. A bright light."
"Were you lying down?"
"I think so."
"Could you move?"
Her brows drew together. "Not properly."
"Why?"
"I don't know. My body felt heavy. I wanted to move, but it felt like I couldn't make it do what I wanted."
"Were you alone?"
"No."
The answer came quickly.
Druve's attention sharpened. "Who was there?"
"Men, I think. More than one. Someone was close to my face."
"Did you recognize him?"
"No."
"Did he speak?"
"There were voices, but I can't remember words."
"Were you afraid?"
"Yes."
"Of him?"
Riya started to nod and then stopped.
"No. I mean, yes, but that's not right."
Druve waited.
She frowned, frustrated by her own answer. "I didn't become scared because he came near me. I was already scared."
"How scared?"
Riya gave him an uncomfortable look. "How exactly am I supposed to measure fear?"
"Don't measure it. Explain it."
She looked away.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
"It felt old."
Druve's eyes narrowed slightly. "Old?"
"Like I had been scared for a long time." Her fingers curled into the blanket. "Not a few minutes. I don't know how to explain it. My body seemed to know I should be afraid before I even knew what was happening."
Druve didn't interrupt.
"Then I heard that metal sound at the hospital and everything changed. Suddenly I was somewhere dark."
"How dark?"
"Almost completely. There was a door. I could see a thin line of light underneath it."
"Were you standing?"
"No. I was close to the floor. Sitting or lying down, I'm not sure."
"What could you feel?"
"The floor. It was cold."
"Anything else?"
Riya's hand moved unconsciously toward her ankle.
"The chain."
"Which ankle?"
She touched it.
"This one, I think."
"Was it tight?"
"I don't know."
"Heavy?"
"Yes."
The answer came more confidently.
"Just around your ankle?"
Riya closed her eyes briefly.
"No. When I moved, I could feel it pulling farther away from me."
"Attached to something?"
"I think so. Something heavy."
"Could you stand?"
"Probably."
"Then why didn't you?"
Her eyes opened.
"Because moving made noise."
Druve became very still.
"What happened if it made noise?"
"They would hear me."
"Who?"
"The men."
"How many?"
"I don't know."
"Could you see them?"
"Not properly."
"Hear them?"
"Yes."
"What did they say?"
"I don't remember the words."
"Their voices?"
"Men. More than one."
"Anything different about the way they spoke? A name? An accent?"
Riya shook her head.
"Clothes?"
"No."
"A smell?"
She was about to shake her head again.
Then she stopped.
"Hospital."
Druve's attention sharpened immediately.
"What kind of hospital smell?"
"That clean, sharp smell. Disinfectant, medicine… something like that."
"In the dark room?"
Riya frowned.
"I don't know."
"Before it?"
"I don't know that either." Frustration entered her voice. "Everything comes in the wrong order. The room, someone's hand, that smell. I don't know which belongs where."
"Don't arrange it."
Riya looked at him.
"Just tell me whatever comes. I'll worry about the order."
Some of the frustration left her face.
"There were footsteps."
"Outside the door?"
"Yes."
"What did you do when you heard them?"
Riya's fingers tightened around the blanket.
"Stopped breathing."
"Why?"
"I didn't want them to know I was awake."
"What happened if they knew?"
She looked down.
"I don't know."
"What did it feel like?"
"The door was going to open."
"And that frightened you?"
Riya gave him a strange look.
"Terrified me."
"Because someone would hurt you?"
She swallowed.
"I think they'd already hurt me."
Druve's next question didn't come immediately.
Riya rubbed her palm over the blanket.
"That's the strange part. I don't know what they did. But I knew what the footsteps meant. I didn't need to see who was coming. Just hearing someone outside that door was enough."
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"I tried not to exist."
The words came out before she could soften them.
Riya looked uncomfortable. "That sounds stupid."
"It doesn't."
She looked at him.
Druve simply waited.
"If a shadow crossed that light under the door, everything inside me tightened. I didn't want to move. I didn't want the chain to make a sound. I didn't even want to breathe loudly." Her voice became quieter. "I just wanted whoever it was to keep walking."
"Did they?"
Riya's eyes shifted away.
"Not always."
"What happened when they came inside?"
"I don't know."
"Nothing at all?"
"No." Her frustration returned. "That's what makes it worse. I can't see what happened, but I know I was afraid of it."
"Did you call for help?"
"No."
"Why?"
Riya answered without thinking.
"Because no one would come."
Druve watched her.
Riya seemed equally surprised by the certainty in her own voice.
"How did you know that?"
"I don't know."
"Had you tried before?"
Her eyes unexpectedly filled with tears.
Riya blinked.
"Maybe."
"Were you waiting for someone?"
Another tear slipped down her cheek.
She wiped it away quickly. "I think so."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Someone you knew?"
"Yes."
"A man?"
Her expression tightened.
"Yes."
"Someone you trusted?"
Riya fell silent for several seconds.
Then she whispered, "More than anyone."
Druve remained completely still.
Riya wiped away another tear, visibly irritated with herself.
"This makes no sense. I don't even know who I'm talking about."
"Don't worry about whether it makes sense."
"It matters to me."
Druve accepted that without arguing.
"Did you think he'd come for you?"
Riya stared at her hands.
"At first."
Druve caught the words immediately. "At first?"
She frowned.
"I think I waited for him."
"For how long?"
"I don't know. It felt like a long time."
"Did he come?"
"No."
The word broke strangely in her throat.
Riya looked away as another tear escaped.
"I don't understand why that hurts."
Druve didn't offer an answer he didn't have.
Riya drew in a shaky breath. "I think after some time I stopped waiting."
"Because you thought he wasn't coming?"
"Maybe."
She fell silent.
Then her brows pulled together.
"No."
"What?"
"That doesn't feel right."
"Then what does?"
Riya closed her eyes.
For several seconds, Druve thought she'd reached another blank.
Then she whispered, "I didn't want him to find me anymore."
"Were you afraid of him?"
Her eyes opened instantly.
"No."
The force of the answer startled even her.
"No," she repeated more quietly. "I wasn't afraid of him. Never."
"Then why didn't you want him to find you?"
Riya tried to follow the feeling.
Pain crossed her face.
"I don't know."
Druve stopped immediately.
"Leave it."
"But—"
"Don't force it."
"You wanted details."
"I want what comes on its own. Not something you hurt yourself trying to find."
Riya looked at him for a moment before slowly nodding.
Druve gave her time to settle before asking again.
"The fire?"
Riya took a breath.
"That was different."
"How?"
"I wasn't trapped anymore."
"You were running?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"I don't know. There was smoke everywhere at first. My eyes hurt. It was difficult to breathe. I could feel heat behind me."
"Was the chain still on you?"
"Yes."
This time there was no uncertainty.
"It was dragging behind me. I could hear it hitting the ground every time I ran."
"Were the men following you?"
"Yes."
"Could you hear them?"
"They were shouting."
"What were they saying?"
"I don't remember. Maybe telling me to stop."
"What did you feel?"
"Fear."
"The same as in the room?"
Riya thought about it.
"No."
Druve waited.
"In the room I felt helpless. Like whatever happened next wasn't my choice." Her voice became quieter. "When I was running, I was still scared, but I had one thing I could do."
"What?"
"Don't let them catch me."
The certainty in her voice made Druve's expression harden.
"What would happen if they did?"
"I don't know exactly."
Riya's breathing changed.
"But I knew I'd rather die."
The sentence frightened her the moment it left her mouth.
She stared at him. "That's horrible."
Druve said nothing.
"I mean it." Her hand pressed against her chest. "I can feel that I meant it. I wasn't thinking that I might die. I didn't care. I only knew they couldn't take me back."
"Back to the room?"
"Yes."
"Were you trying to reach someone?"
"No."
"Home?"
"No."
"Anywhere specific?"
She shook her head.
"Then where were you going?"
"Away."
"Anywhere?"
"Anywhere."
Her voice broke.
"I just wanted to be somewhere they couldn't touch me anymore."
The room fell quiet.
Riya wiped at her cheeks, but now that she had started putting the feelings into words, they seemed easier to reach than the images themselves.
"The pain wasn't the worst part."
Druve's gaze remained on her. "What was?"
She struggled for the words.
"Knowing I couldn't stop anything."
Her eyes filled again.
"If someone came through that door, I couldn't stop him. If someone grabbed me, I wasn't strong enough. If I screamed…" She paused. "I felt like nobody would hear me. Or maybe they would hear and nobody would come."
Druve's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
"I felt completely alone," Riya continued. "Not just like nobody was beside me. Worse. Like the whole world was somewhere outside that room and whatever happened to me inside it didn't matter."
She wiped another tear away.
"And I hated being afraid. I remember feeling that very clearly. I hated that they could make me scared without even doing anything. Footsteps were enough. A shadow under the door was enough. Someone reaching for me was enough."
She looked at Druve helplessly.
"I don't know how I know any of this."
Druve sat quietly.
He had been asking for names, faces, voices, anything that could become a trail. Riya had given him none of those yet, but what she described was too specific for him to simply dismiss.
If any part of it belonged to the missing period around her accident, then someone might have hurt her long before she was found.
And whoever had done it might still be the same person trying to make sure she didn't survive now.
Riya wiped her cheeks and gave him an embarrassed look.
"I'm sorry."
Druve frowned. "For what?"
"This." She gestured vaguely toward her face. "I don't normally cry while being interrogated."
"I wasn't interrogating you."
"You asked approximately a hundred questions."
"That's not an interrogation."
"What do you call it?"
"Questions."
Riya stared at him.
A small laugh escaped her despite the tears still clinging to her lashes.
"You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
Her eyebrows lifted.
Druve realized he'd answered without thinking.
"There."
"What?"
"You did it again."
"Did what?"
"Talked like a normal person."
His expression flattened.
That only made her smile.
"You really don't know you're doing it, do you?"
"Doing what?"
"Talking to me."
"I came here to talk to you."
"No. You came here to ask questions. There's a difference."
Druve looked at her.
She had a point.
He chose not to tell her that.
Riya's smile grew. "See? Now you've gone quiet because I'm right."
Druve stood.
"That is not an answer."
"I wasn't aware I owed you one."
"You were much easier to deal with when you weren't talking."
"You just complained that I don't talk."
"I can change my mind."
"I've noticed."
Riya blinked.
Druve turned toward the door, but stopped before reaching it.
"If it happens again, tell me."
Riya's expression became serious. "What?"
"Anything you see or feel."
"Even if it doesn't make sense?"
"Yes."
"What if I'm not even sure it happened?"
"Tell me exactly what you saw."
"And if I don't see anything?"
"Then tell me what you felt."
Riya studied him.
"A smell?"
"Yes."
"A sound?"
"Yes."
"Something completely stupid?"
"Anything."
Riya gave him a doubtful look. "That's a very broad definition of anything."
"It's supposed to be."
"And I'm not supposed to figure out what it means first?"
"No."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
Druve's answer was simple.
"Tell me."
"And you'll figure out whether it matters?"
"I'll try."
There was no grand promise in the answer. He didn't tell her that everything would be fine or that there was nothing to fear. He simply told her what he could do.
Strangely, Riya found that easier to trust.
"Okay."
Druve gave a small nod and moved toward the door.
"Druve."
He looked back.
"If I tell you something completely ridiculous, you're not allowed to look at me like I'm insane."
"I don't look at you like you're insane."
"You have several looks. I'm still learning them."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Riya pointed at him. "That's one."
"What does this one mean?"
"I haven't figured it out yet."
Druve almost answered.
This time he caught himself.
Riya's smile appeared immediately. "You're learning."
He opened the door.
"Rest, Riya."
"You're avoiding me."
"Rest."
"That means I'm right."
Druve walked out without answering.
Riya smiled to herself for a few seconds before settling deeper against the pillows. Her fingers drifted absently toward her ankle before she caught herself and pulled her hand away.
She still didn't know what had happened inside her head at the hospital.
But if it happened again, she would tell Druve.