Location: Kolkata, IndiaDate: September 19, 2029Time: 10:43 AM
The priest didn't look at him.
He just recited mantras with a tired voice, eyes fixed on the burning bodies across the crematorium yard. Smoke curled into the morning sky like quiet screams. Ash drifted with the wind.
Yash stood alone.
No relatives had come.No neighbors stayed.Just two thin wooden platforms, and two bodies wrapped in white.
His parents.
Dead by their own hands.Burning by government subsidy.Buried by silence.
The fire rose higher.
He thought he'd feel something — rage, grief, closure.
But all he felt was cold.
The man from the finance company showed up an hour later.
Sunglasses. Cheap shoes. Plastic smile.
"Mr. Yash Roy?""Sorry for your loss.""You're now legally responsible for your parents' remaining debt."
Yash didn't speak.
"Current outstanding amount: ₹14,75,000. Including loan interest, court penalties, and property seizure notice."
The man handed him a printed letter.The ink was still warm.His father's name was stamped with a red line."DECEASED. LIABILITY TRANSFERRED."
Yash folded the letter without reading it.
"You don't understand," the man said, with mock sympathy."Even if they're gone… someone has to pay. The world still turns."
Yash looked him in the eyes. Not angry. Just empty.
"No," Yash said. "It doesn't."
That night, Yash went back to the flat.
The walls still smelled like poison. The silence was heavy, heavier than the ash.
He sat on the floor, lit a candle, and opened his father's old files.
Papers. Notices. EMI breakdowns. Pawned items. Hospital receipts. Rent slips.
Every document was a wound.Every page, a punishment for trying to survive.
He stared at the bank account.₹43.
That was all that remained.
By midnight, the sky cracked.
Literally.
Thunder rolled without sound.Above the old buildings, black clouds churned unnaturally.And for a single second — the moon turned red.
Yash didn't notice.He was staring at a rope tied to the ceiling fan.
He stood under it.Eyes open.Neck bare.
But then… something moved in the sky.
A scream. Not human. Not animal.A breach had opened.
And something had come through.