The mirror felt unfamiliar - like it was showing her someone else.
Nitya smoothed down the crease of her dupatta, the color duller than she remembered, her hands colder than the should've been. Her mother had picked it for her said it would make her "look decent enough" for the guests.
It was a family function. The first time she stepped out of the house in months. Not because they wanted her to - but because Ritik needed to keep up appearances. He didn't want questions. Not yet.
The house buzzed with noise and laughter. Relatives smiled, distant aunts complimented her beauty. Strangers looked at her like she wasn't a ghost in a pretty outfit.
For a moment, Nitya almost forget she was a prisoner. Until she met his eyes from across the hall.
Ritik watching, controlling, measuring her every breath.
She tried to avoid him, but she moved toward the crowd, and that's when she saw him - a boy around her age, polite, calm-eyed, offering her a drink.
"Hi, you seem lost ," he said gently.
She hesitated... then replied, "I've been lost for a long time."
They talked, it was brief, it was innocent, but it was enough.
On the way home, Ritik said nothing. His silence wasn't empty. It was boiling.
The moment they stepped inside, the mask shattered.
"Who was he ?" Ritik hissed, grabbing her wrist so tightly she winced.
"I don't even know his name-" she snapped.
"You humiliated me ," he spat. "You made me look like a fool in front of everyone. You think I don't see how you carve attention ?"
And with that, he pushed her inside the room and slammed the lock.
Hours passed.
Nitya sat curled near the door, heart pounding from more than just fear now - from rage.
She wanted to scream, to run, to burn the whole house down.
But then.... she heard voices.
Ritik, on the phone, right outside her door.
She moved silently toward the gap and pressed her ear against the wood.
"I hate her. I've always hated her.
That girl deserves to be ruined, not rescued.
She was never meant to live free.
I'll destroy every piece of her, slowly."
Her body froze, but her hand reached her drawer - the old phone her cousin never knew she still had.
She hit record. Just ten seconds, just enough.
Her fingers shook and then-
The door creaked open.
Ritik stood there, his eyes locked on the phone in her hand.
"What did you just do ?" he whispered.
She didn't answer, she ran.
She sprinted down the hallway, barefoot, her breath sharp in her chest. She turned corners blindly, heart crashing like thunder, footsteps chasing her.
She reached the balcony.
She didn't plan to jump.
She just needed air. Escape
But he was faster and crueler.
Ritik grabbed her by the arm, eyes full of rage, mouth full of venom.
"You should've stayed quiet," he growled and then - he pushed her.
One final shove, her scream cut through the night. And her body vanished into the darkness below.
Later, they would say it was an accident, that she slipped, that she lost her balance.
But no one saw his hands, no one saw his hate.
All they saw was a body at the bottom of the hill, unmoving. And a family falling apart, because Nitya was gone.
But they didn't know .... Dead girls don't plan revenge.
But Nitya wasn't dead. Not yet.