Chapter 5

Sonia's point of view...

Where is this place...!

My heart throbbed against my chest when my eyes went wild to find even one thing that could be called familiar but no use. I was taken straight to a forest. There was nothing but trees and darkness around me as far as my sight goes.

I prepared myself for the worst but it was terrifying.

What will they do? Isn't it just a death? They can only kill me once, right?

Though I will suffer a lot, in the end, I will leave this cruel world forever.

I thought it was going to be my end. And also the end of my struggles but I never thought that it was just the beginning.

"Purani haveli" I read the board in front of me when the car took a turn ahead inside an arch.

'old mansion...!'

What is this place now?

Is this the place rumored for his cruelty? The place where he tortures his offenders.

Right in the middle of the forest, there was a mansion, that looked like a haunted one. I felt a frozen breeze chilling my whole body. Goosebumps crept all over my skin as I stared at that building in front of me.

It was just like a horror film scene that can freeze your blood flow instantly.

The old man sitting in front of me turned his head back and gave another horrifying look to me. I don't know if he was a professional at this but his every word was as bizarre as the line between life and death.

"Just prey to all the Gods in the world because once we enter this place you won't be saved even by any God" he chuckled and the others laughed louder.

I was cursing them under my breath, well, that's all I could do for now.

The car stopped as we reached the grand entrance of that haunted mansion.

I would have admired that mansion if I had not been here forcefully.

A huge villa nestled in the heart of an ancient, dense forest, though shrouded in an eerie, it can be considered as an otherworldly beauty.

Its exterior is a haunting amalgamation of Gothic and Victorian architecture, with spires that seem to pierce the heavens and ornate, decaying stone walls that exude an aura of melancholic grandeur.

The moonlight filters through gnarled trees, casting long, spectral shadows that dance upon the villa's facade.

Something was churning inside my gutt when I roamed my eyes all over it.

Moss-covered, weather-worn statues of forgotten figures line the overgrown pathway leading to the villa, their expressions twisted with a sense of perpetual sorrow.

I stood there watching those statues, I felt it as if they were talking to me, trying to scream something but the man next to me poked me to move on.

"Move on...!"

As we approached, the unsettling symphony of rustling leaves and distant, echoing owls' deadly calls created an eerie backdrop sending chills down the spine.

I raised my eyes looking at the windows, adorned with stained glass, glistening like gems under the pale moon, emitting an ethereal, ever-shifting kaleidoscope of colors that draw you in. Yet, behind those windows, something seems to watch from the darkness within, a presence both alluring and deeply unsettling.

I was sure I was at a haunted place, or it might be a Dracula or a vampire resting inside. They even told me about that 'Luca'.

Maybe that so-called Luca they were talking about was some supernatural thing that was hiding here.

The interior was sophisticated but the red lights everywhere gave it a terrifying look again. I was trembling in fear.

All that I could think of was how are they going to kill me, would it be so painful? I know I wouldn't be able to get out of this place ever again.?

This unsettling beauty, where the eerie and the enchanting coexist, makes the villa a haunting masterpiece in the heart of the forest, a place where fear and fascination entwine in an enigmatic dance.

We walked for a few more minutes to reach an alley with many doors simultaneously.

They stopped at one of the doors and that old man knocked at it.

"Sir, we are here!" he said so politely.

"Hm..." a grunt was heard and he stepped in.

My hands were frozen and so was my whole body. I was nervous, no...! I was actually curious about what he would do to me.

Just a few minutes and that old fart came out with a smile tugged on his face as he looked at me.

"It's time...!" he said terrifying my soul. I thought I was going to meet the Yama waiting for me inside but...!

"Take her away and throw in front of Luca...!" he yelled a command and the men around me dragged me away.

Luca...! Again...! What exactly is that?

So it was indeed something so dangerous, some supernatural thing.

I was dragged to a room at the corner of the alley and was thrown in.

I screamed in fear.

What is waiting for me?

A vampire...?

A Dracula...?

Or something else...?

It was so dark in that room that I couldn't see anything before me.

I tried. I tried so hard to find out what my death looked like in that dark. At least I won't have any regrets about whom I was killed at last. But that was of no use.

I was wondering when I saw a slight light coming from something that looked like a line.

Or maybe a door.

I went near that and touched it. That was indeed a door and when opened, it led to a small gallery. The light that filtered through that door was moonlight and that gallery had a view of the entire dense forest.

A beautiful yet scary view.

This was supposed to be a punishment, right?

As the door was now opened, I turned behind and looked inside the room. It was empty but as the light fell on the walls of that room, my soul slipped into my mouth.

Blood stains...! Everywhere...

What on earth did live here?

My hands and legs go numb at the very sight of it.

Is that so-called Luca, somewhere out of his room?

Should I just go in and close the room door? Will I be safe there? But even if I do that, when am I going to be safe?

My mind was a complete mess. I couldn't think straight. I was tired, I was scared.

Despite my scarceness, my tiredness won over it and I decided to at least sit down and wait for my death.

At least my legs won't hurt anymore.

The room was so horrible that I didn't dare to enter. Those stains were so heart-clenching that no one still conscious could sit in that room.

I sat on the floor of that balcony, resting my head on my knees.

"What a day...!" I mumbled under my breath, "What a fate...!"

As it was dark and I wanted to distract myself so badly, I started singing the lullaby that my mother taught me. I don't know when my eyelids felt heavier and I dozed off at that horrendous place. Leaving behind all those fears that crept into my heart, all those worries that my mind was troubled with, I dozed off.

After quite a while, my sleep was disturbed due to some rustle in the darkness. I sat alert and looked in the direction where the sounds came from.

Nothing but dark...!

But...! Suddenly I saw a couple of tiny red lights approaching me from the darkness. I felt hard to breathe. Couldn't scream either.

I lunged back all of a sudden. I know it was not some red lights but someone's sparkling eyes.

This was it...!

So this was what they were talking about.

Luca...!

My end...!

My terrifying end...!

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