As the clock passed midnight, exhaustion finally pulled Leena into a deep sleep, despite the eerie feeling lingering in the air. The shadows in the room seemed to stretch and shift, but she was too tired to notice.
Morning came with a strange stillness.
The first thing Leena registered was the faint golden light filtering through the thin curtains. For a moment, she lay still, trying to shake off the lingering unease from the night before. The guest house was silent—too silent. No distant hum of traffic, no morning chatter from staff. Just emptiness.
Shoving the thoughts aside, she got up, dressed in fitted jeans and a casual shirt, and made her way outside.
The town looked different in daylight. It was still quiet, but now she could see the rustic charm—small houses, old brick roads, and towering trees surrounding the outskirts like silent guardians. But it was also clear that the town had seen better days; some buildings looked abandoned, their windows boarded up, their paint peeling away.
She reached the construction site—a vast stretch of land where the company planned to build a flyover that would connect the town to the main city. The project was crucial, promising economic growth and better connectivity, but there was a problem.
A portion of the land belonged to the forest area, and the company needed approvals to clear a section of it. That meant dealing with the locals, the town's authorities, and some environmental concerns.
Her manager had already arranged for her to meet someone—John.
John was a local who had worked with outsiders before, a man who knew the ins and outs of the town's people and their reservations. If anyone could help her navigate through the bureaucratic mess, it was him.
Leena took a deep breath and checked the note on her phone.
"Meet John at the town's café. He'll guide you from there."
Straightening her shoulders, she set off, unaware that this meeting would change everything—and that she was about to step deeper into the town's secrets than she ever intended.