Night fell over Subarnagarh like a velvet curtain, quiet and heavy with unspoken tension.
Inspector Ratan sat at his desk, staring at the message on his phone again:
> "Call me tonight."
He had tried. Twice. No response. No sign of the Masked Detective.
At that very moment, inside Taraniketan Institution, the halls were darker than usual. A few emergency lights flickered, barely holding on.
In the shadows of the staffroom, a chair creaked.
Someone—or something—was watching.
---
Earlier that evening...
Sanchayita couldn't sleep. She kept hearing whispers. Or maybe it was her imagination. She turned to look at Aaradhya, who was also wide awake, eyes fixed on the ceiling.
"You feel it too?" Sanchayita whispered.
Aaradhya slowly nodded. "Something's coming."
---
Meanwhile, in the teacher's dormitory, Ms. Jayasree Mukherjee stood in front of a mirror, tying her long red hair.
On the table beside her sat a porcelain doll.
Its eyes were wide. Lifeless.
Or were they?
She leaned down, whispered something in the doll's ear... and the candle beside it flickered.
"Time to play," she said softly.
---
The next morning – 6:11 a.m.
A loud crash echoed from the biology lab.
Guards ran in.
What they saw made one of them drop his flashlight.
A skeleton model—usually hanging upright—was found crushed on the floor, pieces scattered.
Next to it, written in red marker on the wall:
> "One has been spared. Four remain."
And below it:
> "Let the Psycho Doll's game begin."
Inspector Ratan was called immediately. He arrived minutes later, staring at the scene with dark eyes.
"Where is the Masked Detective?" he muttered.
---
Somewhere far away from school grounds, the Detective stood alone in an abandoned factory. Her coat fluttered in the wind. She held a folded paper in her hand—something she had found hidden inside the silver box under the school garden.
She opened it.
It read:
> "If you're reading this, the doll is awake. Find the girl who never cried."
Her hand clenched the paper.
She turned toward the darkness.
"It's not just a game," she whispered. "It's a ritual."
---
To Be Continued...