(Vena’s POV) Darkness…
Then warmth.
A cool breeze brushed against my face.
The scent of jasmine drifted through the room.
Birds chirped outside my window.
Slowly…
I opened my eyes.
Sunlight streamed through the curtains.
For a long moment…
I simply stared at the ceiling.
“…I’m alive?” The words escaped before I could stop them.
My breathing became uneven.
I quickly sat up and looked around.
My room.
The wooden study table.
The bookshelf near the window.
The faded blue curtains.
Everything looked exactly as I remembered.
“No…” I whispered.
“It can’t be…” Almost instinctively, I looked down at my hands.
They were clean.
No rope marks.
No bruises.
No dried blood beneath my fingernails.
My fingers slowly touched my forehead.
The place where Tanmay’s gun had rested.
It was gone.
But the memory…
Was painfully clear.
“Goodbye, Vena.” Then…
Another voice echoed inside my mind.
“Stop him!” “Don’t let her awaken!” I closed my eyes.
That masked man…
Who was he?
Why did Nikhil sound afraid of him?
And…
What did he mean by awaken?
A sudden thought crossed my mind.
The calendar.
I turned toward the wall.
My heartbeat stopped.
The date…
Was exactly five years before the day I died.
For several seconds…
I couldn’t move.
This wasn’t a dream.
I hadn’t survived.
I had…
Returned.
I slowly walked toward the mirror.
A younger girl stared back at me.
Nineteen years old.
Bright eyes.
No scars.
No fear visible on her face.
Only I knew…
How much she had already lost.
I gently placed my hand against the mirror.
A single tear rolled down my cheek.
“I failed once.” I whispered.
“But not again.” “This time…” “I’ll protect the people who truly deserve it.” “I’ll uncover every lie.” “And no matter what it costs…” “I’ll change everything.” Knock…
Knock…
“Vena?” A familiar voice came from outside the door.
“Are you awake?” My body froze.
Mother.
The woman who had raised me.
In my previous life…
I had trusted her without question.
But now…
Nikhil’s words echoed inside my mind.
“Everything was a lie.” I closed my eyes.
Not yet.
I didn’t know the truth.
Until I found proof…
I couldn’t accuse anyone.
I took a deep breath.
“I’m coming.” The dining room smelled of fresh parathas and tea.
Everything looked so ordinary.
Almost painfully ordinary.
“Good morning,” Mother said with a smile.
I forced one of my own.
“Good morning.” Father sat at the end of the table reading the newspaper.
Without looking up, he said, “First day of college.” “Don’t be late.” “Yes.” I answered quietly.
Then…
Someone pulled out the chair beside me.
“Still sleepy?” Nikhil laughed softly.
He placed a glass of juice in front of me.
“You’ve always been nervous on your first day.” “If anyone gives you trouble…” He smiled.
“You know your big brother will handle it.” For just a moment…
I almost believed him again.
That gentle smile…
That familiar voice…
It was exactly the same.
If I hadn’t lived through my previous life…
I never would have doubted him.
I lowered my eyes before he noticed the fear in them.
“…Thank you.” The drive to college felt strangely familiar.
Every road.
Every traffic signal.
Every building.
Five years ago…
I had looked out this same window with excitement.
Today…
I looked at it with caution.
Because I knew…
One wrong decision…
Could lead me back to the same tragic ending.
The campus gate appeared ahead.
Students laughed.
Parents took photographs.
Freshers nervously searched for their classrooms.
Life moved exactly as it had before.
Yet…
For me…
Everything had already changed.
As I stepped through the college gate…
A strange feeling settled in my chest.
It wasn’t fear.
It wasn’t excitement.
It felt more like…
History…
Waiting to repeat itself.
Just then…
Something black fluttered down from above.
A crow landed quietly on the stone railing a few meters away.
Unlike the others…
It didn’t fly away.
It simply stared at me.
Without blinking.
Without moving.
As if…
It had been waiting for me.
A strange uneasiness crept into my chest.
Students walked past without paying it any attention.
To them…
It was just another bird.
But to me…
It felt different.
Then, without warning…
The crow spread its wings.
Flap…
It took flight.
Something slipped from its claws.
A small black envelope landed softly near my feet.
The crow disappeared into the sky.
I looked around.
No one seemed to have noticed.
Slowly, I bent down and picked up the envelope.
It was made of thick black paper.
There was no address.
No sender’s name.
Only a strange silver symbol pressed into the center.
My fingertips froze.
“I’ve never seen this before…” Yet…
For some reason…
It felt familiar.
— I quietly walked toward the library.
The reading hall was almost empty.
Finding a seat near the window, I carefully opened the envelope.
Inside…
There was only one folded sheet of paper.
I unfolded it.
Five words were written in neat black ink.
“The blood remembers before the mind.” Below it…
Another sentence.
“When the sleeping blood awakens…
the forgotten truth will awaken with it.” My heartbeat quickened.
Blood…
Awaken…
The words pulled me back to the warehouse.
“Don’t let her awaken!” Nikhil’s terrified voice echoed inside my head.
I gripped the paper tightly.
“It can’t be…” “What are they talking about?” — I turned the paper over.
Nothing.
Only the same silver symbol.
I quickly searched the internet on my phone.
Nothing.
I checked the college library catalogue.
Nothing.
Not even a similar design.
It was as if the symbol…
Didn’t exist.
— Just then— CRAAACK!
A loud cracking sound echoed outside.
Students screamed.
Chairs scraped across the floor.
I rushed to the window.
A massive tree branch had crashed onto the pathway.
Dust filled the air.
Teachers hurried toward the scene.
Fortunately…
The branch had missed everyone.
By only a few seconds.
I stared at the broken tree.
A cold feeling settled inside me.
“No…” “This never happened before.” Five years ago…
That branch had never fallen.
The future…
Had already begun to change.
— The thought refused to leave my mind.
Was it because I had returned?
Or…
Had something else changed?
I folded the mysterious letter and slipped it carefully into my bag.
For now…
No one could know about it.
Not even Nikhil.
Especially not Nikhil.
— That evening…
Home felt strangely peaceful.
Mother prepared dinner.
Father discussed work.
Nikhil spoke casually about college, asking how my first day had gone.
I answered carefully.
Short.
Simple.
Natural.
I couldn’t allow him to suspect that I remembered the future.
Not yet.
— Later that night…
I locked my bedroom door.
Taking out my diary, I carefully copied the strange symbol onto a blank page.
Then I wrote beneath it: Day One.
Someone knows I came back.
I stared at those words for several seconds.
If the envelope wasn’t random…
Then someone had been waiting for me.
But who?
A friend?
Or another enemy?
I closed the diary.
Outside the window…
A cool wind stirred the curtains.
For just a brief moment…
I had the strange feeling…
That someone was watching the house.
When I looked outside…
There was no one.
Only the old tree…
Swaying gently beneath the moonlight.
Yet…
Hidden somewhere beyond the darkness…
A calm voice whispered, “The game has begun.” The figure turned away.
Vanishing into the night…
Before anyone could notice.
Who sent the black envelope?
Why did the future change?
And who is watching from the shadows?
Share your theories—I love reading them, and some of you have already noticed clues that others missed.