1 The Unforeseen Accident

Around the time when the New Year's holidays were about to start , Utkalgarh University campus seemed almost empty except for the third semester Postgraduate students and the official staffs . The weather seemed colder than any other times of the year .

Darshan sat on a bench of a sidewalk just beside the Main Gate Lane of the campus to have a small nap . Since his exams were over he was thinking about the exam papers and grades which ended up with a yawn . Maybe he was too much tired or maybe tricked by Fate, he blacked out .

Past few days were torturous to him . Being a student of literature with a part time teaching job , his schedule always had been overloaded . More to mention the life he'd been living wasn't a normal life at all or even that kind of lives which unusual people lived . He got only few weeks to complete the syllabus . He wasn't an ignorant person about studies but last few months went to the hotlist of his super normal life , he didn't even get time to get his haircut done .

Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon , a gentle breeze shuffled his hair while he was in a deep slumber . Just in blink of eyes , a shadow passed his view line and he opened his eyes immediately . His warm brown eyes were snapped out of drowsiness and instantly filled with concentration . He was surprised to see an ordinary person just walk away in front of him and he only could see the back . A frown rose between his thick eyebrows ; he was in a deep slumber , not dreaming , yet he saw the man's shadow with closed eyes .

Confused, he started following the man from a safe distance to figure out the cause of such a sudden vision . He clearly remembered the shadow was grey with increasing black , but he could not see anything with opened eyes . It was even more strange when he tried to see with closed eyes for several times still couldn't see anything except darkness . A few students returning from their outings, passed by the man , but their reaction clarified they also could see him and they were keeping distance . Darshan's strides became swift and , just as he was about a ten feet away , the person looked behind .

Darshan was stunned to see the man was all over bloodstained, drenched with sweat, bloodshot eyed, heavily breathing . Darshan thought that man was wounded so he started approaching him . As if he saw his death, the man turned and started running . The Main Gate Lane was totally deserted, Darshan hoped for the securities to be alerted at least but they were asleep

"Wow ! What a security system we have !" Darshan thought.

A few moments later they were out of the campus , on the road to the highway . As they reached the First Corner Point , a truck suddenly appeared from nowhere and the Man got hit , and in seconds was dead at the spot .

Darshan stopped abruptly , soaked with sweat , he should have breathed heavily , but he dared not to ; his cream white face became pale , as if blood stopped flowing in his body . He clearly knew the consequences and as for that he had to run from there but guilt was overweighing him .

"Did I just cause his death ? I shouldn't have chased him . What I was thinking exactly ? ! That chasing the man could give my answer ! Where my brain have gone ? I've never caused anything like death !" petrified there , he thought.

He kept his eyes on the body , a black shadow leapt from the dead body . Darshan could clearly make out it was the shadow from his earlier vision , it's just that the shadow became more darker . The spirit was little confused to realize that he was already dead . Looking in front he saw Darshan standing there and glared at him viciously . Someone nudged him from his side , Darshan didn't see who it was or hear what the person was saying , but he came to consciousness only to find that the spirit was about to grab him . And then Darshan started running for his dear life , without looking around for once.