Chapter 17: Into the Pit

I grabbed the petrol can and poured it in. Whatever it was, burning it clean couldn’t be wrong. But before I could light it, Sneha, who had been cowering in Priya’s arms, suddenly rushed up. She knocked into me, and the lighter in my hand fell into the coffin.

It all happened so fast. One moment Sneha was limp, the next she lunged, her fingernails digging into my arm. The lighter bounced off the edge, tumbling down into the nest of roots. The smell of petrol rose thick and sharp, and the coffin seemed to shudder in the pit.

“Sneha!” Priya rushed forward to grab her daughter, but Sneha went wild, clawing and scratching at me.

Her eyes were wild, her voice a strange, guttural growl. Priya screamed, trying to hold her back, but Sneha was too strong, her limbs flailing in all directions. My heart pounded—this was no ordinary possession.

I caught her flailing hand and saw her eyes had rolled back in her head.

Her lips were moving, but the words were not hers—strange, garbled syllables that made my hair stand on end. The cemetery seemed to shrink, shadows lengthening, the air growing icy despite the noon sun.

“Hold her!” I shouted to Priya, pushing the mother and daughter back. Then, without hesitation, I jumped down into the pit with the coffin.

In that moment, I forgot all fear. I remembered the whip at my waist, the words of the old madman, and my wife’s last plea: protect the innocent. I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and leapt into the darkness. As my feet hit the earth, the roots shifted—and something cold and unseen brushed against my ankle. Above, Sneha’s scream cut through the noon silence. There was no going back now.