Rishabh Malhotra The train wound its way up from Siliguri like a slow-breathing animal, dragging itself through tunnels and ridges until the landscape turned from dust and plains into green shadows and mist. Aanya pressed her forehead against the glass of the narrow window and felt the chill bite through. The air smelled different here—pine, wet earth, smoke rising from unseen chimneys. She had always imagined Darjeeling to be painted in postcards: toy train whistles, Kanchenjunga glowing in the distance, laughter of tourists around Mall Road. But this time, she wasn’t here for postcards or tourist guides. She was here…
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Vivaan Malik Part 1: The Room That Doesn’t Exist The rain fell like nails on the roof of the boarding house, hard and deliberate. Elliot Crane stepped out of the taxi, dragging a battered suitcase behind him, the soles of his boots already slick with Kolkata’s monsoon grime. The signboard above the house was missing letters—what remained read: “B R ING H USE.” A broken bulb swung from the lintel like a dying eye. He paused for a moment, collar turned up, and knocked twice. Behind the faded blue door, something shifted. A slit opened. Grey eyes squinted. “Room?” Elliot…