Ch. 3: Midnight Discovery

The clock struck 12:00 a. M.

Aryan and Meera sat quietly in the attic, staring at the old radio. The room was dimly lit by a single table lamp, and rain tapped softly against the window.

“Are you sure it always starts at midnight?” Meera asked.

Aryan nodded.

“Every time.”

For a few moments, only static filled the room.

Then the speaker crackled.

A familiar voice echoed through the silence.

“Warning… The receiver has been activated… They know someone is listening… Leave the observatory before sunrise…”

The transmission ended abruptly.

Meera stared at Aryan with wide eyes.

“I heard it,” she whispered. “This is real.”

Before they could speak again, the radio switched itself off.

The next morning, Aryan visited his grandfather.

“Grandpa, where did you find this radio?” he asked.

His grandfather smiled thoughtfully.

“I found it nearly twenty years ago in an abandoned observatory outside the city. Strange things happened there. People said scientists were conducting secret experiments before it was shut down.”

Aryan and Meera exchanged nervous glances.

“The observatory,” Meera said softly. “That's the place mentioned in the message.”

That afternoon, they rode their bicycles toward the hill where the old observatory stood.

The building looked abandoned. Broken windows, rusted gates, and overgrown plants surrounded the silent structure.

Inside, dust covered every room.

Old computers, broken telescopes, and scattered documents lay untouched for years.

As they explored deeper into the building, Meera suddenly stopped.

“Aryan…”

Fresh footprints were clearly visible in the dust.

Someone had been there recently.

They quietly followed the footprints until they reached a locked steel door marked:

“PROJECT ECHO – AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.”

Before Aryan could examine it, footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Someone was coming.

The footsteps grew louder.

A tall figure dressed in black appeared at the end of the corridor, holding a flashlight.

Without saying a word, the stranger slowly turned toward them.

Aryan held his breath.

The mystery had only just begun.