The Cursed Library || ONC 2025

Naman!!

Selena cried out, running towards the place he had stood a second ago. She kept calling him, turning here and there, peeping out of the entrance in hopes to find him there. But to no avail.

"What did you do?" Selena growled at Amaya, after finally admitting to herself that she had lost Naman.

"What did you do?" She asked again, falling onto her knees, crying bitterly.

"I...I didn't mean to," Amaya stuttered, dread filling her veins. "I didn't kill him."

"I swear I didn't do it on purpose," she said, before her breath caught in her throat as realised the irony of her situation.

Swara had muttered the exact same words. But they didn't believe her. Now no one would believe Amaya either.

She had just snatched a book. How did she end up becoming a murderer?

"Amaya, Amaya do you know where Swara lives?" Selena asked desperately. "Her number, her address, anything."

Amaya shook her head, tears falling from her eyes.

"Amaya, please go and find the author. We need her. I am sure she will bring Naman back. Amaya please go," Selena pleaded, forgetting all about her anger.

Nothing mattered anymore. Even if cursed, she was still alive. Naman wasn't. She had to bring him back at any cost.

"I would go, but I have no idea where she lives," Amaya spoke, feeling bad to kill her only hope.

"Someone needs to tell her what happened," Selena cried. "Author won't come back on her own, not after I threw her out so harshly yesterday."

"She will," Swara said, having heard them when she arrived.

She should have been faster. If only she had arrived a few minutes earlier, she could have saved Naman.

"Swaraaa," Selena shouted, rushing towards her. She held Swara's hand desperately, but Swara immediately removed her hand from Selena's hold.

"What did you guys do?" Swara asked, her eyes blazing as she held the diary and torn paper in her hands.

"You had a problem with me. You should have taken it out with me. Why did you harm Naman?" She roared in anger, looking between Amaya and Selena with contempt in her eyes. They had crossed all their limits.

Swara held back her tears, letting her anger take the lead.

"Hate us all you want. I give you the permission to make my life a living hell. But please, please bring Naman back," Selena pleaded, joining her hands. "I am ready to do anything in return."

"You don't have to. I was going to bring him back, even if you guys tried to stop me," Swara spoke.

"I will try to glue it at home."

"Do you think it will work if we just attach the page to the diary?" Amaya asked, looking unsure.

"I don't know, but I need to try everything I can. At the end it is in the hands of the diary," Swara said, before resuming her search.

If it was the page about any of the main leads, Swara was sure that diary would have already intervened by now. It wouldn't let its main characters die just like that.

Unfortunately, Naman wasn't the main character. Would the diary go out of its way to save a mere extra?

"Place those books on the counter at their usual place. If not today, then I will make sure Naman returns back tomorrow morning to deliver these books," Swara said, having just noticed the fallen books.

"Promise?" Selena asked in a small voice.

"He will be back," Swara promised, her anger slightly lessening at the sight of the weeping Selena.

She was still angry at them for what they did, but she wasn't angry enough to not realise that it had been an accident.

★★★★★

Swara had glued the page back. However, there was no sign of Naman. She went back to the library to see if he was back, but Selena replied in negative.

"I haven't moved from the entrance door at all. I wouldn't have missed him if he came back," she informed, when Swara questioned if there was a chance that Naman came back and left when she wasn't looking.

"Go and rest. Don't keep standing here," Swara told her.

"But-" Selena protested with teary eyes.

"He will come back tomorrow. I am sure," Swara told her in a confident tone, although she herself was scared.

She couldn't just sit still. There were more than twenty hours left for him to come for the next delivery. She couldn't wait until then.

Swara tried calling his number. Hoping that he would pick up. Naman had a life outside the library. He might have just appeared somewhere else.

Swara desperately prayed that he was alive as a human even if he died as a character.

No matter how many times she called, he didn't pick up. Swara then called Misha, hoping that he had shared some information about where they could find him.

Considering how much they flirted, Swara was sure that she would find some information from Misha about him.

"Sorry bro, we just talk nonsense. I don't know anything valuable about him," Misha said apologetically, before an idea hit her, "Wait! Let me check his social media. Maybe, we will find something."

"Let me know as soon as you do," Swara told her.

Swara eventually got the number of his friends and the place he worked at, his home address and all the places he could visit.

She went to each and every place. Contacted each and every number, she could, but he was nowhere to be found.

The only blessing- that no one had forgotten Naman yet. If they still remembered him, then there was a chance of his returning.

Swara returned back home, dragging her feet as they had blisters from all the walking she did.

If his disappearance wasn't enough to hurt her, the nonchalance his parents showed was. They simply didn't care. They weren't a bit bothered about him.

They didn't know he was sick. Heck, they weren't even aware that he was a victim of assault, something that had even made headlines.

Who would have thought that such a jolly person had been so lonely at his own home?

Swara plopped down on her couch, letting out a tired sigh. Her every effort had been useless. She could now only hope that Naman would return tomorrow.

She picked up her diary to check whether the page had stuck properly and wasn't coming apart.

The diary fell from her hands as she saw the page.

"What's wrong?" Vriha hurried towards her as she saw Swara's trembling form.

"Diary...diary cancelled it," Swara muttered, picking up the diary again to check if she saw it wrong.

Diary only stroke the things that didn't align with the story. But these lines did. He was a part of the story.

"What did it cancel again?" Vriha asked, peeping around Swara's shoulder, only to freeze in shock.

Diary had cancelled out the part where Naman delivered the books to the library.

Diary had cancelled out Naman's character.