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Aarav Shah, ek 27 year old app developer, Gurgaon ke Cyber City ke ek sleek 1BHK apartment mein rehta tha. Kaam ke stress ke bawajood woh technology ke har naye trend ka hissa ban jaata. Jab ek obscure app “BubbleTalk” ka closed beta mila – ek old-school chat messaging simulator jisme aap kisi ke 2011 ke chat logs ko ananymously explore kar sakte ho – toh usne bina soche download kar liya.
App ke marketing mein likha tha: “Relive past digital memories. Anonymous. Archived. Time-locked.” Aarav curious tha. App khola, ek retro white-and-green screen open hua; background mein faint dial-up connection ki static buzz. Ek message thread automatically open ho chuka tha – date: Aug 23, 2011. Naam nahi tha. Sirf ek ID: “+91800-LOCKED-IN”.
Raat ke 2:03 baj rahe the jab pehla message aaya. Subject: “Still there?” Us thread mein pehle se kuch aur messages the – ek uncanny online conversation jisme koi ladki apne dost ko kisi chhoti jagah se messages bhej rahi thi. Vo baar baar keh rahi thi, “Darwaza band rakho. Baarish ke baad vo aata hai.”
Har message aur uski language oddly unsettling thi, jaise kisi gone era ka digital psychosis. Aarav ne socha yeh sirf koi creepy ARG (Alternate Reality Game) hoga. Lekin har raat 2:03 AM pe ek naya message aata. Unsent messages. App ke mutabiq, woh messages kabhi bheje nahi gaye the—but they were still being written, now, live.
Fourth night pe message aaya: “Aarav, tu bhi toh coding karta hai na. Bata isse kaise rokun?”
Woh freeze ho gaya. First time kisi ne uska naam mention kiya tha.
Usne BubbleTalk ko uninstall karna chaha. Nahi hua. Settings greyed-out thi. Raat barabar 2:03 pe uska phone vibrate karta, chaahe aeroplane mode ho ya power off. Message aata: “Stuck in 2011. But I can feel you now.”
Ek din, usne research karna shuru kiya. Us jagah ke naam, IP traces, modem echoes—all dead ends. Lekin ek dark web thread mila jisme log keh rahe the ki kisi college hostel mein 2011 mein ek ladki ne suicide kiya tha—usne puri raat kisi ko BubbleTalk pe message bheje the. Logon ne kaha ki jab unhone woh app dekhi thi, jo messages unko dikha woh unke khud ke naam se the.
Next night. Final message: “Aarav, agar tu mujhe likh deta toh main zinda hoti. Tune late reply kiya.”
Aarav dar gaya. Us raat phone vibrate nahi kiya. Woh soch raha tha ki sab khatam ho gaya, jab usne dekha ki uske WhatsApp status pe kisi ne ek naya line likh diya tha: “Kya hota agar tum ek message pe zindagi haar jaate?” Status sirf wohi dekh sakta tha, kisi aur ko nahi dikhta.
Din beete. Aarav us app se chutkara nahi paaya. Uska microphone randomly on hota, screensaver black ho jaata lekin ek line likhi hoti: “Main phir se likh rahi hoon. Baarish ho rahi hai. Tu sun raha hai, na?”
Us raat, jab Gurgaon mein unexpected storm aaya, Aarav ka apartment ka door khula milta hai. Neeche ke floor pe kisi ne suna ki ek ladka sirf ek cheez repeat kar raha tha: “Mujhe sirf ek reply karna tha.”
Agle din BubbleTalk ke server ka address track kiya gaya – location dikhayi: Aarav ka apartment number. App Play Store se gayab thi. Lekin ek naya user beta test invite kisi aur ko mil gaya – message thread already open, first line same thi:
“Still there?”
