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Shruti, Aditi, aur Nikhil — teen dost, Delhi ke ek reputed college ke final-year students. Placement season aa gaya tha, aur iss baar apne naye video calling app “LinkUp” pe group study ka plan bana tha. Normal video apps pe glitches aate the, toh Shruti ne DarkNet se naya app download kiya tha. High ratings, fast connection — bas ek choti warning: “Do not use alone after 11 PM.”
Raat ke 11:30 baje, wo teenon ne call connect ki. Pehle toh sab fun tha — memes share karna, planning karna kya padhenge, kaunse companies ke questions solve karenge. Phir Shruti ne notice kiya ki participant list mein ek extra naam tha – “GUEST_4539”.
“Yaar yeh kaun hai?” Nikhil ne hansa, socha kisi ka glitch hai ya prank. Shruti aur Aditi ne bhi ignore kar diya. Lekin jab screen auto-switch hone lagi to kisi aur chehra ka glimpse dikhne laga: Ek andhera mask jaisa chehra, bilkul expressionless. Shruti ne turant app restart kiya, par jab vapas aayi, video call already chal rahi thi — bina kisi ke manually connect kare.
Agli kuch ghanton mein sab kuch ajib hone laga. Jab bhi kisi ka webcam blink karta, background mein ek ek zyada lakdi ke khokhle aadmiyon jaise silhoutte dikhte. Har webcam mein thoda thoda. Pehle ek, fir do, fir chaar…
Shruti ne panic mein call disconnect kiya. Aditi ka phone gaya dead. Sirf call ki screen active thi. Nikhil backend developer tha, usne debugging mode se app ke andar jaake dekha — “Active Streams: 4.” Ek stream woh teen, aur ek “Source Unknown.”
Tez tez messages aaye:
“Mat kaato. Dekho. Dekhte raho. Warna hum bhi aayenge.”
Screen black flash hui. Shruti ke saamne khud ka hi ek distorted version dikhne laga, jaise woh khud video ke kisi dusre layer mein phase gayi ho. Background mein uska hostel room nahi, ek puraankaalin dhundhla corridor tha.
LinkUp app automatically unki contacts ki purani media files dikhane laga — purani family photos jisme chehre distort huye the, jaise cheeks kheench ke smile banayi gayi ho zabardasti. Aur jitne jaldi wo app ko uninstall karne chale, ussi speed se ek naya notification aaya:
“Paas aao. Apne asli network mein welcome. Disconnect karoge toh milne aayenge.”
Shruti ne paagalpan mein laptop tod diya. Par screen off nahi hui — ek compact portable screen ban gayi, aur images ab real world dikhne lagi. Hostelite ka corridor same waise ghuma — aur wohi khokhle aadmi… lakdi ke patle frame, jaise kisi ne insaan ko carve karke banaya ho, aage badhte dikhe.
Aditi aur Nikhil ghar chale gaye the, lekin unka last message aya:
“Shruti, tum bhi ab sirf ek stream ho. Join kar lo.”
Us raat se Shruti hostel mein nahi mili. Hostel CCTV mein sirf ek blurry white figure dikha, jo lift ke andar chahti, bina kisi ke attend kiye.
Aur LinkUp? Playstore pe kabhi tha hi nahi. Kisi ke phone mein open karo, aur har video call ke background mein woh lakdi ke aadmi dikhte… shayad tumhara number next ho.
