The door slammed shut with a force that shook the entire room.
Aarohi screamed and stumbled backward,
barely maneging to keep her balance.the sudden darkness felt thicker now, as if it had weight. The candles flickered weakly, their flames shrinking, struggling to survive.
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
That was what frightened her the most.
The silence was no longer empty. It felt aware.
Aarohi 's breath come out in short, uneven graps. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for movement_any sign that she was not alone. The book floated gently back into the table, closing itself as if nothing had happened.
But the mark on her wrist still burned.
She lowered her graze slowly.
The symbol had changed.
The soft blue glow had deepened into a darker shade, pulsing unevenly now, like a dying heartbeat.
Every pulse sent a sharp chill through her arm, crawling up to her shoulder.
"No", she whispered. "Please....stop."
The whispering returned but_this time, it wasn't coming from the book.
It came from the walls.
Soft, overlapping murmurs crept through the room, so faint she almost thought she imagined them. She pressed her hand over her ears, but the sound didn't fade. It grew clearer, forming broken words she couldn't fully understand.
Her name was among them.
Aarohi backed away until her legs hit the edge of the bed. As she sat down, the mattress dipped beside her .
Slowly.
Carefully.
As if someone had just sat there.
Her heart neatly stoped.
She turned her head inch by inch.
There was nothing beside her.
But the mattress remained sunken.
A cold pressure brushed against her arms. She gasped, jerking away, her skin erupting in goosebumps. The air smelled different now_ old, damp like gapes left to rot in a forgotten place.
"Your not alone anymore," a voice whispered directly behind her ear.
Aarohi screamed and jumped to her feet, shipping around.
The room was empty.
The mirror on the room wall began to fog, through the air was freezing. Slowly, letters appeared on its surface, as if traced by an invisible finger.
You opened the door.
Her chest tightened. "I closed it," she said, her voice shaking. "I closed it."
The writing changed .
Not the first one.
The book on the table creaked.
Aarohi didn't touch it.
It opened anyway.
The whisper stoped abruptly, replaced by a single, clear thought that did not feel like her own:
Tonight was only the beginning.
The candles went out.
And in the complete darkness, something laughed _ quietly, patiently, right beside her.