Kiara couldn't move. Her eyes were locked on the window as the wet handprint slowly slid down the glass, leaving a thin trail behind. The room felt colder with every second, as if the air itself had turned heavy. Her phone was still glowing in her trembling hands, the message on the screen burning into her mind.
"You invited me."
"That's not true…" she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Outside, the darkness seemed thicker than before. The streetlight that usually illuminated the road had started flickering, casting uneven shadows across the walls of her room. Every flicker made the handprint on the window appear and disappear, like something breathing in the dark.
Kiara took a slow step back.
Then another.
Her heart was beating so loudly she was sure whatever was outside could hear it.
Her phone vibrated suddenly.
She almost dropped it.
A new message appeared.
"Why are you moving away?"
Kiara's throat went dry.
Her fingers shook as she typed.
Who are you?
For a few seconds, there was nothing.
Then the typing dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Finally, the reply came.
"Open the window and see."
"No," she whispered, shaking her head.
The tapping sound started again.
Tap… Tap… Tap…
But this time it wasn't slow or gentle.
It was impatient.
Angry.
The glass rattled slightly with each knock.
Kiara pressed herself against the wall, trying to get as far from the window as possible.
"Go away…" she said, tears forming in her eyes.
Her phone vibrated again.
"You can't keep me outside forever."
The words made her stomach twist.
Something about that sentence felt wrong. Not just scary — familiar.
As if she had heard it before.
Suddenly, the curtain moved.
Not from the wind.
From the outside.
Kiara's breath caught in her throat.
A dark shape pressed against the fabric, outlining something that looked disturbingly like a head… and shoulders.
She wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
The shape stayed there for a few seconds.
Then slowly moved away.
The tapping stopped.
The room fell silent again.
Too silent.
Kiara waited, her entire body shaking.
Seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Her phone screen dimmed, casting the room back into darkness.
"Maybe… it's gone," she whispered.
Just as she said that—
The lights in her room flickered once.
Twice.
Then went out completely.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Kiara gasped and fumbled for her phone, turning on the flashlight.
The small beam of light cut through the darkness, illuminating the bed, the wall… and finally the window.
The curtain was now half open.
But Kiara was sure she hadn't touched it.
Her heart pounded as she slowly moved the light toward the glass.
The handprint was gone.
Relief flooded through her chest.
But only for a second.
Because something else was there now.
Fog.
The glass had turned cloudy, as if someone had breathed on it from the outside.
And slowly… very slowly…
Words began to appear.
Letters forming one by one.
Kiara watched in horror as the message wrote itself on the window.
LET ME IN
Her knees almost gave out.
Her phone vibrated violently in her hand.
Another message.
She didn't want to read it.
But she did.
"It's getting harder to wait."
Kiara backed away, shaking her head again and again.
"No… no… no…"
Suddenly—
THUD!
Something hit the window hard.
The entire glass shook.
Kiara screamed and dropped her phone. The flashlight beam spun across the room before stopping on the window again.
Another impact.
THUD!
A long crack appeared across the glass.
Kiara scrambled backward on the floor, her hands slipping on the cold tiles.
Her phone vibrated again near her hand.
She picked it up with trembling fingers.
The final message appeared on the screen.
"If you don't open it…"
The words stopped.
Three dots blinked.
Then the rest of the message appeared.
"…I will come in anyway."
At that exact moment—
Something moved behind the curtain.
Not outside.
Inside.
Kiara's blood ran cold.
Because she suddenly realized…
The window had never been opened.
So whatever was behind the curtain…
was already in her room.