Kiara couldn't breathe.
Her eyes were locked on the curtain.
It moved.
Not from wind.
Not slowly.
But in short, uneven jerks… as if something behind it was trying to stay still but couldn't.
Her fingers tightened around the phone until her knuckles turned white. The flashlight beam shook violently, making shadows crawl across the walls like living things.
"No… no… no…" she whispered.
The curtain bulged outward for a second.
Then went flat again.
Kiara forced herself to speak, though her voice came out broken.
"Who's there?"
Silence.
Then—
A sound.
Soft.
Wet.
Like someone dragging their fingers across fabric.
The curtain trembled again.
Kiara's heart hammered so hard it hurt.
She wanted to run.
But her legs wouldn't move.
Her phone vibrated.
She flinched so badly she almost screamed.
A new message appeared.
"You found me."
Her stomach dropped.
"I didn't—" she choked, then stopped. Why was she talking to it?
Another message came immediately.
"Turn off the light."
Kiara shook her head violently.
"No."
The curtain twitched.
Harder this time.
As if something behind it had reacted to her answer.
Her flashlight flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then steadied again.
Kiara swallowed, her throat burning.
"What do you want?" she asked, tears streaming down her face.
The typing dots appeared.
Stayed.
Disappeared.
Then the reply came.
"You."
A loud sound suddenly echoed through the room.
Not from the window.
From the floor behind her.
Creak.
Kiara froze.
Something was moving.
Not just behind the curtain anymore.
Somewhere in the room.
She slowly turned her head.
The flashlight beam swept across the dark floor.
Nothing.
Just shadows.
But then she noticed something that made her blood turn to ice.
Wet footprints.
Bare human footprints.
Leading from the window…
Across the floor…
Toward her.
Fresh.
Shining under the light.
As if whatever made them had stepped there only seconds ago.
And the last footprint stopped right behind her.
Kiara's body went rigid.
She could feel it now.
Warm air against the back of her neck.
Something breathing.
Slow.
Heavy.
Right behind her.
Her phone vibrated again in her trembling hands.
She didn't want to look.
But she did.
"Don't turn around."
A tear slid down her cheek.
Too late.
Because she already was.
She turned slowly, every muscle screaming in terror.
The flashlight beam lifted—
And landed on empty air.
Nothing was there.
No one.
No footprints behind her anymore.
They had vanished.
Kiara gasped, choking on her own breath.
"Where did you go…?" she whispered.
The answer came instantly.
Not from the phone.
Not from the window.
From above her.
A faint creaking sound from the ceiling.
Kiara looked up.
Her scream died in her throat.
Something was on the ceiling.
Clinging to it like a spider.
A thin, twisted figure, pressed flat against the surface, limbs bent at impossible angles. Its long hair hung downward, hiding its face.
It wasn't moving.
It was watching.
Kiara's hand slipped.
The flashlight beam fell directly on its face.
The hair parted slowly.
Revealing skin that looked pale… cracked… wrong.
And eyes.
Wide open.
Unblinking.
Smiling.
Her phone vibrated again.
Without looking away from the creature, she raised it with shaking hands.
The message read:
"I told you not to turn around."
The thing on the ceiling began to move.
Not climbing.
Crawling.
Directly toward her.
Fast.
Too fast.
Kiara screamed and stumbled backward, crashing into the bed.
The creature stopped.
Tilted its head.
Then suddenly dropped from the ceiling.
The flashlight went out as Kiara's phone hit the floor.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Kiara scrambled blindly, hands shaking, tears blinding her.
"Help! Someone help me!" she sobbed.
Silence.
No footsteps.
No breathing.
Nothing.
Her phone buzzed weakly somewhere near her hand.
She grabbed it and turned the flashlight back on.
The room was empty.
The window.
The curtain.
The floor.
Everything looked normal.
As if nothing had ever been there.
Kiara laughed shakily, hysteria creeping into her voice.
"I'm losing my mind…"
Then she noticed something.
The wardrobe door.
It was open.
Just a little.
She was sure it had been closed before.
The darkness inside it looked deeper than the rest of the room.
Wrong somehow.
Her phone vibrated again.
A new message appeared.
"I'm not on the ceiling anymore."
Kiara's chest tightened.
Another message arrived immediately.
"I'm hiding."
Her eyes slowly lifted to the wardrobe.
Her legs refused to move.
Her breath came in shallow gasps.
The door creaked.
Opening a little more.
Darkness spilled out from inside like smoke.
Her phone buzzed one last time.
She didn't want to read it.
But she did.
"Come closer."
Something inside the wardrobe shifted.
A faint scraping sound.
And then—
Two pale fingers wrapped slowly around the edge of the door…
from the inside.