The old house had always been silent but that night , it breathed .
Aarohi had lived there for six years , yet she had never seen the small wooden door at the end of the corridor . It appeared only after midnight , when the clock struck twelve and the walls seemed to stretch like tired bones .
The candle in her hand flickered violently.
Someone's there..." She whispered, through she was alone .
A cold wind passed through the corridor, carrying a faint voice -- soft, broken, and pleading .
Open it ..
Her heart pounded . Aarohi knew the rules her grandmother had warned her about:
Never trust voices after midnight .
Never open locked doors .
Yet her feet moved on their own .
The door had strange symbols curved into it _ symbols that glowed faintly blue when she touched them . The lock clicked open by itself .
Inside the room lay an ancient book floating in the air , wrapped in chains.
The moment Aarohi stepped inside the door slammed shut.
The chains around the book rattled.
A shadow rose from the pages,dark and writing, stretching towards her .
Aarohi froze. The candle flickered out.
And in the pitch-black silence, a voice whispered -- not her name -- but something far worse:
" You should be here"....