"Together, Forever"
Ananya first noticed it when she moved into her new apartment.
At first, it was subtle. Barely noticeable. A coffee mug shifted a few inches from where she left it, her favorite book stacked oddly on top of others. Her phone, which she always placed on her nightstand, mysteriously ended up on the kitchen counter one morning.
She blamed it on moving stress. Sleepwalking, maybe.
But then came the notes.
The first appeared on her bathroom mirror, scrawled in red lipstick on the fogged-up glass after a hot shower.
"Beautiful."
Ananya frowned, wiping it away with a trembling hand.
The next day, it was worse.
"I’m watching."
Her heart raced. She locked her apartment tighter each night, triple-checked her windows, changed her locks.
Yet, the notes kept coming.
"You’re mine."
Each message felt more personal, more possessive. Ananya tried to dismiss it as her frayed nerves. The stress of the move, the loneliness of living alone.
Until the whispers began.
At night, soft voices floated from the shadows. They called her name, murmured sweet nothings laced with obsession.
Sometimes, Ananya would feel it.
A gentle brush against her cheek. Icy fingers trailing her arm as she tried to sleep. Each touch left her breathless, her skin frozen where the phantom grazed her.
One night, it escalated.
She woke up paralyzed, a crushing weight on her chest. Her lungs burned as though air had been stolen from the room. And then, right beside her ear, warm breath whispered,
"I love you."
Ananya screamed, shattering the oppressive silence. But there was no one there.
Or so she thought.
She confided in her best friend, Meera, the next morning. Over coffee, Meera chuckled nervously.
“Maybe you’ve got a ghost admirer,” she joked. “From beyond the grave.”
Ananya forced a laugh, but the growing fear gnawed at her. That night, the scratches appeared.
Thin, deliberate marks down her arms, crisscrossing her back like claws. They stung when touched, and no explanation made sense.
The notes grew darker. More desperate.
"Don’t ignore me."
"You belong to me."
"If I can’t have you, no one will."
That night, her bedroom door slammed shut, though no breeze stirred. The lights flickered violently. Then came laughter—low, guttural—from deep within the walls.
Ananya backed into a corner, clutching her phone, but the coldness in the room numbed her fingers. Her breath came out in visible puffs as she dialed for help.
The next day, she brought in a priest.
The moment he stepped over her threshold, the air thickened. Heavy. Oppressive.
"There’s something here," he murmured, clutching his beads tightly.
As he began to chant, the atmosphere changed.
The temperature plummeted. The floor trembled. The walls cracked like they were breathing.
And then— it spoke.
A voice, raspy and distorted, oozing fury and longing.
"You can’t take her from me!"
The lights exploded in bursts of glass. The priest was hurled across the room, slamming against the wall as if swatted by a monstrous hand.
In the corner, a shadow materialized.
Humanoid, but all wrong. Shifting constantly. Its hollow gaze fixated on Ananya.
It was watching.
Loving.
And claiming.
Ananya fled.
She booked a hotel downtown, far from the apartment. For the first time in weeks, the air felt breathable. The silence comforting.
No whispers. No phantom caresses.
Finally, peace.
Until midnight.
The bathroom mirror fractured with a deafening crack. Slowly, lines etched themselves into the glass, spelling out words in jagged letters:
"You can’t run from love."
And behind her reflection—
A towering shadow.
Smiling.
The following morning, hotel staff forced their way into her locked room.
Inside, the air was freezing, their breaths visible as they stepped in.
Ananya lay on the bed, her mouth open in a frozen scream. Her eyes wide, lifeless.
Her arms and neck were marked with dark bruises, as if someone had held her tightly, refusing to let go.
There was only one anomaly.
A note on her pillow, written in an elegant, old-fashioned script.
"Together. Forever."
Beside it, the indentation of a second head on the pillow.
Like someone had been lying right next to her.
Even in death.
And from the shattered mirror across the room, a faint whisper echoed—
"Mine."
💀The End💀
***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***
Updated 20 Episodes
Download
Like this story? Download the app to keep your reading history.
Comments