The wind crawled across the cracked walls of Instituto San Rafael, moaning like something alive. The moon hung over the school like a pale dying eye, half-hidden behind thick storm clouds. The courtyard lights flickered as if afraid to stay awake.
And somewhere deep inside the building…
A door slammed.
Nobody had touched it.
Nobody was inside.
The school wasn't supposed to breathe. But tonight… it did.
1. The Night Before Halloween
Seventeen-year-old Emiliano Vargas sprinted across the courtyard, his backpack bouncing behind him. The school day was over, but he had forgotten his history notebook—again. If he returned home without it, his mother would definitely shout "¡Emi! ¿Otra vez?!"
The other students had already left. Decorations from the upcoming Halloween festival fluttered in the wind—bright orange papel picado skulls, plastic pumpkins, and glowing lanterns shaped like tiny spirits.
Emi paused, catching his breath as he stared at the old Gothic building.
The school looked older… darker… almost hungry.
Get your book, leave, and don't look back, he told himself.
He stepped inside. The doors groaned open like something waking from a long sleep.
2. The First Whispers
As Emiliano walked down the hallway, a cold chill slithered down his spine. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, some flickering like dying fireflies. His footsteps echoed loudly against the tiles.
Tap… tap… tap…
Then—
Whisper…
He froze.
He wasn't dreaming. He heard it. Soft… distant… like someone speaking through a wall.
"Emi…"
His blood turned to ice.
No. Nope. Not today.
"Hola?" he called out. "¿Quién anda ahí?"
Silence.
He swallowed hard and walked faster toward his locker—but the whisper followed.
"Emi… ven…"
Something moved at the end of the hallway. A shape. A shadow. But not like a normal one—it clung to the ceiling like a giant spider, its limbs stretched unnaturally long.
Emi blinked.
The shadow vanished.
His heart hammered violently. He squeezed his eyes shut.
"Just my imagination… que no sea un espíritu… por favor," he muttered.
He turned the final corner—
—and slammed into someone.
"¡Ay, cabrón!"
It was Daniela Reyes, his best friend. She grabbed him by the shoulders before he fell.
"Emiliano, why—why do you look like a ghost just slapped you?" she laughed, brushing her curls out of her eyes.
"I heard something," he whispered.
"Probably the janitor."
"No. Dani… it called my name."
She raised an eyebrow. "It?"
A locker slammed somewhere behind them.
BANG.
Daniela jumped.
"Okay… maybe not the janitor."
3. The Door That Shouldn't Open
They reached the end of the hallway where Emiliano's locker stood. He opened it quickly, grabbed his notebook, and slammed it shut.
"Let's leave," he said. "I don't like this."
But Daniela wasn't listening. Her eyes were fixed on the old wooden door across the hall.
"That wasn't open before…" she whispered.
It was the Old Wing, the part of the school closed after the fire 20 years ago. The place where five students had disappeared without explanation.
Nobody went in. Nobody came out.
The teachers kept it sealed.
Yet the door was open—just a crack—but wide enough to reveal utter darkness.
"Daniela… no," Emi warned.
She was already walking toward it.
"Dani—stop!"
But she ignored him. "Maybe someone forgot to lock it. Or maybe the rumors about the wing being cursed are just… stupid stories."
Another slam.
Another whisper.
Another cold chill.
Daniela pushed the door slowly.
It creaked open.
And the darkness beyond seemed to breathe.
4. The Hallway of Shadows
The Old Wing smelled of burnt wood and dust. The lights didn't work. The ceiling was partially collapsed, wooden beams hanging like dead ribs.
"Daniela, this is a bad idea," Emi hissed. "We should go."
"Relax. If there were ghosts, they'd have eaten us already."
Not funny.
The temperature dropped with every step. Their breath came out like smoke.
Then the whispers returned.
"Ven… ven conmigo…"
Daniela's flashlight flickered.
"Emi…" she whispered. "Did you hear—"
Something scuttled across the floor.
Both froze.
"Please don't be a rat," Emi croaked.
It wasn't.
A shadow slid across the ground—flat, dark, featureless—moving like liquid. It crawled along the wall and stopped right in front of them.
Then it rose.
It grew taller… wider… its shape twisting into something vaguely human but horribly wrong—arms too long, neck too thin, head bending sideways like it was broken.
Daniela screamed.
The shadow tilted its head and whispered:
"Ustedes… no deben estar aquí…"
Emi grabbed Dani's hand.
"Run."
They sprinted back toward the door but—
It slammed shut with a violent crash.
The hallway plunged into darkness.
Only Dani's flickering flashlight remained.
The shadow slid closer, stretching its fingers like claws.
"Emiliano…" it hissed. "Te estábamos esperando…"
"NOPE!" Emi yelled and kicked a broken chair at it.
The chair passed straight through the creature. It laughed.
A cold, guttural sound.
Like bones scraping against metal.
"Emi…" Daniela whimpered. "It's coming…"
The shadow lunged
5. The Bell That Shouldn't Ring
Just as the creature reached them—
BIIIIING!
The school bell screamed through the halls.
Midnight.
But it wasn't midnight. It was 6:48 PM.
The sound tore through the Old Wing like lightning.
The shadow shrieked, recoiling as if burned.
The walls shook. Lights burst on and off. Doors slammed. Windows cracked.
Daniela grabbed Emiliano and yanked him toward a broken window.
"We jump!"
"WHAT?!"
"Now!"
They dove through as the shadow lunged one last time—its clawed hand inches from Dani's ankle.
They hit the grass outside hard. Wind knocked from their lungs. The window behind them snapped shut.
The school went silent.
Not a whisper.
Not a shadow.
Not a breath.
Just the sound of the dying wind.
6. The Message
Daniela pushed herself upright, shaking, her eyes wide.
"Emi… what the hell was that?! What did we just see?!"
Before he could answer, Emiliano's phone vibrated.
One new message.
Unknown number.
He swallowed and opened it.
> LA HORA MALDITA BEGIN
October 31… Midnight
El sacrificio está cerca.
You two have been chosen.
Emiliano dropped the phone.
"What does it mean?" Daniela whispered.
Emi didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Because right beneath the message…
the screen began to glitch—static crawling across it.
Then a blurry shadow formed.
A silhouette.
Long. Twisted. Familiar.
The thing from the hallway.
Its glowing eyes stared straight at him through the screen.
The phone whispered:
"Nos vemos pronto… Emiliano…"
The screen went black.
The winter wind clawed across the courtyard as Emiliano and Daniela staggered to their feet. Their bodies trembled—not just from the fall, but from the memory of those eyes. Those burning, unnatural eyes.
Daniela wrapped her arms around herself.
"Emi… your phone—what did it show? Tell me you didn't see what I saw."
Emiliano opened his mouth to speak, but before he could answer—
The school lights turned on.
Every single one.
All at once.
The entire building glowed with a pale, sickly yellow light. The windows brightened like hundreds of staring eyes.
Daniela stepped backward. "Why did the lights come on? No one's inside. Emi… nobody should be in there."
Lightning flashed above them, illuminating the grotesque silhouette of the school. For a moment, Emi swore he saw dozens—no, hundreds—of shadowy figures lining the windows. Not moving. Just… watching.
Then the lights flickered and went out again.
Darkness swallowed the building.
7. Don't Look Back
"Let's go home," Emiliano whispered. "Right now. I'm not staying near this place."
They started walking quickly toward the street, but Daniela grabbed his arm.
"Wait." Her voice was shaking. "The message said October 31. That's tomorrow. Halloween. The school is doing the nighttime festival tomorrow. What if… what if whatever that thing was is waiting for us?"
"Then we don't go," Emi snapped. "We skip school. We stay home. We lock ourselves inside and—"
A cold gust slammed into them, strong enough to shove them backward.
Daniela stumbled. "What—what was that?!"
Emiliano turned.
The wind wasn't coming from the sky.
It was coming from the school.
From the open Old Wing window they had jumped out of.
The shadows inside writhed like smoke being pulled toward them.
"Emi…" Daniela whispered. "It's calling us."
"Don't look at it," he said quickly. "Just keep walking."
But Daniela couldn't resist.
She looked.
And she screamed.
The shadows inside the school twisted violently, merging into one tall, horrible silhouette—long fingers scraping the window frame, eyes bright like dying embers.
It raised a hand—
—and the temperature dropped so fast their breath turned to ice.
"RUN!" Emiliano shouted.
They sprinted down the street until the school disappeared behind the trees.
8. Something Follows
By the time they reached Emi's house, their legs felt like fire. They collapsed on the front steps, gasping for air.
"Emi," Daniela whispered. "Please tell me this is some sick Halloween prank."
Emiliano didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the dark street behind them.
He felt it.
Something was out there.
Watching.
Waiting.
The streetlights flickered, one by one.
Then something white drifted across the sidewalk. A piece of paper.
No wind.
No reason.
It floated straight toward them and stopped at Emiliano's shoe.
Daniela swallowed. "Pick it up."
"No."
"Emi—pick it up."
His hand shook as he reached for it.
It was thick, old paper. Yellowed. Burnt at the edges. And in the center:
"ELLOS VENDRÁN POR TI."
They will come for you.
Below that, a drawing.
Not made with ink.
With something darker.
Something red.
It was the shadow creature from the Old Wing.
But worse.
The drawing showed three of them.
"Three?" Daniela whispered. "Emiliano… why are there three?"
He didn't know.
But he knew this wasn't over.
---
9. Nightmares Begin
That night, Emi tried to sleep… but sleep didn't come.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the shadow. Its long fingers. Its bent neck. Its glowing eyes.
At 2:14 AM, he finally drifted off.
And the dreams began.
He stood in the school hallway.
Alone.
Lights flickering.
Walls breathing like lungs.
A voice echoed:
"Emiliano…"
He turned.
The Old Wing door stood wide open.
Darkness spilled out like liquid shadow.
He felt himself walking toward it—not by choice. Like something was pulling him, dragging him, controlling his legs.
He stepped inside.
"Emi…"
Daniela's voice.
"Dani?" he whispered.
He followed the sound deeper and deeper until—
A hand grabbed his wrist.
He screamed—
—but it was Daniela, trembling, whispering urgently:
"Emi… don't look behind you."
He froze.
Breathing.
Something breathing behind him.
Slow.
Ragged.
Wet.
Daniela clutched his hand.
"Don't. Look."
But he did.
And standing behind him was the shadow creature—
Except this time…
It had a face.
A rotting, melted, twisted face—stretching into a smile too wide, teeth too sharp, eyes dripping black liquid.
"Nos vemos pronto…" it hissed.
It lunged at him—
And Emiliano jolted awake, screaming so loudly his mother burst into the room.
"¡¿Qué pasó?!" she cried. "Emi, ¿qué tienes?!"
He was drenched in cold sweat.
Hands shaking.
Voice gone.
He couldn't tell her.
She wouldn't believe him.
Maybe nobody would.
10. Morning Brings No Peace
The next morning, Daniela was waiting outside his house.
She looked like she hadn't slept either.
"Don't say it," Emi said before she could speak. "You had a nightmare too."
She nodded slowly.
"What did you see?" Emiliano asked.
She swallowed hard.
"You."
"Me?"
"You were in the hallway. Calling my name. But when I got close… you turned around and your eyes—Emi, your eyes were glowing red like that thing's. And you whispered 'Run.' But your voice… wasn't your voice."
A horrible silence settled between them.
Then she added, barely audible:
"And behind you… there were three shadows."
Emi's stomach twisted.
Three.
The number from the drawing.
11. The Countdown
At school, something felt off.
Students walked around laughing, talking about costumes, Halloween candy, and the night festival… unaware that something monstrous lurked beneath their feet.
Teachers smiled as if nothing was wrong.
But Emiliano saw it.
The shadows in the corners were darker than usual.
Hallways felt colder.
Whispers echoed from empty classrooms.
And then—
At 8:00 AM—
His phone vibrated again.
Another message.
Same unknown number.
> 24 HOURS REMAIN
Prepare for La Hora Maldita.
Midnight. October 31.*
Don't run. Don't hide.
It has already begun.
Daniela grabbed his arm. "Emi… what do we do?"
He stared at the message.
The truth hit him all at once:
They weren't chosen at random.
Something wanted them specifically.
And whatever was coming tomorrow night…
there was no escaping it.
"We need help," he whispered.
"From who?" Daniela asked.
Emi took a shaky breath.
"There's only one person who knows what happened in the Old Wing twenty years ago."
Daniela's eyes widened.
"Emi… no. You're not thinking—"
"Yes," he said.
"We're going to find Señor Herrera."
Her voice cracked.
"Emi… the history teacher? People say he's insane. He barely talks to anyone. They say—"
"They say he was there during the fire," Emiliano finished. "And they say he saw something."
A chill ran through Daniela.
"What if he doesn't want to talk?"
Emi looked at her.
His eyes dark.
Haunted.
Determined.
"He'll talk," he whispered. "Because if he doesn't… we're dead."