Rohan sat up in his bed, his eyes wide open. His heart was pounding so loudly that he could hear it in his ears.
Step…Step…Step…
The footsteps were slow and heavy, moving closer down the hallway.
Rohan held his breath. Everyone is asleep, he thought. So who is walking outside?
The footsteps stopped right outside his door.
Silence filled the room.
Then—
Knock.
Rohan nearly screamed.
Another knock followed, softer this time.
"Rohan…" a faint voice whispered from the other side of the door.
It sounded like his grandmother.
He slowly walked toward the door. His hand trembled as he reached for the handle.
"Grandma?" he asked quietly.
No answer.
Just silence again.
Rohan hesitated. Something didn't feel right. His grandmother's room was on the other side of the house. Why would she be here in the middle of the night?
Then the voice came again.
"Open the door, Rohan…"
But this time… the voice sounded wrong.
It was deeper. Slower. Like someone trying to copy his grandmother.
Rohan stepped back from the door.
"No…" he whispered to himself.
Suddenly, the door handle began to move.
Slowly.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Someone—or something—was trying to open it.
Rohan grabbed a chair and pushed it against the door.
The handle stopped moving.
For a moment everything was quiet again.
Then from the hallway, he heard something that made his blood run cold.
A low laugh.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
The footsteps slowly moved away from his door and returned toward the end of the hallway.
Toward the locked wooden door.
Rohan waited for a long time before daring to move. The house was silent again, but he knew something terrible had happened.
The next morning, sunlight filled the house. Birds were chirping outside, and everything seemed normal.
But when Rohan stepped into the hallway, he froze.
The rusty chain that had been on the small wooden door…
…was lying on the floor.
Broken.
And the door was slightly open.
Inside the room, it was completely dark.
From the darkness, something whispered again.
"Rohan… you finally came."
And slowly…
a pale hand reached out from the shadows.