The air inside the storeroom was unnaturally heavy. As Arjun wiped the thick layer of dust off an old wooden table, his breath hitched. The flashlight in Vicky's hand flickered, casting long, distorted shadows that seemed to dance on the peeling walls. Every creak of the floorboards felt like a warning.
"Hey, look at this," Vicky muttered, his voice echoing hollowly. He shone the light toward the farthest corner of the room. Standing there, draped in a tattered, yellowed lab coat, was a mannequin. But it wasn't a normal one. It was a wooden figure, its joints stiff and rusted, wearing a school uniform from decades ago.
Arjun felt a cold shiver crawl up his spine. "Vicky, let's just leave that corner. That thing... it looks like it's watching us." The mannequin's face was blank, yet the empty sockets where eyes should have been felt fixed directly on Arjun.
Vicky, fueled by his fake bravado, let out a dry laugh. He walked over and wiped the grime off a burnt name tag pinned to the mannequin's chest. "R...a...h...u...l," Vicky read slowly. His laughter died instantly. The name 'Rahul' hung in the air like a curse.
Suddenly, a pungent, sickening smell filled the room—a mix of decaying flesh and chemical preservatives. Arjun's eyes darted to a glass jar near the mannequin's feet. The label, half-eaten by silverfish, read: "Formaldehyde - Human Tissue."
"Vicky..." Arjun's voice was barely a whisper, trembling with realization. "Five years ago... Rahul. The boy everyone said ran away because you bullied him so ruthlessly in this very lab. He didn't run away, did he?"
Vicky's face went pale, his hand gripping the flashlight so hard his knuckles turned white. "It was just a joke, Arjun! I just locked him in here for a night. How was I supposed to know he'd never come out?"
As Vicky spoke, a low, wet sound—like a heavy tongue licking glass—echoed from behind the mannequin. The temperature in the room plummeted to freezing. Arjun watched in horror as the mannequin's head slowly, agonizingly, tilted to the side.
"Did you hear that?" Arjun gasped, backing away toward the locked door. "He's not just a mannequin, Vicky. He's been waiting."