Darkness wrapped around them like wet cloth.
For a moment, no one spoke. Only breathing filled the corridor — five different rhythms mixing with the strange, slow inhale of the building itself.
Anaya's phone flashlight flickered back on. The beam cut through the black and landed on the walls.
They weren't white anymore.
They shimmered.
As if something beneath the paint was sweating.
Sana touched it gently.
"Why is it… warm?"
Anaya reached out too. Her fingers slid slightly, like touching skin instead of cement. When she pulled back, her palm glistened red.
"Blood," she whispered.
Meera staggered back.
"This place is sick."
A cracking sound echoed above them.
Not breaking.
Stretching.
The plaster near the ceiling bulged outward, as though something inside was pushing. Slowly. Carefully.
A shape formed.
First a brow.
Then eyes.
A girl's face emerged from the wall, trapped between worlds. Her skin was grey. Veins spidered across her forehead. Her mouth was sewn shut with black thread that cut into her flesh.
Kavya screamed.
The girl's eyes rolled toward them. Tears slid sideways across the wall.
Then her voice entered their minds instead of the air.
Stay…
Anaya clutched her head.
"It's inside us!"
Kavya panicked.
"No. No. I'm not staying."
She ran.
But the corridor behind her stretched unnaturally, like a nightmare hallway. The lights moved farther apart. Her footsteps echoed faster than her body.
The floor beneath Kavya softened.
It grabbed her ankles.
She fell, nails scraping tiles.
"Help me!"
Anaya rushed forward, grabbing her wrist.
But the corridor pulled harder.
Kavya's scream echoed once — then the wall folded over her like water closing.
Silence returned.
Only four shadows remained.