Chapter 3 – Shadows in the Library
365 Words
Classes resumed the next morning, but the air on campus was heavier, tense. The auditorium was locked, police tape fluttering like a warning sign. No one spoke openly about the death, but the whispers traveled faster than lectures.
He was rehearsing alone.
They found strange marks on his arms.
No blood, but his face looked… terrified.
Aanya couldn’t stop thinking about the boy in the last row. Aarav. His calmness, his vanishing act—it didn’t sit right with her.
That evening, restless and unable to focus, she wandered into the college library. It was one of the oldest buildings on campus, its tall windows barely letting in moonlight. Rows of shelves stretched into darkness, and the air smelled of paper and secrets.
She moved to the history section, flipping through old college magazines. Most were faded, their pages yellowed. As she turned a page, a black-and-white photograph caught her eye: a batch of students from ten years ago, smiling in front of the same auditorium.
One face in the photo was circled in pen. Below, someone had scribbled: “He was the first.”
Her stomach tightened. First… of what?
A floorboard creaked behind her. Aanya froze. Slowly, she turned—and found herself staring straight into a pair of dark eyes.
Aarav stood there, silent, almost blending with the shadows between the shelves.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said softly. His voice was calm but carried a weight, like he knew something she didn’t.
Aanya swallowed hard. “Neither should you.”
A faint smirk touched his lips, but his eyes never left hers. “Looking into things will only put you in danger.”
Before she could respond, the library lights flickered. The air turned icy cold. Somewhere between the shelves, a whisper rose—low, almost inhuman. Aanya’s skin prickled. The sound grew louder, circling them.
She clutched the magazine tighter. Aarav stepped closer, his presence strangely steady amid the fear.
“Don’t run,” he whispered. “That’s what it wants.”
And then the whisper stopped. Silence fell again, heavy and suffocating.
Aanya looked around, her heart pounding. But when she turned back—
Aarav was gone.
- Writer
