Chapter4
553 Words
It had been days since the incident with the diary.
Since then, the house had been painfully quiet. Her parents walked on eggshells around her, whispering when they thought she wasn’t listening. They had even suggested therapy.
Therapy.
She wasn’t crazy.
She knew what she saw. She knew what had happened.
But the way they looked at her — like something fragile, something unstable — made her chest tighten.
A sigh escaped her lips as she glanced at the diary resting beside her. She never lets it out of her sight now. She even slept with it pressed tightly against her chest, as though it might disappear if she loosened her grip.
Her head throbbed violently. Days without proper sleep were beginning to take their toll. Her vision blurred at the edges.
She inhaled deeply. Once. Twice.
Then she stood up, clutching the diary as she made her way to the bathroom.
Cold water splashed against her face. Again. Again.
Her vision began to clear.
That’s when she saw it.
From the corner of her eye, a familiar golden light began to radiate from the diary resting on the basin.
Her breath hitched.
Before she could reach for it, the diary slowly opened on its own — just like the last time.
The pages flipped violently before stopping.
Two words slowly carved themselves into the paper.
THE PARTY.
The letters shimmered as if they had been written in liquid gold.
Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
And then—
The room began to spin.
Darkness swallowed her whole.
Anastasia blinked.
She didn’t need to second-guess where she was.
The party.
Music pulsed in the background, laughter echoing unnaturally. The hallway stretched endlessly, lined with blurry faces — faceless figures moving like shadows pretending to be human.
Her eyes darted around anxiously, searching.
Searching for her.
But she wasn’t there.
“Maybe she didn’t come,” Anastasia whispered, hope clinging desperately to her voice.
But deep down, a colder voice told her the truth.
If Annabelle wasn’t here…
Neither would she be.
“Ahhh!”
The scream sliced through the air.
That voice.
She froze.
She didn’t need to think twice.
“Ana…” she breathed.
She turned sharply toward the sound and began pushing through the faceless crowd.
Then she saw it.
A girl was being scolded harshly by someone whose face she couldn’t make out.
“Are you blind?!” the voice snapped angrily.
Anastasia’s heart dropped.
It was her. Annabelle.
Before Anastasia could reach them, another figure stepped in.
He was taller than the rest.
His face blurred just like the others.
“Enough,” he said calmly.
The angry figure stepped back instantly.
Ana looked shaken and confused.
The blurry-faced guy gently took her wrist.
“Come with me,” he said softly.
“No!” Anastasia screamed, trying to run toward them.
But the hallway stretched.
The distance between them grew no matter how fast she ran.
“Let her go!” she cried.
An unsettling feeling grew within her — something deep inside warning that something terrible was about to happen.
She ran after them, pushing through the shifting crowd, trying her best not to lose sight of them.
And then—
In a dim, enclosed corner of the hallway, two pairs of eyes watched her every move.
- Writer
