Creative writer/Friction Author

Episode 1: The House at the End of the Road The rain had been falling since afternoon when seventeen-year-old Amara arrived at the house she had spent years trying to forget. She stood at the rusty gate, staring at the enormous building beyond it. The house looked exactly as it had in her childhood memories—tall, quiet, and surrounded by trees that seemed to whisper whenever the wind passed through them. But there was one thing she remembered more clearly than anything else. The golden door. It stood at the far end of the house, beneath a small balcony. When Amara was eight years old, her mother had warned her never to go near it. “Whatever happens, Amara,” her mother had said, holding her shoulders tightly, “never open that door.” Amara had never understood why. Now, ten years later, she had returned because her grandmother had died and left the house to her. She pushed the gate open. It creaked loudly. “Hello?” she called as she stepped inside. No answer. The front door was unlocked. Inside, everything was covered with a thin layer of dust. Old photographs hung on the walls, but one photograph immediately caught her attention. It showed her mother standing beside a man Amara had never seen before. She moved closer. Written beneath the photograph were three words: “Before the disappearance.” Amara's heart skipped. Her mother had always told her that her father died before she was born. So who was the man in the photograph? And why had her mother lied? A sudden sound came from upstairs. Knock. Amara froze. Then it came again. Knock. Knock. She looked toward the staircase. The house was supposed to be empty. Slowly, she climbed the stairs. At the end of the hallway stood the golden door. The same door her mother had forbidden her to touch. And underneath it, something was moving. A shadow. Amara stepped backward. Then a voice whispered from behind the door. “Amara… you finally came back.” Her blood ran cold. She knew that voice. It belonged to her mother.