Whispers From The Other Side

The air inside the Rook estate was heavier than before, thick with something unseen, something waiting.

Elara hesitated in the doorway, gripping the cool brass handle as her heart pounded against her ribs. She had been here before, but tonight felt different. The house was awake.

A slow exhale left her lips as she stepped inside. The old floorboards groaned under her weight, their creaks echoing through the hollow space. Dust motes swirled in the dim light filtering through the boarded-up windows. The scent of damp earth clung to the walls, mixing with something metallic.

Blood.

The realization made her stomach twist, but she forced herself forward, drawn by an invisible pull.

Then, she heard it.

"Elara…"

The whisper slithered through the silence, so close it could have been just behind her.

She spun around, eyes darting across the shadows stretching along the hallway. Her breath hitched. They weren't static. They moved, curling along the walls like ink in water.

And then—she saw it.

At the end of the hall stood a woman.

She wasn't entirely solid, but neither was she fully transparent. A ghost caught between realms. Her long, dark hair clung to her damp skin, the fabric of her tattered dress rippling as if caught in a nonexistent breeze.

But it was her eyes that made Elara's throat tighten.

Hollow. Black. Empty voids that bore into her soul.

Elara's pulse thundered in her ears. The house had never shown her something this vivid before.

The woman's lips moved, but no sound came. And then—Elara felt it.

The shift.

A sudden pressure pressed against her skull, and pain exploded behind her eyes. She staggered, clutching her head as a rush of images crashed into her mind—

A girl, no older than sixteen, running barefoot down the very hall Elara stood in. She was crying, her dress torn, her breaths ragged.

Then, a locked door.

A voice whispering from the darkness.

The girl curled into the corner of a dimly lit room, her hands clutching something close to her chest. Blood pooled around her knees, staining the wooden floor beneath her.

And then—

A scream.

Loud. Piercing.

Elara snapped back to reality with a gasp, her body drenched in cold sweat. The spirit was gone. The hallway was silent once more.

But something was different.

She wasn't just seeing ghosts anymore.

She was reliving their memories.

And whoever this girl was—

She wanted Elara to remember.