When sun was out.
Birds were chirping.
The wind felt warm on Ahaan's face.
But something was wrong.
Very wrong.
He was standing in the same woods near Graywood Orphanage.
Same trees.
Same path.
But the feeling around him had changed.
It didn't feel real.
It felt like a movie set — too perfect, too quiet, too fake.
He picked up the journal.
It was cold.
The word "Soon" had faded from the cover.
He opened it — but the pages were all blank again.
Except for one strange line written in the center of the last page:
"Your world is no longer yours."
Ahaan blinked.
"What does that mean?" he whispered.
Then he noticed it.
There was a house up ahead.
But… that house had never been there before.
He had walked this path many times.
There was never a house.
But now — a small gray cottage stood between the trees.
Windows wide open.
Curtains moving even though there was no wind.
Something inside told him not to go.
But his legs moved anyway.
The door creaked open on its own.
Inside, the house looked lived in.
There were shoes at the door.
A kettle whistling in the kitchen.
A photo frame on the table.
Ahaan walked over and picked it up.
It was a family photo.
A man, a woman, and… him.
His own face.
Smiling like everything was normal.
He stared at it.
"I don't know these people," he whispered.
Then a woman's voice called from the kitchen:
"Ahaan, sweetie! You're home early."
He froze.
"What?"
The voice came again — soft, loving.
"Come wash up, lunch is ready!"
Ahaan backed away from the photo.
"This isn't real," he said. "This is some trick."
But his body didn't feel like his own.
He walked forward — like someone else was in control.
In the kitchen stood a woman with long black hair, wearing an apron.
She turned to him with a warm smile.
"You look pale, baby. Are you okay?"
Ahaan stared at her.
"I don't know you," he said. "Where am I?"
Her smile didn't fade.
"Stop being silly. You're just tired. Sit down."
His hands were shaking.
This was wrong.
"You're not my mother."
The woman's head slowly tilted.
Her smile stretched too wide.
"I never said I was."
The kettle stopped.
Everything went quiet.
Then — the walls of the house began melting.
The table, the chairs, the photo — all dripping like wax.
The woman still stood there, smiling.
But her eyes were now completely black.
She whispered:
"You brought the door.
Now you live on the other side."
Suddenly, the house exploded into smoke.
Ahaan was outside again.
But now… things were different.
The trees around him were gone.
The sky was red.
The air smelled like burning hair.
A group of people stood nearby.
They were all facing away from him.
They wore white masks.
All of them started humming a lullaby — the same tune from the music box.
Then they turned around at once.
And every mask had his face on it.
Ahaan ran.
He didn't care where.
He just had to get away.
But no matter how far he ran — the red sky followed.
The masked people were always nearby, watching from the trees.
Suddenly — a little girl stepped into his path.
She had no eyes.
Just black holes.
She held up a note and handed it to him.
It read:
"CASE FORTY-THREE: The Loop Begins.
You can run, Ahaan. But you won't leave."
He looked up — but the girl was gone.
Only the note remained, burning in his hands.
Breathing hard, Ahaan dropped to his knees.
He looked around.
The orphanage was gone.
The world was changing.
Time wasn't moving like it should.
He didn't know what was real anymore.
Then…
A voice echoed from deep inside his mind.
The same one he heard before.
"You've tasted the truth.
Now the truth will taste you."
Ahaan whispered:
"I want to wake up."
The voice laughed.
Cold and slow.
"You never did."
Then..