The darkness swallowed everything.
Angelina couldn't see the hallway anymore.
She couldn't see the doors.
She could barely see Mara's pale hand gripping her wrist.
But she could hear it.
That voice.
Deep.
Slow.
Not a child.
Not a ghost.
Something older.
Something that didn't belong in any world.
"She answered…"
The words crawled through the air like insects.
Angelina's body shook.
"Mara…" she whispered, terrified.
Mara didn't answer.
Her grip tightened.
Her voice came out like a breath:
"Don't speak."
Angelina clamped her mouth shut.
The whimpering voices around them rose like a storm.
The doors banged violently.
Hands scratched through the cracks.
The trapped ones were waking.
Then—
A sound.
Heavy footsteps.
Not human footsteps.
Each step made the hallway tremble.
Thud…
Thud…
Thud…
The air grew colder with every step.
Angelina's eyes widened as a faint shape began to form in the darkness ahead.
At first, it looked like a shadow.
Then it grew taller.
And taller.
Until it touched the ceiling.
A figure.
Thin.
Twisted.
Like it was made of darkness and walls and silence.
Its head bent at an impossible angle.
Its arms were too long.
And where its face should have been…
There was nothing.
Just emptiness.
A hole.
A hollow space that felt like staring into a grave.
Angelina's breath stopped.
Mara trembled beside her.
"It's here," Mara whispered.
Angelina's eyes filled with tears.
"What is it?" she mouthed silently.
Mara's lips barely moved.
"The Listener."
Angelina froze.
"The Listener?" she thought.
Mara nodded slowly.
Her eyes were full of fear.
"It hears every voice," Mara whispered.
"It feeds on answers."
The figure took another step forward.
The hallway groaned like the house was alive.
Then the Listener spoke again.
Not with a mouth…
But with the walls.
With the air.
With the silence itself.
"Why did you answer her?"
Angelina's knees weakened.
The voice pressed against her mind.
Mara pulled her back slightly.
But it was too late.
The Listener's hollow face turned toward Angelina.
It knew.
It always knew.
The darkness around it began to move like smoke.
The doors along the hallway rattled harder.
The trapped ones screamed.
The Listener lifted one long arm.
And suddenly—
Angelina heard something.
A sound from her real world.
Her mother's voice.
Calling softly.
"Angelina…?"
Angelina's heart broke.
"Mum…?" she whispered without thinking.
Mara's eyes widened.
"No—!"
The Listener stopped.
The entire hallway froze.
Silence.
Then…
The Listener tilted its head.
Slowly.
As if pleased.
As if it had been waiting.
"She spoke."
Mara grabbed Angelina's face.
"Don't answer!" Mara hissed.
But Angelina's throat burned.
She had heard her mother.
It sounded real.
It sounded close.
The Listener's voice deepened.
"Do you want to go home?"
Angelina's eyes filled with tears.
The Listener stepped closer.
"Then give me your voice."
Angelina froze.
Mara whispered desperately:
"That's how it takes you."
Angelina shook her head.
The Listener continued.
"Your grandmother gave hers."
Angelina's blood turned to ice.
"What…?" Angelina mouthed.
Mara's voice cracked.
"She tried to trap me… but she answered it first."
Angelina felt sick.
Her grandmother hadn't just warned her.
She had survived it.
Barely.
The Listener's arm stretched toward Angelina.
The darkness wrapped around her like chains.
Angelina couldn't move.
She couldn't scream.
The Listener whispered:
"One voice… for one escape."
Angelina's vision blurred.
Her throat tightened.
She felt something pulling at her voice.
Like it was being ripped out.
Mara screamed—
a sound full of pain.
"No! She's not yours!"
The Listener paused.
Its hollow face turned toward Mara.
"You were never meant to stay silent," it whispered.
Mara trembled.
Then she stepped in front of Angelina.
Her voice broke like glass:
"Then take mine."
Angelina's eyes widened.
"Mara—!"
Mara looked back at her.
For the first time…
She looked like a real girl.
Not a ghost.
Not a curse.
Just someone trapped.
She whispered:
"I don't want you to become me."
The Listener leaned closer.
The darkness opened like a mouth.
And the hallway screamed.