Angelina stood frozen in the middle of her room.
She could hear breathing behind her.
Slow.
Steady.
Patient.
She didn't turn around.
She couldn't.
Something whispered beside her ear.
"You heard me."
Angelina's fingers curled into fists.
She remembered Mara's warning.
She remembered the Listener.
And now she understood something terrifying.
There was something else.
Something that even Mara had been afraid of.
The breathing stopped.
Silence.
Angelina slowly looked at the television.
The screen was still black.
But something appeared on it.
A single word.
RUN.
Angelina didn't hesitate.
She rushed toward her bedroom door.
She grabbed the handle.
It wouldn't move.
Locked.
She pulled again.
Nothing.
Behind her, the television flickered.
A figure appeared on the screen.
A little girl.
Mara.
She was shaking her head.
"No."
Angelina stared at her.
Mara pointed toward the corner of the room.
Angelina slowly turned.
Nothing was there.
Then she looked at the television again.
Mara was still pointing.
This time, Angelina noticed something.
The camera angle had changed.
It wasn't showing her bedroom from the television's perspective.
It was showing her bedroom from somewhere else.
From behind her.
Angelina's stomach dropped.
There was something standing directly behind her.
She spun around.
Nothing.
The television flickered.
The figure was gone.
Then a whisper came from the ceiling.
"Wrong way."
Angelina looked up.
A dark shape moved across the ceiling.
She stumbled backward.
The lights went out.
The room became completely dark.
Angelina reached for her phone.
The screen wouldn't turn on.
She pressed the button again.
Nothing.
Then her phone suddenly lit up.
A message appeared.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
Angelina stared at it.
A second message appeared.
DON'T TRUST MARA.
Then another.
DON'T TRUST THE LISTENER.
Angelina's hands trembled.
A final message appeared.
DON'T TRUST YOURSELF.
The phone went black.
Angelina's heart raced.
Then she heard footsteps.
One step.
Then another.
Coming from inside her room.
She backed toward the door.
The footsteps stopped.
A child's voice whispered:
"Angelina..."
She closed her eyes.
She refused to answer.
The voice came again.
"Angelina..."
This time, it sounded exactly like her own voice.
Her eyes opened.
She stared at the darkness.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
Silence.
Then a quiet laugh.
The bedroom door unlocked.
Angelina immediately grabbed the handle and threw it open.
She ran into the hallway.
But she stopped after only a few steps.
The hallway wasn't her hallway anymore.
The walls were covered in drawings.
Hundreds of them.
Every drawing showed the same thing.
A girl standing beside a door.
And behind the girl...
a tall figure.
Angelina walked closer to one of the drawings.
Underneath it were three words:
SHE OPENED IT.
Angelina looked at another.
SHE HEARD IT.
Another:
SHE ANSWERED.
She stepped backward.
The drawings began changing.
The girl's face slowly disappeared from each picture.
Then Angelina realized who was replacing her.
It was her.
Her own face.
Her own name.
ANGELINA.
The hallway lights flickered.
A whisper came from behind her.
"You finally understand."
Angelina turned.
Mara stood at the end of the hallway.
But this time...
she wasn't alone.
The Listener stood behind her.
And something else stood between them.
Something Angelina had never seen before.
It had no face.
No eyes.
No mouth.
Only a long shadow stretching across the floor.
Mara looked at Angelina.
Her expression was terrified.
She whispered one sentence:
"That is what I was running from."
The shadow moved.
The lights went out.
And Angelina heard the first whimper again.
Only now...
she realized it wasn't coming from the girl.
It was coming from her.
Author's Thought
The scariest question isn't "What's in the darkness?"
It's "What if the darkness has been inside you all along?"