The air in the abandoned haveli didn't just feel cold; it felt heavy, like a wet blanket pressing against your lungs.
Chapter 1: The Door that Stayed Open
High in the hills of Himachal, there is a village that doesn't appear on any modern GPS. It is a place of jagged rocks and trees that look like skeletal hands reaching for a gray sky. At the very edge of this village stands the Thakur Mansion.
Arjun didn't believe in ghosts. He was a photographer, a man of logic and lenses, who had come to the mansion to capture the "beauty of decay." But as the sun dipped below the horizon, turning the sky the color of a fresh bruise, the logic began to fail him.
The First Warning
He had set up his tripod in the main hallway. The floorboards groaned under his boots, a rhythmic creak-snap that sounded too much like breaking bone.
* 6:00 PM: Arjun enters the foyer. The air smells of sandalwood and rotting meat.
* 6:15 PM: He hears a faint, metallic scraping sound from the floor above.
* 6:30 PM: The heavy oak front door—the one he had bolted shut—swings open. Slowly.
He walked to the door and slammed it shut, turning the iron key until it clicked. "Old hinges," he muttered, his voice sounding thin in the vast space.
The Reflection
Arjun turned back to his camera to check the last shot. His heart skipped. In the digital preview, he saw the hallway behind him. But in the photo, standing just three feet away from his shoulder, was a tall, shadowed figure in a tattered wedding sherwani.
His breath hitched. He looked over his shoulder. Nothing. He looked back at the screen. The figure in the photo had moved closer. It was now reaching out a hand—a hand with nails that were long, yellowed, and cracked.
The Realization
Suddenly, the temperature dropped so fast Arjun could see his own breath. Then came the whisper, right against his ear, cold as an ice cube:
> "You forgot to lock the cellar, beta."
>
Arjun spun around, but the hallway was empty. Then, he heard it. Thump. Thump. Thump. Something was coming up from the darkness of the basement, and it wasn't walking on two legs.
Would you like me to continue with Chapter 2 and describe what Arjun sees coming up from the cellar?