Chapter 1
Aarathi had moved alone into that old house in the middle of the Malnad forest. She quit her city job to start a farm and live peacefully. No neighbors, no visitors. Just dense woods all around.
The first two days were perfectly normal. On the third night, at exactly 3:00 AM, the doorbell rang... "Tring..."
Aarathi shot up, trembling. Who would come at this hour? She grabbed her phone to check the time - 3:00 AM.
Mustering courage, she peeked through the window. Rain, darkness. No one outside.
"It must be the wind," she told herself and went back to sleep.
The next night... at exactly 3:00 AM again... "Tring..."
This time Aarathi turned on her phone's flashlight and opened the door.
No one was there. But on the doorstep, in the pouring rain, sat a single slipper that wasn't wet. A small child's red slipper.
Aarathi's blood ran cold. The villagers had told her no one had lived in this house for 20 years. So whose child was this?
As she reached to touch the slipper, a small voice came from inside the house, from the bedroom she had just locked...
"Akka... give me my other slipper too..."
Aarathi spun around. The bedroom door was slowly creaking open. Someone was standing in the darkness.
*The end of chapter 1?NO.
The knocking just started Nowe
*In the next chapter:*
Who is in that room? What happened to the child? Why does the doorbell ring only at 3 am