The darkness in the mansion seemed to close in around them. Guna’s scream echoed from upstairs, sending a ripple of tension through the air. Ragini was the first to move, her eyes alight with excitement, but also something darker. “It’s begun,” she whispered to herself, before rushing toward the staircase.

Rohan followed her, less concerned but more curious about what Guna had encountered. Deepika and Rajesh, having finally emerged from their moment of passion, exchanged uneasy glances and joined the others. The air felt heavier, colder as they ascended the winding staircase, every step creaking underfoot, as if the house itself were protesting their presence.

At the top of the stairs, they found Guna. He was standing in front of a cracked mirror in a room filled with old, forgotten furniture. The dim light from the window cast long, eerie shadows, but it was the mirror that captured everyone’s attention. Guna’s reflection didn’t quite match his movements.

“Guna?” Deepika’s voice trembled as she stepped forward.

He turned slowly, his face pale, his eyes wide with terror. “It’s... it’s not me in there.”

Ragini leaned in, her voice barely a whisper, “What do you mean?”

Guna’s gaze shifted back to the mirror, his hand trembling as he pointed. In the reflection, instead of Guna, a woman stood—pale and ghostly, her eyes hollow with an eerie, knowing smile. The woman’s lips parted as if to speak, but no sound emerged.

The room grew colder, and a faint whisper crawled across the walls: “He’s mine.”

A chill crawled down everyone’s spine, and Deepika stepped back, a shiver rippling through her body. Rajesh’s bravado faltered for the first time, his voice low and uncertain. “This isn’t some joke, right, Ragini?”

Ragini’s eyes were fixed on the mirror, her breath coming in shallow gasps. She was more focused than any of them, her curiosity outweighing any fear. “This is no ordinary ghost... It’s trying to claim him.”

The whispering continued, now louder, wrapping itself around their minds, pulling them deeper into the trance. Guna’s reflection in the mirror began to change—his body grew pale and disfigured, his skin seemed to stretch unnaturally, and his eyes, no longer his own, locked with hers. The woman’s reflection reached out toward him, her fingers brushing against the glass as though she were trying to cross into the room.

Deepika gasped, feeling an inexplicable pull toward the mirror. “We need to leave, now,” she said, her voice almost pleading.

But Ragini’s eyes narrowed, her fingers tingling with something that wasn’t entirely fear. “No... there’s something more here. Something... dark. The ghost... she’s not just trying to scare us. She’s playing with us.”

Rohan turned to her, his skepticism slowly crumbling under the weight of the growing supernatural tension. “What do you mean?”

“The house,” Ragini whispered. “It’s alive. It wants to feed on our fear. And it’s hungry.”

Before anyone could respond, a sudden force slammed the door shut with a deafening thud, trapping them in the room. The mirror flickered again—this time, the woman’s face pressed against the glass, her lips moving as though she were chanting something in a forgotten language.

Guna stumbled back, his knees buckling beneath him, and he collapsed to the floor. “She’s... she’s not just a ghost. She’s... real.”

A strange, dark laughter echoed through the room, reverberating off the walls like it had always lived there.

Ragini took a step forward, eyes locked on the mirror. “I’m going to make her speak to me,” she muttered, her voice thick with a sense of inevitability.

Rajesh grabbed her arm. “Are you insane?”

But Ragini shook him off, her expression fierce. “We’re already trapped. The question is, do we want to learn more, or do we run from this... whatever it is?”

Before anyone could respond, a heavy, low whisper broke through

the tension: “Only one can leave...”

***