Anggi was still standing where she was. Her hand gripped Rara’s tightly. Neither of them dared move even an inch as they stared at the dark shadow at the end of the hallway.
The house, usually so lively, suddenly felt eerily quiet.
There was no sound of vehicles outside.
No sound of wind.
Even the wall clock, which could usually be heard clearly, seemed to have gone silent.
“Anggi...” Rara whispered, her voice trembling.
“Yeah?”
“I think we should leave now.”
Anggi wanted to agree, but her eyes remained fixed on the shadow. Something made it difficult for her to look away. It wasn’t because she wasn’t afraid. It was because she felt like the shadow was waiting for something.
As if it wanted to deliver a message.
Slowly, the shadow moved closer.
One step.
Two steps.
Anggi immediately pulled Rara backward.
But before they could run, the lights throughout the house suddenly flickered on and off.
Click.
Click.
Click.
“Run!” Rara screamed.
They both sprinted out of the bedroom and toward the living room. Anggi nearly fell because her legs felt weak, but she forced herself to keep moving.
When they reached the living room, they immediately shut the hallway door.
Rara leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.
“I can’t believe we actually saw that.”
Anggi said nothing.
Her mind was filled with questions.
Who was the girl in the photograph?
What did she have to do with this house?
And why did the writing in the book seem to be addressed to her?
Anggi picked up the black book she had managed to carry out of the bedroom earlier.
“We have to read this.”
Rara immediately looked at her.
“You’re serious?”
“Yeah. If we keep running away, we’ll never find out what really happened.”
Rara sighed.
“You really are stubborn.”
Anggi gave a small smile.
“But you’re still coming with me, right?”
Rara was silent for a moment before nodding.
“Yeah. Because if I leave you alone, you might go back into that room by yourself.”
They sat on the living room floor and began opening the book.
The first page contained handwriting that had faded somewhat.
“On the first day I lived in this house, I smelled that same scent.”
Anggi read slowly.
Rara leaned closer.
“Whose handwriting is that?”
“I don’t know.”
They continued reading.
The book turned out to be the journal of someone who had lived in the house many years ago. That person wrote about strange sounds, doors opening on their own, and a mysterious smell that always appeared every night.
But one passage made Anggi stop reading.
“Never open the room at the end of the hallway after midnight.”
Rara looked at Anggi.
“That’s the room we opened earlier.”
Anggi nodded slowly.
The next page contained something even more shocking.
“If you’ve already opened the door, then she already knows you’re here.”
Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming from upstairs.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
They immediately stopped talking.
Anggi looked toward the stairs.
“But it’s just the two of us in this house.”
Rara slowly stood up.
“Let’s just leave now.”
But before they could reach the front door, the doorknob began turning on its own.
As if someone outside was trying to open it.
Anggi and Rara froze.
The doorknob kept turning.
Slowly.
Then it stopped.
Nothing happened for several seconds.
Then came a knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Anggi looked at Rara, and Rara looked back at her.
“Who is it?” Rara shouted.
There was no answer.
Only the sound of knocking again.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Hesitantly, Anggi approached the door.
“Don’t open it,” Rara said quickly.
But before Anggi could touch the doorknob, a voice came from behind the door.
The small voice of a girl.
“Anggi...”
Anggi’s body immediately went stiff.
Because the voice was calling her name.
“Anggi... don’t leave me alone.”
Rara covered her mouth in shock.
“You heard that too?”
Anggi slowly nodded.
They backed away several steps.
The voice spoke again.
“I’ve been waiting for a long time.”
The black book in Anggi’s hand suddenly fell to the floor.
Its pages opened by themselves.
On the blank page, new writing appeared.
“Finally, you found me.”
Anggi stared at the words, her face pale.
She began to realize that her arrival at this house might not have been a coincidence.
A great secret connected her to the old house.
And now, that secret was beginning to find a way out.