Anggi was still standing in the living room.
Her eyes remained fixed on the slightly open storage-room door.
The woman's voice from earlier still echoed in her head.
"Don't trust them."
Who were they?
Why had that voice warned her?
And what confused Anggi most of all was why the voice had sounded like it was trying to help her.
Anggi slowly stepped toward the storage room.
Every step felt heavy.
The strange smell that had appeared all this time filled the air again.
This time, it was stronger.
Anggi stopped a few yards from the door.
She wanted to call her father.
She wanted to ask for help.
But her curiosity once again overcame her fear.
Her hand slowly reached for the doorknob.
She had just started to open it wider when her mother's voice suddenly came from behind her.
“Anggi!”
Anggi jumped.
She turned around.
Her mother stood near the dining room, panic written across her face.
“Don't go in there.”
Anggi fell silent.
“Why, Mom?”
Her mother walked closer.
“Just don't.”
“But you know something, right?”
The question made her mother stop.
Anggi stared at her mother's face.
“I've felt since yesterday that something is being hidden from me.”
Her mother sighed.
“Anggi, there are things you're not supposed to know yet.”
“But why? This is my house too.”
Her mother didn't answer.
She only slowly closed the storage-room door.
“Don't open it again.”
Then she walked away.
Anggi could only stand there with countless questions filling her mind.
That night, Anggi tried to find information on her own.
She opened the internet on her laptop.
The name of the house.
The name of its previous owner.
And Nadia's name.
But not much came up.
Almost all the information seemed to be gone.
As if someone had deliberately erased it.
“There has to be something.”
Anggi kept searching.
Finally, she found an old article in a digital newspaper.
The headline made her eyes widen.
“Residents of Old House Vanish Mysteriously.”
Anggi read it slowly.
The article discussed a family that had lived in an old house decades ago.
The location was the same.
The house was the same.
Anggi's heart began beating faster.
The article mentioned that a woman named Nadia had once lived there.
But after a strange incident, Nadia disappeared.
There was no word from her.
No explanation.
Anggi scrolled down the screen.
One sentence made her hand stop.
“Before she disappeared, Nadia reportedly said that the house gave off a strange smell every night.”
Anggi immediately covered her mouth.
“So... it's not just me.”
She read that section again.
Nadia had experienced the same things.
The smell.
The voice.
And something that couldn't be explained.
Suddenly, the laptop screen flickered.
Anggi looked up.
The bedroom light flickered too.
Once.
Twice.
Then it went out.
“Why did it turn off?”
Anggi grabbed her phone to turn on the flashlight.
When the light came on, she saw something on the desk.
Nadia's notebook.
But the notebook had been inside the drawer earlier.
Anggi immediately backed away.
“Who put that there?”
There was no answer.
The room remained silent.
Anggi slowly approached the desk.
She opened the notebook.
One page that had previously been blank now contained new writing.
The same handwriting.
“She already knows you're reading this.”
Anggi froze.
Her hands trembled.
She turned to the next page.
There was another message.
“Don't trust your family.”
Anggi immediately closed the notebook.
It was the same as the earlier warning.
Don't trust them.
But why?
The next morning, Anggi decided to ask her father directly.
She waited until he finished breakfast.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know Nadia?”
The spoon in her father's hand stopped.
Just like her mother had yesterday.
Anggi immediately realized it.
They really did know.
Her father looked at Anggi.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“So you do know her?”
Her father was silent.
A few seconds later, he set down his spoon.
“Who told you?”
“Answer my question first.”
Her father let out a long sigh.
“Anggi, stay out of it.”
The answer disappointed Anggi.
“Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Because this isn't a small matter.”
“Then what is it?”
Her father stood up.
“Forget about Nadia.”
“I can't.”
Her father gave her a serious look.
“You have to.”
Then he walked away.
Anggi simply stood in the dining room.
The more they forbade her from finding out, the clearer it became that they were hiding a huge secret.
Dimas came over that afternoon.
From his expression, Anggi knew he had brought something.
“I found some information.”
They sat on the back porch.
“What?”
Dimas pulled out several sheets of paper.
“I looked into Nadia.”
Anggi took them.
“And?”
“Nadia wasn't the only person who experienced strange things in your house.”
Anggi looked at the papers.
“There were others?”
Dimas nodded.
“A few years after Nadia disappeared, another family lived there.”
“And?”
“They moved out after only three months.”
“Why?”
Dimas showed her a small note.
“Because they said someone was living inside the house.”
Anggi fell silent.
“Even though they were the only ones living there,” Dimas continued.
“They also said they always smelled the same thing.”
Anggi gripped the paper tightly.
“So that smell has been there since long ago.”
“Yeah.”
They fell silent.
Anggi looked toward her house.
From the outside, it looked ordinary.
No different from any other house.
But now Anggi knew.
Something was hidden behind its walls.
Night came earlier than usual.
Anggi was in her bedroom when she heard a voice from downstairs.
Her mother's voice.
“Anggi.”
She immediately stood up.
“Yes, Mom?”
There was no answer.
Anggi opened her bedroom door.
The hallway was dark.
“Mom?”
The voice came again.
“Anggi... come downstairs for a minute.”
Anggi started walking.
But before she reached the stairs, she stopped.
Something felt wrong.
The voice did sound like her mother's.
But...
Her mother had never called her in that tone before.
Anggi slowly backed away.
Then another voice came from downstairs.
Her mother's real voice.
“Anggi? Are you in your room?”
Anggi's entire body went rigid.
If her mother was downstairs...
Then who had called her before?
The hallway light suddenly flickered.
And from the dark stairwell came a soft whisper.
“Don't go downstairs.”
Anggi stared down at the stairs.
For the first time, she began to believe it.
Maybe there was something in this house that didn't want to hurt her.
Maybe that something was actually trying to save her.
But the biggest question still remained unanswered.
If it wasn't human...
then who had been calling her name all this time?