The house noticed her the moment she stepped in.
Lina felt it.
Not with her eyes. Not with her ears.
But somewhere deeper… like a cold hand pressing against her spine.
"This place is bigger than I expected," her mother said, dragging a suitcase across the dusty floor.
Lina didn't answer.
She stood at the doorway, unmoving, her fingers tightening around her bag. The air inside the house was… wrong. Thick. Heavy. Like it hadn't been disturbed in years.
Or like it didn't want to be.
"Lina?" her mother called. "Stop standing there and come in."
Slowly, she stepped forward.
The door creaked shut behind her.
No one touched it.
Lina froze.
"Did you—"
"It's just the wind," her mother cut in quickly, not even turning around.
But the windows were closed.
Lina swallowed and forced herself to move. Each step echoed too loudly, like the house was listening… counting.
One.
Two.
Three.
She stopped.
For a second—just a second—she thought she heard something else.
A faint sound.
Like breathing.
Her room was upstairs.
Of course it was.
Every horror movie she had ever watched flashed through her mind as she climbed the narrow staircase. The wood groaned beneath her weight, long and low, like a warning.
"Relax," she muttered to herself. "It's just an old house."
But the words didn't help.
Because the feeling didn't go away.
If anything…
It got stronger.
The room was empty except for a bed frame and a tall mirror leaning against the wall.
Lina stepped inside carefully.
The door creaked behind her again.
She turned sharply—
Nothing.
"Okay," she whispered. "Not funny."
But no one was there to laugh.
Night came too quickly.
The silence was worse.
Lina lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her phone had no signal. No music. No distraction.
Just silence.
And that feeling.
Watching.
Waiting.
Tick.
Lina's eyes snapped open.
Her heart pounded.
"Hello?"
No answer.
She sat up slowly, scanning the dark room. The mirror stood across from her bed, reflecting the faint moonlight.
Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
Tick.
The sound came again.
Closer this time.
Lina's throat went dry.
It wasn't coming from the door.
It wasn't coming from the window.
It was coming from—
The wall.
She slid off the bed, her legs trembling slightly as she stepped closer.
"Stop it," she whispered, though she didn't know who she was talking to.
The sound stopped.
Silence.
For a moment, Lina let out a shaky breath.
"See? Nothing."
She turned to go back to bed—
And froze.
The mirror.
Something was wrong with the mirror.
Her reflection…
Wasn't moving.
Lina's breath caught in her throat.
Slowly—very slowly—she raised her hand.
The girl in the mirror didn't.
A long, thin smile stretched across the reflection's face.
Not hers.
Never hers.
And then—
It whispered.
"I see you."
Lina screamed.
But the house only listened.