Aisha had never believed in ghosts.
Yet, here she was, standing outside Ravenshade Manor, clutching the old letter she’d found in her grandmother’s attic.
"Come find me, Aisha. The truth awaits you in Ravenshade."
The letter was signed by Elias.
She didn’t know any Elias.
The house loomed in front of her, its towering windows like hollow eyes watching her every move. The town had long abandoned it, whispering of disappearances, of shadows that moved when no one was there. But the moment Aisha read that letter, something called to her.
The door creaked open before she even touched it.
Inside, dust coated the grand hall, and chandeliers swayed gently—as if disturbed by an unseen force. Her fingers brushed against the railing of the grand staircase, cold seeping into her skin.
A whisper.
"Aisha."
She spun around, heart pounding. No one.
Then, footsteps.
And a man.
Tall, dark-haired, dressed in an old-fashioned black coat, stepping out of the shadows. His eyes, an unnatural silver, locked onto hers as if he had been waiting for her.
"Aisha," he breathed, voice tinged with something between longing and grief.
She staggered back. "Who—who are you?"
"You don’t remember me," he murmured, almost to himself. "But you came. Just like before."
"Before?" A chill ran through her.
Elias smiled, but it was a sad, knowing smile. "You loved me once. And you died for it."
Aisha’s blood ran cold.
"That’s impossible."
"Is it?" He stepped closer, and suddenly, memories flooded her.
A candlelit room. Laughter, whispered confessions. A kiss stolen in the dark. The promise of forever—before the betrayal. Before the fire. Before she died in his arms.
She gasped, staggering back. "No. No, that’s not real."
Elias exhaled shakily. "It is. And you came back to me."
The walls groaned, the temperature dropping. Something else was here. Something angry.
A gust of wind howled through the manor, and a shadow detached itself from the darkness.
"You should not have returned, girl," it rasped.
Elias pulled her behind him. "Run."
But Aisha couldn’t move. Because now, she remembered everything.
She remembered who killed her.
And it wasn’t Elias.
It was the thing that still haunted this house.
And now, it wanted her again.