Episode 1: The Room That Breathes
The train to Rajkot was late, but Aarav didn’t care. He was used to delays. What he wasn’t used to was silence. Rajkot felt too still tonight — like it was holding its breath.
Meera tapped her notebook nervously as the rickshaw stopped in front of a rusted iron gate. A crumbling board read:
“Avadh Palace – Private Property. No Trespassing.”
Jay chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “Too bad we never follow rules.”
Rhea didn’t laugh. Her eyes were fixed on the palace beyond the gate. "I read somewhere... someone was killed here. A girl. Burned alive."
Aarav raised an eyebrow. “That’s just an urban legend, right?”
No one answered.
The Palace
The gates creaked open on their own as the wind picked up. Avadh stood in front of them — decaying, yet defiant. Built during the last years of princely Gujarat, it was once filled with parties, music, and secrets. Now, it was filled only with dust... and something else. Something that watched.
Room 207. That’s where it happened — if the stories were true.
They found it at the end of a dim corridor, its door covered in strange burn marks. The handle was cold. Too cold.
Meera pushed it open.
Inside, the air felt thicker. As if someone had just taken a long breath and was holding it.
The room was small — broken furniture, blackened walls, a cracked mirror. But what caught everyone’s attention was the deep burn on the floor... shaped like a curled-up body.
Rhea whispered, “She was locked in. They watched her burn. She cried for help, but no one came.”
“Who was she?” Aarav asked.
“Her name was Neelam,” Rhea replied, almost as if she’d known her.
The Whisper
That night, they decided to sleep inside the palace. Aarav thought they’d write an article. Meera wanted a thrill. Jay just wanted to drink. But Rhea… she was listening.
As the others drifted to sleep in the hallway outside Room 207, Rhea heard it. A soft knock from inside the room.
Then a whisper.
“Rhea…”
She stood up. The room was empty. Yet the mirror showed otherwise.
In its reflection, a girl stood in the corner — skin charred, clothes melted, eyes full of fire and sadness.
“Help me.”
Rhea gasped. She turned — nothing. But when she looked again, the reflection remained.
The Story Unfolds
The next morning, the others mocked Rhea’s fear — until they found their backpacks soaked in muddy water, though it hadn’t rained. Meera’s notebook was ruined, the words smudged... except one page. One line had survived:
“The moon turns red when she returns.”
Jay looked outside. The sky was darkening unnaturally early.
Aarav laughed, “Come on, this isn’t a horror movie.”
But the clock had stopped. The birds had vanished. And the door — the front door — was gone. Not locked. Gone. As if the palace had shifted.
The Blood Moon Rises
That night, the moon rose blood red.
The temperature dropped. The lights they’d brought all failed. But the whispers returned — louder now.
“You watched. You let them burn me.”
Aarav screamed when his arm was scratched by something unseen. Claw marks bled through his shirt.
Jay fainted after seeing Neelam crawl out of the mirror, dragging the smell of burning flesh.
Meera dropped her camera. Her eyes filled with terror. “She’s not angry,” she muttered. “She’s... begging.”
The Last Door
At midnight, Rhea stood alone in Room 207. The door closed behind her.
Neelam stood by the window — her face broken, her voice hollow.
“They burned me. They laughed. They watched. Will you?”
Rhea shook her head. “No. I’ll tell your story.”
Neelam raised one burned hand... and the flames began again — around the walls, around the floor, around Rhea.
The others screamed outside, trying to break the door.
And then — silence.
To Be Continued...
Next Episode: "Neelam’s Mirror"
The truth behind the mirror is more terrifying than the fire that killed her...
