Laila , a 20 year old girl , her life was far away from being normal....why? simply because she can see ghosts,not all the time , sometimes, yeah ghosts as in evil spirits, but are they really evil? that is a big controversial question there. Apart from that she is a lively new adult.

Laila was really happy about the trip she was going on with a group of travelers from her agency, tho she is an introvert, its ok to have some people around. She packed her bags and was ready for the day.

......Time skip......

After landing on her destination, she was mesmerized by the beauty of the mountains.

Laila's POV.

After reaching our hotel , now it was time for our hiking , everyone came downstairs after unpacking their stuff.

To be honest, hiking is a bit tiring for me, who has a desk job ,so naturally I was left behind . It was my idea for a solo trip with strangers but now that i am left behind , i wish someone i knew was here with me.

The worst part was i got lost , i was trying to get going but i fell down. Something was popping up from the ground, after a bit of digging I stumbled upon a chest that looked really old. Finding it quite interesting, i took that chest with me and went away in search for the route towards our hotel.

time skip

A lot of energy wasted , i finally found our hotel. I went straight to the room took a shower, and jumped on my cozy bed . The day was too tiring for me, 1st the trip , then stumbling upon the chest and getting lost , which took three hours of walking and asking for directions from strangers. As an introvert, today was too much socializing.

Before sleeping, I decided to watch some news to know about tomorrow's weather.

skipping through the channels, i found a show related to the place where I got lost , too much coincidence huh? well what can i say...

I gathered some knowledge about it, this place used to be a village who's people used to sell flowers for their living. Suddenly i felt that someone was crying , looking around i found nothing. Maybe some random ghost again? I thought to myself.

The night was falling , after doing my night routine, i went to bed to grt some sleep , but i was wrong....the weeping sound started to grow so loud that it was blasting through my ears. "who are you!!" i shouted frustratedly but no one answered.

Twisting and turning in the bedsheets ,it was getting really hard for me to sleep . But somehow i managed to avoid the weeping noise and fell into deep slumber.

in dream.....

I can hear some whispers...they are saying,

"come here....."

" they are gonna pay....."

"they were wrong......"

"they all are gonna pay...."

"no one can save them now"

"they are ruthless "

"they are not human "

"I am the victim..."

Laila's POV

New day , new mood , but my sleep was not that good yesterday, my dream was really weird. Some of you may think its normal to have weird dreams once in a while but , things happening around me , too much.

After having a good breakfast from the restaurant attached to the hotel, i decided to take another walk around the place i got lost. I am weird, i know.

Author's POV

Laila took her bag of supplies with her and went off for trekking. A good 2 hours of walking took her near that cursed valley everyone warns about.

Something about that place is telling her that it needs her , in someway, but how? no one knows. Wandering around the bushes and trees just next to the valley really shocked her.

The valley's soil was of pitch black color and was plain and wide as a meadow, just big enough for a small village to reside there , no plants , no grass, no nothing , just pitch black soil. But just where the valley ends , the trees and bushes are so nourished that that its sprinkling out life.

Laila went on with her walking , only then she found a hut , a small hut behind the bushed , like it wants to hide from everything and everyone. Going nearer , a small figure of an old lady can be seen from the creaked window.

Taking in all the courage she had , she went on and knocked on the door. An old woman with long white hair opened the squeaky door.

"Who is it huh! , again someone who got lost?!" a loud yet weak voice came from the inside.

Laila's POV

The door opened, revealing an old ,kind looking lady. " Come inside child , don't worry a lot of visitors get lost here , rest for a bit , i will make you a map of this place" .

I went inside , inside was just big enough for one person to live , a small one person bed , some utensils, some leaves , which i assume are medical plants, and some old but clean clothes.

I sat down on the ground as there was no chair around. "grandma, i am not lost, i just want to ask some Questions " i said being a bit cautious. I continued "i am here to ask about the valley here ,the cursed one".

Grandma looked really annoyed and said "why do you want to know about that wicked place! that place is cursed!! it killed my family, my neighbors " Someone else would have left but my curiosity killed me " it killed your family? how?" she got sad all of a sudden "you want to know? huh , that place is what i hate the most! when i was a child there lived a witch , who disguised herself as a child of a 5 year old , that bitch killed them , all of them , she set them on fire when i was away , i was the only survivor!!" she finished with a tear in her eye.

"go away and never come back!!" she warned. I went away , but something was not right, something was telling me something is wrong.

who is the real victim?

Laila's POV

Before returning to the hotel i decided to look at the valley one last time , that suddenly reminded me of the chest. Sitting on a nearby rock , i opened the chest, it was dusty but the things inside was still somehow intact.

Author's POV

she opened it and found some things..

A map drawn by a kid

A withered flower

A ribbon

A necklace

the map was made of cloth so it was still intact. The flower dried a long time ago , and cannot be recognized which type of flower it was. The ribbon was old and the necklace was somehow holding itself up.

Laila's POV

The things were nothing special, but after observing it , i put them back.

I suddenly felt a shiver down my spine , like someone was calling me. Following my intuition i was in front of the valley. With caution i entered the place , a heavy air was surrounding this place.

After walking around a little, the place looked really creepy , nothingness all around.

I remembered the map in the box , took it out and tried to figure out where this 'x' place is.

Author's POV

Laila was just wandering around the place , because nothing in particular was left on the land to identify the landmarks. That was too much struggle.

But from her back something was following her , or someone to be exact. That person was none other than the ghost which haunts the land.

Though a lot of people thought that it was just their hallucinations about the ghost but it was not , the ghost was true.

The ghost was following her , but what was it's intention? why was it following Laila?.

Ghost's POV

"What is she doing here? no human is allowed, but why can I not seem to scare her?" **I was thinking about it. I am sure this brat can sense me , still she is not going away from my home.

she even has the chest that belongs to me! where did she find it. I have so many questions but I cannot ask , because no one can hear a ghost , it requires too much of my mana to scare off others by whispers**.

Laila's POV

I finally somehow found that x Mark on the map. Though the place is not how it was supposed to look but still , I am somewhat happy that I was able to find this place.

Behind my back I can sense someone, maybe it's the ghost that the granny was talking about. If I want to know more about this place I have to communicate with it , but how? though I have sensed and felt ghosts in the past ,but I never communicated with them.

But this time I am feeling a strong urge to know the story which is real , not made up by some rumors or people for fun.

I turned around and said " whoever is here with me , I know you don't want to harm me , I can feel that , so please tell me about you , why do you haunt this place?" I closed my eyes to concentrate.

I heard a little whispers of a girl " The victim is me...."