Diary of Riya Sharma

April 7, 2024

Word Count: ~3000

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1:00 AM

I don’t know why I’m writing this.

Shayad isliye, kyunki bolne se koi sunega nahi.

But this?

This is mine.

Mera sach.

Aur agar kuch ho jaye... maybe someone will find this diary.

Maybe they’ll understand what happened to me.

---

1:17 AM

This apartment... it’s supposed to be a fresh start.

New job.

New city.

Nayi zindagi.

But I can’t shake this feeling—like I’ve been here before.

Déjà vu, right?

Except it’s not.

I found an old key today.

Under the floorboard, near the mirror.

It has my initials on it.

R. S.

But I’ve never lived here before.

At least... I don’t think I have.

---

2:00 AM

There’s something wrong with the mirror in the hallway.

I covered it with a bedsheet the first night.

Don’t know why.

Bas mann ki awaaz thi.

But tonight, when I walked by...

I saw something under the sheet.

Moving.

I stood there, holding my breath.

The fabric lifted—just for a second.

And I saw an eye.

Mera nahi tha.

It blinked.

---

2:45 AM

I should call someone.

Priya? Maa?

But what would I even say?

“Hi, maa, tere aashirwad se nayi job mili hai, aur haan, mera reflection mujhe dekh ke hans raha hai?”

She’d think I’ve lost it.

Maybe I have.

---

3:03 AM

I found a diary behind the old bookshelf.

It’s worn.

Pages yellow, like they’ve been waiting.

The first page says:

“Don’t look in the mirror after midnight.”

Too late.

I already did.

And I think it looked back.

---

3:33 AM

There’s a smell.

Burnt sugar.

Like prasad in a mandir.

But there’s no stove on.

And the smell?

It’s coming from the mirror.

---

4:15 AM

I had a memory just now.

Or was it a dream?

I was five.

Standing in front of a mirror.

Someone was behind me.

Holding my shoulders.

A voice whispered in my ear, “Say it, Riya. Call him.”

And I said it.

"Main tujhe bula rahi hoon."

Then the glass cracked.

And someone screamed.

Mujhe yaad nahi kaun.

Maybe it was me.

---

4:44 AM

I called Maa.

Her voice shook when she answered.

"Kahan ho tu?"

“Bombay,” I said.

Silence.

Then:

"13B?"

I froze.

“How do you know?”

She hung up.

---

5:15 AM

I checked my birth certificate.

My first home?

Bombay.

Same building.

Same flat.

13B.

I was born here.

But Maa said we lived in Pune.

Why would she lie?

---

5:55 AM

I took the sheet off the mirror.

I don’t know why.

Curiosity?

Or something stronger?

I stared.

It stared back.

Mera reflection nahi tha.

Her eyes were black.

Empty.

And she smiled.

I didn’t.

---

6:33 AM

I fell asleep on the floor.

When I woke up, there were handprints on the mirror.

Small ones.

Like a child.

But I live alone.

And my hands aren’t that small anymore.

---

April 8, 2024 - 11:11 PM

I heard scratching.

Coming from the walls.

Khurch khurch.

It stopped when I stood in front of the mirror.

Like it was listening.

Like it was waiting.

---

April 9, 2024 - 3:00 AM

The diary had more pages.

They weren’t empty.

Blood smeared words.

"The child in the mirror is waiting."

I touched the glass.

Cold.

But it pulsed under my fingertips.

Like a heartbeat.

My heartbeat.

---

April 9, 2024 - 4:44 AM

I think I know who she is.

She’s me.

But from before.

Before I forgot.

Before Maa made me forget.

Before he came.

---

April 9, 2024 - 6:00 AM

I’m not afraid anymore.

Main nahi darti.

She’s waiting.

And I’m ready to remember.

---

End of Chapter 1

April 10, 2024

---

12:01 AM

They say memory is a funny thing.

Somewhere in the back of your mind, it waits.

Quiet.

Still.

Until it’s ready to swallow you whole.

I thought this diary would keep me sane.

Lekin lagta hai, ab main apne hi lafzon se darne lagi hoon.

Last night…

I saw myself.

But it wasn’t a mirror.

I was standing in the kitchen, filling water from the matka, and when I turned—

She was there.

Standing.

Smiling.

Wearing the same white kurti I lost when I was sixteen.

The one Maa never found, and I swore someone stole.

Her eyes…

Woh meri nahi thi.

They were deeper. Darker.

Like a well I could fall into.

And I think, for a second, I did.

---

2:03 AM

The key is still here.

I found it yesterday—under the floorboard near the bed.

Rusty, iron, but warm.

Zameen ke neeche dhool mein padi cheez garam kaise ho sakti hai?

I tried unlocking everything I could find.

But when I touched it to the mirror…

Something shifted.

Mujhe laga, I imagined it.

But the crack is there.

Tiny, running along the bottom like a vein.

It wasn’t there before.

I would’ve noticed.

I would’ve known.

---

3:15 AM

I heard humming again.

A tune I can’t place.

Soft, almost loving.

It’s coming from behind the wall.

Or under the floor.

Ya phir mere dimaag mein baj raha hai.

I can’t tell anymore.

I called Priya.

She told me I’m losing it.

“Sleep,” she said.

But sleep doesn’t come here.

Not in this house.

And not to me.

---

4:00 AM

I woke up gasping.

I don’t remember falling asleep.

But there was something pressed against my neck.

Like fingers.

Cold.

Bruising.

I ran to the mirror.

Aur wahan…

I saw marks.

Red, round, like fingerprints.

But they’re fading fast.

And I’m not sure they were ever really there.

---

5:30 AM

There’s an old photo on my table now.

It wasn’t there last night.

Black and white.

A little girl standing in front of this house.

My house.

But the girl’s face…

Scratched out.

Lines dug into the paper like someone clawed it.

Her hair is in braids.

Like mine when I was a child.

And the dress—

Maa stitched that dress for my sixth birthday.

But I never had a sixth birthday.

Did I?

---

6:45 AM

Maa called again.

Finally.

I picked up on the first ring.

I asked her about the house.

About this flat—13B.

She went silent.

And then she whispered,

"Riya, wahan mat reh. Maine tujhe wahan se le aya tha."

I told her I don’t remember.

She cried.

She said I wasn’t supposed to.

"Humne sab kuch mita diya tha."

What did they erase?

What did I forget?

And why is it coming back now?

---

7:11 AM

There’s something under my nails.

Black.

Sticky.

Mujhe nahi pata kya hai.

But I woke up with it.

As if I was digging.

In dirt.

Or worse.

My hands ache.

And there’s soil on my sheets.

I didn’t go outside last night.

I didn’t.

---

8:00 AM

I opened the mirror.

It sounds crazy.

But the key worked.

I pressed it to the crack and turned.

And the glass melted.

It became soft.

Like water.

I put my hand through.

And it was cold.

So cold it burned.

But on the other side…

I felt something.

Flesh.

Fingers.

They grabbed me.

Tight.

And whispered my name.

"Riya."

But it wasn’t my voice.

---

9:15 AM

The doorbell rang.

Maa is here.

Her eyes are swollen from crying.

She looks smaller.

Older.

Broken.

She didn’t step inside.

Just stood at the threshold.

"Main tujhe lene ayi hoon."

I told her I’m not leaving.

I need answers.

She shook her head.

"Tujhe yaad nahi hai, na?"

I asked her what happened here.

Why I keep seeing myself.

She said something that made my blood freeze.

"Tu mar chuki thi."

I laughed.

She didn’t.

"Unhone tujhe le liya tha. Aur main tujhe wapas nahi laa paayi."

Who are they?

Maa won’t say.

But her hands were shaking so bad, she dropped her mangalsutra.

And when I picked it up—

There was blood on her fingers.

---

10:00 AM

She’s gone.

Maa left.

She begged me to come with her.

I said no.

I had to stay.

I need to know.

Who I am.

What happened.

And why I don’t remember.

The mirror is quiet.

For now.

---

11:45 AM

I’m tired.

So tired.

But I’m afraid to sleep.

Because when I sleep…

She dreams me.

And I wake up somewhere else.

I think it’s happening again.

---

12:01 PM

I woke up in the storage room.

On the floor.

Dirt under my nails.

Again.

And in my hand?

A tooth.

Small.

White.

Child’s tooth.

Not mine.

I checked.

I think…

I think I buried someone.

---

1:30 PM

There’s a diary.

Not this one.

Another.

Old.

Leather-bound.

I found it in the wall.

Behind a loose brick.

It’s mine.

My handwriting.

But I never wrote it.

At least, I don’t remember writing it.

The first page says:

"If you’re reading this, you’ve come back too early."

And the last page?

It’s dated tomorrow.

---

2:45 PM

It’s getting harder to breathe.

The air feels thick.

Like I’m underwater.

Sounds are muffled.

Even my thoughts feel slow.

Like I’m sinking.

But when I look in the mirror—

She’s fine.

Breathing.

Smiling.

And waving.

---

4:00 PM

The walls are bleeding.

Thin red lines creeping down the plaster.

Slow.

Silent.

The house is crying.

For me.

Or for her.

---

5:30 PM

I lit a diya.

Maa said to do it.

But the flame flickered blue.

And the reflection laughed.

---

7:00 PM

Maa called again.

I didn’t answer.

I think I’m past saving.

But if you find this diary…

Remember:

Don’t look in the mirror too long.

She’s waiting.

And she remembers everything I forgot.

---

End of Chapter 2

---

April 11, 2024

12:05 AM

I didn’t sleep.

I couldn’t.

That other diary—mine, but not mine—was still open on the table.

The last page kept bleeding ink, as if someone was still writing.

As if the pages were alive.

And the date scrawled on the top…

Today.

"Aaj kuch hoga."

The words scratched themselves into my head.

Something will happen today.

But I don’t know if I’ll survive it.

---

1:11 AM

The tooth I found yesterday?

It’s gone.

I placed it on the dresser before I lay down.

But when I woke up, it was missing.

There’s dirt where it was.

And a single word, smeared in something dark:

“Dig.”

I don’t want to.

But my hands…

They’re itching.

---

1:33 AM

I found the spade.

It was already waiting by the front door.

Mitti se ganda.

As if I had already used it.

Maybe I have.

Maybe I keep doing this.

Over and over again.

There’s a patch of floorboards near the kitchen.

It’s softer.

Older.

When I knock on it, it sounds hollow.

I think that’s where I’m supposed to dig.

---

2:00 AM

I pried up the boards.

They didn’t scream.

But I did.

Beneath them?

Red cloth.

Tied like a bundle.

And inside…

Bones.

Small.

Child-sized.

Each one wrapped with a strip of paper.

With writing I can’t read.

Mujhe pata nahi kiski haddi hai.

But when I touched the skull…

I remembered the lullaby.

Maa used to sing it when I was a kid.

Or maybe…

Someone else did.

---

3:15 AM

The bones are clean.

Too clean.

And the skull has carvings on it.

Symbols.

Like the ones in the diary.

I copied them down, hoping they’d make sense later.

But there’s something worse.

Under the skull was a photo.

Another old black-and-white picture.

Of me.

Standing by this house.

Only…

My eyes were burned out.

And written beneath in blood-red ink:

“She comes back when you forget.”

---

4:00 AM

Maa came back.

She didn’t knock.

She stood at the threshold again, barefoot, whispering,

"Riya, wapas chal. Please."

Her hands were red.

I thought it was sindoor at first.

But when she reached for me, I smelled it.

Blood.

Fresh.

"Tune kya khoda?" she asked.

I told her everything.

She slapped me so hard I saw stars.

"Kaha tha na—mat uthana!"

Her voice cracked like the floorboards.

I think she’s scared.

But I think she’s hiding something too.

I asked her whose bones they were.

She whispered,

"Teri."

---

4:45 AM

I’m writing from the bedroom.

Maa is burning incense in the kitchen.

Chanting something.

It doesn’t sound like a prayer.

It sounds…

Older.

I hear scratching inside the walls.

I think Maa hears it too.

She’s crying as she chants.

I’m not sure if it’s helping.

But I know I can’t leave.

---

6:00 AM

Maa finished.

The house smells like smoke and old flowers.

But it’s quiet.

Too quiet.

She told me I need to remember everything before sundown.

Or I’ll forget myself forever.

"Unhone tujhe phir bula liya hai."

I asked her who they are.

She said,

"Jinhe hum bhool gaye the."

The Forgotten Ones.

Spirits of the nameless, those buried and erased.

And I’m one of them.

---

7:00 AM

Maa left again.

She said she’ll come back at dusk.

But I don’t think she’ll make it.

Something’s watching her.

I saw it in the reflection.

Long fingers resting on her shoulder.

But when I looked directly—

Nothing was there.

---

8:00 AM

I read the old diary again.

The one from the wall.

April 11th.

That’s today.

It says:

"You will wake up in her skin."

"You will dig your grave."

"And you will call her name."

But I don’t know the name.

---

9:15 AM

The mirror is bleeding.

Crimson droplets running like tears.

I touched it.

And it whispered:

“Saanvi.”

Is that her name?

Mine?

I don’t remember.

---

10:00 AM

I found more bones.

Buried under the bed this time.

Tiny ribs.

Wrist bones.

And a necklace I wore when I was five.

But I wasn’t supposed to be here when I was five.

Maa said we moved when I was six.

Someone’s lying.

Maybe me.

---

11:45 AM

I found an old newspaper.

Tucked inside the second diary.

“Child Found Dead In Flat 13B.”

A girl.

Six years old.

No name.

No family came to claim her.

The photo…

She’s wearing the same dress Maa stitched for me.

My birthday dress.

But I never had a sixth birthday.

Did I?

---

12:30 PM

I think I’m Saanvi.

But I also think I’m Riya.

And maybe I’ve been both.

Maybe I still am.

The diary says I have to choose.

Before sunset.

---

1:00 PM

Maa called.

Her voice was faint.

Like she was far away.

"Bol Saanvi, tu ya Riya?"

I didn’t answer.

---

2:00 PM

The room is colder.

Shadows move when I blink.

And the chanting starts again, though no one’s here.

I hear the scraping under the floor.

Like nails.

Digging.

I’m afraid it’s me.

Again.

---

3:30 PM

I’m sitting by the mirror.

Watching her.

She smiles.

She mouths something.

"Come back."

But I never left, did I?

I’ve been here.

Under the floor.

Behind the walls.

Waiting.

For me.

---

4:45 PM

Maa’s voice.

Outside the door.

Begging me to leave.

"Saanvi! Riya! Please!"

But the lock’s gone.

The door’s not opening.

And the walls…

They’re closing in.

---

5:30 PM

There’s a name carved into the wood of the house.

Hidden behind the wardrobe.

Saanvi Riya Sen.

One name.

One person.

Me.

---

6:00 PM

Sunset.

It’s time.

---

End of Chapter 3