Chapter 5 : The Mouth of the Dark

The darkness didn’t fall.

It devoured.

Anaya couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or closed. The air had weight, pressing against her lungs, thick with the scent of roses rotting under moonlight.

She took one step forward.

The floor pulsed beneath her feet. Alive. Breathing.

“Where am I?” she whispered.

And the answer came — not in words, but in touch.

Fingers brushed her cheek. Cold and aching. Possessive.

Then breath against her neck. A mouth too soft, too warm for something dead.

“You’re mine now,” the ghost whispered, right against her skin. “I’ve sealed this place with your heartbeat. You’ll never leave.”

Anaya flinched. “You can’t keep me like this.”

“I’m not keeping you,” the voice murmured, sliding behind her like silk. “I’m claiming you.”

There was no room to run. No light. No door.

Only the ghost, and her voice, and the terrible way Anaya’s body still responded — heat unfurling deep inside her chest like a betrayal.

“You should be afraid,” Anaya said. “I’ll fight you.”

“You’ve already lost,” the ghost whispered. “You just don’t know what part of yourself you gave me first.”

Her hand slid over Anaya’s collarbone — lingering — until it found the spot right above her heart. “Here. It started here, didn’t it? The first time you heard me. That night in the hotel. That dream you woke up from trembling.”

“I thought I was sick,” Anaya breathed.

“You were,” the ghost purred. “Sick with longing. For me.”

Anaya tried to step back, but arms circled her waist — firm, phantom, and far too real.

“Stop this,” she whispered.

“No.”

“Please.”

The ghost’s lips brushed her ear. “Say that again.”

Anaya’s body trembled. “Please…”

“Beautiful.” The ghost exhaled. “You beg so sweetly.”

“Let me go…”

The ghost turned her, slowly, gently — like a dance.

And then Anaya saw her.

The woman in red, radiant in the dark. Eyes wild, hair glowing like embers. A twisted kind of longing carved across her face.

“You don’t understand,” the ghost said. “I used to be like you. I had a body. A name. A future. And then they took it from me. Trapped me in this place. Chained me in silence.”

Her hands clenched. Her voice cracked. “You make the silence stop.”

“I’m not your savior.”

“No,” the ghost said. “You’re my punishment.”

She leaned closer, their lips almost touching.

“And I want to suffer forever.”

Anaya’s heart beat wildly. She didn’t know what scared her more — the ghost’s obsession… or her own response to it.

Something in her, old and buried, stirred awake.

She hated this place. Hated what it was doing to her.

But she hated how her knees weakened even more.

The ghost touched her wrist. “I could shatter you right now. Break your mind. Chain your soul to mine.”

“Then why haven’t you?” Anaya asked.

The ghost smiled sadly. “Because I want you to choose me.”

A beat.

A breath.

Then the ghost let go.

And the darkness thinned — just enough to reveal the door.

It stood open. Waiting.

“I always give a way out,” she whispered. “Just once. But if you stay…” Her eyes gleamed. “You’re mine forever.”

Anaya stared at the door.

And didn’t move.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***