The warning

Maya pushed open the dorm room door, exhaustion clinging to her like a second skin. The day had drained her completely...back-to-back lectures, group assignments, and an unshakable fatigue that settled deep into her bones.

She dropped her bag on the floor and let out a long sigh.

Liya was lying on her bed, scrolling through her phone, earphones in. Sana sat cross-legged near the wardrobe, stacking her books.

"Finally," Maya muttered, rubbing her temples.

She grabbed a fresh set of clothes and stepped into the bathroom, hoping a shower would wash away the tension pressing against her skull.

The warm water helped, if only a little.

After changing into an oversized t-shirt and shorts, she settled at her desk, flipping open her notebook.

Just an hour of revision, then sleep.

The soft murmur of Sana flipping pages and the occasional hum from liya's music filled the room. A normal, quiet night.

But something felt… off.

Maya frowned.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but the air felt heavier than usual. Thicker. Like the room wasn't just occupied by the three of them.

Shaking off the odd feeling, she picked up her pen and started writing.

Then....

Her pen slipped from her fingers.

It tumbled off the desk and disappeared beneath it.

Maya sighed, muttering under her breath as she bent down to retrieve it.

And then she froze.

There, under the desk, near her feet...

Was another foot.

Not hers.

Not wearing slippers.

A bare, pale foot.

Her breath hitched.

Her chest tightened, her fingers digging into the edge of the chair.

Her mind screamed at her to move, to look away, but she couldn't.

The foot was still. Unnaturally still. As if it was waiting for her to acknowledge it.

And then...

It moved.

Just a slight twitch. A shift.

A fraction of a second.

But Maya saw it.

And she felt it,

A presence.

Down there, beneath her desk.

Watching her.

The breath she had been holding escaped in a sharp gasp as she jerked upright.

Her chair scraped against the floor as she pushed back, heart hammering in her chest.

Her fingers trembled as she hesitated, should she check again? Should she call liya and Sana?

No.

You imagined it. You're tired. Stressed.

Swallowing the fear rising in her throat, she forced herself to lean down again,

The space was empty.

Her slippers were there. Her bag was there.

But no foot.

Maya exhaled sharply, pressing a hand against her racing heart.

It was nothing.

Just exhaustion playing tricks on her.

Shaking off the unease, she picked up her pen and sat back up.

But when she looked at her notebook,

Her blood ran cold.

The page was different.

The words she had written earlier were still there, but now, at the bottom of the page, a sentence had appeared in shaky, unfamiliar handwriting.

"You're getting too close."

Maya's hands trembled.

Her stomach twisted painfully.

She didn't write that.

Her breathing grew uneven as she stared at the words, her mind scrambling for an explanation.

She hadn't looked away from the notebook long enough for someone to mess with it.

And liya and Sana,

Her head snapped up.

Liya was still on her bed, lost in her phone. Sana was still at the wardrobe, flipping through books.

Neither of them were near her desk.

Neither of them had moved.

A sharp chill spread through her veins.

Maya's fingers curled around the edge of the notebook, gripping it so tightly her knuckles turned white.

She forced herself to flip the page, as if erasing what she had just seen would make it disappear.

But the uneasy feeling didn't disappear.

In fact, it got worse.

She could feel it.

A presence.

Something unseen.

Watching her.

Waiting.

A strange, suffocating stillness settled in the room, like the very air around her had shifted.

Her skin prickled.

A deep, primal instinct screamed at her...

She wasn't alone.

Her gaze flickered around the dorm.

The corners seemed darker than before. The shadows stretched just a little too long.

And the worst part?

The feeling of something standing behind her.

She couldn't see it.

But she could feel it.

Right behind her.

So close that if she turned,

She might see something she shouldn't.

Her breathing hitched.

She shut her notebook and stood up abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the floor.

Liya and Sana looked up.

"You okay?" Sana asked, raising an eyebrow.

Maya hesitated.

Should she tell them? Should she say she felt something? That she saw something?

She glanced at the notebook, then at the empty space under her desk.

And then.....

At the dark corner of the room.

A place that had always been empty.

A place that now felt occupied.

Maya swallowed hard and forced a small smile.

"Yeah," she said, her voice quieter than usual. "Just tired."

Liya shrugged and went back to her phone. Sana returned to her books.

But Maya knew.

Something was here.

And it had left her a warning.

"You're getting too close."

To what?

She didn't know.

But one thing was certain...

This was only the beginning.

---