CHAPTER 2: The Old House

The house looked haunted from the outside, but it was even more strange from the inside. As soon as I stepped inside, a strange cold surrounded me. I tied myself tightly, as if I was trying to escape the cold, but that cold was penetrating me. The air felt heavy, and there was a silence all around which was making me uncomfortable.

I slowly started inspecting the whole house. The furniture in every room was in a dilapidated condition, as if no one had come here for centuries. There were some old pictures on the walls, in which people were standing or sitting, but their eyes seemed to be staring at me.

"Who are these people?" I asked myself. I had never heard anything about this family from my mother. Then why are these pictures here?

I slowly ran my hand over those pictures, but then a strange stir arose in my heart. As soon as I looked at those faces, I got a strange feeling, as if these people knew me.

"No, this is just my illusion," I explained to myself and moved on.

---

There was a big room at the back of the house, with heavy curtains. I removed those curtains and saw an old and huge mirror. The same mirror that had made me feel strange in that house in the first place.

I stood in front of the mirror.

"What is so special about it?" I muttered to myself. The frame of the mirror was very old, probably more than a hundred years old. It was intricately carved, but dust had covered it.

I tried to wipe the dust off with the pallu of my sari, and then I saw my reflection.

But it was not my reflection.

There was a woman standing in front of me, who looked exactly like me, but there was a deep sadness in her eyes. There was a look of pain and despair on her face. I stepped back in fear and shouted loudly, "Who are you?"

But there was no one there. I looked in the mirror again-now it was just me.

"What is going on?" I said to myself, my heart pounding.

I was certain that this house was not normal. There was something in this house that I couldn't understand. That mirror... that woman... and this silence.

Then suddenly there was a sound from the door-as if someone had shaken it. I became alert.

"Who's there?" I called out, but there was no answer.

A strange fear began to rise in my heart. Is this just my illusion, or is there really something else here?

---

I tried to calm myself down and started thinking that maybe I was overthinking. This is an old house, maybe the things here are distracting me.

But my mind was still stuck on that mirror. I went back to it and started looking carefully. The surface was still blurry, but when I wiped it clean, I noticed something strange-there was a tiny crack at the bottom of the mirror, as if it had been hidden on purpose.

"This crack..." I muttered, "someone has tried to hide it."

I wiped some more, and now I was convinced that there was something special about this mirror.

"Maybe there's something else hidden here," I thought.

There was a strange bulge near the mirror's frame that had escaped my attention before. I pressed it, and suddenly there was a slight 'click' sound.

The mirror slowly pulled out from the wall a little, as if there was a hidden door behind it.

"What is this?" I said in surprise.

My heart began to beat faster. I stepped back and asked myself, "Should I open it?"

But curiosity was greater than my fear. I pulled the mirror a little more, and saw a secret door behind it.

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