CHAPTER 6 : THE FOREST OFFICER WITH HOLLOW EYES
**Author's Note – From Your Unstoppable Queen 👑🖤**
ShadowHearts, welcome back. Last chapter, you dared to remember a forbidden name. The pendant shattered. The House screamed. And behind cracked mirrors and cursed blood, something darker began to wake.
In Chapter 6, the forest remembers too.
And someone is watching Aanya from the trees… someone with eyes that have no soul.
So pull your robe tight, love. This chapter will brush its cold fingers along your spine. You asked for slow romance, and he's here… but so is something else.
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**Brief Recap of Chapter 5:**
Aanya recovered the letter she wrote to herself during the blood moon ritual. The attic revealed a memory-locked box filled with burnt feathers, old music, and whispers from the past. Veer stayed beside her, protective, guilty, aching. They almost touched lips before the attic mirror cracked and revealed a reflection she no longer recognized. Aanya whispered the name again — *Ananta* — and the shadows screamed louder than ever.
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**Aanya's POV**
Morning wasn't gentle.
The House let in light like it feared warmth. Pale sunlight stretched across the wooden floors like fingers that had forgotten how to hold.
Aanya sat by the staircase, robe wrapped tightly around her, the pieces of the obsidian pendant still trembling in her palm. She hadn't slept.
And Veer…
He stood by the window, his back to her, shirtless now. His scars glowed faintly where the early light kissed them. The silver ring still clung to his right hand.
His voice was low, like it belonged to another century.
"Something crossed the treeline last night. It stopped at the orchard. Then turned back."
Aanya hugged herself.
"What was it?"
Veer turned slightly.
"Not a ghost. Not a person."
"Then what?"
"A memory… that got lost."
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**The Stranger in the Trees**
Later that day, the wind picked up. The woods outside moaned as if they mourned a secret.
Aanya wandered into the orchard again. The branches bent as she passed, as if they remembered her footsteps. As if they *mourned* them.
That's when she saw him.
A man in a forest officer's coat. Standing too still. Watching her.
His cap shadowed his face, but his *eyes*—
They were hollow.
Black.
As if someone had scooped the soul from them and left shadows behind.
"Miss Aanya Verma?" he asked politely.
Her spine went rigid.
"Yes?"
He stepped closer, boots silent on the dead grass.
"Your aunt filed a report before she disappeared. Said there was something under the House."
"Under?"
"Buried. Locked. But not dead."
His voice never changed tone. Calm. Steady. Too steady.
She blinked—and he was gone.
Just vanished into the orchard.
When she turned back to the House, Veer stood in the doorway.
"You saw him, didn't you?"
"Who *was* he?"
"He's not real. Not anymore. He died in 1995. That badge… I buried it myself."
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**Veer's POV**
He hadn't wanted her to remember yet. Not the man. Not the orchard. Not the name.
But the House was waking faster than he thought.
And she was remembering too much too soon.
"Tonight," he said quietly, "you'll stay in my room."
She looked up at him. Those brown eyes didn't hold fear now. Just tired rebellion.
"Is that your way of protecting me?"
"No. It's my way of staying alive."
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**– Veer's Room**
His room smelled like sandalwood and old books. The bed was wide, covered in deep grey linen. A candle flickered near the window.
Aanya stood awkwardly by the dresser.
She wore an oversized sweater of Veer's now—it hung to her thighs, sleeves loose.
Her hair was half-tied, lips bare.
He handed her a mug of warm clove milk.
"This will help with the cramps."
She looked at him, surprised.
"You remembered?"
He gave a slow nod.
"I remembered everything you tried to forget."
They sat in silence. Close. Closer. Her head finally resting on his shoulder.
"Do you think the House… hates us?"
"No. I think it loved someone we betrayed."
"Ananta?"
He didn't answer.
---
He turned her face toward him slowly. His fingers warm against her jaw.
"If you remember everything… do you remember how it felt when we first kissed?"
Her breath hitched.
"I remember… wanting to do it again."
He leaned in—
The candle flickered violently—
And the music box in the attic began to play.
They froze.
The melody was warped. Slowed.
*Ring around the rosie…*
She looked up at him, terrified.
"That wasn't in the box before."
"No," he said grimly. "It's in the House now."
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The Letter in Blood**
At midnight, the House groaned again.
Veer found a slip of paper pinned to the door.
It was torn from Aanya's old journal.
But the words were not hers.
Written in something red, it said:
*You broke the vow. Now I break the mirror.*
And from upstairs, every mirror shattered at once.
Aanya screamed.
But in the shards on the floor… was her reflection.
Smiling.
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**Author's Note – From Your Unstoppable Queen 👑🖤**
This chapter stared back at you, didn't it?
We met a man who shouldn't exist. We tasted a little warmth. And just when their lips nearly met—
the House reminded us: *love is a memory too.*
What do you think the mirrors mean, ShadowHearts?
And who is breaking the rules of memory?
Next chapter: *"The Mirror Doesn't Reflect Me Anymore."*
Love, haunting, betrayal. And maybe this time… a kiss that doesn't get stopped.
Vote, scream, or whisper back.
Because we're not done remembering yet.
—The Unstoppable Queen 👑Aish