Aarohi didn't scream.
She couldn't.
Her breath got stuck in her throat the moment the whisper touched her ear—
"I remember everything, Aara."
It felt too close.
Too real.
Too warm.
Like someone was standing right behind her, breathing against her skin.
Her entire body froze.
Her fingers curled into the blanket.
Her heart pounded so violently she thought it would jump out of her chest.
"No… no…" she whispered shakily.
She forced herself to turn—
slowly, painfully,
as if the air had turned to thick cement.
Her eyes scanned the room.
Empty.
Moonlight.
Curtains.
Furniture.
Nothing else.
No boy.
No shadow.
No breath.
But she still felt him.
Like fingerprints pressed into her spine.
Like eyes staring at the back of her head.
Like his presence had melted into the walls.
Her throat tightened.
This wasn't paranoia.
This wasn't imagination.
This wasn't fear making her hallucinate.
The voice was real.
The presence was real.
He was close.
Too close.
Her legs shook so violently she couldn't stand.
She sank onto the floor, gripping her hair with trembling hands.
Why me?
Why again?
Why in this life too?
Tears spilled silently down her cheeks.
She didn't notice Arin standing at the doorway until he said her name, voice full of panic.
"Aarohi!"
She jerked violently and looked up.
Arin dropped the glass of water he was holding and ran to her, falling onto his knees.
"Aarohi, what happened?!" he shouted, voice cracking.
She couldn't answer.
Her voice was gone.
Arin grabbed her face gently, forcing her to look at him. His hands were shaking.
"Aarohi… look at me. Look at me!"
Her lips trembled.
"He… he spoke…" she whispered eventually.
Arin froze.
His pupils dilated.
"Who?" he demanded. "The boy?"
Aarohi nodded weakly.
Arin grabbed her shoulders, desperate to understand.
"What did he say?!"
Aarohi's tears fell faster now.
"He… he said he remembers everything…"
Arin swore under his breath, something he rarely did.
He pulled Aarohi tightly into his chest, holding her as if trying to shield her from something invisible.
"Why isn't he showing his face?!" Arin growled. "Why is he hiding like a coward?!"
Aarohi clutched his shirt.
"I don't know…" she whispered.
But deep inside…
she felt a truth she couldn't explain.
He wasn't hiding.
He wasn't running.
He wasn't afraid.
He was waiting.
Watching.
Remembering.
---
Arin didn't leave her alone for a second.
He closed the windows.
Pulled the curtains tight.
Checked every corner of the room.
Every shadow.
Every sound.
"Nothing," he muttered under his breath. "There's nothing here."
Aarohi pulled her knees up to her chest.
"He was here," she whispered. "He was right here…"
Arin sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her.
"I believe you," he said immediately. "I don't care if I didn't see him. I don't care if it sounds crazy. I believe you."
Aarohi leaned into him, exhausted.
Her voice was barely audible:
"I think he remembers how I died…"
Arin froze again.
Her death.
The most painful part of her first life.
The moment she collapsed alone on the street.
The moment her heart gave up.
The moment she left everything behind.
He whispered carefully, "Aarohi… did you see anything? Did you remember something?"
Aarohi hesitated.
The memory was faint — like a shadow behind fog — but it was there.
A cold pavement.
A blurred figure nearby.
Someone calling her name weakly.
Someone lying on the ground.
Someone reaching out…
She felt dizzy.
"I… I don't know," she whispered. "But I think he was with me when I died…"
Arin clenched his jaw so tight she heard his teeth grind.
"Then why is he haunting you now?" Arin whispered, voice tight with fear.
Aarohi didn't know.
She only knew the feeling in her chest —
a mixture of terror, guilt, and something she hated herself for feeling…
familiarity.
As if a part of her soul recognized him.
As if her heart remembered someone her mind had forgotten.
She whispered into the darkness:
"What does he want from me?"
And then —
A cold gust swept through the room.
Fast.
Sharp.
Unnatural.
The curtains lifted.
The light flickered.
Arin instinctively pulled her close, scanning the room with wide, furious eyes.
"Aarohi, stay close to me."
Her breath hitched as she grabbed his arm.
For a moment, the air felt heavy.
Charged.
Alive.
Then—
Another whisper.
Not from the window.
Not from the door.
Not from the shadows.
But from inside her mind.
"You left me behind."
Aarohi gasped, hand flying to her chest.
Arin panicked. "Aarohi?! What happened?!"
She couldn't speak.
Because the truth hit her like a knife—
The boy wasn't haunting her because he hated her.
He wasn't following her because he wanted revenge.
He was following her…
because she had left him alone in the darkness.
And he remembered.
Every moment.
Every breath.
Every tear.
Everything she couldn't.
Aarohi whispered shakily:
"He's not angry at me… he's hurt."
Arin's eyes widened.
"Hurt? Why?! Aarohi, what—"
Aarohi's tears fell silently as she spoke the truth her soul suddenly remembered:
"Because he died beside me… and I didn't even know."
---