Morning arrived reluctantly.
Fog still pressed against the windows, but voices finally echoed through the hostel.
Students.
Laughter felt strange in this place, like noise didn't belong.
Anaya met them in the dining hall — Riya, Sana, Meera, and Kavya. They looked normal, alive, warm. That alone made Anaya feel safer.
"You look like you saw a ghost," Kavya joked.
Anaya hesitated, then told them about the whisper.
They exchanged looks.
Meera leaned closer.
"This hostel was closed before."
"Why?" Sana asked.
Meera lowered her voice.
"A girl disappeared ten years ago. Third floor."
The air felt colder.
"What happened?" Anaya asked.
"No body. No report. Just rumors."
That night curiosity won over fear.
They carried phone torches and walked down the corridor together.
The lights flickered as if unhappy.
Their footsteps echoed wrong — delayed.
At the far end stood something Anaya hadn't seen before.
A black door.
Chained shut.
Dusty.
Carved deep into the wood:
317B
Kavya touched the chain.
The lights died instantly.
Darkness swallowed them.
Then the corridor exhaled.
Warm.
Wet.
Alive.
Something moved behind the walls.
And the whisper returned —
"Stay…"