Areeba’s face went pale.
“Grandmother?” Meher nodded.
“She was the one who locked me away.” “Why?” A sudden anger appeared in Meher’s eyes.
“Because she discovered the truth.” “What truth?” Meher didn’t answer.
Instead, she pointed toward the old mirror in the corner of the room.
“Look into the mirror.” Dadi Zohra screamed, “No, Areeba!” But Areeba looked into the mirror.
Her reflection stared back at her.
But behind her…
another girl was standing.
Areeba immediately turned around.
There was no one there.
She looked back into the mirror.
Meher was standing there.
But now, beside her, there was a third face.
A woman’s face.
Areeba froze when she saw it.
She had seen that face before in an old childhood photograph.
“This…” Her voice broke.
“Dadi Zohra…
who is that woman?” Dadi Zohra looked toward the mirror, tears filling her eyes.
“Areeba…” “Who is she?” Dadi Zohra slowly replied, “Meher’s mother.” Areeba looked back at the mirror.
The woman’s eyes were staring directly into hers.
Then someone placed a hand against the mirror from the inside.
Areeba stepped back.
Slowly, fingerprints began to appear on the glass.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then, in a dark red substance that looked like blood, a sentence appeared across the mirror: “IT WASN’T MEHER WHO WAS CALLED.
IT WAS ME.” Areeba’s heart began pounding.
“What does that mean?” Meher’s smile returned.
“Now you’re beginning to understand.” Areeba looked at Dadi Zohra.
“But why did Grandma send me here?” Dadi Zohra was about to answer when her eyes suddenly moved toward something behind Areeba.
Her face froze with terror.
“Areeba…” “What happened?” Dadi Zohra slowly raised a trembling finger and pointed behind her.
“Don’t look behind you.” Areeba became completely still.
Meher also fell silent.
The air inside the room suddenly turned ice-cold.
Then, directly behind Areeba, another voice spoke.
But it wasn’t Meher’s voice.
It was a woman’s voice.
Very soft.
Very close.
“Beta…” Tears filled Areeba’s eyes.
Because that voice…
was her grandmother’s voice.
Areeba’s breath caught.
She closed her eyes.
“Grandmother…?” The same voice came again from behind her.
“Beta…” Tears rolled down Areeba’s cheeks.
Her grandmother had died only two days ago.
The voice sounded exactly like hers.
The same tone.
The same softness.
The same way of speaking.
Areeba slowly began to turn around.
“Don’t turn around!” Dadi Zohra’s scream echoed through the room.
Areeba froze.
Even Meher looked at Dadi Zohra with fear in her eyes for the first time.
The woman’s face inside the mirror suddenly changed.
Black tears began streaming from her eyes.
Then, from inside the mirror, a terrifying scream echoed: “AAAAHHH!” The mirror began to shake violently.
Dadi Zohra immediately pulled Areeba toward her.
“That isn’t your grandmother!” Areeba cried, “But it was her voice!” “That’s exactly how it tricks people.” “Who?” Before Dadi Zohra could answer, she looked toward Meher.
Meher was completely silent now.
For the first time, there was fear in her eyes.
Dadi Zohra slowly said, “It.” Areeba asked, “Who is it?” Meher looked toward the mirror.
Then, in a very quiet voice, she said, “Even my mother never saw it.” Areeba couldn’t understand.
“Then what is it?” Meher replied, “We used to call it only one thing…
the Shadow.” Suddenly, the door to the room swung open.
Dadi Zohra stared at it in shock.
“The door…” Areeba looked behind her.
The door was open.
But there was no one in the corridor.
Meher slowly began stepping backward.
Areeba looked at her.
“Meher!” Meher stopped.
Areeba asked, “Why won’t you tell me the truth?” Meher looked at her.
“Because if you remember everything…” She stopped.
“Then what?” Meher slowly said: “To you will also remember what you did that night.” Areeba’s expression changed.
“What did I do?” Meher didn’t answer.
Her body slowly began to dissolve into mist.
“Areeba…” “Wait!” Meher’s voice faded into the distance.
“Find your grandmother’s diary…” Areeba immediately asked, “Where?” But Meher had disappeared.
Only Areeba, Dadi Zohra, and the old mirror remained in the room.
Areeba looked at Dadi Zohra.
“Grandmother’s diary?” Dadi Zohra took a deep breath.
“Now we have to find that diary.” “Where is it?” Dadi Zohra pointed toward a corner of the room.
“There.” Areeba looked over.
A small wooden box was lying beneath an old cupboard.
A thick layer of dust covered its surface.
Areeba walked over and opened the box.
Inside was a diary.
Her grandmother’s name was written on the cover.
Areeba picked it up.
She opened the first page.
There was only one sentence: “If Areeba is reading this diary, it means I failed to save her again.” Areeba’s eyes filled with tears.
She turned to the next page.
And what she read there made the ground seem to disappear beneath her feet.
“We were not the ones who called Meher.” Below it was another line: “That night, Areeba herself opened the door.” Areeba pressed the diary against her chest.
The childhood memory returned to her mind.
Meher was holding her hand.
The locked room.
The old mirror.
And a door…
that had been locked from the inside.
But the diary said: Areeba had opened the door.
Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut.
BANG!
Dadi Zohra screamed.
And the next page of the diary…
turned by itself.
Only one sentence was written on that page: “Areeba must be told the truth now.” Areeba read the sentence again.
“Areeba must be told the truth now.” She looked at Dadi Zohra.
“Now you’re going to tell me the whole truth.” Dadi Zohra remained silent for a few moments.
Then she slowly nodded.
“Yes.” Areeba held the diary tightly in her hands.
“What happened to me that night?” Dadi Zohra took a deep breath.
“You were only seven years old at the time.
Your grandmother and Meher’s mother had been hiding a secret for years.” “What kind of secret?” “Beneath this mansion, there was an old room.
Very few people knew about it.” Areeba asked, “What was inside that room?” Dadi Zohra didn’t answer directly.
“A mirror.” Areeba’s expression changed.
“The same mirror?” Dadi Zohra nodded.
“Yes.
But it wasn’t an ordinary mirror.” Areeba looked toward the mirror.
The glass was completely still.
“It was said that whoever looked at their reflection in that mirror would see the secrets of their past revealed before them.” Areeba slowly asked, “Then why did Meher make me stand in front of it?” Tears filled Dadi Zohra’s eyes.
“Because Meher was trying to protect you.” Areeba stared at her in disbelief.
“Meher was trying to protect me?” “Yes.” “So she wasn’t evil?” Instead of answering, Dadi Zohra looked down at the floor.
“Meher wasn’t evil.” Tears filled Areeba’s eyes.
“Then what was she?” Dadi Zohra spoke in a very quiet voice.
“Meher was just a little girl, just like you.” Areeba fell silent.
“That night, she tried to pull you away from the mirror.
But by then, it was already too late.” “Why?” “Because whatever was inside that mirror…
had already seen you.” Areeba’s hands turned cold.
“The Shadow?” Dadi Zohra nodded.
“Yes.” Suddenly, the air inside the room changed.
A thin layer of mist began to form across the mirror.
Areeba and Dadi Zohra both looked toward it.
Slowly, an image began to appear through the mist.
A young Areeba.
A young Meher.
And between them…
the same old mirror.
Areeba held her breath.
Then, in the image, little Areeba slowly reached her hand toward the mirror.
Dadi Zohra screamed: “Stop!”