eyes glowed faintly in the flickering light, a shade too bright, too alive for someone the world believed gone. Her lips barely moved, but her voice filled the room like a gust of winter air: "Traitors." Maya stumbled backward, heart pounding. "Rachel?" The others froze, eyes bouncing between Maya and the girl who shouldn't be there — the sister torn from their world by a force darker than death. Rachel took a step closer, barefoot, hair matted like she'd clawed her way through the underworld. "You shouldn't have come back," she said coldly. "Where have you been?" Clara asked, voice shaking. Rachel's gaze pierced through her. "Where the truth breathes. Beneath the walls. Inside the names we whisper." The wind outside screamed. The windows trembled. Daniel pulled Naomi behind him, whispering, "This isn't right." Rachel turned to Maya. "You left me." Maya's throat caught. "I searched for you every day. I never gave up!" "You should've stayed away," Rachel hissed. A blast of cold air erupted from the vents. Clara turned — every door in the hallway creaked open in unison. Then the whispers returned. "Liars... Traitors... All of them..." Rachel stepped forward, her voice laced with something unholy. "They fed him. You fed him with your fear. With your secrets. And now... he's almost strong enough." "Strong enough for what?" Naomi asked. "To step through." A growl echoed under the floorboards. The lights dimmed to a sickly amber. Shadows pulsed like breathing lungs. Maya clutched Clara's arm. "That's not my sister anymore." Clara's eyes welled up. "Then what is she?" Rachel smiled — cracked, hollow. "I'm what's left of her. What he used to speak to you." Behind her, the closet door burst open. No one stood there. Just a black void, deeper than the eye could follow. Then came the sound — chains dragging. Footsteps without feet. Rachel's smile faded. "He's here." Students screamed. Someone fainted. The walls rippled with every whispered name, every hidden lie. And from the blackness beyond the closet came a voice older than time. "I am the silence in your confessions. I am the breath before your scream." Rachel turned slowly to face the void. "I kept them here, just like you asked." Clara stepped forward, trembling. "You betrayed us." Rachel's eyes darkened. "I saved you from worse. But now... it's too late." The air thickened. A heatless flame flickered at the threshold of the void. Then, the floor cracked beneath their feet. A hand reached out — long, bony, clawed — from the closet. Naomi screamed. Maya grabbed Clara. "We have to run." But the door to the hallway slammed shut. That was when it happened. Someone — no one could later say who — ran to the front door and yanked it open. But instead of escape, there was nothing but a wall of darkness. No outside. No campus. No light. Just the abyss. Slam. Someone else slammed the door shut. In panic. In desperation. That was when Rachel said it again, louder this time. More broken. More hurt. "Traitors." Maya spun around. "Wait, what? Who?" Rachel stared at them all, eyes like glass. "You sealed us in. You chose yourselves." "We were scared!" Clara shouted. Rachel laughed. Not with humor. With pain. "Fear feeds him. You know that. You all know that." Clara turned to the others. "Open the door! We need to open it again!" But when they reached it, the door handle was gone. Melted into the wood. "No," Daniel whispered. "No, no, no." The blackness behind the closet spread across the ceiling, dripping like ink. Faces formed in it — mouths wide, eyes hollow. Rachel sank to her knees. "He's here. And he's choosing." A bell rang somewhere in the building. It wasn't the campus bell. It sounded metallic. Old. Rusted. It rang once. Twice. Three times. Clara's heartbeat matched it. Everyone backed into the common room, forming a tight circle. Maya whispered, "Why is he doing this?" Rachel didn't look up. "Because this dorm broke a promise. Ten years ago. The deal was silence." Clara's voice trembled. "Delilah?" "She spoke the truth," Rachel said. "And so he took her." "But you—" "I tried to finish what she started. I thought if I found the source, I could kill it. But it found me instead." The darkness crept down the walls, swallowing pictures, lights, shadows. Everything. Daniel looked at Clara. "If we tell everyone—" "They'll be next," Rachel said flatly. "He wants silence. And secrets. He feeds on shame." The whispers turned to sobs. Naomi pressed her hands to her ears. "Make it stop!" Rachel stood up slowly. "Only one thing ends this." Clara swallowed. "What?" Rachel looked her dead in the eyes. "One of you has to give a name. A real one. One tied to the truth." "Whose name?" Maya asked. Rachel didn't answer. A shadow crossed the circle. A cold wind slithered over their feet. The lights blinked. The floor under Naomi cracked. She screamed as she dropped an inch, her legs swallowed by the floorboards before Clara and Daniel pulled her free. Rachel whispered, "He's getting impatient." And then — the void spoke again. "Speak the sin... or I shall consume the silence." The dorm shuddered. The fire alarm blared, but no smoke followed. Only the scent of old, buried things. Clara stepped into the center of the room. Her legs shook, but she stood. "My name is Clara Okoye," she said. "And ten years ago... my sister was here. Her name was Lillian. She died in this dorm." Everyone turned to her. "She was Delilah's roommate. She saw what happened. And she tried to report it. But the school silenced her. They said she was hallucinating. They gave her pills." Clara's voice cracked. "She overdosed." Rachel blinked. "You never told anyone." "I was scared." The darkness paused. For the first time, it stopped spreading. Rachel stepped forward, voice soft. "You gave a name." The void receded. Just slightly. Enough to breathe. But the air was still thick. Rachel's voice dropped. "He's satisfied... for now." Clara collapsed to her knees, gasping. The lights returned. The doors creaked open. And the closet was empty again. But they all knew: this wasn't the end. It was only the pause before the next secret came due. And the next name.