Finally here.

Drisana looked towards the old house.Though it was supposed to be well maintained, it looked like anything but maintained. This was the first time she was visiting this place. Far from the nearest town, her paternal house was sitting in the middle of nowhere.

She gave a look to the supposed caretaker of the house, Tanmay. He gulped down nervously looking towards the house. His father before him used to look after it. Drisanas' family had left the country more than 20 years ago. Though they paid to look after the house, no one had been here for the past years. Now suddenly Drisana dropped out of nowhere to stay in the creepy dwelling.

Tanmay opened the front door as Drisana was looking around.

"Come inside, ma'am. I've cleaned the house and checked all the utilities. Everything is working fine. If you want anything, you can give me a call anytime. But I'll still say living in a hotel near town will be better than here." said Tanmay giving a tour of the house to Drisana.

From inside it wasn't so bad. Drisana had wanted to look at the place her parents belonged to and where she was born. Drisanas' parents had died a few years ago in an accident leaving her alone. Drisana had always loved travelling and adventures. After her parents death, all she had done was travelling around the world looking for something. What? She wasn't sure. She had always felt detached from everything and everyone. Like she didn't fit. She felt an emptiness inside and an urge. Like she was supposed to do something, be somewhere else. With time she learned to ignore it and adjusted to her surroundings. It was another blessing in disguise. As she never felt attached to anything, moving from place to place and adapting to new environments quickly was quite easy for her.

So she thought maybe visiting her birth place and connecting to it would give her some peace. She had always wanted to visit this place but her parents denied every time. Saying they had left never to return. That this place held nothing for them. She had let it go not wanting to upset them. But with every passing day it had been difficult for her to ignore the call of this place. She even dreamt about this place a few times which gave her the creeps as she never had been here before. Those strange dreams had been another reason for her to visit.

"It'll do fine. Thanks Tanmay." said Drisana.

"Okay then. I'll take your leave." saying so he left.

After freshening up and eating, she decided to call it a day. Tomorrow she wanted to start her exploring.

♧♧♧

Drisana was sleeping restlessly when something woke her up. She wasn't sure why she woke up. She looked at her phone. It was 2.45 am. As a lone traveller, Drisana had learned to trust her instincts, which had been always right. She felt like something was in the house or maybe someone. 'A thief or druggie maybe' she thought.

Taking the pepper spray and knife that she always kept in her bag she silently moved outside the bedroom. There was something strange in the house, even the air felt too heavy. Drisana listened carefully for any sound, holding her breath. There it was. A faint cackling sound like when woods get burned. What could possibly be that? Drisana listened closely and determined it was coming from downstairs. She moved towards the basement door. As she opened the door, it opened with a cracking sound. Drisana cringed hearing it. The sound probably alerted whoever was downstairs. She waited expecting the faint cackling sound to stop or any other movements. But only the sound got clearer with the opening of the door. After a long few minutes when nothing happened, she started to descend the stairs.

Now anyone else might run away screaming thinking of something bad, but not her. She was confident in her abilities to defend herself and if anything she would make the person scream who was here. If he was in singular number of course.

Though upstairs it was all neat and clean, the basement looked like something out of a horror film with broken things, dust, some covered furniture scattered around the room. The moonlight coming from the high narrow ventilation provided little to see. The cackling sound continued. Drisana looked carefully around, her senses alerted. Nothing. Where the hell was this sound coming from? Then she saw something. At the far corner of the room, there was a slight flash. She went closer and saw. It was some frame covered with a heavy black cloth. Drisana examined it with interest. The sound seemed to come from here only. She was a little nervous now. It seemed like the air around was humming with restrained energy. She had never encountered anything like this.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she pulled the cloth away. It was a frame alright. A door frame which was glistening with golden white light. Now that the cover was removed the light was bright enough to enlighten the whole place.

It was difficult to keep eyes open in its sharpness. And soon Drisana felt something sucking on her skin. Like a vaccum cleaner, the light was pulling her towards it. She held the frame tightly. It was feeling like every molecules in her body was disintegrating. The pressure on her head was increasing too much to bear. A scream escaped her throat at the pain and she lost consciousness.

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