Mine

--- Things seemed normal. Aarav was back. Gauri had her son again. The house was warm. The mirrors were gone. No whispers. No cold spots. No shadows. But some things had changed. Aarav didn’t eat like before. He hated sunlight. He never entered the attic, even during daylight. And sometimes… in his sleep… he would mumble words in a language Gauri had never heard before. --- One night, Gauri woke to the sound of scratching — like fingernails on wood. It was coming from under the floorboards. Aarav stood outside her room. Eyes closed. Hands bleeding. Fingernails broken off. He whispered, "He's not gone, Amma... He's just deeper now." --- Desperate, Gauri returned to the old priest — now dying, frail, but still with fire in his eyes. He told her: > "The mirror was a portal, not a prison. When you broke it… you didn’t destroy him. You freed him — and now, he has returned to where it all began." > "Under the house… there’s a trapdoor. The house was bui...