Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3: DON’T TURN AROUND
Amara turned around.
For a second, she saw nothing.
Only the empty bench.
The green grass.
The bright morning sunlight.
Her chest tightened.
Had she imagined the voice?
Then the bench creaked.
Slowly.
Amara looked down.
Something was sitting beside her.
A girl.
Amara froze.
She was wearing a white dress.
Her long black hair covered her face.
The same girl she had seen standing at the third-floor window.
The same girl who had pointed behind her.
Amara couldn't move.
“Lena?” she whispered.
The girl slowly lifted her head.
Amara screamed.
It wasn't Lena.
The thing had no eyes.
Only two dark, empty holes.
Its mouth stretched into a smile.
“Wrong sister.”
Amara stumbled backward.
The creature stood.
“You came here looking for her.”
Amara shook her head.
“No.”
“Don't lie.”
Its voice was soft.
Almost gentle.
But something was moving beneath its skin.
Something alive.
Amara turned and ran.
She didn't know where she was going.
She only knew she had to get away.
Students turned to stare at her as she ran across the university compound.
“Amara!”
She heard someone call her name.
She ignored them.
“AMARA!”
A hand grabbed her arm.
She spun around.
Nneka.
“What is wrong with you?”
Amara was breathing hard.
“The girl.”
“What girl?”
“She was sitting there.”
Amara pointed toward the bench.
Nneka looked.
Nothing.
“There was a girl in a white dress.”
Nneka's face suddenly changed.
“Amara...”
“She didn't have eyes.”
Nneka grabbed her wrist.
“We need to leave.”
“What?”
“Now.”
They began walking quickly.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere it can't hear us.”
Amara looked behind them.
“What can't hear us?”
Nneka didn't answer.
---
They didn't stop until they reached an old classroom building at the far end of the campus.
The building was abandoned.
The windows were broken.
Dust covered the floor.
Nneka pushed open a classroom door and pulled Amara inside.
“Lock it,” she said.
Amara stared at her.
“What?”
“Lock the door!”
Amara quickly locked it.
Nneka moved toward the windows.
One by one, she closed the broken curtains.
“What is going on?” Amara demanded.
Nneka turned around.
“I know who you saw.”
Amara's breathing stopped.
“Who?”
Nneka looked terrified.
“Her name was Sarah.”
“Sarah?”
“She was one of the students who disappeared.”
Amara stared at her.
“The photograph from your room?”
“No.”
Nneka slowly shook her head.
“Sarah disappeared last week.”
Amara felt the room become colder.
“What?”
“Room 309.”
“That's only two doors from my room.”
“I know.”
Amara backed away.
“But you told me Victoria was the last person.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't know if I could trust you.”
“Trust me?”
Nneka gave a bitter laugh.
“You just arrived here, Amara. The door appears. Then suddenly you start asking questions.”
Amara felt anger rise inside her.
“You think I brought it?”
“I don't know what you brought.”
“Then why did you show me those things?”
“Because you saw your sister.”
Silence.
Nneka moved closer.
“Who was Lena?”
Amara's face changed.
“My sister.”
“No.”
Amara frowned.
“What?”
“I know she was your sister.”
“Then why are you asking?”
Nneka's eyes filled with fear.
“Who was she before that?”
Amara stared at her.
“What are you talking about?”
Nneka opened her phone.
She searched for something.
Then turned the screen toward Amara.
It was a photograph.
Old.
Black and white.
The same third-floor corridor.
Students stood around the black door.
But this photograph was different.
There were words written underneath it.
MISSING STUDENTS — 2006
Amara looked closer.
There were six students.
One of them was Lena.
Her face was circled in red.
Amara's hands began to shake.
“That isn't possible.”
“Look at the date.”
“I don't care about the date.”
“Amara—”
“My sister wasn't even alive in 2006.”
Nneka's lips trembled.
“I know.”
Amara looked at her.
“Lena was born in 2004.”
Nneka went silent.
Amara's eyes moved back to the photograph.
“She would have been two years old.”
“Exactly.”
Amara dropped the phone.
“No.”
“Amara—”
“No!”
She stepped away.
“This isn't her.”
Nneka didn't move.
Amara looked at the circled face again.
Same scar.
Same smile.
Same eyes.
It was Lena.
“I watched my sister die,” Amara whispered.
Nneka's face went pale.
“What?”
Amara closed her eyes.
She hadn't spoken about that night in three years.
Not properly.
“Lena and I were in a car accident.”
Nneka remained silent.
“She died in the hospital.”
“What happened to you?”
Amara opened her eyes.
“I survived.”
The old classroom was silent.
Then Nneka asked the question Amara had spent three years trying not to hear.
“Are you sure?”
Amara stared at her.
“What?”
“Are you sure Lena died?”
“Of course she died.”
“Did you see her body?”
Amara's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Nneka's voice became quieter.
“Did you?”
Amara remembered the hospital.
The white sheets.
The smell of medicine.
Her mother's scream.
Her father's tears.
But suddenly—
She couldn't remember seeing Lena's face.
“I was injured,” Amara said. “I was unconscious.”
Nneka picked up her phone.
“What if the girl you saw wasn't pretending to be Lena?”
Amara's heart began to pound.
“What are you saying?”
“What if Lena isn't dead?”
Amara backed away.
“Stop.”
“What if she disappeared that night?”
“Stop.”
“And the door took her.”
“STOP!”
The classroom door exploded inward.
Both girls screamed.
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Amara heard Nneka fall.
“Nneka!”
Something moved across the floor.
Slowly.
Dragging itself.
Amara pressed herself against the wall.
“Nneka?”
No answer.
Then—
Knock.
Amara stopped breathing.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound came from inside the classroom.
Amara reached for her phone.
The screen lit up.
The light shook in her hand.
There was no one near the door.
But at the far end of the classroom—
A black door stood against the wall.
Amara screamed.
Nneka grabbed her arm.
“Don't move.”
The door had no handle.
No room number.
Nothing.
Then Amara's phone vibrated.
ZARA CALLING.
Amara stared at the screen.
“She found me,” Nneka whispered.
“What?”
“Don't answer.”
The phone continued ringing.
Amara's hands shook.
Zara called again.
And again.
“Maybe she needs help.”
“Amara.”
“I have to answer.”
Nneka grabbed her hand.
“DON'T!”
But Amara pressed the green button.
“Zara?”
At first, there was only static.
Then—
Amara heard crying.
“Zara?”
“Amara...”
Amara closed her eyes.
“Zara, where are you?”
A long silence followed.
Then Zara whispered:
“I came back.”
Amara opened her eyes.
“What?”
“I came back to Kingsley Hall.”
Nneka's face went white.
Amara looked at her.
“Zara, listen to me. Leave.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
Something heavy hit the classroom door.
BANG!
Amara screamed.
Nneka covered her mouth.
On the phone, Zara began crying harder.
“Amara...”
“What?”
“There's a door in my room.”
The black door inside the classroom creaked.
Amara slowly turned toward it.
A handle had appeared.
And it was turning.
“Zara, listen to me,” Amara said.
Her voice shook.
“Don't open it.”
“I won't.”
The black door opened.
Darkness waited behind it.
Then Amara heard Zara scream.
The call ended.
“ZARA!”
Amara ran toward the black door.
Nneka grabbed her from behind.
“No!”
“She's in there!”
“You don't know that!”
“She needs me!”
“You cannot open it!”
Amara fought against her.
“LET ME GO!”
Then—
A voice came from behind the door.
“Amara.”
Everything stopped.
Amara knew that voice.
She turned toward the darkness.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Lena?”
“Amara...”
Her dead sister's voice was shaking.
“Please.”
Nneka held Amara tighter.
“Don't listen.”
But Lena began crying.
“I've been waiting for you.”
Amara couldn't breathe.
“Lena?”
“Please open the door.”
The handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Amara stepped forward.
Nneka pulled her back.
“Amara!”
Then Lena said something that made Amara freeze.
“I'm not the one trapped inside.”
The classroom went silent.
Amara stared at the door.
“What?”
Lena's voice became a whisper.
“You are.”
The black door slammed shut.
The lights came back.
Amara and Nneka were standing alone.
The door was gone.
Then Amara's phone rang.
She looked down.
INCOMING CALL: MOM
Amara answered.
“Mom?”
Her mother's voice was shaking.
“Amara.”
“What happened?”
Her mother began to cry.
“What happened?” Amara demanded.
There was silence.
Then her mother whispered:
“Someone came to the house asking for you.”
Amara's heart began to pound.
“Who?”
Her mother took a shaky breath.
Then she said:
“Lena.”
END OF CHAPTER 3 👻
