Chapter 1

Bang. Bang.

The sound ripped her from the depths of sleep.

She lay still, heart pounding, listening as the noise echoed again

heavy, hollow, and wrong. At first, she thought it was her mother in the kitchen, striking metal vessels together while preparing breakfast. That familiar morning chaos usually comforted her.

But this sound didn't come from the kitchen.

The floor beneath her bed trembled faintly, as if something unseen was moving below. A cold shiver crawled up her spine. Her breath slowed as her mind wandered into darker thoughts , Her horror novel imaginations started to worked with visions of a pale, hollow-eyed girl hiding beneath her bed, waiting, watching... hungry.

Summoning courage, she slid toward the edge of the mattress, moving inch by inch. The room was dim, shadows clinging to the corners like secrets. She bent down and looked.

Nothing.

Just her little silver bowl knocked over and her cat dancing over it, tail high, eyes bright with mischief. Relief flooded her chest, and she laughed softly, pulling the cat into her arms as she jumped back onto the bed.

A knock echoed at the door.

"Come in," she said quietly.

Her mother stepped inside. Her gaze immediately fell on the cat sprawled innocently on the floor without showing no sign of hurt despite being pushed down . If she had seen my romeo on the bed, there would have been trouble.

her mother narrowed her eyes, suspicion flickering across her face.

"Is there something you're hiding from me olivia?" she asked.

She shook her head.

She nearly twenty two now, most of her days she locked herself inside her room. Silence had become her companion.Usually she disliked long conversations ,she preferred nods, headshakes, yes or no answer over full sentence. Words felt heavy. Dangerous and sharp especially spoken in anger.

but when it came to her family she loved them more than anyone in this world.

Her mother was an elementary school teacher who loved her profession deeply. Teaching was not just her work it was her passion. She often tried to teach her and her sister at home when they were children, but no matter how patient she was, she could never fully control the mischievous nature of her children.

At the age of sixteen, her mother left her parents’ house to continue her studies in the city. It was a brave decision, one that shaped her future. Years later, when she finally became a teacher, she developed a small routine of visiting the bakery café across from her school every evening. The smell of warm buns and freshly brewed coffee always welcomed her.

It was there that she met her father.

They began by sharing simple things soft laughter, sweet buns, and cups of coffee but slowly, an incredible love grew between them. Eventually, they married, carrying that warmth and joy into their new life together.

Yet, there were quiet mysteries surrounding that day. Her mother never explained why her grandparents was absent from every wedding photograph. Whenever she asked about her grandfather’s grave, her mother would only say that he was buried somewhere outside the country, offering no further details.

Despite those unanswered questions, her mother always believed that the same kind of love she once found between her own parents would someday find her daughter too.

She able to tell everything to her mother without her fear of judgement .Her father always try to make her happy if he looked any slightest sad on his daughter face .Her beloved sister was married and lived far away, across the country.

Finally, her beloved grandmother lived in a house by the lake, deep in the woods .a distant world far removed from the chaos of her own life. It was her favorite place, and her grandmother always made sure she left with her mouth full of delicious treats.

She loved to read. Books were her constant companions, and she would spend entire days immersed in their pages, losing herself in stories and worlds far beyond her own. Rather than going out.

Her grandmother owned countless books. She would only lend another book once the one she had previously borrowed was returned. She went there not just to taste those sweets , but also to borrow her books, and most of all, to bask in her grandmother's love. She adored her grandmother's stories .She was a huge fan of her grandmother's stories. Her mother had asked many times for her to live closer, but she always chose to stay there, regardless. She didn't know why her grandmother constantly asked, "Do you hear the whispers in the woods?" Yet she heard nothing and always told her to stop with her spooky stories.

She was a nursing student, currently in her second year semester vacation. Often, people assumed she had chosen nursing because she loved caring for and treating others but it wasn't like that. She had earned enough grades to choose nursing, and now she had to balance studying with exhausting training. From dawn to dusk. she was on her feet, running and standing until her limbs went numb. If her life continued like this for long, she would have developed varicose veins as she imagined.

Once, she had five close friends.They were as close as could be. She never took things too seriously, and together they found joy in even the smallest moments. They laughed over little things, and sometimes they would laugh simply by looking at each other’s faces, as if happiness needed no reason at all.

Last month, everything shattered.

A fight broke out,sharp words, sharper truths and what hurt most was the betrayal.

One of her friends proposed to the same boy who loved another friend of hers. She proposed to him while those two were going through a small conflict.but first she thought that problem had not considered her but as days go her other friend got deep cut with hurt and that boy told her not to talk with him again. She didn't know whether what she done correct or not .she supported her friend against those who supported them .

She really missed her that one friend . Now, she saw a stranger in her place. She longed to speak, to ask plainly, "Why did you do this?" yet no words could capture the storm of thoughts raging inside her.she couldn't put into words what was going in her mind.

From that day anger became her shadow. Silence, her armor.

And as the house settled back into quiet, she lay awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering if the loudest noises were not outside at all but inside her heart, still echoing like a distant bang... bang...

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