Whispers of Kanya

**A Restless Night**

The events in the basement haunted Praew long after they left. That night, sleep eluded her. She tossed and turned, images of Kanokwan's burning eyes seared into her mind. The shadows in her room felt darker, the silence heavier.

Then she heard it. A whisper.

"Finish it..."

Her breath caught. She turned her head toward the desk, where the doll sat. Its glassy eyes reflected the dim light of her night lamp. The voice came again, barely more than a breath in the still air.

"Complete... the ritual..."

Praew shot up, her pulse racing. "No," she whispered back, as if denying the voice could make it disappear.

But deep inside, she knew. The ritual had never been finished. That's why the spirits were restless, why the curse refused to die.

And someone—something—wanted her to complete it.

---

**A Sudden Change**

The next morning at school, Praew noticed the shift immediately. The atmosphere was off, heavier, as though the very air carried a warning. Students whispered about strange occurrences—the lights flickering in classrooms, objects moving on their own.

But worst of all was what happened to Pim.

During the lunch break, the group gathered at their usual spot in the courtyard. Pim arrived last, her face pale, her hands trembling.

"I— I don't know how to explain it," she stammered. "I was in the restroom, washing my hands, when the mirror started fogging up. But no one else was there. And then..."

She hesitated, looking terrified to say it aloud.

"What happened?" Tan pressed.

She swallowed hard. "A message appeared. Written in the fog."

Meen's eyes darkened. "What did it say?"

Pim shuddered. "It said, *Don't let them stop you.*"

Silence fell over the group. The same presence that had whispered to Praew the night before was now reaching out to Pim.

---

**The Hidden Page**

Determined to find answers, the group returned to the basement that evening. The air was thick with the scent of dust and something more sinister—something rotten, decayed.

Praew ran her fingers over the bookshelves, searching for anything that could help them understand what Kanokwan had started. Then, her hand stopped.

A book, unlike the others, bound in dark leather, pulsed faintly under her fingertips. She pulled it out, and a loose page fluttered to the floor.

Meen picked it up and read aloud:

"The Ritual of Binding is dangerous if incomplete. A fractured spell may create a breach, allowing spirits to manifest uncontrollably. To undo the chaos, the ritual must either be sealed properly... or completed in full."

A weight settled over them.

"So... we have two choices," Tan muttered. "Seal it, or finish what Kanokwan started."

Pim's voice was barely above a whisper. "But what if the spirits don't *want* us to seal it?"

Praew clenched her fists. The voice in her room, the message in the mirror—it was clear now. Something was pushing them toward the second choice.

Something wanted the ritual finished.

---

**The Circle Returns**

That night, the school corridors were empty, save for the distant creaks and groans of the aging building. The group had gathered in the abandoned auditorium once more, prepared to make a decision.

Tan set the book on the floor, tracing the sigil they had seen in Praew's vision. "If we're doing this, we need to be careful," he said. "We either bind it, or we finish it. No mistakes."

Praew inhaled sharply, then stepped into the center of the circle. The shadows pressed in around her, unseen eyes watching from the darkness.

She could feel them. The spirits.

They were waiting.

"Let's begin," she said.

Meen lit the candles, their dim glow flickering against the ancient walls. Pim, Tan, and the others took their positions, forming a circle around Praew. The energy in the air shifted, thick with an unnatural force.

Praew lifted the doll in her hands. It felt heavier now, as if something inside it was stirring, waking.

She opened her mouth to speak the first words of the ritual—

And the lights exploded.

---

**The Unseen Force**

Glass shattered, plunging them into darkness. The candles flickered wildly, their flames stretching unnaturally tall.

Then came the laughter.

Low, whispering, taunting.

Pim screamed as an invisible force yanked her backward. Tan tried to grab her, but something slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.

Praew held onto the doll tightly, her heart hammering. "Kanya!" she shouted. "Is this you? Are you doing this?"

The laughter stopped.

A cold wind swept through the room. The candles snuffed out.

And then, from the darkness, a single voice spoke:

"Not Kanya."

The air turned to ice.

Meen's breath hitched. "Then... who?"

Silence.

And then—

A face emerged from the shadows.

Kanokwan.

But something was wrong. Her eyes were hollow, her skin stretched too tightly over her face. She smiled, but it was all teeth, all wrong.

"You shouldn't have come back," she whispered.

The room trembled. The sigil on the floor cracked apart. The spirits—no longer bound—rushed into the open, wailing, shrieking.

The ritual had broken.

Everything was unraveling.

---

**The Final Warning**

Kanokwan lifted a hand, and Praew felt herself being dragged forward, as if unseen hands were pulling her toward the abyss.

"Don't fight it," Kanokwan murmured. "It's already too late."

Praew gasped, struggling against the force, but it was no use. Shadows swirled around her, suffocating, devouring.

And then—

A voice cut through the darkness.

"Kanya never wanted this."

The pressure lifted. The spirits hesitated.

Praew turned to see Meen standing tall, her gaze locked onto Kanokwan's twisted form.

"You started this ritual out of revenge," Meen continued. "But revenge only created more suffering."

The shadows writhed, uncertain.

Kanokwan's expression flickered—just for a moment, something almost human shone through. But then her eyes darkened once more.

"She deserved to suffer," she whispered. "And so do you."

The room shuddered. The spirits screamed.

And the darkness came crashing down.

---

As Praew felt herself slipping into the abyss, one thought echoed in her mind: *They had made a terrible mistake. And now, there was no turning back.*