Ghost House in the Village of Shadows - Part 5 - Crossing into the Shadow World

The Ghost House in the Village of Shadows, Part Five                                                                                                                                                                       
Days after the final confrontation in the village, the remaining friends—Ahmed, Laila, and Karim—decided to get as far away from the village as possible. But what had happened didn't remain in their memories. In every city they visited, strange signs followed them: shadows moving against the light, whispers coming from mirrors, and sometimes, reflections that didn't match their movements.

One night, while they were staying in an old hotel on the outskirts of a coastal city, a young man named Ziad knocked on their door. He said he was a researcher of mysterious phenomena and knew more about them than they knew about themselves. He seemed to have a notebook similar to the one they found in the house, but with its pages complete. He told them that the entity haunting them wasn't connected to the house alone, but was part of a "shadow network" spanning multiple locations around the world, and anyone who awakened it became part of its eternal game.

He had barely finished speaking when the power in the hotel went out, and the room was filled with the sound of slow footsteps on the wooden floor. In the darkness, a mysterious girl named Hala appeared, wearing a tattered black dress and her eyes lifeless. Ziad said in a strained voice, "She's not human... She's the entity's messenger."

Hala began to advance slowly, the darkness around her curling like a wave of heavy smoke. Ahmed tried to light his lighter, but the flame went out immediately, as if the air itself rejected the light. Laila grabbed the old notebook, feeling a sudden warmth radiating from its pages. She found the words being rewritten before her eyes in bold black script: "You are now inside the Land of Shadows... and leaving will not be the same as you entered."

Suddenly, the wall of the room collapsed like burning paper, and behind it was neither the street nor the sea, but an endless, dark space, punctuated by distant lights moving like giant eyes. They felt an invisible force pushing them inward, while Ziad shouted, "If we enter... we will never be the same again!"

But time didn't allow them to choose, as they all fell into this void, hearing the entity's laughter echoing endlessly.

When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a village similar to their own... except that everything was inverted. The sky was gray, the sun was black, and the houses were slowly crumbling as if they were being consumed by time. In the middle of the courtyard stood a huge wooden door, devoid of walls or houses. Behind it emanated a pulsating red light.

Hala said, audibly this time: "This is where the real game begins."

Before anyone could ask anything, the door slowly opened, and from inside emerged figures they had never seen before... but some of their features were eerily familiar, as if they were distorted versions of themselves.

My heart froze when the lights suddenly went out, and the place was plunged into pitch darkness. All I could hear was my own rapid breathing and the ground trembling as my footsteps slowly advanced toward me. I tried to reach out to find a way out, but something cold and sticky touched my fingers, as if I'd touched dead skin that still retained a fading warmth.

The walls began to creak strangely, as if they were slowly breathing, and I swore I heard muffled whispers coming from within them, whispers repeating my name as if they had known me for a long time. At that moment, a dim light flickered at the end of the corridor, and I rushed towards it with all my might.

But as soon as I got closer, I saw the half-open wooden door... and inside, my shadow was reflected on the wall, even though I hadn't entered yet. My shadow was moving on its own, waving its cold hand at me as if inviting me to join it. My feet froze, and I felt something creeping behind me: hot breath and a heavy pressure on my shoulder.

I screamed unconsciously, and suddenly... the light came back on forcefully, and the house was silent again, as if nothing had happened. Dust was flying, the furniture was old and worn, and there was no sign of movement or shadow. For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating.

But when I looked down at my hand, I found it stained with black finger prints, as deep as if they had been dug into my skin. The little girl was standing at the back of the room, looking at me with dark, bottomless eyes. She slowly raised her hand and pointed at the ceiling...

I raised my head to find dozens of faces hanging from the ceiling, rotten faces staring at me, their lips moving silently, as if whispering an unspoken secret.

Then... everything went dark again. To be continued...