Praew sat in her room, the doll perched on her desk like a silent sentinel. The day's events churned in her mind—the revelation of Kanokwan's father, his chilling warnings, and the terrible truth about the unfinished ritual.
The doll's painted eyes seemed to follow her every move. Its presence, once unnerving, now felt oppressive, as if Kanya's spirit was pushing her forward, urging her not to stop.
A soft knock at the door startled her. It was Meen, her face pale but determined.
"We need to act fast," she said, stepping inside. "The more we delay, the stronger the curse could become."
---
The group met in the school's old music room, a quiet place where they could discuss their next steps without fear of being overheard. The room smelled of dust and aged wood, its walls lined with forgotten instruments.
Tan spread out a map of the city on a desk. "If Kanokwan's the key, we need to figure out where she's hiding," he said.
"Chaiwat said she disappeared after the fire," Pim pointed out. "What if she's still connected to the school somehow? It's where everything started."
Meen nodded. "That makes sense. If she's trying to keep the ritual incomplete, she'd stay close to the source of its power."
Praew frowned. "But the school is huge. She could be anywhere."
"Not anywhere," Meen said, her voice steady. "The auditorium. That's where the ritual happened, where Kanya died. If Kanokwan's spirit is tethered to any place, it's there."
---
**A Nighttime Search**
They decided to wait until nightfall to investigate the auditorium. The thought of sneaking into the school after dark sent shivers down Praew's spine, but she knew they had no choice.
The campus was eerily quiet under the moonlight. Shadows stretched long and thin, and every creak of the floorboards echoed like a thunderclap.
The auditorium doors were locked, but Tan managed to jimmy them open with a hairpin. The group stepped inside, their flashlights casting flickering beams across the room.
The space was suffused with an unnatural cold, and the smell of burnt wood lingered in the air—a ghostly reminder of the fire that had scarred this place.
"Spread out," Meen whispered. "Look for anything that might give us a clue."
They moved cautiously, their footsteps muffled by the dusty carpet. Praew's flashlight fell on the stage, its surface marred with scorch marks. She climbed up, her heart pounding.
As she reached the center, she felt a sudden chill. The air seemed to thicken, pressing down on her like an invisible weight.
"Guys," she called, her voice trembling. "Something's... here."
---
**The Vision**
Before the others could respond, the room shifted around Praew. The walls melted away, replaced by darkness. She found herself standing in the auditorium as it must have been years ago—pristine, filled with the hum of energy.
A circle of students stood on the stage, their faces shadowed. At their center was Kanokwan, her hands raised in invocation. The air crackled with tension as she chanted in a language Praew didn't understand.
Suddenly, the ritual faltered. Kanokwan's voice broke, and the circle collapsed into chaos. A blinding light erupted from the center, and Kanya's scream tore through the air.
Praew gasped, her chest tight. The vision dissolved, and she was back in the present, her friends staring at her with concern.
"What happened?" Pim asked, rushing to her side.
"I saw it," Praew whispered. "The ritual. They lost control, and Kanya..." Her voice broke. "She was consumed."
---
**A New Clue**
Meen knelt beside her, her expression grim. "Did you see anything else? Anything that could help us?"
Praew hesitated, replaying the vision in her mind. Then she remembered something—a symbol etched into the floor of the ritual circle.
"It was a mark," she said. "A sigil. We need to find out what it means."
Tan pulled out his phone and began searching for similar symbols. After a few tense minutes, he found a match.
"It's a containment sigil," he said. "Used to trap spirits. But if it's incomplete, it could cause... well, this."
"So the ritual was meant to bind something," Meen said. "But instead, it unleashed chaos."
Pim shuddered. "And now it's up to us to fix it."
---
**The Hidden Room**
The group's investigation led them to the basement beneath the auditorium, a place none of them had dared to explore before. The air was damp and heavy, and their flashlights revealed cobweb-covered walls.
At the end of the corridor, they found a door marked with the same sigil Praew had seen in her vision.
"This must be it," Tan said, his voice low.
The door creaked open, revealing a small room lined with shelves of old books and jars filled with unidentifiable substances. In the center was a stone pedestal, its surface etched with the containment sigil.
"This is where it started," Meen murmured.
Praew stepped forward, placing the doll on the pedestal. The air grew colder, and the sigil began to glow faintly.
"Kanya," she whispered. "If you can hear me, show us what to do."
---
**The Whispering Shadows**
The room plunged into darkness. Shadows writhed on the walls, whispering in voices that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.
"Leave," they hissed. "This is not your fight."
Praew clenched her fists. "We're not leaving until we fix this. Kanya deserves peace."
The whispers grew louder, almost deafening. The shadows coalesced into a figure—Kanokwan. Her eyes burned with an unnatural light, and her presence filled the room with dread.
"You think you can undo what I've done?" she sneered. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Then tell us," Meen said boldly. "Help us understand."
Kanokwan's expression twisted into something unreadable. For a moment, it seemed as though she might relent. But then she disappeared, leaving only a chilling laugh behind.
---
As the shadows faded and the room returned to silence, Praew turned to her friends, her voice steady despite the fear in her eyes. "This isn't over—not yet."