**Author's Note – Aish the Unstoppable, to her sinful little SHADOWHEARTS 💫🖤**
To my blood-drenched romantics—
You *felt* that almost kiss, didn't you? And that doll? She's watching now. But this chapter? This is where the truth starts to pull up its sleeves.
We go from bleeding portraits to buried letters. And once Aanya opens that box—
Everything will burn differently.
---
**Recap of Chapter 14:**
Aanya woke in Veer's arms—tender, vulnerable, and warm. He spoke the name *Ananta* and shattered part of her world.
Their almost-kiss was interrupted by a doll appearing from nowhere.
And then—**Aunt Ira** appeared. Alive? A ghost?
No one's sure.
But in the guest room, behind a cloth:
A portrait of three siblings.
**And Ananta's eyes bled.**
---
**The Attic's Hidden Breath**
The next morning came cloaked in silence.
Aanya wandered alone now, upstairs—guided by instinct more than intention. The portrait from last night still clung to her mind like ash.
Ananta's bleeding eyes weren't just memory.
They were *warning*.
A tile near the attic door creaked differently beneath her foot.
She paused.
Kneeling, she pried at it with her nails—until it came loose with a reluctant *crack*.
**Inside: a wooden box. Small. Dusty. Locked with a rusted clasp.**
Her heartbeat slowed. The air around it *throbbed*, as if the house itself exhaled.
She carried it down carefully.
---
**The Music Box and the Letter**
On Veer's bed, Aanya opened the box.
Inside:
* A delicate **music box**, carved with rose vines—its tune silent but familiar.
* A small **locket**, inside it: a picture of **Ananta**, smiling in a yellow dress.
* And a sealed envelope:
*To the one the House chose. Love always, Ira Verma.*
She opened the letter with trembling fingers.
*"Dear Aanya,*
I am sorry. For leaving the House broken. For choosing silence when I should've armed you with truth.
Ananta was not supposed to vanish.
She was supposed to trade places with you."
Aanya froze.
*"You were both born on the same day. The mirror only needed one soul. But your fear rewrote the rules. You ran.
And the mirror took her."*
Tears blurred her vision.
"I buried the truth here—not to hide it, but so you'd find it when you were strong enough.
This house doesn't bury bodies, Aanya.
It buries guilt. It buries the things we couldn't forgive ourselves for."*
---
Night fell again.
Veer found her in the attic, sitting in the candlelight with the music box turning slowly.
The soft tune filled the space like a lullaby from the grave.
"You found it," he said gently.
Aanya nodded. Her voice cracked.
"I left her. When we were kids. She begged me to stay… but I was scared."
Veer knelt beside her.
"Ananta was my brother in every way that mattered. She protected me too."
He reached out, taking her hand.
"This house—everything it did to us—it wanted us to forget. But I never forgot you, Aanya."
She looked up.
"Even if this house forgets who we are…" he whispered, "*I never will.*"
---
The candle flickered.
Behind them, the mirror hummed faintly. A flicker moved across the glass.
Aanya turned slowly—and for the first time in years, she didn't flinch.
She walked toward it.
The mirror's surface quivered like water. And behind it—**a flash of yellow**. A girl, standing still, her eyes sad but *alive*.
Aanya's voice broke.
"Ananta?"
But the girl didn't move. Just placed her hand against the glass.
Aanya did the same.
And as the candle behind her sputtered out, the whisper came again:
"Finish the ritual."
---
**Ending Author's Note – Aish, Your Queen of Ruins and Revelations 💜🩸**
ShadowHearts… did you breathe?
Chapter 15 gave us **secrets unearthed**, and memories that cut deeper than curses.
The mirror isn't just a prison.
It's a promise—one *Aanya never kept*.
And now?
Ananta's waiting.
Next chapter:
*I Remember You From My Nightmares"** – where guilt kisses dreams and a childhood promise returns to haunt.
Bleed with me.
—Aish 💫🖤