Nana was still standing in front of the old wardrobe. She still hadn't dared to pull the handle. The voice that had just called her name continued to echo in her head.
"Nana..."
The voice was soft, but clear enough.
Dita, standing behind her, gripped Nana's arm.
"Let's just get out for now," Dita whispered.
Nana looked at the bedroom door behind them, which stood open.
Part of her wanted to leave. She knew the situation was getting stranger. But on the other hand, she felt that if she left now, she'd never get any answers.
"I have to know," Nana said quietly.
Dita looked at her.
"Are you sure?"
Nana nodded.
"I've come this far."
Dita sighed.
"All right. But if anything happens, we're getting out immediately."
Nana nodded.
Slowly, her hand moved toward the wardrobe handle again.
The moment her fingers touched the old metal, the knocking suddenly stopped.
The room fell completely silent.
There was no sound of rain.
No sound of wind.
Even the usual creaks of the house seemed to disappear.
Nana opened the wardrobe door little by little.
Inside were only a few dusty old clothes.
"There's nothing here," Dita said.
Nana didn't answer right away.
Her eyes focused on the back of the wardrobe.
Something looked different.
The back panel didn't seem to be attached properly.
"Wait."
Nana touched the wooden panel.
"There's a gap."
Dita moved closer.
"Are you sure?"
Nana nodded.
The two of them tried pushing the back of the wardrobe. At first, it didn't move, but after several attempts, the panel shifted slightly.
Behind it was a small hole.
Nana fell silent.
"So it was true..."
Dita looked inside.
"There's a room back here."
Nana took out her phone's flashlight and aimed the beam inside.
A cramped, dust-filled room came into view.
Inside were a small table, an old chair, and several boxes.
"Rani was right," Nana said.
Dita looked at Nana's face.
"Does that mean your family has known about this place all along?"
"Maybe."
Nana slowly entered the hidden room.
The air inside felt colder.
There was another book on the table.
It was different from the book her mother had given her.
Its cover was brown and looked older.
Nana picked it up.
When she opened it, the first page immediately startled her.
"This is Rani's handwriting again."
Dita stood beside her.
"What's it say?"
Nana read quietly.
"I've finally found the real source of the knocking."
Nana stopped.
She turned to the next page.
"I've been wrong all this time. I thought the sound came from the empty room. It turns out it came from a place that had been hidden all along."
Nana looked around the small room.
Dita whispered,
"So the sound came from here?"
Nana didn't answer.
She kept reading.
"At first, I was afraid. But after hearing the sound over and over, I realized there was something trying to tell me something."
The next page was covered in messier handwriting.
"I found a name."
Nana furrowed her brow.
Whose name?
She turned the page.
But that page had been torn out.
"It's missing," Nana said in disappointment.
Dita looked at the floor.
"Maybe the missing piece is somewhere around here."
They began searching.
A few minutes later, Dita found a small piece of paper tucked beneath the table.
"Nana, look at this."
Nana picked up the paper.
There was only one sentence written on it.
"Don't let it knock a second time."
Nana immediately fell silent.
"What does that mean?" Dita asked.
Before Nana could answer, a sound came from the direction of the master bedroom.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
They both turned at once.
The sound wasn't coming from the small room.
It wasn't coming from the wardrobe.
It was coming from the bedroom door.
Nana slowly stepped out of the hidden room.
Dita followed behind her.
When they returned to the old bedroom, the door that had been open moments ago was now closed.
Even though no one had touched it.
"Nana..."
Dita began to panic.
Nana walked toward the door.
Then she saw something that made her stop.
There was small writing on the surface of the door.
It hadn't been there before.
The words looked as if they had been written by hand.
"Don't trust anyone."
Nana read it quietly.
Dita stared at her.
"Who wrote that?"
Nana didn't know how to answer.
Because there was no one else in the room besides the two of them.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded in the hallway outside.
Someone was walking toward the room.
Nana and Dita immediately fell silent.
The footsteps stopped right in front of the door.
Then a voice spoke.
"Nana?"
Nana recognized that voice.
It was her mother's.
"Nana, are you in there?"
Nana wanted to answer, but she remembered the writing on the door.
Don't trust anyone.
She slowly covered her own mouth to keep from making a sound.
Dita looked at Nana in confusion.
A few seconds later, her mother's voice came again.
"Nana, open the door."
But something about it made Nana feel uneasy.
The voice did sound like her mother's.
But something was different.
Her tone was too flat.
It wasn't like her mother, who was usually so attentive.
Nana and Dita could only stare at each other.
Then came a knock from the other side of the door.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
And the voice whispered,
"I know you're in there."
Nana felt her body tense.
Because for the first time, she realized one thing.
Maybe Nana hadn't been the one searching for the house's secrets all this time.
Maybe it was something inside the house that had been searching for Nana.