I didn’t intend to stay.
The ivy-strangled walls and broken windows of the cliffside mansion had been deserted for years. By whispering about the souls it had ingested, the people heard the wind howling through its bones. It was referred to as cursed. Fearful. A grave masquerading as a house. However, I sensed something enveloping me the moment I entered—something vital, something warm. Dust and a sweeter, almost yearning, quality pervaded the air. The floorboards sighed, seemingly happy to see me, rather than creaking underfoot. Despite the chill that went down my spine, I wasn’t scared. I was desired.
I promised myself that I would only be there for the night. The home, however, had different ideas. It seemed subtle at first. A door that was never closed. When I wasn’t looking, the chair moved. Like unseen hands reaching for me, they coil up through the hallways and whisper in the middle of night. Then came the bruises. At first, they were gentle—ghostly finger prints on my throat and wrists. I slept with a weight against my bed and an arm covering my body, but no one was there. I ought to have ran.
But isn’t love an odd thing? It enters stealthily and encircles your ribs until you are unable to distinguish where it starts and ends. I was very much adored by the house. In cold weather, it kept me warm. It infused my loneliness with touch and my quiet with whispers. I let it hold me. Then I gave in to it. The house sung the day I quit fighting. Something like joy shook its walls. A partial, but not mine, reflection shifted in the mirror. My hands appeared slimmer, and my skin was dusty with age. I was joining it.
The realization should have terrified me.
Instead, I whispered back.
“I’m here.”
And the house, in a voice made of shifting walls and sighing doors, breathed its reply.
“You are home.”
Mehvish Sayyad is a 20-year-old writer from Mumbai who specializes in combining dark romance, erotica, horror, and love tale elements to create gripping storylines. Mehvish, a passionate engineering student and accomplished content creator, made her debut with the poignant adolescent romance Silence of the Dearest. Hundred Embraced Marks, her second work, establishes her distinct voice in modern literature by exploring the exciting world of mafia romance.
- Mehvish Sayyedhttps://storiesandme.com/author/mehvish/
- Mehvish Sayyedhttps://storiesandme.com/author/mehvish/
- Mehvish Sayyedhttps://storiesandme.com/author/mehvish/
- Mehvish Sayyedhttps://storiesandme.com/author/mehvish/
