The next day, the classroom felt different. No one laughed like usual. Even Anushka was quiet, and that was rare.
They all sat together during the break. Akshada kept tapping her pen on the desk, clearly nervous.
"So… are we going to talk about what happened yesterday?" she asked finally.
"No," said Srushti, arms crossed. "Let's pretend it didn't happen."
"We can't pretend, Srushti. That thing in the lab—" Akshara started.
"There was nothing there!" Rutuja interrupted, her voice a little too loud.
"Oh really? Then explain the cracked mirror and the cold air and the shadowy figure," said Swara calmly, hugging her knees.
Prajwal looked around. "Listen, we all saw something. And even if we don't know what it was, we need to stick together. Just us."
Apurva nodded. "Together."
Swarali added, "Also, has anyone noticed something weird in the classroom today?"
Everyone turned to look. Everything looked the same… almost.
Anushka pointed at the back wall. "That old cupboard. It wasn't open yesterday, right?"
The cupboard was slightly open, even though none of them had touched it.
Akshara slowly walked to it and peeked inside.
There was only dust and a bunch of old notebooks — probably from years ago.
She pulled one out. The cover was faded, but there was a name written in bold black ink:
"Niyati Sharma – 2007"
"Niyati?" Akshara read aloud.
Swara's eyes widened. "Wait… isn't that the girl who died here?"
Everyone froze.
"What?!" Anushka asked, leaning closer.
Swara nodded slowly. "My cousin told me about it. A girl named Niyati Sharma died in school… years ago. No one knows how. She was in 9th grade too."
"Stopppp," Akshada whispered, hugging herself.
Prajwal took the notebook and flipped through the pages. The handwriting was neat… but something felt off.
On the last page, there was a single line:
"I didn't mean to die."
The letters looked messy, almost like they were written in a rush. Or… by someone terrified.
Everyone stared at the words in silence.
Then suddenly — BANG!
The cupboard slammed shut on its own.
They all screamed again.
"NOPE, I'M OUT!" Rutuja ran to the other side of the classroom.
"Why is this happening during extra classes?" muttered Anushka, holding her heart.
Akshara clutched Prajwal's arm. "What do we do now?"
Prajwal looked serious. "We find out the truth. We can't just ignore this."
"You mean, like… investigate?" Apurva asked.
"Yes," Swara nodded. "And we start with this notebook."
Swarali added, "Let's meet after school today. Library. Maybe we can search the school records."
Everyone hesitated. It felt dangerous… but curiosity was stronger than fear.
"Okay," they all said, almost together.
Just then, the bell rang.
As they picked up their bags, Srushti mumbled, "This is going to be the weirdest summer break ever."
Little did they know… the ghost of Niyati Sharma wasn't just watching.
She was waiting.
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