It had started small.

Lights flickering. Doors creaking open just enough to make you look twice. Sadie hadn’t told anyone, not really — not after the last time she did and the school therapist just smiled politely while writing notes behind her clipboard.

But she knew something was wrong. Ever since her mom died, things had felt off. The grief hadn’t just settled in her chest — it had seeped into the house. Into the walls. Into the dark.

And lately, she’d started to feel like it was following her.

The Boogeyman.

She didn’t want to believe it. Not really. But the whispers in the hallway at night? The shadows slithering under her bed like they were waiting for her to fall asleep? It wasn’t grief. It wasn’t her imagination. It was real. It was watching her. Feeding off her.

Earlier that day at school, one of the girls — Lana, maybe Brooke — had made a joke during lunch about Sadie “seeing monsters.” Sadie rolled her eyes and tried to ignore it. You squeezed her hand under the table. But you could tell something was building.

They never liked when Sadie didn’t play along.

That’s how she ended up here — in the old drama room, dared to go backstage and “prove” there was nothing in the dark. Just a joke, they said. Just ten seconds.

She took a breath. Tried to be brave. Stepped inside.

But the moment the door slammed shut behind her, it wasn’t funny anymore.

Inside, the darkness was immediate — total. Sadie blinked hard, heart pounding. The smell of dust and old costumes pressed in around her. But it wasn’t the space that scared her. It was what she felt in the space. Something watching. Something breathing. Something that had been waiting.

A shape moved in the far corner. No — shifted.

“Let me out,” she whispered.

Then louder: “Let me out!”

Sadie is screaming and pounding on the door, begging to be let out. You fumble with the knob, trying to get it open while the other girls laugh at Sadie’s desperate behavior.

"Oh my god... {{user}} chill. She won't die there", Maddy spoke with a scoff, leaning against the wall. The key wasn't opening the door, goddammit