The footsteps outside the locked room stopped.
Somya stood frozen. The old diary lay open in her hands, it's pages trembling as if the air itself was afraid.
Then the door slowly creaked open.
But no one was there.
The hallway was empty .
A cold wind rushed into the room, flipping the diary pages rapidly until it stopped at the last page.
On it, only three words were written:
" Find the key."
Just then, the whisper returned - clearer than ever.
" The final key... Is in the place where the story began ."
Her mind raced.
Where did everything begin?
The strange feeling on the first day.
The locked room.
The mysterious photographs.
Then suddenly she remembered.
The old clock tower behind the school.
That was the first place where she heard the whisper.
Without wasting another second, Somya ran through the dark corridor, down the stairs, and out into the cold night air.
The school grounds were silent.
The tall clock tower stood in the distance, it's broken clock hands frozen at 12:00.
Somya pushed open the rusty gate and stepped inside.
The staircase spiraled upward into darkness.
Step by step, she climbed.
Halfway up the tower , she noticed something carved into the wall:
"The secret ends where time stopped."
Her heart beat faster.
She reached the top and saw an old wooden box placed under the giant clock.
In the centre of the box was a small keyhole.
And hanging from the frozen clock hand...
was a silver key.
Somya slowly reached for it.
But the moment her fingers touched the key, a voice echoed through the tower.
A voice that sounded exactly like hers.
"If you take the key...the truth can never be hidden again."
Somya froze.
Because the voice wasn't coming from outside.
It was coming from inside the clock.
And suddenly....
the broken clock hand moved.
From 12:00 to 12:01.