Echoes of Fear: Confronting the Unseen(Bhoovi Soni) Echoes of Fear: Confronting the Unseen


This is a story of Ash and Sabrina's biggest fear, ghosts! Ash and Sabrina loved Halloween, but the nights of October carried a different, more sinister terror for them.
Ash, a 14-year-old teenager, suffers from 'Phasmophobia'—a fear of ghosts. She lives in a busy area in New York with her parents and elder sister Sabrina, who is 17 years old and is suffering from the same phobia as Ash.
Ash and her family live a happy life in a cozy mansion. Every night at dinner, Ash looks out the large window on the kitchen wall and she sees a shadow peeping out from the abandoned house in front. She gets scared and complains to her parents but when they look out, they see nobody there. They know that their daughter is afraid of ghosts and quickly put her to sleep so that she doesn’t spend more time looking out of the window.
While sleeping, Ash gets weird dreams and the same ghost would be crying and holding a torn cushion. This dream every night horrifies her and she suddenly sits up and shouts. This causes her family to wake up and rush to Ash’s room to calm her down.
One night, she sat by the window with Sabrina to play UNO. The street was pitch dark and there were no cars. Their father had to go on a business trip, with an employee group of the company and their mother had to go for an urgent night shift at McDonald's. They both were alone in the house. The silence was heavy, broken only by the low murmur of their voices, creating an eerie atmosphere that made the darkness seem even more unsettling. Their sounds echoed throughout the house. The electricity abruptly failed in their home, leaving them in darkness. Outside, the street lights flickered unpredictably, shifting shadows across the surroundings. The atmosphere grew tense, with an uneasy feeling creeping in, making the situation almost ominous. They could hear a thunderstorm and the sound of the rain splashing on the house roof, road, and grass. Suddenly, they noticed a spirit standing under the flickering streetlight, fixing his gaze upon them without blinking.
Ash ran to grab her glasses from her room but when she came back the ghost was gone. Sabrina and Ash were terrified, but their nerves settled when Ash prepared two cups of hot chocolate, one for Sabrina and one for herself. They both felt sleepy after some sips of hot chocolate. They slept off just five minutes later, only to be startled awake by the unsettling sound of a knock echoing through the house. The knock was slow and deliberate, sending a chill down their spines. Sabrina glanced at the clock—it was exactly 3:00 AM, the witching hour.
 
Her heart raced as she grabbed her phone with trembling hands. She hurried to Ash, her voice shaking as she showed her the live CCTV footage of the main door, the camera capturing the dark space beyond, but something about the silence felt ominous as if something was lurking just out of sight. Nobody was there but still they could hear the knock. Ash and Sabrina ran to see the person at the door. They opened the door slowly. No one was there so they felt calmed. Sabrina felt someone behind her and she whispered this to Ash. When they turned behind, they saw the same spirit standing at the top of the staircase as if it wanted to crawl down.
They screamed with a severe intensity that their kind neighbours were jolted awake and hurried to Ash and Sabrina’s aid. When they arrived, they were met with a chilling sight—the girls had collapsed, lying unconscious on the floor. Their skin had turned a pale shade, almost ghostly. The neighbours, gripped by fear, quickly called for an ambulance. The atmosphere was thick as the girls were rushed to the hospital. With trembling hands, the neighbours dialled the parents' number, their voices shaking with concern. When their parents came, they were taken to the ward where Ash and Sabrina lay down. Their mother started crying tears when she saw her kids. The police had already begun investigating the spirit that haunted Sabrina and Ash late at night.
After 1 week
Sabrina and Ash regained consciousness and were discharged from the hospital. After they came home, they explained everything that happened in their parents' absence. Their mother and father felt sorry for both the kids and for what they had been through.
A month later
Officer Stacy, who was on duty that evening, visited Ash and Sabrina's home. Her presence felt serious, and she carried an envelope containing crucial details. The letter inside wasn't just any ordinary message—it was filled with information about the ghost haunting them. As Officer Stacy handed over the letter, the atmosphere of the room seemed to grow heavier, the contents of the envelope almost seeming to carry a chilling weight of their own. The letter was like:-

 
Name – Charles Woodland
Age – 31 years (When died)
Birthplace – Cambridge, New York City
Died - 2012

*Terms and conditions apply


When their parents read these details, they were shocked and thanked God that their neighbours came on time before Charles kidnapped the kids once and for all. The neighbours were sitting and they hugged the kids and thanked God for being just with the little girls.
The neighbours had a friend named William, a priest in St. Lucas church. William was a family friend of Charles’s family. He knew all about Charles as he would visit them every Sunday and used to conduct many celebrations and funerals in their family.
When Ash and Sabrina’s parents met the priest, they told him what had happened to their kids. The priest asked the kids if they were fine or still shivering because of seeing their fear. Ash and Sabrina looked terrified till now.
Before long, Ash and Sabrina's family began experiencing a series of unsettling and mysterious events:
• Ash searched everywhere for her comic book, which she distinctly remembered placing on the second shelf of her desk, but it had vanished without a trace.
• Their mother, in a state of growing frustration, looked high and low for her phone, only to discover it chillingly lodged in the fridge, as if someone had deliberately hidden it there.
• Sabrina, lying in bed, was disturbed by faint, haunting cries of "help" emanating from the window where the family had played UNO just hours earlier. The sounds seemed to linger in the air, adding to the growing feeling of dread.
 

Even Katie's family, who was Sabrina’s classmate, had reported experiencing similar incidents. The police were growing increasingly baffled, unable to understand why there were so many accounts of ghostly encounters throughout the city. The story spread like wildfire across New York, stirring up such fear that parents refused to leave their children home alone. The air around was thick with unease, as more and more people whispered about the strange occurrences that seemed to be haunting their lives.

Some people reported seeing the same ghost in their house from the CCTV footage or seeing the same ghost knock at their doors at midnight. Ash’s and Sabrina’s teachers and classmates showered immense love and affection to the girls while they were in school. Everyone was aware of what they had been through.

After a few months, everything was normal until the news of a missing child was reported and his family did not know where the kid was. The name of the child was Etan Patz. Ash recognized the boy and confirmed that he was her classmate.

Ash felt bad for her classmate and decided to visit his parents. When she reached, Ash asked how Etan got lost. His mother replied that Etan’s father and she had been out for a party but when they were back, Etan was not at home.
Sabrina said that the same thing happened to them and gave them the details of the ghost. Etan’s mother thanked Sabrina and the others for coming and sharing the details of the kidnapper.

When they arrived home, Ash felt bad for her classmate Etan. When she went to school, she told this to her class teacher and the other students. They all felt sorry for Etan and what his parents were going through.
 

Two months later

Etan was finally found and the ghost kidnapper was captured in a jar and thrown into the middle of the sea.

Since then Sabrina, Ash, and their parents lived happily ever after…….

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