The car barreled down the fog-choked road, the tires screeching as Amir pressed harder on the accelerator. Sarah twisted in her seat, her eyes fixed on the rearview mirror. The woman was gone, as if she had vanished into the night. But the suffocating dread lingered, tightening its grip on her chest.
Beside her, Aina sat silently, her gaze distant, still staring out the window. She didn’t seem phased by what had just happened, which terrified Sarah even more. Her little girl had become a stranger, and the eeriness of her calm in the face of all this was deeply unsettling.
Amir was muttering under his breath, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. “That… that wasn’t real. That couldn’t have been real,” he said, his voice strained. “What the hell did we just see, Sarah?”
Sarah couldn’t answer. The image of the woman’s twisted smile, her hollow eyes, was burned into her mind. The moment their gazes had locked, it felt as though something dark and ancient had reached out to her, wrapping cold fingers around her soul.
“I don’t know,” Sarah whispered, her voice shaking. “But I know one thing—we can’t go back. We need to get away from that place.”
Amir nodded, speeding up as they took another sharp turn. The jungle loomed thick and oppressive around them, the tall trees casting long, twisted shadows that flickered in the headlights. The road was narrow, snaking through the wilderness like a dark, winding serpent.
But as they drove, Sarah felt a gnawing unease growing inside her. The road ahead seemed… familiar. Too familiar.
“Amir, slow down,” she said, her voice tense. “I think we’ve… been here before.”
Amir frowned, glancing over at her. “What are you talking about? We’ve been on this road for miles. We’re heading toward town.”
Sarah shook her head, her unease growing stronger. She peered out the window, her eyes scanning the dark trees that pressed in on either side. “No… something’s wrong. I’ve seen that tree before. The one with the twisted branch.”
Amir sighed, frustration creeping into his voice. “Sarah, you’re just on edge. That thing—whatever it was—back there, it freaked us out. You’re imagining things.”
But Sarah wasn’t so sure. She kept her eyes on the road, watching as they passed another tree with the same distinctive twist in its trunk. Then another. And another.
Her heart sank. “Amir, we’re going in circles.”
Amir’s face tightened with disbelief. “That’s impossible! I’ve been driving straight this whole time.”
Before Sarah could respond, the fog outside the car thickened, swirling like smoke, making it nearly impossible to see beyond the headlights. The shadows among the trees deepened, and a strange, suffocating weight pressed down on them.
The road stretched on and on, the scenery repeating itself, like a nightmare loop they couldn’t escape.
Sarah’s pulse quickened. “Amir, something’s wrong. We need to stop.”
Amir cursed under his breath but slowed the car, pulling over to the side of the road. The engine idled for a moment before he shut it off, plunging them into an eerie silence. The only sound was the faint whisper of the wind through the trees and the soft, distant rustle of leaves.
“Okay,” Amir said, turning in his seat to face Sarah. “What the hell is going on? This doesn’t make sense. We’ve been driving for over an hour—how can we be going in circles?”
Sarah didn’t have an answer. She glanced back at Aina, who sat quietly, her expression unreadable.
“Aina?” Sarah asked softly. “Sweetie, are you okay?”
Aina’s eyes slowly shifted from the window to meet her mother’s. “We’re not supposed to leave,” she whispered.
Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean?”
“She’s following us,” Aina said, her voice distant, as if she were speaking from some place far away. “She doesn’t want us to leave.”
A cold wave of fear washed over Sarah. She reached out, gently touching Aina’s arm. “Who’s following us, Aina?”
Aina’s lips twitched into a faint, almost imperceptible smile. “The lady. She’s always watching.”
Amir let out a frustrated sigh and turned the key in the ignition, but the car sputtered and refused to start. He tried again—nothing. “Dammit!” He slammed his fist against the steering wheel. “Now what?”
The silence that followed felt thick, almost palpable. The fog outside seemed to close in on the car, pressing against the windows like a living, breathing thing. Sarah’s skin prickled with a growing sense of unease, and for the first time, she noticed something she hadn’t before.
The air inside the car had grown unnaturally cold.
Suddenly, Aina’s voice cut through the stillness. “She’s here.”
Sarah turned toward Aina, her stomach twisting with dread. “What do you mean?”
Before Aina could respond, there was a loud, sharp knock on the car window.
Sarah gasped, her body jerking in shock. Amir’s head snapped toward the window as well, his face pale with fear. Slowly, they both turned to look at the passenger-side window.
There, pressed against the glass, was the pale face of the woman in white.
Her hollow, sunken eyes stared directly at Sarah, and her bloodless lips were pulled into that same grotesque, twisted smile. Her hand was resting against the glass, her long, bony fingers tapping rhythmically, just like before.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Sarah’s heart raced, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps. Amir was frozen beside her, his hand gripping the gear shift tightly, his knuckles white with fear.
And then, the woman’s lips moved.
Sarah couldn’t hear the words, but she could read them clearly on the woman’s cracked, pale lips.
“Come back.”
The tapping grew louder, more insistent, and then, without warning, the woman’s hand slid down the glass, leaving behind a long smear of moisture. She stepped back, her form slowly dissolving into the fog until she was gone.
Sarah exhaled shakily, her entire body trembling. Amir tried the ignition again, his hands shaking as he fumbled with the keys. The car roared to life, and without a word, he slammed his foot on the gas, speeding down the road once more.
But as they drove, Sarah knew something was terribly wrong. The road ahead remained the same—dark, winding, with the same twisted trees lining the path. No matter how far they drove, they couldn’t seem to escape. The sense of being trapped, of being hunted, pressed down on her, suffocating her with its weight.
Suddenly, Aina began to hum softly, a strange, haunting melody that sent chills down Sarah’s spine. She glanced at her daughter in the rearview mirror, her heart pounding.
“Aina?” Sarah called out, her voice trembling. “What are you humming?”
Aina didn’t respond. She continued to hum, her eyes distant, her lips curled into that faint, unsettling smile.
Sarah turned in her seat, her fear spiking. “Aina, stop it! Please!”
But Aina didn’t stop. Her humming grew louder, the eerie tune filling the car, blending with the rising tension in the air. The fog outside thickened even more, swirling around them like a malevolent force, and the temperature inside the car dropped further, making Sarah’s breath come out in small, visible puffs.
Amir’s hands were shaking on the steering wheel. “What the hell is going on, Sarah? What is she humming?”
Sarah’s stomach twisted. She had heard that melody before. It was the lullaby her grandmother used to sing to her when she was a child—an old, eerie Malay lullaby that spoke of spirits and lost souls.
But Aina had never heard it. How could she possibly know the tune?
Before Sarah could process the thought, the car’s headlights flickered, and the engine sputtered violently. Amir cursed, struggling to keep the vehicle on the road, but it was no use. The car’s engine died completely, and they coasted to a stop in the middle of the fog-covered road.
Amir slammed his hands on the dashboard in frustration. “No, no, no! Not here, not now!”
Sarah’s heart pounded in her chest as she looked around, the oppressive silence closing in. “We have to get out of here,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “We can’t stay in the car.”
Amir looked at her, his eyes filled with fear. “And go where? We’re in the middle of nowhere!”
Before Sarah could respond, Aina spoke again, her voice soft but clear.
“She’s waiting for us.”
At that moment, the fog outside began to shift, twisting and coiling like smoke. And out of the mist, the figure of the woman in white appeared again, standing a few feet from the car.
This time, she wasn’t alone.
Behind her, the silhouettes of several other figures began to materialize, their forms hazy and indistinct, but unmistakably human. Their faces were obscured by the fog, but Sarah could feel their eyes—empty, hollow—watching her.
The woman in white stepped closer, her twisted smile widening.
And then, in a voice as cold and hollow as death itself, she whispered:
“Come back to me.”