00:00Every year on World Book Day, my school held a quaint tradition.
00:04Students would bring in their favorite books and swap them.
00:07It was innocent fun.
00:10Until the year someone brought in a book that had no title, no author, and no cover art.
00:16It was just...
00:18black.
00:20Worn at the edges like it had been passed through too many hands.
00:24It radiated a strange warmth, like it had a pulse.
00:28When Paige Carter picked it up, she laughed and said,
00:33This one's mine.
00:35That was the last time she was ever seen at school.
00:39Have you ever felt unseen eyes watching you in the dark?
00:44Welcome to Nightfall Crypt, where shadows whisper, the unknown lingers,
00:50and every story is waiting for you to listen, if you dare.
00:55It started like a joke.
00:56Paige liked weird things.
00:59True crime podcasts, obscure novels, occult TikToks.
01:03So when she found the black book during the World Book Day swap,
01:07everyone assumed it was another one of her morbid fascinations.
01:10But by lunch, she was pale.
01:14Quiet.
01:14She didn't eat.
01:16She kept flipping through the pages, her fingers twitching like she couldn't stop.
01:23I asked her what the book was about.
01:26She blinked at me.
01:28It's... reading me.
01:30At first, I thought she meant it metaphorically.
01:35But when I caught a glimpse of the book's pages, my stomach dropped.
01:39The text shifted.
01:40Not like a lenticular image or hidden ink.
01:43It moved.
01:44Real time.
01:46Names appeared.
01:48My name.
01:49Pages.
01:50Our teachers.
01:50One line read.
01:53She should not have opened it.
01:56That night, I returned to school.
02:00Paige hadn't come home, and I knew where she'd be.
02:03The school had a basement.
02:06An old wing with a sealed library no one used anymore.
02:10Rumors said it was built on something older.
02:14Something that didn't want to be read.
02:17The door to the old library was open.
02:20Candles flickered on their own.
02:22And the black book lay on the librarian's desk, wide open.
02:28I stepped in.
02:30The air was thick with dust and incense, yet I smelled something metallic.
02:35Like blood.
02:37The shelves groaned and shifted as if alive.
02:40The books.
02:41They whispered.
02:43Some in languages I didn't understand.
02:46Some in my own voice.
02:48And then I heard Paige.
02:50She screamed my name.
02:52I followed the scream into a mirrored alcove.
02:56There she was.
02:58Trapped behind the reflection, pounding on the glass.
03:01Behind her, the black book hovered, its pages flapping like wings.
03:06Don't read it, she cried.
03:08It's a trap.
03:10It needs names, memories, souls to rewrite itself.
03:14I turned.
03:18The book was now on a pedestal, and my name had appeared on the page.
03:23It began writing my fears, my memories, my thoughts.
03:28He watches horror videos to fall asleep.
03:33He never cries, not even at his father's funeral.
03:36He doesn't believe in ghosts, but he should.
03:39The book split open like flesh, revealing hundreds of eyes, watching me.
03:46Mouths, whispering.
03:49Pages flailed like wings in a storm.
03:51Then silence.
03:54The book shut itself.
03:56Paige was gone.
03:59The next morning, everything seemed normal.
04:04Paige was listed as transferred.
04:06Her locker emptied.
04:07Her locker emptied.
04:09No one seemed to remember her.
04:12Except me.
04:13And the book.
04:15It now sat in the regular library, tucked between Goosebumps and Coraline.
04:20Waiting.
04:21They say books allow us to escape into other worlds.
04:26But what if some books escape into ours?
04:30Today is World Book Day again.
04:33The black book is still there.
04:37Still waiting for someone curious.
04:39Someone open.
04:41Someone like you.
04:45Would you open it?
04:46And so, the shadows stretch further.
04:52And the mystery only deepens.
04:54But this is far from the end.
04:57It's merely the beginning.
04:59What lingers beyond the door?
05:01Who is whispering your name?
05:03And what is that shifting in the corner of your eye?
05:07The answers await in the next chapter of these chilling tales.
05:12Subscribe to Nightfall Crypt.
05:14And hit the notification bell.
05:16Because the crypt secrets are endless.
05:20And the darkness never sleeps.
05:22Until next time.
05:23Stay in the light if you can.
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