The words on the floor slowly faded.

YOU ARE GETTING CLOSER

Mia stared at the message.

Charlie floated beside her, looking worried.

“Okay.”

“I admit it.”

“This is officially scary.”

Mia looked at him.

“You are a ghost.”

“Shouldn’t you be used to scary things?”

Charlie crossed his arms.

“I am used to being the scary thing.”

“This is different.”

“This is someone else trying to scare me.”

Mia smiled.

“Poor ghost.”

“Scared of ghosts.”

Charlie sighed.

“Don’t judge me.”

---

They returned to the library.

Mia placed the old newspaper beside Charles’s diary.

“Something doesn’t make sense.”

Charlie nodded.

“I know.”

“I remember living here.”

“I remember dying.”

“But my memories are mixed up.”

“Like someone cut pieces out of my life.”

Mia opened the diary again.

Several pages were missing.

“Someone removed important information.”

Charlie looked at the empty spaces.

“Whoever did this didn’t want anyone to know the truth.”

Mia closed the diary.

“Then we find the missing pages.”

Charlie smiled.

“Together?”

“Together.”

The ghost looked happy.

“Wow.”

“I have a human partner.”

“After one hundred years, I finally have a friend.”

Mia laughed.

“Don’t get emotional.”

“I still haven’t decided if you’re annoying or helpful.”

Charlie placed a hand on his chest.

“My heart would break.”

Then he remembered.

“I don’t have a heart.”

Mia laughed.

For a moment…

The haunted mansion didn’t feel haunted.

It felt almost normal.

Almost.

---

That night…

Mia and Charlie searched every room.

The mansion was full of secrets.

Behind paintings were hidden messages.

Inside old clocks were strange keys.

Under carpets were forgotten symbols.

Finally, Charlie noticed something.

“The basement.”

Mia looked at him.

“What about it?”

“Before I died…”

“I remember going there.”

“But after that…”

“Nothing.”

They returned downstairs.

The basement was colder than before.

The old wooden door creaked open.

Inside, the room looked exactly the same.

But Charlie stopped near the wall.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“I remember this.”

He touched the bricks.

“This wall wasn’t here.”

Mia examined it.

“Then someone built it later.”

Charlie looked nervous.

“Why would someone hide a wall?”

Mia smiled.

“Because something important is behind it.”

---

They searched the basement until they found an old metal tool.

Charlie picked it up.

“I hope this doesn’t make me look like a dangerous ghost.”

Mia looked at him.

“You are holding a tiny hammer.”

“You look like a ghost fixing furniture.”

Charlie looked disappointed.

“I was going for scary.”

“You failed.”

“Again.”

---

After several minutes…

The hidden wall cracked.

A small opening appeared.

Cold air came from inside.

Mia shined her flashlight through it.

Behind the wall was a secret room.

They entered slowly.

The room was untouched.

Old documents covered the desk.

Photographs filled the walls.

And in the center…

Was a large mirror covered with black cloth.

Charlie stopped.

“I know this room.”

Mia looked at him.

“You’ve been here?”

“I think so.”

“But I don’t remember.”

She walked toward the desk.

A file was lying there.

The name on it made Charlie freeze.

PROJECT CHARLIE

Mia opened it.

Inside were pages of notes.

She read the first line.

Subject: Charles Blackwood

Experiment: Memory Removal

Her face changed.

“Charlie…”

“What?”

She looked at him.

“You weren’t killed.”

“You were experimented on.”

Charlie stared at the papers.

“No.”

“That’s impossible.”

Mia turned another page.

The handwriting continued.

The ghost state was unexpected.

The subject survived death but lost memories.

The process was successful.

Charlie moved backward.

Someone had planned his death.

Someone had turned him into a ghost.

---

Suddenly…

The covered mirror began shaking.

Both of them turned.

The black cloth slowly fell to the floor.

The mirror showed their reflections.

Mia saw herself.

Charlie saw himself.

Then…

A third person appeared between them.

A man in a dark coat.

Charlie whispered,

“No…”

Mia looked at him.

“Who is that?”

Charlie stepped closer to the mirror.

“I remember him.”

“Who?”

“My brother.”

The reflection smiled.

But the room was empty.

The man inside the mirror spoke.

“Hello, Charlie.”

“You finally remembered.”

The mirror cracked.

Charlie shouted,

“Victor!”

The man smiled.

“You thought death would hide you forever.”

Mia stepped closer.

“Who is Victor?”

Charlie looked terrified.

“He is the reason I died.”

The mirror shattered.

A cold wind exploded through the room.

The lights went out.

When they came back…

A new message appeared on the wall.

THE GHOST WAS NEVER THE VICTIM

Mia looked at Charlie.

“What does that mean?”

Charlie stared at the words.

His face became pale.

“I don’t know.”

“But I think…”

“I wasn’t killed because someone hated me.”

“I was killed because I knew something.”

Mia picked up the broken piece of mirror.

Inside it was a reflection of Victor smiling.

Then the reflection whispered:

“Find the truth, Charlie.”

“Before the truth finds you.”

The secret room went silent.

But somewhere deep inside Blackwood Mansion…

Something else woke up.

Something that had been waiting for Charlie to remember.

End of Chapter 3.