🎃 THE LANTERN THAT WOULDN’T GO OUT 👻
Every Halloween night, the small town of Windmere lit orange paper lanterns and hung them on every porch. Most glowed warmly… except one.
At the end of a crooked lane stood an old blue house where no one lived. Yet every year, a single lantern appeared on its porch—no one saw who put it there, and no one wanted to touch it. The flame inside burned a color no one could explain… not orange, not yellow, but something between silver and blue, like moonlight caught in fire.
This year, fourteen-year-old Mira decided she was done being afraid.
Her friends dared her to step onto the porch, but Mira didn’t need a dare. She wanted answers.
As she approached, the air turned strangely cold. The lantern flickered brighter, as if sensing her. She reached out—her fingers trembling—and lifted it.
Instead of heat, she felt a soft pulse. Like a heartbeat.
Suddenly, the entire house groaned. The wooden door creaked open by itself.
Inside, the rooms were empty… except for one dusty mirror hanging alone on the wall. The lantern’s blue flame reflected in the glass—but the reflection wasn’t Mira.
It was a girl with the same face… but older. Pale. Eyes hollow like moonless sky.
The reflection whispered:
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
Mira stumbled back, but the lantern wouldn’t let go—it clung to her hand like it was alive.
The reflection stepped forward inside the mirror, pressing her palm against the glass. The mirror rippled like water.
“Every soul has a shadow,” the reflection said. “I am yours.”
Mira felt her breath catch.
The reflection smiled—too sharp, too knowing.
“And on Halloween… shadows come home.”
The lantern’s flame surged, lighting up the entire room. The mirror cracked like ice.
And then—
Everything went dark.
When the townspeople checked the blue house the next morning, the lantern was gone.
But a new one hung outside Mira’s porch.
Its flame burned silver-blue.
And it would not go out.
Not for anything.
stake-id: Fazalmuhammed
