night-stories

**The Forgotten Lullaby**    Every night, just as I drift into the quiet embrace of sleep, a faint melody fills my room. A soft, sorrowful lullaby, played by an old music box. But there's one problem... I don’t own a music box. At first, I dismissed it as a trick of my mind, a sound born from the edge of dreams. But last night, the melody grew louder, pulling me from sleep. My heart pounded as I sat up, scanning the dimly lit room. Then, I saw it—a small wooden box resting on my nightstand, where nothing had been before. I reached out with trembling fingers and lifted the lid. The melody poured out, wrapping around me like a forgotten memory. But as the gears turned, something else happened. The air shifted, and the shadows in the room deepened. My reflection in the mirror wavered, and for a moment, I wasn’t looking at myself—I was looking at someone else. A girl with wide, sorrowful eyes. Her lips moved soundlessly as if she were trying to speak, but no words came. Then, t...