The Pink House

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Chapter 2 – The Palace of Pigeons

My phone continued ringing loudly inside the dark bush.

“Switch it off!” Navya whispered in fear.

My hands were shaking as I quickly silenced the phone.

The footsteps outside stopped.

Everything became silent again.

We stayed hidden, barely breathing. The cold night wind moved through the leaves around us. Somewhere far away, a dog barked once… then suddenly stopped.

That was when we heard wings.

Flap.

A pigeon slowly landed near the bush.

At first, it looked normal.

But when it lifted its head toward us, my entire body froze.

Its eyes were completely black.

Not dark brown.

Not normal.

Pure black.

The pigeon stared directly at us without moving.

“Don’t look into its eyes,” one of my friends whispered nervously.

But it was too late.

One of my friends accidentally looked at the pigeon for a second.

Immediately, the air around us became heavy.

The pigeon let out a strange sound that almost sounded like laughter.

Then—

Everything disappeared.

The village.

The bush.

The pink house.

All gone.

We suddenly found ourselves standing in front of a massive old palace covered in darkness.

The palace looked ancient and broken, with giant cracked pillars and black vines crawling over the walls. Fog surrounded the entrance.

And above the gate…

Hundreds of pigeons watched us silently.

Their black eyes glowed in the darkness.

“What is this place?” Navya whispered.

Nobody answered.

The giant palace doors slowly opened by themselves.

Creeeeeeak…

Inside, the palace was dimly lit with candles.

But what we saw made us step back in horror.

The pigeons were living there.

Not like normal birds.

Like humans.

Some pigeons were carrying water buckets.

Some cleaned the dusty floors using tiny cloths.

Some watered dead-looking plants near the windows.

And deep inside the palace kitchen…

Pigeons were cooking food in giant pots over burning fire.

None of them spoke.

Only their wings moved softly in the silence.

One pigeon wearing a torn red cloth slowly turned toward us.

Its black eyes locked onto mine.

Then, in a deep human voice, it said:

“You saw the eyes. Now you belong to the palace.”8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hxGNxctdi

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