chapter 11 to 17

Chapter 11: The Door That Shouldn't Open

The old house was more decay than structure, its frame barely holding together under the weight of time. Windows were shattered, the wooden planks warped with age.

Eliza hesitated at the front steps.

Nate gave her a reassuring nod. "We've come this far."

Daniel pushed the door. It groaned but didn't budge. His jaw tightened, and he rammed his shoulder against it.

With a loud crack, the door swung open.

A wave of cold air rushed past them, carrying the scent of damp wood and something else. Something rotting.

Eliza's stomach twisted. "This place feels wrong."

Daniel stepped inside first, his gaze scanning the darkness. "It's supposed to."

The floorboards creaked under their weight as they moved inside. The walls were covered in faded wallpaper, peeling like dead skin. Old furniture, coated in dust, stood frozen in time.

Then Eliza saw it.

A single chair in the center of the room.

And on it—a rope.

Her breath caught. "What—"

A whisper drifted through the air.

Her name.

The past was no longer waiting.

It had found her.

Chapter 12: The Blood-Stained Floor

Eliza stepped forward, her eyes locked on the chair. A knot tied in the rope dangled loosely, as if someone had once been bound there.

Nate crouched down, running his fingers over the floor beneath it. His hand came away stained with something dark.

Dried blood.

He exhaled sharply. "Someone was hurt here."

Daniel's voice was quiet. "Someone died here."

Eliza's vision blurred. A memory was trying to force its way to the surface—hands gripping her shoulders, a scream tearing through the night, a body hitting the floor.

"No," she whispered, stepping back.

She felt suffocated. As if the walls of the house were closing in, swallowing her whole.

Nate reached for her, but before he could—

A loud bang echoed through the house.

A door upstairs had just slammed shut.

They weren't alone.

Chapter 13: The Ghost in the Hallway

Eliza's blood turned to ice.

"That wasn't the wind," Nate said, his voice tight.

Daniel didn't hesitate. He started toward the stairs. "We need to see."

Eliza wanted to say no—to run—but something pulled her forward. A whisper in her mind, urging her closer to the truth.

The stairs creaked under their weight as they climbed. The hallway stretched before them, lined with doors barely clinging to their hinges.

Then—

Footsteps.

Soft. Slow. Coming from the last room on the left.

Eliza's breath hitched. "Someone's here."

Daniel placed a hand on the doorknob. He glanced at her. "Are you ready?"

She wasn't.

But she nodded.

He pushed the door open.

The room was empty—except for a single mirror hanging on the wall.

And in the mirror—

A reflection that wasn't theirs.

A woman stood there.

Her face was pale, her eyes hollow.

And she was staring directly at Eliza.

Chapter 14: The Woman in the Mirror

Eliza's breath caught in her throat.

The woman in the mirror wasn't just some forgotten ghost.

She was Eliza.

But different.

Her reflection stood still while she trembled. The other Eliza stared at her, expression empty, eyes filled with something dark and knowing.

"That's not possible," Nate whispered.

Eliza's fingers twitched, instinctively reaching toward the glass. The moment her fingertips brushed the surface, a shock of icy pain shot through her arm.

The mirror cracked.

A voice—soft, familiar, her own—whispered from the depths of the glass.

"You forgot. But I didn't."

The cracks in the mirror spread like veins, revealing something buried beneath the glass. Shadows swirled. A memory clawed its way free from the abyss.

And then she saw it.

Blood on her hands.

A dark figure slumped against the floor.

A scream—her own voice—echoing through the night.

Daniel's voice cut through the fog of her mind. "Eliza!"

She gasped, stumbling back as the mirror shattered.

Glass rained around them. The reflection—the other Eliza—was gone.

But the truth was waking up.

And there was no stopping it now.

Chapter 15: What Really Happened

Eliza stood in the wreckage of glass, her chest rising and falling in sharp, ragged breaths.

She remembered.

The summer before she left Hollow Creek.

The house in the woods.

The fight.

Daniel.

And the body.

Her pulse pounded in her ears. She turned to Daniel, whose face was unreadable, his dark eyes locked onto her.

"You knew," she whispered.

He nodded. "Not everything. But enough."

Nate frowned. "Enough to what?"

Daniel exhaled. "Enough to know someone died here. And Eliza was the last one with them."

Her knees buckled. Nate caught her before she could collapse.

"I—" She swallowed, choking on the words. "Who was it? Who did I—"

Daniel hesitated. Then he said it.

"Your sister."

Eliza's world imploded.

Chapter 16: The Lies We Tell Ourselves

Eliza's body went numb.

"My—" Her voice cracked. "I don't have a sister."

Daniel's jaw clenched. "You did."

Nate looked between them, confusion turning to shock. "Eliza, what is he talking about?"

Daniel stepped forward, his voice low. "You buried her. In your mind. You locked it away. But the truth—it never died."

Eliza shook her head violently. "No, that's not possible. I would have remembered—I would have—"

And then she did.

The fight. The accusations. The push. The sickening crack when her sister's head hit the floor.

She had been trying to protect something. Someone.

But instead, she had killed her own sister.

And she had forgotten.

The mirror. The letters. The whispers in the wind.

It had all been her own mind trying to put the truth back together.

Her stomach churned, nausea clawing at her throat.

"I didn't mean to," she whispered.

Daniel's voice softened. "I know."

Nate's face was pale. "Eliza—"

The house suddenly shook.

The walls trembled. The floorboards groaned.

And the whispers in the wind grew into screams.

The past was angry.

And it wasn't letting them leave.

Chapter 17: Whispers in the Wind

The house came alive.

Windows slammed shut on their own. The floorboards split apart. The whispers turned into an unearthly howl, filling every inch of the room.

Eliza fell to her knees.

The past was pulling her under.

Nate grabbed her shoulders. "We need to get out—now!"

Daniel pointed to the door. "Move!"

They ran. The walls cracked as if the house itself was breaking apart. The door slammed shut just as they reached it.

A shadow loomed behind them.

Eliza turned—her breath leaving her in a sharp gasp.

Her sister stood there.

Or what was left of her.

Her pale, hollow eyes locked onto Eliza's. Her lips moved, but the voice that came out was not her own.

"You left me here."

Eliza's heart twisted.

"You let me die."

Tears blurred her vision. "I didn't—"

A gust of wind rushed through the room, knocking them off their feet.

The house was collapsing.

Daniel grabbed Eliza's wrist. "We have to go!"

Eliza's sister reached for her.

"Remember me."

Eliza's body trembled. "I do," she whispered. "I do."

A single tear slipped down her cheek.

And then—

The wind stopped.

The house stilled.

The whispers faded.

And her sister was gone.

The door creaked open, as if releasing them.

Eliza looked around one last time before stepping outside.

The night air was silent.

The house in the woods was finally at peace.

And so was she.

For the first time in ten years, she remembered.

And she was ready to let go.