Chapter 18: A Prison of Glass and The Visitor in the Dark

Evelyn clutched the cloth-wrapped shard, feeling its weight in her hands.

It was small. Fragile. But dangerous.

She didn't know how she could tell, but she felt it like a presence pressing against her skin, whispering at the edges of her mind.

Nathaniel ran a hand through his hair, his frustration evident. "So, what? We just keep it?"

Evelyn swallowed. "For now."

She glanced around the ruined apartment. The walls were still scorched from the Hollow's collapse. Glass shards crunched under her boots. The air smelled of dust and something wrong a lingering scent of decay that hadn't been there before.

They weren't safe here.

And neither was the shard.

The Voices Return

The drive back to Evelyn's motel was silent. Nathaniel kept glancing at her, but she didn't speak.

She couldn't.

Because the voices were back.

Faint. Distant.

But there.

"Evelyn…"

"Let us out."

Her grip on the shard tightened.

No.

Not this time.

She shoved the cloth-wrapped mirror into her bag and focused on the road.

The Motel Room

Nathaniel shut the door behind them, locking it twice. "Okay. Now tell me the truth."

Evelyn placed her bag on the bed, exhaling sharply. "I don't think we just destroyed the Hollow."

Nathaniel frowned. "Then what did we do?"

Evelyn hesitated. "I think we uncovered something worse."

She hesitated before adding, "And I think it's still watching."

Nathaniel rubbed his temples. "Fantastic. Just what we needed."

But then

A knock at the door.

Both of them froze.

Slow. Deliberate.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Evelyn's pulse spiked. No one knew they were here.

Nathaniel silently reached for his pocketknife, motioning for Evelyn to stay back.

He stepped toward the door.

Another knock.

Evelyn's phone buzzed at the same time.

She looked down at the screen.

No number. No name.

Just two words:

"Don't answer."

Her breath caught.

Nathaniel reached for the handle.

Evelyn lunged forward, grabbing his arm. "Wait."

The knocking stopped.

Silence stretched.

Then

The doorknob turned.

Slowly.

And the whispers began again.

The Visitor in the Dark

The air stilled.

Evelyn held her breath, staring at the turning doorknob.

Slow. Deliberate.

Nathaniel's muscles tensed. His grip on the knife tightened.

The knocking had stopped.

But something someone was still there.

Her phone buzzed again.

Another message.

"DO NOT LET THEM IN."

Evelyn's stomach twisted.

She grabbed Nathaniel's wrist, voice barely above a whisper. "Step back."

His gaze flicked to her. He saw the fear in her eyes.

And he listened.

The doorknob clicked back into place.

Silence.

A full minute passed.

Another.

Then

Scraping.

Something dragging along the wood.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Evelyn felt her skin crawl.

The thing outside wasn't knocking anymore.

It was waiting.

The Whisper Beyond the Door

Nathaniel mouthed, "What do we do?"

Evelyn glanced at her phone. The unknown number hadn't messaged again.

She wasn't sure if she wanted them to.

Then

The whisper came.

Soft. Breathless.

Right at the doorframe.

"Evelyn."

Her heart stopped.

It knew her name.

Nathaniel's eyes widened. He heard it too.

"Evelyn… let me in."

The voice was familiar.

But wrong.

A voice from the past.

A voice that shouldn't be here.

Evelyn's hands shook. She knew that voice.

It was Lillian.

The Dead Do Not Knock

Nathaniel moved first.

He grabbed Evelyn's arm and pulled her away from the door.

"Don't listen," he whispered harshly.

Evelyn's pulse raced. She tried to breathe, but Lillian's voice

"Evelyn, please. It's me."

Evelyn pressed her hands against her ears. No. This wasn't real.

It couldn't be.

Lillian was gone.

Dead.

Fifteen years gone.

The voice shouldn't exist.

And yet

"You left me."

Evelyn's throat tightened.

The doorknob turned again. Harder. Faster.

And then

The door shook violently.

BANG.

Evelyn and Nathaniel stumbled back.

BANG.

The walls trembled. The lights flickered.

Then silence.

A shadow seeped from under the door.

It slithered forward.

Evelyn's skin burned where it touched her boot.

Nathaniel yanked her away. "We have to go. Now."

Evelyn couldn't move.

Because the shadow it was forming something.

A shape.

A face.

Lillian's face.

Her voice soft, broken whispered again.

"Why did you let me die?"

The Past Never Stays Buried

Evelyn snapped.

Her body moved before she could think.

She grabbed the cloth-wrapped shard from her bag and threw it on the floor.

The mirror piece spun.

For a brief second

Evelyn saw her reflection.

But it wasn't her.

It was Lillian.

Trapped.

Her mouth moved, but no sound came.

Nathaniel saw it too.

His breath came fast. "Evelyn…"

The whisper returned.

"You remember now, don't you?"

Evelyn's hands curled into fists.

Yes.

She remembered.

She remembered everything.

The night Lillian disappeared.

The truth she had tried to bury.

And the thing they had unleashed.

This wasn't a ghost.

This was something worse.

The Forgotten Night

Evelyn couldn't breathe.

The reflection in the shard Lillian's face was staring at her.

Mouth moving.

No sound.

But Evelyn didn't need to hear it.

She knew what Lillian was saying.

"You left me."

A memory surged forward unbidden, unwanted.

The night of Lillian's disappearance.

The cold air.

The woods.

And the thing watching them from the trees.

Fifteen Years Ago

Lillian was running.

Evelyn was right behind her.

"Keep going!" Lillian's voice was sharp, urgent. Terrified.

Evelyn didn't know what they were running from.

She didn't have time to think.

But something was behind them.

She could hear it. A second set of footsteps.

Heavy. Wrong.

Not quite human.

"Evelyn!" Lillian grabbed her wrist, pulling her forward.

The woods closed in.

Branches scraped against their skin like claws.

And then Lillian tripped.

Evelyn turned eyes wide.

Lillian reached for her. Begging.

And Evelyn

She ran.

She left her.

The Truth Hurts

Evelyn gasped, jerking back from the mirror shard.

Nathaniel's hands were on her shoulders, shaking her. "Evelyn! What did you see?"

Her breath came in ragged gulps. No.

That wasn't real.

That wasn't what happened.

But Lillian's reflection smiled.

A knowing smile.

"Now you remember."

Evelyn shook her head violently. "No. No, that's not"

The motel lights flickered.

Nathaniel cursed under his breath, looking between Evelyn and the shard. "What the hell is going on?"

The shadows in the room stretched.

The air grew cold.

Lillian's whisper slithered into Evelyn's ears.

"You ran, Evelyn."

"You left me to die."

And deep down

Evelyn knew it was true.

The Shadow at the Door

BANG.

The door shuddered.

Nathaniel spun toward it, knife clenched tight. "Not this again."

BANG.

The walls trembled.

But this time it wasn't just a knock.

Something was crawling under the door.

Dark. Oozing.

The same shadow as before.

Only now

It was spreading.

Nathaniel grabbed Evelyn's arm. "We need to go. Now."

But Evelyn didn't move.

Her eyes were still locked on the mirror shard.

On Lillian's smiling face.

She whispered, softer than before.

"I'm coming back, Evelyn."

And then

The shard cracked.