Chapter 21: The Price of the Past

Evelyn's chest tightened.

Lillian's blackened eyes bore into her, as if they could see straight through her soul.

The altar still dripped with the memory of what had happened fifteen years ago. The shadowy figure had been swallowed by the abyss, but the horror it left behind remained.

Lillian had not just died that night.

She had become something else.

"Now you understand," Lillian said softly, stepping forward. The ground didn't make a sound beneath her feet.

Evelyn's knees felt weak, but she held her ground. "You're not real."

Lillian tilted her head.

"Aren't I?"

The shadows around them twisted.

The abyss shrank.

And suddenly—they weren't in the past anymore.

They were back in the town.

But it wasn't how Evelyn remembered it.

The streets were empty.

The houses were rotting.

The sky was **wrong—**black clouds twisting in on themselves, flickering with crimson light.

And the whispers had returned.

"You let me go."

"You left me."

"Now you'll take my place."

The voices weren't just Lillian's anymore.

They were everywhere.

The Town of the Forgotten

Evelyn stumbled backward.

This was wrong.

She had only wanted to find the truth.

She hadn't wanted to be part of it.

A gust of wind howled through the hollow streets, carrying with it a familiar sound—

A bell tolling.

Evelyn's blood ran cold.

She turned toward the town's old church.

The place that had been abandoned for years.

The place that had been sealed shut after Lillian's disappearance.

Now, its doors were wide open.

And standing at the entrance—

Was a man in black robes.

His face was hidden.

But Evelyn knew.

It was the same figure from the ritual.

"Evelyn Carter." His voice was deep, calm. Wrong.

"Your return was expected."

Evelyn's fingers curled into fists. "Who the hell are you?"

The figure's hood shifted as he raised a skeletal hand.

"I am the one who called her back."

Her stomach twisted.

"Back?" she whispered.

The man took a step forward.

"Lillian was never meant to die that night."

Evelyn's heart stopped.

"She was meant to become something greater."

Behind her, Lillian laughed softly.

And as Evelyn turned—

Lillian was no longer alone.

Figures crawled out from the darkness.

Bodies twisted by time, by suffering.

The forgotten ones.

The ones who had vanished before Lillian.

And they were all looking at Evelyn now.

"Your place was always meant to be beside us." Lillian whispered.

Evelyn's vision blurred.

The air crackled with something ancient.

She had walked too far into the past.

And now—

It refused to let her go.

Bound by Shadows

Evelyn's body refused to move.

The whispers in the air had grown into a chorus—a symphony of voices that didn't belong in this world.

The forgotten ones dragged themselves closer, their bodies warped and disjointed, as if they had been stitched together by something that didn't understand what humans were supposed to be.

Lillian stood at the center of them all, her black eyes gleaming with something unnatural.

And the robed figure remained at the church's entrance, watching.

"You were never supposed to leave this town, Evelyn," Lillian murmured.

Evelyn shook her head. "That's not true."

Lillian smiled, but it wasn't human. It was too wide. Too sharp.

"Isn't it?"

The moment Lillian spoke, the world twisted.

Evelyn gasped as the ground beneath her rippled, the buildings around her bending inward like they were collapsing into themselves.

And suddenly—

She was standing in her childhood bedroom.

A Home That No Longer Exists

Evelyn's old room was exactly as she remembered it.

The same posters on the walls.

The same worn-out desk covered in scribbled notes and half-finished stories.

The same window that had once looked out onto Lillian's house across the street.

But the town had demolished this house years ago.

This place shouldn't exist.

And yet—

It felt real.

The air smelled of dust and old books.

The floor creaked beneath her weight.

And then—

She heard it.

A soft knock at the window.

Evelyn turned slowly.

Her heart stopped.

Lillian was standing outside, just like she had fifteen years ago.

Her small hands pressed against the glass.

Her face was pale, her eyes pleading.

Evelyn's breath hitched.

Because she remembered this night.

It had been hours before Lillian disappeared.

And she had ignored her.

Back then, Evelyn had been half-asleep, too tired to deal with whatever Lillian had wanted to talk about.

So she had rolled over in bed and let her best friend walk away.

"Evelyn?"

The voice at the window wasn't a memory anymore.

It was real.

Evelyn took a step back.

"You ignored me." Lillian's voice was soft—almost sad. Almost.

Evelyn swallowed, trying to push down the guilt clawing at her chest.

"I didn't know what would happen," she whispered.

Lillian tilted her head.

"But now you do."

And then—

The window shattered.

Glass exploded into the room as Lillian stepped through, completely unharmed by the jagged shards.

Her expression twisted into something almost… hungry.

Evelyn stumbled backward, her back hitting the door.

"Lillian—wait—"

Lillian smiled, taking another step closer.

"You can't leave me again."

And the room collapsed into darkness.

The Door That Shouldn't Exist

Evelyn's scream was swallowed by the darkness.

The floor beneath her disintegrated—not breaking, not falling apart, but simply vanishing into nothingness.

She was floating in the abyss, her mind reeling as shadows twisted around her.

But then—

A light appeared.

A single, flickering glow in the distance.

And with it came the sound of something scraping against wood.

Evelyn's body jerked as her feet slammed onto solid ground.

She was standing in front of a door.

Not her bedroom door.

Not any door she recognized.

This one was old and rotted, its wood cracked and splintered with age.

But the most disturbing part was the mark carved into it.

A circle with a jagged slash through the middle.

Something about it made her stomach twist.

Something about it felt wrong.

"You've seen this before, haven't you?"

Evelyn spun around.

Lillian stood a few feet away, watching her.

But her form kept glitching, her face shifting between the Lillian Evelyn remembered and something… else.

Something faceless.

Evelyn's pulse hammered. "What is this place?"

Lillian's smile was empty.

"You already know."

Evelyn turned back to the door, her hand trembling as she reached out.

The moment her fingers brushed the wood, her mind was flooded with images.

—A group of people standing in a circle, whispering in a language that didn't belong to this world.

—A girl screaming as hands dragged her into the darkness.

—A shadowy figure watching from the edge of the ritual.

And then—

Evelyn saw herself.

Standing in the same spot she was now.

Reaching for the door.

But in that vision—

When she touched the handle, she began to rot.

Her skin cracked, her veins turned black, and her eyes vanished into empty sockets.

She had seen this door before.

And she had chosen to forget.

"You're almost there, Evelyn."

Lillian's voice was softer now, but no less terrifying.

"It's time to remember why you left."

Evelyn's breath shuddered.

She had come back to uncover the truth.

But what if the truth was something she had buried for a reason?

And what if opening this door meant she could never leave again?

End of Chapter 21

What is behind the door?

Why did Evelyn forget?

What role did she play in Lillian's disappearance?