Chapter 26: The Hollow Gaze

Evelyn's breath hitched.

Her reflection wasn't hers.

It grinned—too wide, too knowing.

And then—it blinked.

But she hadn't.

A sharp chill coiled down her spine as she watched her doppelgänger's head tilt in slow, deliberate amusement.

Her hands trembled. Slowly, she reached out—fingertips hovering just above the screen of her phone—

The reflection moved first.

It lifted a hand, but not to mirror her—to wave.

"Hello, Evelyn."

The voice was inside her head.

A scream lodged in her throat, but she couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

The air in the room thickened, pressing against her chest, suffocating her in invisible tendrils of something unseen.

The reflection's eyes darkened, the pupils swallowing the whites like ink spilling over glass.

Then—it whispered.

"Do you remember what you've forgotten?"

A sharp pounding at her apartment door shattered the moment.

Evelyn gasped, the phone slipping from her grip, clattering onto the floor.

The reflection—gone.

Just her face again, pale and wide-eyed.

The knocking came again, more insistent this time.

She stumbled to the door, heart hammering against her ribs.

Who would come at this hour?

She hesitated.

Her fingers curled around the knob.

Another bang.

A voice—low, urgent.

"Evelyn, open the door. It's me."

The air turned ice cold.

Because she knew that voice.

She hadn't heard it in fifteen years.

Lillian.

The Girl at the Door

Evelyn's fingers hovered over the door handle.

Her breath came in short, sharp bursts.

This wasn't possible.

Lillian Gray had been missing for fifteen years.

But the voice on the other side of the door—it was hers.

"Evelyn, please. Open the door."

The knocking softened to an almost desperate rhythm.

Something about it made the hairs on the back of Evelyn's neck stand up.

A memory stirred—Lillian's voice from that night.

"Don't listen to them, Ev. If I ever go missing, don't trust anything that sounds like me."

Evelyn's stomach twisted.

The warning had never made sense before.

But now…

Now she wasn't sure if she was standing in front of a miracle—or a nightmare.

"Lillian?" Her voice barely came out.

A pause.

Then, a breathless, "It's me."

A sob choked in Evelyn's throat.

The handle was cool under her fingertips.

She could open it.

She could see Lillian again.

But—

She looked down.

The shadows under the door weren't right.

Too long. Too thin. Like fingers stretching toward her.

Something wasn't human on the other side.

A slow creaking sound echoed.

The doorknob was turning—from the other side.

Evelyn jerked back.

"Let me in, Ev."

The voice was still soft. Still Lillian's.

But beneath it, something else—a second voice, layered, distorted.

"Let. Me. In."

The lights flickered.

Her phone screen, still on the floor, suddenly lit up.

A message appeared.

From a blocked number.

DON'T OPEN THE DOOR.

Evelyn's pulse pounded in her ears.

The knocking stopped.

Silence.

She dared to exhale.

Then—

The voice on the other side shifted.

It wasn't pleading anymore.

It was smiling.

"It's okay, Evelyn."

A long pause.

"I'm already inside."

Already Inside

Evelyn's breath hitched.

Her entire body froze.

The voice on the other side of the door was smiling—she could hear it.

"I'm already inside."

A cold whisper slid down her spine.

Slowly—terrified to move too fast—she turned her head, scanning the dimly lit apartment.

The door was still locked.

But the air had changed.

It felt wrong.

Heavy.

Like she wasn't alone.

A soft creak sounded from behind her.

Her bedroom.

Something was in there.

Evelyn's hands clenched into fists.

She needed to move.

Run.

But her legs felt like lead.

A shadow flickered at the edge of her vision.

Too tall. Too thin.

She turned.

Nothing.

Just her reflection in the hallway mirror.

But—

Her stomach dropped.

Her reflection wasn't facing her.

It was looking at the bedroom door.

Evelyn's heart slammed against her ribs.

The reflection's lips moved, forming words she couldn't hear.

Then—

A single whisper in her ear.

"Run."

The bedroom door burst open.

Something crawled out.

Crawling Shadows

Evelyn couldn't breathe.

The thing crawling out of her bedroom didn't move like a person.

Its limbs stretched too far. Too thin. Too wrong.

Its fingers—long, bony—scraped against the wooden floor as it pulled itself forward.

A grotesque mockery of a human form.

But what made her blood turn to ice—

It had no face.

Just smooth, pale skin where eyes, a nose, and a mouth should be.

Evelyn's body screamed at her to run.

But she was frozen.

The thing stopped in the doorway.

Then—

It tilted its head.

Like it was listening.

"You left me."

The voice was distorted—Lillian's voice.

Evelyn's stomach twisted.

No. No, this wasn't Lillian.

This was something else.

Something wearing her best friend's voice like a mask.

The thing twitched—and then, it moved.

Faster than should have been possible, it lurched toward her.

Evelyn snapped out of her paralysis, stumbling back as the thing's long fingers swiped at her.

She hit the hallway table, knocking over a lamp.

Glass shattered.

A flickering lightbulb buzzed overhead, casting jerky, shifting shadows.

The creature stopped just inches from her.

It cocked its head again.

Then—

It spoke.

But this time, it wasn't Lillian's voice.

It was Evelyn's.

"You let her die."

Her blood ran cold.

The thing's head twitched, its faceless stare boring into her.

Then, with unnatural speed, it scuttled backward into the shadows of the bedroom—

And vanished.

Evelyn's chest heaved.

She stared at the empty doorway, her pulse thundering in her ears.

Silence.

Then, her phone vibrated on the floor.

A new message.

From the blocked number.

"It's not her. But she's coming."