Nightfall’s Knock, No One’s Home

The sun began its descent behind the jagged treeline surrounding Blackthorn, casting long shadows across the courtyard. I watched from the common room window as darkness crept over the grounds like spilled ink. Something in the air had changed - a heaviness, a tension I couldn't quite name.

It wasn't just me who felt it. The others moved with purpose now, their earlier chaos replaced by a choreographed urgency.

"Cross," Cas called, startling me from my trance. His voice was calm but firm as he shoved a shotgun into Ezra's waiting hands. "Get away from the window."

I stepped back, watching as Rafe dumped a bag of rock salt into Nico's arms.

"Make sure every entrance is lined," Rafe ordered, his butterfly knife dancing between his fingers. "And don't fuck it up this time. Your sloppy work nearly got Lily killed last week."

"It wasn't my fault the rain washed it away," Nico snapped, but there was no real bite to it. Just routine complaint in the face of routine fear.

Vesper appeared at my side, silent as a shadow. "First night's always the worst," she said, voice low. "The unknowing part."

"What exactly am I supposed to know?" I asked.

Her dark eyes studied me, calculating. "That when the sun goes down, we're not alone anymore."

Around us, the orphans moved with practiced efficiency. Adrian and Lucian checked every lock in the east wing while Mercy and Lily hung strange symbols over doorways - twisted metal charms that rattled when the wind blew.

Silas appeared with boards, gesturing to Felix who produced a hammer and nails from seemingly nowhere. They began sealing the windows in the dining hall. For all his manic energy, Felix's hands were steady as he worked, his usual excitement tempered by something like dread.

"Is this normal?" I whispered to Vesper.

"This is survival," she replied, handing me a leather - bound book with symbols burned into its cover. "Hold this. Don't drop it."

Val came through the hallway with a clipboard, checking items off a list. "Northeast corner reinforced. Library secured. Armory unlocked." She glanced at Cas, who nodded in approval.

"Cross!" Cas called again, cigarette dangling from his lips as he consulted a worn piece of paper. "You're on watch with Vesper. Second shift, midnight to two."

"Watch for what?" I asked, but no one bothered to answer.

By dusk, every window was boarded or barred, every door triple - locked, every threshold lined with salt. The sprawling orphanage that had seemed so open and decrepit during the day had transformed into a fortress. We gathered in the common room, where Cas stood before a crude map of Blackthorn pinned to the wall.

"Standard rotation tonight," he said, tapping a finger against different areas of the map. "Rafe and Silas take first watch. Vesper and Cross on second. Val and I will take third. Twins on fourth. Mercy, Lily, and Nico close out till dawn." He paused, taking a long drag of his cigarette. "Felix is exempt tonight. He's working on the new barriers."

From the corner, Felix gave a manic salute, his workbench covered in beakers and strange ingredients. "Should have the new chemical compound ready by tomorrow night," he said, voice pitched with barely contained excitement. "This one explodes on contact with ectoplasm."

"Just try not to blow your dinner up this time," Mercy drawled. "Cleaning your guts off the ceiling was hell last month."

Cas continued as if neither had spoken. "Rules haven't changed. No going outside. No answering if you hear your name called. No looking directly at anything that shouldn't be there." His gaze found mine. "No exceptions. No heroes. We survive together or not at all."

The group dispersed, some to their rooms, others to various posts throughout the building. I followed Vesper to the kitchen, where she poured two cups of bitter black coffee.

"You'll need it," she said, pushing a mug toward me. "First night watch is always the longest."

I took the cup, wrapping my fingers around its warmth. "Are you going to tell me what we're watching for?"

Her dark lips curved into something almost like a smile. "You still think this is some kind of joke, don't you? Some elaborate hazing ritual."

"I don't know what to think," I admitted. "Four days ago my father was murdered. Today I'm in a gothic orphanage learning sword fighting and preparing for... what? The apocalypse?"

Vesper sat across from me, her pale fingers tapping against her mug. "Yesterday," she said, voice soft but precise. "Did you call anyone? A friend? A relative? Try them now."

I frowned but pulled out my phone. Three bars of service - surprising for such a remote location. I dialed Jake's number, ignoring the strange look Vesper gave the device in my hand.

Mark picked up on the fourth ring. "Hello?"

"Jake, it's Ash," I said, relief flooding through me at the sound of his voice.

A pause. "Ash...?" The way he said my name made my stomach drop. Like it was unfamiliar in his mouth.

"Ash Cross. We've been friends since sixth grade. I was at your house last weekend."

"Oh, right," Jake said, but his voice lacked conviction. "Yeah, Ash. Sorry, man. How's it going?"

"My dad died," I said bluntly, watching Vesper's face as she observed me.

Another pause, longer this time. "Shit, man. That's... I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't... When did you say this happened?"

My hand tightened around the phone. "I called you right after I found him. You were the first person I called."

"I don't remember... I mean, I'm sure you did, but..." His voice trailed off, awkward and confused. "Look, this connection is bad. You're breaking up. Call me later, okay? Sorry about your... whatever you said."

The line went dead. I stared at the phone, then at Vesper.

"He doesn't remember me," I said, the words feeling strange in my mouth. "Not really."

"None of them will," she replied, no triumph in her voice, just sad certainty. "Try another. Anyone."

I called my aunt in Seattle, my physics teacher, even the guy at the corner store who'd known me since I was a kid. Each conversation was the same - vague recognition fading to confusion, as if I were a song they'd heard once but couldn't quite place.

"What the fuck is happening to me?" I finally asked, my voice cracking.

Vesper's dark eyes held mine. "The Blackthorn curse. The mark of the forgotten." She spoke the words like they were a scientific fact, not some supernatural nonsense. "Everyone who comes here slips through the cracks of the world's memory. First they forget details - your birthday, how they know you. Then they forget your face. Finally, they forget you existed at all."

"That's impossible," I said, but the word rang hollow after what I'd just experienced.

"So is the thing that killed your father," she replied. "So are the things that come in the night."

Before I could respond, a bell rang somewhere deep in the building. Vesper stood immediately. "That's our cue. Watch starts now."

She led me to the second floor, to a narrow room with a single window overlooking the front grounds. The glass was reinforced with a lattice of iron bars, but not boarded over like the others.

"Observation post," she explained, pulling two chairs up to the window. "We need to see what's coming."

Outside, mist had begun to gather over the grounds, unnaturally thick and swirling in patterns that made no sense against the light breeze. The moon hung bloated and yellow above the treeline.

"What am I looking for?" I asked, peering into the gloom.

"Movement. Lights. Shapes that shouldn't be there." Vesper settled into her chair, posture perfect. "If you see something, tell me. Don't shout. Don't bang on the glass. Just tell me."

We sat in silence for nearly an hour, the darkness outside growing heavier. Occasionally, sounds drifted from elsewhere in the building - footsteps, muffled voices, the metallic click of weapons being checked and re - checked.

"So we just sit here all night?" I finally asked.

"Until our shift ends," Vesper replied without taking her eyes from the window. "Cas and Val will relieve us at two."

"And tomorrow?"

"We do it all again."

"And the next day?" I pushed.

"Until the winter solstice," she said. "That's when the barrier between worlds is strongest. We get about a month of easier nights before it thins again in spring."

I leaned back in my chair, trying to process everything. "This is insane."

"Insanity would be pretending the world makes sense when it doesn't," Vesper said. "Your father knew that. It's why he sent you here."

"He didn't send me anywhere," I snapped. "He was murdered, and I found an address in his hand. That's it."

Vesper turned to me then, her face illuminated by moonlight. "Your father was a detective who specialized in supernatural cases. He'd been watching Blackthorn for years, documenting the disappearances."

My heart skipped. "How do you know that?"

"He used to come here. Spoke to Headmistress Winters. Asked about the children who went missing from town records." Her fingers traced a pattern on the windowsill - protection symbols, I realized. "He knew something was hunting us. Just like he knew eventually it would come for him too."

"What is it? This 'Hollow Man'?"

"Something ancient. Something that feeds on identity, on memory." Her voice had taken on a strange quality, almost rhythmic. "It doesn't just kill you. It erases you. And it's been hunting the forgotten for centuries."

A chill ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the room's temperature. "You sound like you've seen it."

"No one sees it directly," she said. "You catch glimpses. Reflections. Shadows where there shouldn't be shadows." She pointed out the window. "Like there."

I followed her gaze to the edge of the treeline, where the mist seemed to gather into a tall, thin shape. It was barely there - a suggestion more than a form - but as I watched, it seemed to elongate, stretching upward in a way that nothing human could.

"Is that - "

"No," Vesper cut me off. "That's just mist. The Hollow Man doesn't show itself so easily. But the others..." She pointed again, this time to a different spot near the iron gates.

At first, I saw nothing. Then a flicker of movement caught my eye - a figure walking slowly along the perimeter. It looked human but moved wrong, like a marionette with half its strings cut. As it turned toward the house, moonlight illuminated its face - or rather, the absence of a face. Where features should have been was only a pale, smooth blankness.

"What the fuck is that?" I whispered, unable to look away.

"One of the Forgotten," Vesper said. "What's left of someone after the Hollow Man finishes feeding."

As if summoned by her words, more figures emerged from the mist. Three, then five, then a dozen - all with that same blank face, all moving with that same broken gait. They gathered at the gates, fingers curling around the iron bars but not crossing the threshold.

"Why don't they come in?" I asked, my mouth dry.

"Salt lines. Iron. Protective symbols." Vesper's voice remained calm, but I noticed her knuckles were white where she gripped the chair. "But mostly, they can't come in because we remember each other here. Blackthorn is the one place where we exist fully. Our memories create a barrier."

One of the figures tilted its head up, seeming to look directly at our window. I felt its attention like a physical touch, cold and hungry.

"Don't look at them too long," Vesper warned, reaching over to turn my face away. "They remember what it was like to be real."

But I'd already locked eyes with the thing, and a voice - not quite sound, more like thought forced into my mind - whispered: Ash Cross. We know you.

I jerked back from the window, nearly toppling my chair. "It knows my name," I gasped.

Vesper was on her feet instantly, pulling me away from the glass. "They always know your name," she said grimly. "They want you to respond, to acknowledge them. Don't."

"But what do they want?" I asked, heart hammering in my chest.

"To be remembered," she replied. "To take your place in the world. To be real again."

Outside, the figures began to circle the building, pressing against windows, testing doors. Their movements became more frantic, more desperate. From somewhere below came the sound of glass cracking, followed by Rafe's voice shouting profanities.

"They're getting bolder," Vesper muttered, reaching beneath her chair to pull out a long, wicked - looking knife. "Usually they just watch."

"What changed?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

Her eyes met mine, something like guilt flickering in their depths. "You did. You're new. Fresh. Your connection to the outside world is still strong." She handed me a smaller knife from her boot. "They can smell it on you."

A crash echoed from downstairs, followed by Felix's manic laughter and the acrid smell of chemicals. "Got one!" he shouted. "Told you the compound would work!"

Vesper rolled her eyes. "Fantastic. Now the rest will be even more aggressive."

As if on cue, a shape slammed against our window, making the glass shudder. I caught a glimpse of a hand - too pale, too long - dragging down the pane, leaving a trail of frost in its wake.

"Jesus Christ," I breathed, backing against the wall.

"Wrong deity," Vesper replied, positioning herself between me and the window. "And I wouldn't count on divine intervention around here. God forgot about Blackthorn a long time ago."

The glass cracked with a sound like a gunshot. Vesper grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the door. "Time to move. They're breaking the pattern."

"What does that mean?" I asked as we hurried down the hallway.

"It means," she said, voice tight, "that something worse is coming."

She yanked me into a storage closet just as the lights throughout the building flickered and died. In the sudden darkness, I felt her hand find mine.

"Listen to me," she whispered, her breath warm against my ear. "Whatever happens next, whatever you see or hear, remember one thing: in Blackthorn, the only thing real is us. We remember each other. We exist to each other. Everything else is just noise from the void."

The building creaked around us, settling into its nightly siege. Outside our hiding place, footsteps pounded as the other orphans mobilized. I heard Cas shouting orders, Rafe cursing, the twins laughing in that eerie unison that made my skin crawl.

"Is it always like this?" I whispered.

In the darkness, I felt rather than saw Vesper's smile. "Welcome to Blackthorn, Ash Cross."

As if to punctuate her words, a scream tore through the building - high and inhuman. Not one of the orphans, but something outside.