The Hollow Guest

creak of the old house sent her puls

ike a second skin. She sat curled up

fort. She didn't dare go

tighter, flipping through the brittle

e c

on loneliness, on fear. The more you ac

s what her grandmother had called it. B

made the air in a room feel like

rembling. More notes. Descriptions of

n the dead of night, doo

e entry

ould not exist. I have locked it away,

If you ever find i

A hidden door? Where? She scanned the l

t everything looked the

. Somewhere in this house, there was a

as **kno

p. The sound was dull, like something h

hamm

another

rs. The same hallway where the whispe

nd took a shaky breath. She couldn't ke

to face whatever w

the flashlight from the side t

he air grew colder the higher she climb

visible in the dim g

toward th

nd had

ence wa

rs tightening around the flashlight.

darkness beyond. Eve

st

she s

the bedrooms and near the old attic d

the wall as if something had

den behind

had tried to *

nside was **try

nal part of her mind screamed at her t

er from the night befo

let me

epped

hummed**-a low vibration that made her

n wallpaper. The wood ben

g was be

th

knoc

irst. The

Knock.

cking grew **frenzied, desperate.**

-sil

what had happened when a thin,

began to tear

as **pushin

"No. No, no, no." She turned on her he

ched the first floor. The house seemed

something insid

the front door. She yanked it op

le

ers. No

stant chirp

cing. Had she imagined it? No. **No.**

now, it **knew she h

lization settl

r of time before it

-