# ****
At first, Lena thought the closet was empty.
The second—she saw eyes.
Two eyes, glowing with a faint, milky light.
Too wide open.
Lidless.
Unblinking.
They were the height of a child…
but the body they belonged to was much, *much* larger.
The shape emerging from the darkness was twisted.
Broken.
As if someone had tried to put human parts together in a way they shouldn't fit.
The arms were too long, stretching all the way to the floor, ending in fingers that resembled sharp, too-thin rods.
The skin—if you could call it that—looked like parchment strung on wires.
Lena froze.
Adam stood between her and the closet, though his breath was almost ragged.
The creature tilted its head.
Once.
Twice.
Each time it made a cracking sound, like twigs snapping.
"Adam..." Lena could barely breathe. "This...this can't be..."
"I know," he hissed. "But don't move."
The creature took a step forward.
Or what was supposed to be a step.
Its leg bent in two places at once, as if it had forgotten how the human body worked.
Lena felt her heart pound so hard it hurt.
The creature stopped a meter away and slowly lifted its head, as if to peer into Adam's face.
And then...
A voice echoed from within it.
Quiet.
High.
Childlike.
*"Mom...?"*
Lena screamed, covering her mouth with her hands.
It couldn't speak.
It wasn't a human voice.
It was an imitation.
Distorted.
Stolen.
The creature took another step, extending its hand toward Lena.
Adam pushed her behind him, simultaneously grabbing a metal lamp from the table.
He swung.
The terrifying figure withdrew its hand, and its body began to quiver, as if realizing it might be hurt.
The voice came again.
This time, different.
Deeper.
Full of fury.
*“I’ll take you back.”*
Adam’s flashlight began to flicker.
Once, twice… until it went out completely.
At that same moment, the light in Marta’s room also went out.
Darkness fell.
Lena felt Adam grab her hand.
Tightly.
As if this were their last contact with the world.
And then…
Something grabbed her from the other side.
Cold.
Skinny fingers.
Too many fingers.
A scream caught in her throat.
*“Come on.”*
The darkness began to consume them, until suddenly—
**FLASH.**
Adam managed to turn the flashlight back on.
The creature leaped to the corner of the room, hissing like burnt metal.
Its body shook as if the light were burning its bones.
It slowly backed toward the closet, each step making a wet, unpleasant slap.
But before the darkness enveloped her like a shadow…
She did something that froze Lena's blood.
She smiled.
And her face—or rather, what was supposed to be a face—changed.
It contorted.
Features grew that shouldn't have been there.
The eyes grew larger.
The nose smaller.
The hair longer, black.
She looked like Lena.
“God…” Lena whispered. “She… she’s trying to imitate me…”
The creature lifted its head.
*“You’re mine.”*
It made a high, shrill sound—like a rusty carousel spinning in the night.
Then it disappeared into the closet, which slammed shut with a bang so loud that dust rained down from the ceiling.
Lena and Adam were breathless for a long time.
“Did you see… did you see that she… was me?” Lena asked, her voice trembling.
Adam pulled her close, tightly, desperately.
“Lena, this house is trying to break you,” he whispered. “But I won’t let it. Never.”
Lena buried her face in his shoulder, feeling a sob rise in her throat.
For the first time, she felt that they could truly die in this house.
But she also knew something else.
Whatever was in the closet...
This is just the beginning.
--
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