Julia runs, though her legs feel like jelly.
Each step is heavier, as if the earth wants to stop her.
As if something invisible wants to dig into her ankles and pull her back.
The rain is falling harder—drops are cold, sharp as needles.
They hit her face, her hair, her clothes.
But she keeps running.
Only at the end of an old, overgrown path do her legs give out.
She leans against the trunk of a pine tree, breathing heavily.
She tries to gather her thoughts.
**That wasn't Natalia.
It couldn't have been.
But those eyes...**
Closing her eyes, she can still see their reflection.
She knows one thing—that something deliberately took on the power of her memory.
of her greatest pain.
It wanted to break her.
And he almost succeeded.
--
As she brushes her hair away from her face, she notices something strange.
On her wrist—the one she touched the creature with—is a mark.
Black.
As if someone had drawn a symbol with colored chalk.
But it's not paint or mud.
It looks like… a burned mark.
Julia, toddling under the tree, struggles to raise her hand.
The mark is round, jagged, like a spiral drawing in its own center.
The moment she touches it with her finger, she feels a piercing coldness that reaches up to her elbow.
"What is this…?"
But no answer comes.
Because suddenly—
from deep within the forest, from the deep, dense darkness—she hears the crack of a branch.
Julia freezes.
The forest has never been her friend, but now it seems… to listen.
She begins to breathe more quietly, more slowly.
Crack.
Second.
Footsteps.
Not an animal.
Too heavy.
Too even.
Julia takes a step back.
The plant rustles behind her.
The forest seems to close in around her.
When she turns her head toward the path leading to town, she sees a light.
Weak, yellowish.
A streetlamp.
And beneath it—a man.
He stands still, as if he's been waiting for her for a long time.
Julia, though her heart is pounding, moves toward him—because whatever's in the forest, she doesn't want to investigate.
As she gets closer, she begins to recognize the face.
A familiar one.
She can't believe her eyes.
"Marek...?"
The man looks at her as if he's seen a ghost.
"Julia?! What are you... What are you doing here at this hour?!
His eyes are wide, his lips trembling. He's sincere—she can feel it.
He takes a step closer.
"You're soaked… God, Julia, you're shaking. What happened?"
Julia wants to answer, but her voice catches in her throat.
Instead of words—tears.
Marek quickly takes off his jacket and wraps it around Julia.
He grabs her by the shoulders with a care he hasn't seen in years.
"Come on. I'll take you away. This isn't the place to…"
But when he wants to lead her, Julia withdraws his hand.
The mark on her wrist burns beneath the material of her jacket.
Marek looks at her questioningly.
Julia doesn't know where to begin.
With the house?
A shadow?
A creature?
A wall that lives?
Finally, she raises a trembling hand.
"Marek… something touched me. It wasn't human. And it left… this."
He pulls back his sleeve.
Marek looks.
And pales.
All the blood drains from his face.
"It's... impossible," he whispers. "That symbol..."
Julia frowns.
"Do you know him?"
Marek doesn't answer immediately.
He stares into the forest—into the darkness that had followed Julia moments ago.
His voice is almost inaudible:
"I've seen him before."
"Who's?" Julia asks, feeling his heart begin to pound.
Marek looks up.
And says in a whisper Julia will never forget:
**—Natalia's."
Silence falls like a knife.
Julia feels as if the world has stopped moving.
"How...?" is all he asks.
Marek takes a deep breath, as if gathering the strength to tell a truth he never intended to reveal.
"Before... she disappeared," he says slowly, "she came to me. With the same symbol. On her hand." "Why didn't you tell me about this?!" Julia bursts out.
Marek clenches his jaw.
"Because I thought it was just a hallucination. That she was..." he swallows, "sick."
"She wasn't sick," Julia hisses. "The House took her."
"I know," Marek says. "I only realized it now."
Julia looks at him in disbelief.
Marek lowers his gaze and adds:
**—This is only the beginning, Julia.
When the mark appears...it means the House has chosen the next person."
Her eyes widen.
He stops beating for a second.
"Next to what?" she asks.
Marek looks straight into her eyes.
"To be taken away.
To be dragged to where Natalia ended up.
To..."
His voice breaks.
**—To the other side.**
---
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