# **CHAPTER 7 – THE OTHER SIDE*

Julia still stands in front of Marek, but she feels the ground beneath her feet begin to soften, as if it were about to collapse into darkness.

Those words – *the other side* – hit her like an icy gust of wind.

“Marek…” Her voice is quiet, hoarse – “what does *chosen* mean?”

The man presses his lips together, as if afraid to utter the next words. Pathos is mingling with guilt, fear, and something else – regret?

Julia can’t remember the last time she saw him so moved.

“This sign…” Marek finally begins, cautiously, as if any word could shatter, “is a seal.”

“Of what?”

“A bridge between this world and the next.”

Julia feels a sudden chill on the back of her neck. She instinctively glances over her shoulder – the forest is silent, but she knows something is there.

Something that came behind her.

Something that touched her.

Marek takes a step toward her, holding out his hand as if to stop her from falling to pieces.

"Natalia had it too. I wasn't afraid back then. I thought—" "What?" Julia interrupts, her voice trembling. "That it's a tattoo? A joke?"

Marek shakes his head.

"She… When she showed it to me, that symbol was pulsating. Like it was alive."

"This one's pulsating too," Julia hisses, pushing back her sleeve. "Can you feel it?"

Marek grabs her wrist gently, cautiously, as if touching something radioactive.

His face pales.

The symbol, the black spiral wound, begins to twitch.

Gently.

Barely perceptibly.

But definitely.

As if something… was trying to reach the surface.

"God…" Marek withdraws his hand. "Exactly.

---

Julia feels a sudden heaviness in her chest. Something inside her screams that she has to go home, and at the same time, something screams that she can't go back.

"What happened to Natalia after... after you saw that sign?" she asks.

Marek turns his head, staring into the streetlight.

His profile seems older now. Sadder.

"She didn't show up for work the next day. I called, I texted. Nothing. I went to her house." He grits his teeth. "The door was open. Inside... so quiet I thought I'd go crazy."

"And?"

"And there was only one thing there," Marek says. "Her phone, lying on the floor, the screen cracked. And... something else."

Julia waits for him to finish.

"Something?"

"On the wall... a symbol, just like that. Only bigger. Huge. As if burned from the inside."

Julia covers her mouth with her hand.

She feels her stomach lurch.

"That same evening, she disappeared," Marek adds slowly. "Without a trace. As if she never existed."

For a moment, Julia thinks her knees will buckle.

But then something else begins to happen.

The wind dies down.

Completely. Unnaturally.

The forest freezes.

And suddenly—Julia feels a slight, barely perceptible tremor beneath her feet.

A vibration.

As if the earth were beginning to breathe.

Marek turns his head sharply.

"We have to go," he says quickly. "That means it's tracking you."

"What's tracking me?" Julia backs away, her voice trembling.

"What took Natalia," Marek replies. "What lives *on the other side*."

Julia opens her mouth, but the words refuse to come out.

--

Suddenly, the streetlight above them begins to flicker.

One.

Two.

Three.

Julia hears a rustling sound behind her.

Slow.

Slippery.

Inhuman.

Cold sweat trickles down her spine.

Marek grabs her hand.

"Don't look."

"What?"

"Don't look back!**"

But Julia… hears it.

A quiet whisper close to her neck.

Not a word.

Something worse.

*Juuuuliaaaa…*

Her body freezes.

"Marek…" she whispers. "It's here."

Marek tightens his grip on her hand.

"Run."

The streetlight fades.

Darkness falls like a curtain.

And behind Julia, something moves.

Slowly.

Unhurriedly.

Like a predator that knows its prey won't get far.

“Marek…” Julia turns her head a millimeter, curiosity overpowering reason.

Marek screams:

**—Julia, NO!**

But it’s too late.

Julia sees.

For a second.

A face.

But not—a face.

Too drawn.

Too pale.

Too… familiar.

Eyes.

Black as the bottom of a cliff.

A mouth.

Too wide.

And a mark—just like hers—burned into the center of her forehead.

The creature whispers with a smile that shouldn’t exist:

**—You came back for me, Julia.**

It’s Natalia’s voice.

But it’s not Natalia.

The darkness moves.

Julia screams.

Marek pulls her, and they both break into a run as something with long arms reaches out from behind them, tearing at the air.

The forest screams.

The earth trembles.

And the symbol on Julia's hand burns like embers.

**And she feels this is only the beginning.**

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