Episode Nine: The Other Maya
558 Words
Maya stared at herself through the doorway.
The woman standing there looked exactly like her.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same scar above her eyebrow.
But she was covered in blood.
Maya couldn’t move.
“Who are you?”
The other Maya smiled.
“You.”
“No.”
“You’ve said that before.”
Ellie pulled Maya backward.
“Don’t listen to her.”
The other Maya laughed softly.
“You still trust Ellie?”
Maya looked at Ellie.
“What does she mean?”
Ellie didn’t answer.
The other Maya stepped through the doorway.
The room behind her disappeared.
Now there was only darkness.
“You’ve forgotten everything,” the other Maya said.
“I haven’t.”
“You forgot Ellie.”
Maya’s heart tightened.
“You forgot your mother.”
The other Maya moved closer.
“And most importantly…”
She leaned toward Maya’s ear.
“You forgot yourself.”
Maya suddenly felt dizzy.
The room spun.
She saw flashes.
A little girl running through the house.
Her mother screaming.
Ellie crying.
A fire.
Then another memory.
Maya standing outside Number 27.
She was much older.
Maybe twenty.
She was holding the same key her grandmother had given her.
Then another memory.
Maya at thirty.
Walking into the house.
Then another.
Maya at forty.
Crying on the front porch.
Then another.
Maya at fifty.
Standing beside Ellie.
The memories continued.
Different ages.
Different years.
But always the same house.
Always the same key.
Always Ellie.
Maya screamed.
“How many times have I been here?”
The other Maya smiled.
“Too many.”
Ellie grabbed Maya’s hand.
“Don’t remember everything.”
“Why?”
“Because the house doesn’t just show memories.”
Ellie looked frightened.
“It changes them.”
Maya looked at the other version of herself.
“Then what is real?”
The other Maya’s smile disappeared.
“That’s the question.”
Suddenly, the walls began whispering.
Hundreds of voices.
Thousands.
Maya…
Maya…
Maya…
The other Maya pointed toward the floor.
A trapdoor appeared beneath them.
“Your mother is down there.”
Maya stared.
“Alive?”
The other Maya shook her head.
“Not anymore.”
Ellie whispered, “Maya, don’t.”
But Maya opened the trapdoor.
A staircase descended into darkness.
She stepped down.
The other Maya followed.
Ellie remained above.
“Maya!”
Maya looked back.
Ellie was crying.
“Whatever you see down there…”
She swallowed.
“Don’t believe the first thing that speaks.”
Maya descended.
At the bottom was a small room.
A chair sat in the center.
Someone was sitting in it.
Maya’s breath caught.
Her mother.
She looked exactly as Maya remembered her.
Young.
Beautiful.
Terrified.
“Mom?”
Her mother’s eyes opened.
“Maya…”
Maya ran toward her.
But before she could reach her, her mother screamed:
“THAT ISN’T ME!”
Maya stopped.
The woman in the chair began smiling.
Her jaw slowly opened wider than it should have been.
Much wider.
Then the skin around her mouth began splitting.
Maya stumbled backward.
The creature rose from the chair.
Her mother’s voice came from inside it.
“You finally came back.”
Behind Maya, the staircase disappeared.
She was trapped.
The creature took one step toward her.
Then another.
And whispered:
“Now we can remember everything.”
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