The house that shouldn’t exist
764 Words
Sarah stood frozen in front of Jarian.
The room felt too small now—like the air itself had changed shape the moment the truth became real.
Jarian.
The third child.
The one they were told was dead.
And yet she was standing right in front of her.
Jarian tilted her head slightly, studying Sarah like she was trying to read a language she had never learned.
“You’re shaking,” Jarian said softly.
Sarah swallowed hard. “Because you shouldn’t exist like this… not without us knowing.”
Jarian blinked slowly. “Without you knowing?”
The word “you” landed strangely.
Like it carried weight Jarian didn’t understand yet.
Sarah stepped closer, carefully. “We need to leave this place.”
Jarian didn’t move. “Why?”
Because Sarah felt it before she could even explain.
The pressure.
The shift.
Like the world outside had suddenly become aware of them.
Her past-reading ability activated automatically.
And what she saw made her stomach drop.
Footsteps.
Multiple.
Surrounding the house from every direction.
Not random attackers.
Organized.
Trained.
Hunting one specific thing.
Sarah grabbed Jarian’s wrist instantly.
“We’re already too late.”
Outside, the hidden house was no longer hidden.
Figures stood around it silently, forming a perfect circle.
Black armor.
No markings except one symbol burned into their gloves:
A broken crown split in half.
One of them raised a hand slightly.
“Target confirmed.”
Another voice responded through a device:
“Bring her out alive if possible. If not—containment is acceptable.”
A pause.
Then:
“But the eternal one must not escape.”
Inside the house, Sarah’s breathing turned sharp.
“They’re not here for us,” she whispered. “They’re here for you.”
Jarian looked down at her hands again.
“I don’t understand why people keep saying that.”
Sarah’s voice softened slightly, despite the fear.
“Because something about you doesn’t stay normal.”
A loud bang hit the front door.
The entire house shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Jarian stepped back instinctively.
“I don’t like this feeling,” she said quietly.
Sarah moved in front of her fully now.
“Then don’t fight. Just stay behind me.”
Another impact.
The door cracked.
Then a voice outside:
“Open.”
Sarah’s past-reading activated again.
And suddenly—
She wasn’t in the house anymore.
She was somewhere else.
A laboratory.
Bright white walls.
A baby crying.
And the same symbol—the broken crown.
Hands reaching into a crib.
A voice saying:
“Containment failed on subject three.”
Sarah snapped back to reality with a gasp.
Her heart was pounding.
“They experimented on you…” she whispered without meaning to.
Jarian’s eyes widened slightly. “On me?”
Another hit shattered part of the wall.
This time the attackers didn’t wait.
The door exploded inward.
Three hunters entered.
Slow.
Confident.
Not afraid of resistance.
One of them spoke calmly:
“Eternal subject located.”
Sarah moved instantly, energy flaring through her hands.
“I won’t let you take her!”
The first attacker moved faster than her eyes could track.
A strike.
She barely blocked it.
The force pushed her back into the wall.
Jarian flinched.
Then—
Something inside her shifted.
The air changed.
Not temperature.
Not sound.
Reality itself hesitated.
The attacker swung again—
but stopped mid-motion.
Frozen.
Not physically restrained.
Just… paused like time forgot to continue.
Sarah stared.
“What… did you do?”
Jarian looked terrified of her own hands.
“I didn’t mean to…”
But the second attacker also stopped.
Then the third.
All of them frozen in unnatural stillness.
Even dust in the air stopped falling.
Sarah felt it clearly now.
Jarian wasn’t just powerful.
She was something the world didn’t know how to process.
Far away, in a tower made of dark glass, Mary smiled.
Her fingers traced a glowing map.
“So it has begun.”
Behind her, an advisor asked carefully, “Do we proceed with extraction?”
Mary shook her head.
“No.”
Her smile widened slightly.
“Let her awaken first.”
Back at the house, the frozen attackers suddenly collapsed—like time restarted violently.
They weren’t dead.
But they were no longer moving correctly.
Sarah grabbed Jarian again.
“We leave now.”
Jarian didn’t resist.
But as they ran, she kept looking back at the broken house.
Like part of her was being pulled toward something she couldn’t name yet.
And far behind them—
Mary’s eyes stayed open.
Waiting.
- Writer
