CHAPTER 16 – Footsteps Above Silence
862 Words
The second floor felt heavier than ever.
Even from the bottom of the staircase, Kezia could sense it—
that thick, suffocating pressure
that didn’t belong to the living.
Noren stepped closer to her, lowering his voice.
“Kezia… before I came back, I heard footsteps upstairs. Slow ones. Dragging.”
He swallowed. “Like someone was limping.”
Her skin prickled.
The ghost’s warning replayed:
Don’t go upstairs. Not now.
But Noren didn’t know that.
He didn’t know anything.
Kezia steadied herself, her breath trembling.
“Maybe it’s just the old wood,” she said weakly.
Noren frowned.
“Wood doesn’t drag across the floor.”
Her heart skipped.
“Stay here,” he said gently. “I’ll check it out.”
Kezia’s eyes widened.
“No—!”
But he was already climbing the stairs.
The air turned cold instantly.
A whisper slid behind her ear.
“Don’t follow him.”
She spun around—
the ghost was there again, forming beside the staircase, the edges of his figure blurring with the dim light.
He reached out—
not to touch her—
but in a pleading gesture.
“You’ll get hurt.”
Kezia clenched her fists.
“I can’t leave him alone up there.”
“You must.”
“But why?” she demanded, her voice cracking. “What’s upstairs? Why are you protecting me?”
The ghost looked pained.
He stepped back, struggling to keep his form solid.
“I don’t remember everything,” he whispered.
“But I know that… the thing upstairs doesn’t want you alive.”
Kezia’s breath caught.
“And Noren?” she asked softly.
The ghost’s expression darkened.
“Anyone who enters that hallway… becomes targeted.”
Her stomach turned.
A loud crash boomed from upstairs.
Kezia gasped.
“Noren!”
She ran up the stairs despite the ghost’s warning.
“Kezia, stop—!” his voice broke desperately behind her.
But she didn’t stop.
Not with someone in danger.
The Second Floor Hallway
The hallway was dim, lit only by one flickering bulb.
Noren stood near a fallen mirror frame, breathing hard, inspecting it.
“Kezia?” he said, surprised. “I told you to stay—”
His words stopped.
Both of them felt it.
A cold breath passing between them.
The light flickered violently.
And down the narrow hallway—
a silhouette stood.
Tall.
Crooked.
Its limbs too long to be human.
Its head tilted unnaturally to one side, as if listening.
Noren froze.
“K-Kezia…” he whispered.
“Is that… someone you know?”
She shook her head slowly.
“No.”
The silhouette twitched.
And then, with a sharp, jarring motion—
it stepped forward.
Noren moved in front of Kezia instinctively.
“Stay behind me,” he murmured, voice trembling.
The shadow creature dragged one leg behind it—
the same dragging sound Noren had heard earlier.
It was coming faster.
Kezia’s heart slammed against her ribs.
“Noren, run,” she whispered.
“No. I won’t leave—”
A sudden gust of freezing wind blasted through the hallway.
The bulbs exploded—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Darkness swallowed everything.
Kezia screamed and grabbed Noren’s arm.
“Kezia—!” he choked out.
Something moved in the dark.
Close.
Too close.
Then—
A burst of pale white light flashed behind her.
Not from electricity.
From him.
The ghost’s form surged into existence like a shield, bright and trembling, standing between Kezia and the creature.
His voice wasn’t soft this time.
It cracked through the hallway, fierce and resonant:
“STAY AWAY FROM HER!”
The creature hissed—
a horrible, rattling sound—
and shrank back into the darkness.
Kezia stared, stunned.
The ghost glowed with a warm, cold light—
like moonlight shaped into a human.
This was the clearest she had ever seen him.
A young man.
Messy dark hair.
Sharp jawline.
Sad, bright eyes.
Wearing the faint shadow of clothes that didn’t belong to this era.
Noren clutched the wall behind her.
“H-How… what…”
His voice shook.
“Who is that?”
The ghost turned his head slightly, looking at Kezia.
Only Kezia.
His voice softened again.
“…I told you not to come.”
She stepped toward him, trembling.
“You saved me,” she whispered.
His form flickered gently.
“I always will.”
The creature gave one last distant hiss, retreating fully.
The cold faded.
The light steadied.
Kezia lifted a shaking hand…
and for the first time, she saw him try to lift his too—
as if wanting to meet her half.
Their fingers didn’t touch.
Not yet.
But the distance between them felt smaller than ever.
Noren stared at them both in disbelief.
“Kezia…” he whispered.
“Who is he?”
Kezia’s throat tightened.
She didn’t know his name.
She didn’t know his story.
But she knew one thing, undeniably:
He wasn’t here to hurt her.
“…He’s the one protecting me,” she whispered.
The ghost’s eyes softened…
And somewhere deep in the mansion—
a locked door clicked open.
- Writer
