Chapter 5.. The things I shouldn't have heard
714 Words
I wasn’t trying to listen.
I really wasn’t.
I just.. needed something hot.. Tea or maybe just an excuse to walk.. I felt weird.. Heavy. My hands couldn’t stay still, so I left the room..
I was almost in the kitchen when I heard Liam’s voice. I didn’t mean to stop. It just sort of happened.
“She’s asking too many questions.”
It was him. Definitely him.
Then—another voice. Deeper. Older maybe. Less polished. “Then stop giving her things to notice.”
I didn’t breathe. Or if I did, it didn’t feel like it.
There was a pause. Then Liam again. “She’s smarter than the last one, Marin warned me.”
That part hit.. Like, really hit.
The last one.
Who was that?
I took a step back. I shouldn’t have. It made the floor creak. Stupid.
“I’ll deal with her,” Liam said. Voice flat. Like he was talking about trash pickup.
I turned. Walked away fast. Not fast enough.
My hands were cold when I got back to my room. Didn’t remember getting there.. No plan. Just out. Away.
The hallway was quiet. Too quiet. I made it to the garden without seeing anyone. Maybe they were busy. Or maybe they were watching.
The grass was damp. I didn’t care.
I walked to the far end of the yard. The part that always felt colder. Past the wall with the ivy, past the weird window I still hadn’t gotten close to again.
I stopped.
My phone had no signal. Again. It was like this place existed outside of everything else.
Then I turned.
Julian was just… there.
“Jesus,” I muttered.
He didn’t smile. “You heard them.”
It wasn’t a question.
I didn’t answer right away. Just looked at him.
“What happened to the last girl?” I asked.
Julian didn’t blink. I don’t know.”
He called me a liar.
He just shrugged after that. “She left.”
“Left, how?”
“Same way people always leave this house. Quietly. With no one asking questions.”
That made me feel sick.
“She didn’t leave on her own,” I said.
“Are you sure about that?”
I didn’t know. Not really. But my gut did.
“She’s gone,” he said. “That’s all anyone’s allowed to say.”
I didn’t like the way he said “allowed”.
He started to walk away. I called after him. “If you know something, you should tell me.”
He turned, slowly. And if I did? What then?”
No answer came.
Back in the room, I didn’t sit. I didn’t lie down. I paced. Three steps to the desk. Four steps back to the door.
Then my phone buzzed.
One message. No name. Same weird number.
“Don’t open the red door.”
That was it.
I stared at it.
Replied:
“What red door?”
There was no response
I called.. Straight to voicemail.
I stared at the wall. Then the mirror. Then back to the message.
Then I left the room again.
I walked for too long. Through halls I hadn’t been in before. Past a painting I could swear was watching me.
Eventually, I saw it.
The red door.
It looked.. wrong—Old—Scratched.. Not part of the house.
I stepped closer. My hand hovered over the knob.
I didn’t touch it.
I listened.
Nothing.
Then—
A noise.
Soft. Dragging. Something shifting inside.
Then a knock.
One.
Two.
Three.
I backed away.. Fast..
My shoulder hit the wall behind me.
I didn’t look back at the door.
I ran.
Back in my room. I slammed the door. Locked it. Pulled a chair in front of it. I didn’t even realize I was shaking until I dropped my phone.
I sat on the floor. Curled up near the bed. My knees to my chest.
I wanted to cry but nothing came out.
Just breathing. Too loud. Too fast.
And that knock. Still in my head.
I knew I wasn’t supposed to hear what I heard. And now I knew there was something in this house. Something behind that red door.
And I’d made the mistake of getting too close to it.
- Writer
