Chapter 57 — The Attic Key
The morning was unnaturally still. No birdsong, no breeze. Just silence and the faint creaking of the old house settling into its bones. Lena woke to find Jay gone from the bed, a thin sheet left rumpled beside her.
She found him outside, pacing near the edge of the woods. A cigarette burned slowly between his fingers — something she’d never seen him touch before.
“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked.
He glanced at her. “Didn’t want to.”
There was something buried in his tone. Regret. Or guilt.
Back inside, while Jay worked on reinforcing the doors and checking the windows, Lena wandered the house again. The attic door still stood sealed, like a mouth clamped shut. But today, something changed. As she passed the master bedroom closet, a metallic sound clinked beneat
