WHEN THE DEAD COME KNOCKING

chapter 12

WHEN THE DEAD COME KNOCKING

CHAPTER TWELVE — THE TWELVE HOUSES

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Mara stood in the pale morning light, staring at the forest.

Twelve houses.

Twelve impossible silhouettes hidden among the trees.

They hadn't been there before.

She was certain of it.

Her grandmother stood beside her, trembling.

Elena had gone completely silent.

Samuel, the boy who had supposedly disappeared decades ago, stared at the distant buildings as though he was looking at something he desperately wanted to forget.

Mara finally spoke.

"How long have they been there?"

Samuel answered without looking at her.

"Longer than Blackwood."

Mara turned toward him.

"You said Blackwood was the first."

"The first house."

"Then what are those?"

Samuel swallowed.

"The others."

A cold wind passed through the clearing.

Mara looked toward the nearest structure.

It stood beyond a line of dead trees.

Unlike Blackwood Manor, it wasn't large.

It looked like a small cottage.

Old.

Abandoned.

Its windows were dark.

Its front door was painted red.

And hanging above the door was a number.

2

Mara looked farther into the forest.

The next house had a number three.

The next had four.

She counted.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Then, at the very back of the forest, hidden beneath enormous trees, stood the twelfth.

Its door was black.

Mara's stomach tightened.

"The last door."

Samuel nodded.

"The one you opened beneath Blackwood wasn't the last door."

Mara stared at him.

"Then what was it?"

"A doorway."

"To where?"

"To the place between them."

Elena stepped forward.

"Samuel, enough."

He looked at her.

"You still want to protect her."

"Yes."

"You've already lost enough."

"I know."

"Then stop hiding things."

Elena looked away.

Mara turned toward her mother.

"He's right."

Elena sighed.

"I was hoping you would have more time."

"Time for what?"

"To understand what you've become."

Mara's expression hardened.

"I already understand."

"No."

Elena looked at her.

"You understand the copies. You understand the house. You understand the first door."

She pointed toward the forest.

"But you don't understand why there are twelve."

Mara waited.

Elena continued.

"Each house belongs to a different generation of your family."

Mara frowned.

"Our family built them?"

"Not exactly."

"Then who did?"

"The people who came before us."

Samuel interrupted.

"Some were Vale family members. Others weren't."

Mara looked at him.

"Then why are they connected?"

Samuel pointed toward the houses.

"Every house contains a door."

"And every door leads to the same place?"

"No."

He shook his head.

"Every door leads to a different memory."

Mara felt a chill.

"What kind of memories?"

"The memories of the dead."

Silence.

Mara looked toward House Two.

"So the houses are holding people?"

"Not people."

Samuel looked at her.

"Memories of people."

Mara thought about Luca.

"If they're only memories, why can they speak?"

"Because memories don't always know they're memories."

Mara's skin prickled.

"And the copies?"

"Some copies believe they're the people they imitate."

Mara looked at Elena.

"Like me."

Elena stepped forward.

"No."

Mara stared at her.

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's true."

"Then what am I?"

Elena took a breath.

"You're the exception."

Samuel laughed quietly.

"That's what the house calls her."

Mara looked at him.

"What do you call me?"

Samuel smiled.

"My sister."

Mara's expression softened.

Samuel looked exactly like the boy in the old photograph.

For the first time, Mara felt something she hadn't felt in years.

Family.

Not memory.

Not imitation.

Family.

She reached for his hand.

His fingers were warm.

Real.

Mara looked at Elena.

"How is he alive?"

Elena's eyes filled with tears.

"He isn't."

Mara froze.

Samuel slowly released her hand.

His expression became sad.

Mara stared at him.

"But I touched you."

"Yes."

"You feel real."

"I know."

"Then what are you?"

Samuel looked toward the forest.

"A memory that learned how to walk."

Mara's heart sank.

Samuel continued.

"Blackwood released me because you broke the first seal."

"What happens now?"

"I disappear."

Mara shook her head.

"No."

Samuel smiled.

"You can't stop it."

"You just came back."

"I was never really gone."

Mara stepped closer.

"You don't have to disappear."

Samuel looked at her.

"Everyone does eventually."

A bell rang somewhere in the forest.

Once.

The twelve houses seemed to respond.

Their windows illuminated simultaneously.

Mara's grandmother whispered:

"The houses are awake."

Samuel nodded.

"The first door is open."

Mara looked toward Blackwood.

"What happens if the others open?"

Samuel answered:

"Then the dead won't stay inside."

Mara stared at the houses.

"They'll come out."

"Yes."

"All of them?"

"Every memory."

Elena grabbed Mara's arm.

"We need to leave."

Mara shook her head.

"No."

Elena looked surprised.

"No?"

"We can't keep running."

"We have to."

"Why?"

"Because that's what the house wants."

Mara looked toward the forest.

"It wants us frightened."

Samuel nodded.

"And divided."

Mara looked at him.

"Then we don't give it either."

Her grandmother stared at her.

"What are you planning?"

Mara walked toward House Two.

"I want to know what's inside."

Elena immediately followed.

"No."

Mara turned.

"Why?"

"Because once you enter a house, it remembers you."

"Blackwood already remembers me."

"These houses are different."

"How?"

"They don't show you what happened."

Elena's voice became quiet.

"They show you what could have happened."

Mara stopped.

"What does that mean?"

"They show you the life you could have had."

Mara looked at House Two.

Samuel spoke.

"And that's more dangerous than ghosts."

Mara stared at the red door.

"What happens if I don't go?"

Samuel looked at the forest.

"Someone else will."

Mara understood.

"Who?"

He pointed behind her.

A figure stood near Blackwood.

Mara's grandmother.

The real grandmother.

Mara looked back.

Her grandmother was standing beside Elena.

Then she looked at the figure again.

Another grandmother.

Two of them.

Mara's blood ran cold.

The second woman smiled.

"Which one is real?"

Mara didn't answer.

The woman raised her hand.

"Choose."

Mara looked at Elena.

Her mother whispered:

"Don't."

The copy stepped closer.

"You've always been good at choosing."

Mara felt anger rising.

"You don't know me."

The copy smiled.

"I know everything you remember."

Mara picked up a stone.

The copy laughed.

"That won't help."

Mara dropped the stone.

"I know."

Then she walked toward House Two.

The others followed.

As they approached, the red door opened.

Warm light spilled outside.

Mara looked inside.

It wasn't dark.

It wasn't frightening.

It looked like home.

A kitchen.

A dining table.

A birthday cake.

Laughter.

Mara stopped.

She knew that room.

She remembered it.

Her seventh birthday.

Luca was sitting beside her.

Her mother was singing.

Her grandmother was laughing.

Everything was perfect.

Mara's eyes filled with tears.

"It's showing me my memories."

Samuel shook his head.

"No."

Mara looked at him.

"It's showing you what you wish they had been."

Mara stared.

Then she noticed something.

Luca was sitting at the table.

But he wasn't six years old.

He was older.

Sixteen.

He looked happy.

Mara watched him laugh.

"What is this?"

Samuel answered:

"The life you never had."

Mara stepped closer.

Inside the room, Elena was smiling.

Her grandmother was younger.

Luca was alive.

And Mara herself was sitting at the table.

Everyone looked happy.

Mara whispered:

"I want this."

Samuel grabbed her hand.

"No."

She looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because if you stay, you'll forget why you came."

Mara watched Luca.

He looked directly at her.

"Mara."

She froze.

Luca stood.

"Come inside."

Mara's heart broke.

"You aren't real."

He smiled.

"I could be."

She stepped forward.

Samuel pulled her back.

"Don't."

Luca's face changed.

For a moment, he looked angry.

Then frightened.

Then normal again.

"Mara, please."

Mara closed her eyes.

"I miss you."

The room went silent.

When she opened her eyes, Luca was standing directly in front of her.

The door was still between them.

He placed his hand against the glass.

"I miss you too."

Mara raised her hand.

Their palms almost touched.

Then she noticed something.

Luca had no reflection.

Mara lowered her hand.

"You're not him."

The false Luca smiled.

"No."

The room changed.

The birthday party disappeared.

The kitchen became dark.

The walls became covered in names.

The false Luca stepped backward.

"You chose wrong."

Mara stared.

"No."

She took another step toward the door.

"I chose reality."

The red door slammed shut.

A scream echoed from inside.

Then silence.

House Two went dark.

Mara turned toward the others.

Samuel was smiling.

"One."

Mara frowned.

"What?"

"You've survived one."

Elena looked toward the remaining houses.

"Eleven more."

Mara stared at them.

"Do we have to enter all of them?"

Samuel nodded.

"Until you reach the twelfth."

"What happens there?"

He didn't answer.

"Samuel."

He looked at her.

"The twelfth house doesn't show you what you want."

"What does it show?"

"The truth."

Mara's stomach tightened.

"And what truth?"

Samuel looked toward the distant black door.

"The reason the dead are knocking."

A deep sound echoed through the forest.

Knock.

Every house answered.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Mara counted.

One.

Two.

Three.

All twelve houses began knocking together.

The forest shook.

Birds flew from the trees.

The ground seemed to tremble beneath their feet.

Then the doors opened.

All of them.

Figures appeared.

Dozens.

Then hundreds.

They stepped onto the porches.

Some looked old.

Some young.

Some were children.

Some were people Mara had never seen.

But every single one turned toward her.

Samuel whispered:

"They know your name."

Mara's heart pounded.

"Why?"

"They've been waiting."

"For me?"

"For someone."

A woman stepped from House Three.

She wore an old white dress.

She raised her hand.

"Mara Vale."

Another voice came from House Four.

"Mara Vale."

Then House Five.

"Mara Vale."

Soon the entire forest was filled with voices.

Mara Vale.

Mara Vale.

Mara Vale.

Mara looked at Elena.

"Why do they know me?"

Elena's face was pale.

"Because you're the key."

Mara looked down at the black key.

"No."

Elena shook her head.

"Not that key."

She pointed toward Mara's chest.

"You are."

The voices stopped.

Every figure turned toward the same place.

Mara.

Then the twelfth house opened.

The door was black.

A woman stepped outside.

Mara recognized her immediately.

The original Mara.

But she was no longer eight.

She looked exactly Mara's age.

She walked through the forest toward them.

Mara couldn't speak.

The girl stopped in front of her.

"You finally came."

Mara stared.

"Are you real?"

The girl smiled.

"I don't know."

"Who are you?"

The girl reached into her pocket.

She pulled out a small red box.

Mara's heart stopped.

"The box."

The girl nodded.

"The one you buried."

Mara took a step forward.

"But I have it."

The girl smiled.

"No."

She opened the box.

Inside was the broken blue cup.

And beneath it was a photograph.

Mara looked at it.

Her blood turned cold.

The photograph showed Mara standing outside Blackwood Manor.

But she wasn't alone.

Beside her stood the girl.

And behind them stood twelve houses.

The photograph was dated:

TOMORROW.

Mara stared.

"That's impossible."

The girl whispered:

"Not anymore."

Behind them, Blackwood Manor's windows began glowing.

One after another.

Then the twelve houses followed.

All twelve.

The dead stepped off their porches.

And began walking toward Mara.

Samuel grabbed her hand.

"We have to go."

"Where?"

He pointed toward the black door.

"Inside."

Mara looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because the only place they can't follow us..."

He swallowed.

"...is the twelfth house."

Mara stared at the approaching dead.

Then at the black door.

Then at the girl who looked exactly like her.

The girl smiled.

"Come."

Mara took one step.

Then another.

And as she crossed toward the twelfth house, the dead began knocking again.

Not on doors.

On the walls.

On the trees.

On the ground.

Everywhere.

Until the entire forest sounded like one enormous heartbeat.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Mara reached the black door.

She placed her hand on the handle.

Before opening it, she heard a whisper behind her.

A voice she hadn't heard since childhood.

Her father's.

"Don't open the door, Mara."

She froze.

Her father had died before she was born.

Slowly, she turned.

A man stood among the dead.

Her father.

He smiled.

And for the first time since the nightmare began, Mara wanted to believe the dead.

She stepped away from the door.

Her father raised one hand.

"Come home."

Mara's eyes filled with tears.

Then Samuel screamed:

"THAT ISN'T YOUR FATHER!"

The man's smile disappeared.

His face began changing.

First into her father.

Then Luca.

Then Elena.

Then Mara.

Finally, the face disappeared completely.

The creature behind the dead whispered:

"Open the door."

Mara turned toward the black door.

Her hand closed around the handle.

She remembered every warning.

Every lie.

Every loss.

Every knock.

Then she opened it.

Darkness waited on the other side.

And somewhere deep inside that darkness, a woman's voice whispered:

"Welcome home, Mara."

END OF CHAPTER TWELVE