WHEN THE DEAD COME KNOCKING

chapter 15

WHEN THE DEAD COME KNOCKING

CHAPTER FIFTEEN — THE VOICE BEHIND THE DOOR

Luca's scream tore through the darkness.

"MARA!"

She stepped through Door Four.

The door slammed behind her.

Silence followed.

Mara turned.

There was no door.

No passage.

No way back.

She stood inside a small bedroom.

A single lamp hung from the ceiling, swinging gently despite the absence of wind.

On the wall were photographs.

Hundreds of them.

Every photograph showed Luca.

Luca as a child.

Luca laughing.

Luca at school.

Luca sitting beside Mara.

Luca standing with Elena.

Luca sleeping.

Luca crying.

Mara walked closer.

"This isn't real."

A voice answered from behind her.

"Neither was I."

Mara turned.

Luca stood in the corner.

He looked exactly as she remembered him.

Sixteen years old.

Dark hair.

A nervous smile.

The same jacket he had worn on the night he disappeared.

Mara's heart tightened.

"Luca."

He smiled.

"You came."

Mara wanted to run to him.

Instead, she stayed where she was.

"Are you real?"

Luca looked down.

"I don't know."

"That's not good enough."

"I know."

Mara approached him cautiously.

"Where are you?"

Luca pointed toward the floor.

Mara looked down.

A trapdoor was hidden beneath an old rug.

She pulled it aside.

There was a metal door beneath it.

A number had been carved into the metal.

04.

Mara frowned.

"This isn't where you are."

Luca shook his head.

"No."

"Then why is your name on the door?"

"Because the house used me to lure you here."

Mara stepped away.

"Then where is the real you?"

Luca's expression became sad.

"I don't know."

Mara clenched her fists.

"I've spent all this time believing you were dead."

"You were right."

"Then why are you standing here?"

"Because the house remembers me."

Mara looked around.

"Can I free you?"

Luca didn't answer.

"Can I?"

"I don't know."

Mara's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm tired of not knowing."

Luca smiled sadly.

"Then stop asking the house for answers."

"What should I ask?"

"Yourself."

The room changed.

The walls disappeared.

Mara found herself standing in the forest outside Blackwood Manor.

It was raining.

She was eight years old.

Luca was beside her.

The memory was so vivid that Mara could almost smell the wet earth.

Young Mara was holding the brass key.

Luca looked terrified.

"Don't open it."

Young Mara looked toward the manor.

Someone was standing in the upstairs window.

A woman.

Mara's mother.

Young Mara whispered:

"Mom is calling me."

Luca grabbed her hand.

"That's not Mom."

Mara watched herself walk toward the house.

She followed.

"Luca, what happened that night?"

He didn't answer.

Mara looked at him.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Luca lowered his head.

"I tried to stop you."

"You did."

"But I failed."

"Then what happened?"

Luca looked toward the house.

"You opened the door."

Mara nodded.

"Yes."

"But you weren't the one who walked through."

Mara froze.

"What?"

Luca pointed toward the window.

"Something came out."

Mara stared.

A figure appeared in the window.

It looked like her.

Young.

Small.

Terrified.

Then another figure appeared behind her.

Tall.

Faceless.

Mara felt cold.

"What was that?"

"The thing beneath the house."

"But you said the house wasn't the creature."

"It isn't."

Luca's voice trembled.

"The house is a prison."

Mara looked at him.

"Then what's being imprisoned?"

"The first memory."

"What does that mean?"

Luca shook his head.

"You'll find out at Door Twelve."

Mara stepped closer.

"How do I get there?"

"You have to stop trying to save everyone."

Mara stared at him.

"What?"

"You keep believing that if you're brave enough, you'll bring everyone back."

"Can't I?"

"No."

His answer was immediate.

"Why?"

"Because some of us are already gone."

Mara's eyes filled with tears.

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Remember us."

The forest began fading.

Luca stepped closer.

"That's all we ever wanted."

Mara reached for him.

"Luca!"

His fingers touched hers.

For one brief moment, he felt completely real.

Warm.

Alive.

Then his body began dissolving.

Mara held tighter.

"Don't go!"

"I have to."

"No!"

"Mara."

She looked into his eyes.

"You were my sister."

Mara froze.

"What?"

Luca smiled.

"Not your brother."

The world went silent.

Mara stared at him.

"What did you say?"

"You remember me as your brother."

"But..."

"We weren't."

Mara shook her head.

"That's impossible."

Luca's smile disappeared.

"The house changed your memories."

"Why?"

"Because the truth would have made you dangerous."

Mara felt dizzy.

"What truth?"

Luca whispered:

"I wasn't Luca."

Mara's heart stopped.

The forest disappeared.

Mara was back inside the bedroom.

The figure standing before her was no longer Luca.

It was the faceless creature.

Mara stepped backward.

"You."

The creature tilted its head.

"Finally."

"You used his face."

"I used what you loved."

Mara's anger replaced her fear.

"Where is Luca?"

The creature smiled.

"Which Luca?"

Mara's fists tightened.

"The real one."

"There were many."

"What?"

"Every time you remembered him, I learned more."

The creature stepped closer.

"You gave me his voice."

"You gave me his face."

"You gave me his memories."

Mara shook her head.

"I didn't give you anything."

The creature laughed.

"Memory is permission."

Mara remembered the words.

The houses survived through memories.

The dead needed to be remembered.

The creature fed on those memories.

But there was something it didn't understand.

Mara raised the black key.

"You can't own what I choose to remember."

The creature stopped.

For the first time, it looked afraid.

Mara stepped forward.

"I remember Luca."

The creature recoiled.

"I remember Clara."

It stepped backward.

"I remember Samuel."

The walls began shaking.

"I remember my father."

The creature screamed.

"I remember every person you tried to erase."

The photographs on the walls began falling.

One after another.

The faces inside them disappeared.

The creature covered its face.

"Stop!"

Mara raised the key.

"I remember myself."

The bedroom exploded with light.

The creature vanished.

The door reappeared.

Mara stood before it.

The black key had changed again.

The symbol marked 4 had broken.

But something else had appeared.

A message.

LUCA WAS NEVER THE PRISONER.

Mara stared at the words.

"Then who was?"

A voice answered from behind her.

"Me."

Mara turned.

A young woman stood in the doorway.

She looked exactly like Mara.

But older.

Maybe twenty-five.

Mara recognized her.

"The original."

The woman shook her head.

"No."

"Then who?"

The woman looked terrified.

"I am the first copy."

Mara's blood ran cold.

"The first copy?"

She nodded.

"Before you."

Mara stared.

"How many copies are there?"

The woman looked toward the remaining doors.

"Eleven."

Mara's stomach dropped.

"And you're one of them?"

"Yes."

"Then who is the original?"

The woman whispered:

"She's behind Door Twelve."

Mara looked toward the dark passage.

"Why?"

"Because she never died."

Mara froze.

The woman continued:

"She was never trapped by the house."

"Then where has she been?"

The woman pointed toward Mara.

"Inside you."

Mara's heart stopped.

"What?"

"You've been carrying her memories."

"That's impossible."

"No."

The woman smiled sadly.

"That's why the house fears you."

Mara looked at the remaining doors.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Seven doors stood between her and the truth.

The woman stepped backward.

"Don't trust Door Seven."

Mara frowned.

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't show memories."

"What does it show?"

"Your future."

The woman disappeared.

Mara stood alone.

The black key felt heavier in her hand.

She walked toward Door Five.

Then stopped.

Something was written above it.

Three words.

SOMEONE IS WAITING.

Mara touched the door.

From the other side came a whisper.

Not her mother's.

Not Luca's.

Not Samuel's.

Her own.

"Open."

Mara stared at the door.

Then she heard another voice.

A little girl's voice.

"Please don't."

Mara froze.

The voice sounded exactly like the original Mara.

Then another voice whispered:

"She's lying."

The two voices began arguing behind the door.

One begged Mara to open it.

The other begged her to run.

Mara stepped backward.

She realized the houses were no longer simply testing her memories.

They were testing her judgment.

And the deeper she went, the harder the choices would become.

She raised the black key.

"Door Five."

The lock clicked.

Mara opened it.

And immediately heard someone whisper:

"Welcome back."

She stepped inside.

The door slammed behind her.

And somewhere far away, in the darkness beneath the twelve houses, something opened its eyes.

END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN