WHEN THE DEAD COME KNOCKING

chapter 6

WHEN THE DEAD COME KNOCKING

CHAPTER SIX — THE WOMAN BESIDE ME

Mara's hand remained frozen on the door handle.

The woman sitting beside her was smiling.

But she was not her grandmother.

Mara knew it instantly.

There were things a person could imitate.

A voice.

A face.

A memory.

Even the little habits that made someone recognizable.

But the thing sitting behind the wheel had made one mistake.

Her grandmother never smiled like that.

Never.

"Mara," the woman whispered.

Mara stared at her.

"Who are you?"

The smile disappeared.

For a moment, the woman's face seemed to flicker.

Not physically.

It was more like Mara's eyes couldn't decide what they were seeing.

Her grandmother.

Then Elena.

Then a stranger.

Then Mara herself.

Mara gasped.

The thing laughed softly.

"You've always been clever."

Mara yanked the door open.

The moment her foot touched the road, the woman grabbed her jacket.

Mara pulled free and ran.

She didn't know where she was going.

She only knew she had to get away.

Behind her, the car door slammed.

Footsteps followed.

"Mara!"

Her grandmother's voice.

Then her mother's.

Then Luca's.

Three voices calling her name at once.

Mara ran faster.

The road stretched through the darkness.

There were no houses.

No streetlights.

No passing cars.

Only trees.

She looked over her shoulder.

Nobody.

The footsteps had stopped.

Mara slowed.

Her breathing was painful.

She turned around completely.

The road was empty.

The car was gone.

She stared at the place where they had stopped.

Nothing.

Then her phone vibrated.

A message.

DON'T RUN TOWARD THE FOREST.

Mara froze.

Another message appeared.

RUN TOWARD THE CHURCH.

She looked around.

There was no church.

Then a bell rang in the distance.

One.

Two.

Three.

Mara followed the sound.

The trees seemed to move around her.

She pushed through branches and stumbled down a slope.

At the bottom stood an old stone church.

St. Agnes.

The same chapel they had visited earlier.

Mara stopped.

The chapel doors were open.

She remembered her grandmother saying the place used to be safe.

But nothing felt safe anymore.

She entered.

The doors closed behind her.

Mara spun around.

The wooden doors were locked.

She pulled them.

Nothing.

"Great."

A light appeared near the altar.

A candle.

Then another.

Then another.

One by one, candles illuminated the church.

Mara stepped forward.

Someone was sitting in the front pew.

A woman.

Her back was toward Mara.

Long dark hair.

Mara's heart began pounding.

"Mom?"

The woman turned.

It wasn't Elena.

It was a young woman Mara had never seen before.

She looked exhausted.

Her clothes were dirty.

Her eyes were red from crying.

"You're Mara Vale."

Mara stepped backward.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Evelyn."

Mara's blood ran cold.

"Evelyn Vale?"

The woman nodded.

Mara remembered the portrait.

The first woman.

The one who had supposedly disappeared in 1894.

"But you're dead."

Evelyn smiled sadly.

"That's what the house wants you to believe."

Mara couldn't speak.

Evelyn stood.

"I've been waiting for you."

"How long?"

"Long enough."

Mara stared at her.

"Where is my grandmother?"

Evelyn looked toward the church doors.

"Not who you think she is."

Mara's stomach tightened.

"You know what happened?"

"I know what happened thirteen years ago."

"Tell me."

Evelyn walked toward the altar.

"Your mother came here."

"After she disappeared?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She was trying to escape."

"From Blackwood?"

Evelyn shook her head.

"From herself."

Mara frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Evelyn looked at her.

"Your mother had opened the first door."

Mara remembered the key.

"And something came through."

"Yes."

"What?"

Evelyn's face became serious.

"It came through wearing your brother's face."

Mara swallowed.

"Luca."

"Yes."

"But Luca was real."

"Of course he was."

"Then why does the house use him?"

"Because he was the first person you loved who disappeared."

Mara looked away.

Evelyn continued.

"The thing inside Blackwood cannot create love."

"What?"

"It can imitate memories, but it cannot create genuine emotion."

Mara stared.

"So it uses people we loved."

"Exactly."

"Why?"

"Because grief opens doors."

Mara remembered all the times she had cried for her mother.

All the nights she had wished she could see her again.

Evelyn nodded.

"You see it now."

Mara looked at the floor.

"So the house feeds on grief?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what?"

"It feeds on invitations."

Mara looked up.

"Invitations?"

"Every time someone says, 'Come back.' Every time someone says, 'I wish you were here.' Every time someone opens a door expecting the dead to be waiting..."

Evelyn's voice lowered.

"...the house hears them."

Mara felt cold.

"Then my mother..."

"Your mother tried to stop it."

"Did she survive?"

Evelyn hesitated.

"Yes."

Mara's heart jumped.

"Where is she?"

Evelyn pointed toward the altar.

Behind it was another wooden panel.

Mara walked toward it.

"There?"

Evelyn shook her head.

"Not behind that."

"Then where?"

"Below."

Mara stared.

"There's another room?"

"There is always another room."

Evelyn opened the panel.

A staircase descended beneath the church.

Mara stared into the darkness.

"I've been down there."

"No."

Evelyn shook her head.

"You've been in the room above it."

Mara's stomach tightened.

"How deep does it go?"

"Deep enough."

They descended.

The air became colder with every step.

Mara noticed names carved into the walls.

Hundreds of them.

Some were old.

Some were new.

She ran her fingers over the nearest inscription.

EVELYN VALE

Under it:

1894

Then another.

THOMAS VALE

1917

Then:

ELENA VALE

Mara stopped.

Her mother's name.

Underneath it was a date.

2013

Mara touched the carving.

"She's been here."

Evelyn nodded.

"Yes."

"Is she still here?"

"I don't know."

Mara looked at her.

"You said you were waiting for me."

"I was."

"Why?"

"Because Elena asked me to."

Mara's eyes widened.

"When?"

"Thirteen years ago."

"Then why didn't you come?"

"I couldn't."

"Why?"

Evelyn pointed toward the wall.

"Because my name was already here."

Mara stared.

Evelyn's name was carved into the stone.

"You're dead?"

Evelyn shook her head.

"Not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

"I opened the door in 1894."

Mara's breathing stopped.

"You were the first."

Evelyn nodded.

"And you've been alive all this time?"

"Not alive."

Mara stepped back.

Evelyn's eyes filled with sadness.

"The house doesn't always kill you."

Mara remembered her grandmother's words.

"It keeps you."

"Yes."

Evelyn looked down.

"It keeps a piece of you."

Mara felt a chill.

"Then what is left?"

Evelyn touched her chest.

"Enough to remember."

They reached the bottom.

A large stone chamber opened before them.

At its center stood twelve wooden doors.

Mara stared.

"Twelve?"

Evelyn nodded.

"Each one belongs to a knock."

Mara counted them.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

The twelfth door was different.

It was black.

The others were brown and old.

The twelfth looked almost new.

Mara approached.

Evelyn grabbed her arm.

"Don't."

Mara stopped.

"Why?"

"Because that's the door your mother opened."

Mara stared.

"Where is she?"

Evelyn pointed.

"Behind it."

Mara's heart pounded.

She stepped toward the door.

"Mom?"

Silence.

Then a faint voice.

"Mara?"

Mara's eyes filled with tears.

"Mom!"

She reached for the handle.

Evelyn grabbed her.

"Wait."

"But that's her."

"Maybe."

Mara looked at her.

"What do you mean, maybe?"

"The house knows what you want to hear."

Mara's hand trembled.

The voice came again.

"Mara, don't open the door."

This time Mara knew.

It was her mother's voice.

Not the imitation.

Not the creature.

Her mother's real voice.

"Mom, I'm here."

Silence.

Then Elena whispered:

"Don't trust anyone."

Mara looked at Evelyn.

Evelyn's face was unreadable.

"Not even her?"

Elena answered from behind the door.

"Especially her."

Evelyn stepped backward.

Mara looked between them.

"Why?"

No answer.

Then the twelfth door began knocking.

Once.

Mara froze.

Twice.

Evelyn whispered:

"Don't count."

Three.

The sound became louder.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Mara covered her ears.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

The stone chamber began shaking.

Ten.

Eleven.

The twelfth knock never came.

Instead, the door opened.

Darkness filled the doorway.

Mara saw a woman standing inside.

Elena.

Her mother.

Mara began crying.

"Mom."

Elena stepped forward.

She looked older than Mara remembered.

Her hair was streaked with gray.

Her face was tired.

But her eyes were unmistakable.

"Don't come closer."

Mara stopped.

"Mom?"

Elena nodded.

"Yes."

Mara wanted to run to her.

But she remembered the warnings.

The copies.

The house.

The dead.

"Prove it."

Elena smiled sadly.

"When you were six, you broke my favorite blue cup."

Mara froze.

Her mother continued.

"You blamed Luca."

A tiny laugh escaped Mara.

"You knew."

"I always knew."

Mara began crying harder.

Elena stepped forward.

"Your grandmother told you I died."

"She lied."

"I asked her to."

"Why?"

"Because I needed you to forget."

Mara looked at the black door.

"Forget what?"

Elena's expression changed.

"The night you opened this door."

Mara shook her head.

"I remember."

"No."

Elena stepped closer.

"You remember what the house wants you to remember."

Mara stared.

"What really happened?"

Elena looked toward Evelyn.

Then back at Mara.

"Luca never opened the door."

Mara's heart stopped.

"I did."

Elena nodded.

"You opened it."

"Why?"

"Because I asked you to."

Mara stepped backward.

"What?"

Elena's eyes filled with tears.

"I was trying to save Luca."

"From what?"

"From me."

Silence.

Mara couldn't understand.

Elena continued.

"The thing inside Blackwood had already copied me."

Mara remembered the woman.

"The woman in the window."

"Yes."

"She was you?"

"She wore my face."

"Then why did you ask me to open the door?"

"Because the copy was trapped inside."

Mara shook her head.

"That doesn't make sense."

"I needed to separate it from me."

"And the door did that?"

"Yes."

"What happened to Luca?"

Elena closed her eyes.

"He saw the copy."

Mara waited.

"He followed it."

"Where?"

"Through the door."

Mara's voice broke.

"So Luca is..."

"Not dead."

Mara looked up.

"He's inside."

Evelyn whispered:

"Not exactly."

Elena turned toward her.

"Don't."

Evelyn smiled.

"You've hidden the truth long enough."

Mara looked between them.

"What truth?"

Evelyn's expression changed.

"The boy you have been talking to isn't Luca."

"I know."

"No."

Evelyn shook her head.

"You don't."

She pointed toward the black door.

"Luca is still behind that door."

Mara stared.

"Then who has been calling me?"

Evelyn whispered:

"The first copy."

The chamber fell silent.

Then the lights went out.

Mara heard footsteps.

One pair.

Then another.

Then another.

Elena shouted:

"Mara, stay where you are!"

Something moved in the darkness.

Mara felt a hand touch her shoulder.

She turned.

Nobody.

Then a voice whispered directly beside her ear.

"Found you."

Mara screamed.

The lights returned.

Evelyn was gone.

Elena was gone.

The twelve doors were gone.

Mara stood alone in the chamber.

Only the black door remained.

It was open.

Behind it stood Luca.

The real Luca.

Six years old.

Crying.

"Mara."

She stared at him.

He reached out.

"Please."

Mara stepped forward.

Then she noticed something.

Luca's shadow.

It wasn't attached to him.

It stretched across the floor.

And at the end of the shadow stood a tall faceless figure.

Mara stopped.

Luca smiled.

Not sadly.

Not fearfully.

Hungrily.

"Come closer."

Mara stepped backward.

"No."

Luca's face changed.

His smile disappeared.

The chamber walls began whispering.

Hundreds of voices.

All calling her name.

"Mara."

"Mara."

"Mara."

The black door slammed shut.

Then twelve knocks erupted from behind it.

Mara covered her ears.

She ran.

Up the staircase.

Through the chapel.

She burst outside.

The night air hit her face.

Her grandmother's car was waiting.

The driver's door was open.

Mara approached cautiously.

Inside was her grandmother.

Alive.

Terrified.

"Mara!"

Mara rushed toward her.

"Grandma!"

Her grandmother grabbed her hand.

"Where have you been?"

"In the church."

"What did you see?"

"My mother."

Her grandmother's face changed.

"What did she say?"

"She said you weren't to be trusted."

The old woman stared at her.

Then she whispered:

"She's right."

Mara froze.

"What?"

Her grandmother's eyes filled with tears.

"I've been hiding something."

"Tell me."

"I wasn't the one who raised you."

Mara stepped backward.

"What?"

"Your grandmother died thirteen years ago."

Mara's blood ran cold.

The woman in the driver's seat slowly smiled.

"I've been pretending ever since."

Behind Mara, the chapel bell began ringing.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

And from the forest came a familiar child's voice.

"Run, Mara."

She turned.

Luca stood among the trees.

This time, his shadow was normal.

He looked terrified.

He pointed toward the car.

"That's not Grandma."

Mara looked back.

The woman smiled wider.

The doors locked.

The engine started.

And the car began moving by itself.

Mara screamed.

The woman beside her whispered:

"Now you finally understand."

The car turned toward Blackwood Manor.

And somewhere in the darkness, the real grandmother was screaming for her.

END OF CHAPTER SIX