EPISODE 4: SEEKING ANSWERS
843 Words
Elara lay on the floor, her body still shaking. The icy grip on her wrist had vanished, but the sensation lingered, like phantom fingers digging into her skin.
Theo stood over her, his face pale, his breathing uneven. He had seen it. Really seen it.
“Elara,” he finally said, his voice hoarse. “What the hell was that?”
She didn’t answer right away. She didn’t know how.
Theo had always been the logical one, the skeptic. He laughed at horror movies and rolled his eyes at ghost stories. But now, standing in her room, staring at the spot where the darkness had almost swallowed her whole, he looked shaken to his core.
Elara sat up slowly, rubbing her wrist. It ached, as if something had really gripped her.
“…It’s never done that before,” she admitted.
Theo blinked. “What?”
“They never touched me,” she whispered. “They were always just… watching. I never thought they could actually do anything.”
Theo ran a hand through his hair, pacing back and forth. “Okay. Okay. So let’s go over this again. You see ghosts. You’ve been seeing them for years. And now one of them—what, tried to take you?”
Elara nodded stiffly.
He let out a sharp breath. “Okay. That’s—yeah. That’s bad.”
Elara swallowed hard, then said, “I need help.”
Theo stopped pacing. “From who?”
She hesitated, but she already knew the answer.
“My grandmother,” she said.
Theo frowned. “I thought she passed away.”
“She did. But before she died, she told me about someone. A woman in town—people say she knows things. About the other side.”
Theo stared at her. “You mean, like… a psychic?”
Elara nodded.
Theo exhaled, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but yeah. Okay. Let’s go.”
---
The woman lived on the outskirts of town in a house that looked like something out of a horror movie—weathered wood, boarded-up windows, wind chimes made of animal bones clinking in the breeze.
Theo muttered under his breath, “This is such a bad idea.”
Elara ignored him and knocked.
The door creaked open almost immediately.
The woman standing there was old, with silver-streaked hair and deep lines on her face. Her eyes—dark and sharp—studied Elara carefully.
“You’re late,” she said.
Elara blinked. “Excuse me?”
The woman turned and walked inside without another word, leaving the door open.
Theo gave Elara a we-should-not-go-in-there look, but she stepped inside anyway. He cursed under his breath and followed.
The house smelled like burning herbs and old paper. The walls were lined with bookshelves filled with ancient-looking texts, strange symbols carved into the wood.
The woman gestured for them to sit at a small, round table. A single candle flickered in the center.
“You’ve seen them since you were a child,” she said, not asking, just knowing.
Elara swallowed. “Yes.”
The woman nodded. “And now, one has marked you.”
Theo stiffened beside her. “Marked?”
The woman ignored him, reaching for Elara’s wrist. Her fingers were cold as she turned Elara’s arm over, studying the faint, bruise-like imprint left behind.
Her eyes darkened.
“This is worse than I thought.”
Elara’s stomach clenched. “What does that mean?”
The woman exhaled through her nose. “Most spirits are echoes. Shadows of the past. They do not think. They do not want. They simply exist.”
She paused, meeting Elara’s gaze.
“But what you have? This is not an echo.”
A chill crawled down Elara’s spine. “Then what is it?”
The woman’s fingers tightened around her wrist.
“It is something ancient,” she said. “Something that sees you as more than just an observer. You have acknowledged it. And now, it wants you.”
Theo swore under his breath.
Elara’s pulse pounded. “How do I stop it?”
The woman was silent for a long moment. Then she said, “You can’t.”
Elara’s breath caught.
“But,” the woman continued, “you can fight.”
She released Elara’s wrist and stood, moving toward one of the bookshelves. She pulled down a small, leather-bound book, its pages yellowed with age. She flipped through it before setting it in front of Elara.
“This is what you need,” she said. “A ritual of protection. It will not stop the entity, but it will weaken it. Delay it.”
Theo leaned over, eyeing the book warily. “And what happens when the delay runs out?”
The woman looked at Elara, her expression grim.
“Then she must face it.”
Elara swallowed hard.
She had spent her whole life pretending the shadows weren’t real. But now, for the first time, she had to fight back.
And she wasn’t sure she would survive.
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- Writer
