EPISODE 3 — UNDER THE BED
1659 Words
Something began crawling out.
Nora couldn’t move.
Leah stood beside her, staring at the darkness beneath the bed.
A hand appeared first.
Pale fingers.
Too long.
They dragged slowly across the wooden floor.
Then another hand.
Leah grabbed Nora’s arm.
“Don’t move.”
Nora’s lips trembled.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
The thing underneath the bed pulled itself forward.
A shoulder appeared.
Then a head.
Nora’s stomach turned.
It had hair.
Long, black hair hanging over its face.
It stopped halfway out.
Neither woman breathed.
Then the thing whispered:
“Leah…”
Leah squeezed Nora’s arm.
The voice sounded exactly like Nora.
“Come closer.”
Leah shook her head.
“No.”
The thing tilted its head.
“Why?”
“Because you’re not Nora.”
A quiet giggle came from underneath the bed.
“Neither are you.”
Leah’s face changed.
Nora looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
The thing suddenly pulled itself completely into the room.
Nora screamed.
It was a woman.
At first.
Her body was thin and twisted, her arms unnaturally long.
But her face—
Nora couldn’t see it.
The woman’s hair covered everything.
She crawled toward them.
Slowly.
Her fingernails scratched the floor.
Scrape.
Scrape.
Scrape.
Nora grabbed a lamp and raised it.
“Stay back!”
The woman stopped.
Then she began laughing.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
Almost sadly.
“You always do that.”
Nora’s hand trembled.
“Do what?”
“Pretend you’re brave.”
The woman lifted her head.
Her hair moved.
Nora saw part of her face.
Her skin was covered with tiny scars.
And above her eyebrow—
the same scar Nora had.
Nora dropped the lamp.
“No…”
Leah stared at the woman.
“Nora?”
The woman smiled.
“I’m not Nora.”
“Then who are you?”
The woman’s smile disappeared.
“You’ll know soon.”
She reached into her dress.
Nora stepped backward.
The woman pulled out a phone.
An old phone.
The exact same phone Nora had found that morning.
Leah whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
The woman’s phone began ringing.
Nora’s phone answered it.
Both phones rang simultaneously.
The woman looked at Nora.
“Pick up.”
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
“Pick up.”
“No!”
The woman’s expression changed.
For the first time, she looked frightened.
“Nora, please.”
Nora froze.
The voice had changed.
It was no longer threatening.
It sounded like someone begging for help.
“Please answer.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s coming.”
“Who?”
The woman looked toward the bedroom door.
Her eyes widened.
“The one who learned my voice.”
A knock came from the hallway.
Three times.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Leah whispered:
“Who is that?”
The woman under the bed answered:
“Your mother.”
Nora’s blood turned cold.
“My mother is dead.”
“I know.”
Another knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Then came her mother’s voice.
“Nora?”
Nora covered her mouth.
The voice sounded perfect.
Exactly like she remembered.
Warm.
Gentle.
Familiar.
“Sweetheart, open the door.”
Leah stepped closer to Nora.
“Don’t.”
Nora nodded.
Her eyes filled with tears.
The woman under the bed whispered:
“Don’t answer her.”
Nora stared at her.
“You just told me to answer the phone.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because the phone is the only thing she can’t control.”
The bedroom door handle moved.
Slowly.
The woman crawled toward Nora.
“Give me your hand.”
Nora hesitated.
“Why?”
“I can get you out.”
Leah grabbed Nora.
“No.”
The woman looked at Leah.
“You’re going to die first.”
Leah went pale.
The woman smiled.
“That’s what happened last time.”
Nora looked at Leah.
“What does she mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
The woman’s voice became cruel.
“You’ve already been here.”
Leah shook her head.
“No.”
“You just don’t remember.”
The bedroom door opened one inch.
A woman’s eye appeared through the gap.
Nora screamed.
The eye disappeared.
Her mother’s voice returned.
“Nora?”
She sounded hurt.
“Why won’t you let me in?”
Nora’s tears fell.
“Because you’re not my mother.”
Silence.
Then the voice whispered:
“Good.”
The door slammed shut.
The thing under the bed smiled.
“You remembered faster this time.”
Nora stared.
“This time?”
The woman’s smile widened.
“Yes.”
Suddenly, the bedroom vanished.
Nora blinked.
She was standing somewhere else.
A hospital corridor.
Bright white lights.
Doctors running past her.
A baby crying.
A woman screaming.
Nora looked around.
“What is this?”
Leah wasn’t beside her anymore.
The woman from beneath the bed stood at the end of the corridor.
But now she looked different.
Younger.
Normal.
She was wearing a hospital gown.
Nora walked toward her.
“Who are you?”
The woman pointed toward a hospital room.
“Look.”
Nora entered.
A younger version of her mother lay on a hospital bed.
She was crying.
A doctor held a newborn baby.
Nora stared.
The baby had a tiny scar above her eyebrow.
Her scar.
The doctor handed the baby to Nora’s mother.
Then another baby began crying.
Another doctor carried the second baby into the room.
Two babies.
Twins.
Nora’s mother looked at both of them.
Then a strange woman entered.
Nora recognized her immediately.
Her grandmother.
She carried a black telephone.
Not a mobile phone.
An old-fashioned telephone with a long cord.
Nora watched her grandmother place it beside the babies.
Then the phone rang.
Everyone stopped.
The grandmother answered.
Nobody spoke.
She listened.
Then she looked at the first baby.
Her face became terrified.
Nora stepped closer.
“What did it say?”
The grandmother slowly whispered:
“It wants the first daughter.”
Nora’s mother screamed.
“No!”
The memory shattered.
Nora found herself back in the bedroom.
Leah was shaking her.
“Nora!”
Nora gasped.
“What happened?”
“You disappeared.”
“For how long?”
“Almost a minute.”
Nora looked toward the bed.
The woman was gone.
The old phone was lying on the floor.
Leah picked it up.
The screen displayed:
2:13 A.M.
Leah frowned.
“But it’s nearly seven.”
Nora took the phone.
A message appeared.
FIRST DAUGHTER FOUND.
Another message.
SECOND DAUGHTER IS NEXT.
Nora looked at Leah.
“Who’s the second daughter?”
Leah didn’t answer.
“Leah?”
Her friend stared at the screen.
Her face had gone completely white.
Nora noticed something.
“What?”
Leah slowly raised her eyes.
“I know that phone.”
Nora’s stomach dropped.
“How?”
Leah swallowed.
“My mother had one just like it.”
“Your mother?”
“She told me never to answer it.”
Nora stared at her.
“Why?”
Leah’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because she said it belonged to my sister.”
Nora went silent.
“You have a sister?”
Leah nodded.
“She died before I was born.”
“What’s her name?”
Leah looked toward the bedroom mirror.
Her reflection was smiling.
But Leah wasn’t.
Then Leah whispered:
“Nora.”
“What?”
“My sister’s name was Nora.”
The room went completely silent.
Nora stared at her.
“No.”
Leah began crying.
“I know how that sounds.”
“No. You said your sister died before you were born.”
“She did.”
“Then how could she have my name?”
Leah couldn’t answer.
The old phone rang.
Nora stared at it.
The screen showed:
CALLING: LEAH
Leah stepped backward.
“No.”
The phone kept ringing.
Nora reached toward it.
Leah grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t answer.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother told me something before she died.”
“What?”
Leah’s voice trembled.
“She said if the phone ever called me…”
The ringing stopped.
Leah whispered:
“…it wouldn’t be my sister calling.”
A message appeared.
IT WILL BE HER.
Nora’s phone began ringing immediately.
The caller ID showed:
MUM
Nora stared at it.
Leah whispered:
“Don’t answer.”
Nora didn’t.
The phone stopped.
Then the bedroom mirror cracked from top to bottom.
A voice came through the broken glass.
Nora’s voice.
Older.
Terrified.
“Please…”
Nora stepped closer.
The older version of herself appeared inside the mirror.
Blood covered her face.
She pressed her palm against the glass.
“Don’t trust Leah.”
Nora looked at her friend.
Leah shook her head.
“No.”
The older Nora continued:
“She knows where the first body is.”
Leah began backing away.
“That isn’t true.”
The mirror version screamed:
“RUN!”
The bedroom door flew open.
Something stood in the hallway.
Tall.
Motionless.
It had no face.
But it spoke with Nora’s voice.
“Too late.”
Leah screamed.
Nora grabbed her hand.
They ran.
Down the hallway.
Down the stairs.
Toward the front door.
Behind them came footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Getting closer.
Nora reached the door and pulled it open.
They stumbled outside.
Cold morning air hit their faces.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Leah looked at Nora.
“Where’s your phone?”
Nora reached into her pocket.
It was gone.
Her face went pale.
Then they heard it.
From inside the house.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Nora looked through the open doorway.
Her phone was sitting on the floor in the dark hallway.
The screen was glowing.
A call was coming in.
The caller ID read:
NORA — 7 YEARS FROM NOW
And beneath it was a message:
THIS TIME, ANSWER.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD