EPISODE 8 — SHE IS AWAKE
2075 Words
The knock came again.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Nora stared at the floor.
The sound wasn’t coming from the bedroom.
It was coming from underneath it.
Something was knocking from below.
The woman holding the telephone stepped backward.
For the first time, Nora saw genuine terror in her eyes.
“What is underneath this house?” Nora asked.
The woman didn’t answer.
“Where is Leah?”
Still nothing.
Nora stepped toward her.
“I asked you where my friend is.”
The woman raised the telephone.
“You don’t understand what you’ve done.”
“What have I done?”
“You answered.”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
“You were never supposed to know.”
The woman looked toward the floor.
“None of us were.”
Another knock.
Knock.
The bedroom windows rattled.
The red balloon floating beside the little girl suddenly dropped to the floor.
The little girl grabbed Nora’s hand.
“We have to leave.”
Nora looked at her.
“You said the house can’t hurt me.”
“I lied.”
Nora’s eyes widened.
“Why?”
“Because I was scared.”
The woman’s telephone rang again.
She looked at the screen.
Her face went white.
Nora moved closer.
“Who is calling?”
The woman turned the screen toward Nora.
There was no number.
Instead, it displayed:
MOTHER
Nora stared.
“Your mother?”
The woman nodded.
“She died forty years ago.”
The phone kept ringing.
“Don’t answer it,” Nora whispered.
The woman hesitated.
Then she answered.
“Hello?”
At first, there was only static.
Then a woman’s voice.
Very old.
Very weak.
“You failed.”
The woman’s eyes filled with tears.
“I tried.”
“You brought the second daughter.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You always knew.”
The call ended.
The woman dropped the phone.
Nora looked at her.
“Who was that?”
The woman whispered:
“My mother.”
“And what did she mean by the second daughter?”
The woman looked at the little girl.
Then at Nora.
“She means you.”
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I have a sister.”
The woman nodded.
“That is why you’re here.”
Nora’s voice became angry.
“Where is my sister?”
The woman pointed toward the floor.
“Underneath us.”
Nora froze.
“What?”
“She never left.”
The floor suddenly cracked.
The little girl screamed.
Nora grabbed her.
“Move!”
The c***k spread across the room.
Furniture tipped over.
The walls groaned.
Then the floor collapsed.
Nora fell.
She screamed.
The little girl’s hand slipped from hers.
“Nora!”
Nora reached for her.
But darkness swallowed everything.
⸻
Nora landed hard.
Pain shot through her shoulder.
She opened her eyes.
Darkness.
She couldn’t see anything.
“Leah?”
No answer.
“Little girl?”
Nothing.
She reached for her phone.
Gone.
She felt around the floor.
Cold concrete.
Water.
Something brushed her hand.
Nora jerked away.
“What was that?”
A whisper answered.
“Me.”
Nora froze.
“Leah?”
“No.”
The voice was right beside her.
“You shouldn’t have come down here.”
Nora slowly stood.
“Who are you?”
A match struck.
A tiny flame appeared.
A woman’s face emerged from the darkness.
Nora recognized her immediately.
Leah’s mother.
She was sitting against a wall.
Her hands were chained.
Her clothes were covered in dirt.
Nora stared.
“You’re alive.”
The woman smiled sadly.
“Barely.”
Nora rushed toward her.
“Where’s Leah?”
The woman looked away.
“She found the door.”
“What door?”
“The first door.”
“Where is it?”
The woman pointed behind Nora.
Nora turned.
A red door stood in the darkness.
The same color as the door from the old house.
Nora’s heart began pounding.
“No.”
The woman whispered:
“She opened it.”
“When?”
“Seven minutes ago.”
Nora looked at the red door.
“What’s behind it?”
The woman started crying.
“Everything.”
Nora approached.
The woman grabbed her ankle.
“Don’t.”
Nora looked down.
“Why?”
“Because if you open that door…”
She swallowed.
“…you’ll see what happened to the first daughter.”
Nora pulled away.
“That’s my sister.”
The woman nodded.
“Maybe.”
“What do you mean, maybe?”
“Because there were two.”
Nora stopped.
“Two what?”
“Two first daughters.”
The room went silent.
The woman continued.
“Your mother gave birth to twins.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t.”
Nora stared at her.
“One of the babies was yours.”
“Yes.”
“The other was…”
The woman whispered:
“Mine.”
Nora’s face went blank.
“Your daughter?”
“Yes.”
“But Leah was your daughter.”
The woman looked directly at her.
“Leah wasn’t the baby.”
Nora felt dizzy.
“Then who was?”
The woman pointed toward the red door.
“Her.”
Nora’s stomach dropped.
“The girl with the balloon?”
The woman nodded.
“That girl is my daughter.”
Nora stepped backward.
“How old is she?”
The woman smiled bitterly.
“She was born in 1999.”
Nora stared.
“That girl looks six.”
“She hasn’t grown.”
“Why?”
“Because the house doesn’t let its children grow.”
A terrible silence followed.
Nora looked at the red door.
“Then where is Leah?”
The woman looked toward the ceiling.
“She’s looking for her sister.”
“Why?”
“Because Leah was the one who promised to bring her back.”
Nora remembered the voice.
She’s the one who started the calls.
“What did Leah promise?”
The woman closed her eyes.
“To replace her.”
Nora’s heart stopped.
“No.”
“She made the deal when she was thirteen.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought she could save her sister.”
Nora shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
The woman laughed sadly.
“Nothing is impossible here.”
The red door began vibrating.
Nora stepped toward it.
The woman screamed:
“DON’T!”
Nora stopped.
“What?”
“Listen.”
Nora heard something.
A voice.
From behind the door.
“Nora…”
Her mother.
Nora’s eyes filled with tears.
“Mom?”
The woman shook her head.
“That’s not your mother.”
The voice came again.
“Nora…”
This time it sounded like Leah.
“Nor, please.”
Nora moved toward the door.
“That’s Leah.”
The woman grabbed her.
“No.”
“She needs help.”
“That’s exactly what it wants you to believe.”
Nora stared at the door.
“What does it want?”
The woman whispered:
“It wants you to open the door willingly.”
“Why?”
“Because it can’t take someone who doesn’t choose it.”
Nora’s heart pounded.
“So that’s what the calls are.”
“Yes.”
“It tricks people into answering.”
“Yes.”
“And once they answer…”
“They belong to it.”
Nora looked at the woman.
“How many people?”
The woman didn’t answer.
“How many?”
She pointed toward the walls.
Nora looked.
There were hundreds of names scratched into the concrete.
Some had dates.
Some had no dates.
Some were crossed out.
Then Nora saw a name that made her blood run cold.
NORA BELL
Beneath it:
FIRST CALL — 2004
Nora stared.
“That’s my name.”
The woman nodded.
“You’ve answered before.”
“I was nine.”
“Yes.”
“But I don’t remember.”
“They made you forget.”
“Who?”
The woman pointed toward the ceiling.
“The thing that lives between the calls.”
Nora stepped closer to the wall.
Another name appeared beneath hers.
LEAH MARSH
FIRST CALL — 2019
Nora stared.
“Leah answered when she was thirteen.”
“Yes.”
“That’s when she made the deal.”
“Yes.”
Nora looked at the red door.
“And my mother?”
The woman shook her head.
“Your mother never answered.”
Nora’s eyes widened.
“Then why did she die?”
“She didn’t.”
Nora stopped.
The woman whispered:
“She went inside willingly.”
“Why?”
“To get you out.”
Nora felt tears fall.
“She sacrificed herself?”
“Yes.”
“But you said the house takes people who answer.”
“It does.”
“Then why did she go?”
The woman looked at her.
“Because mothers make terrible bargains for their children.”
Suddenly—
the red door opened.
Just a c***k.
A child’s hand appeared through the gap.
Nora stepped forward.
The little hand was covered in blood.
Then came a whisper.
“Nor…”
Nora recognized Leah’s voice.
She moved toward the door.
The woman screamed:
“DON’T!”
Nora stopped.
The hand slowly curled around the edge of the door.
Then Leah’s face appeared.
She was crying.
“Nora…”
Nora stared.
“Leah?”
Leah nodded.
“Help me.”
Nora moved forward.
Leah smiled.
But something was wrong.
Her eyes were completely black.
Nora froze.
Leah whispered:
“Open it.”
Nora shook her head.
“You’re not Leah.”
The thing wearing Leah’s face smiled.
“No.”
Its jaw opened wider than it should have.
“I never was.”
The woman behind Nora began screaming.
“RUN!”
Nora turned.
A sound came from the darkness behind them.
Thousands of telephones ringing at once.
The walls began filling with faces.
People.
Dead people.
Their mouths opened.
All of them whispered the same thing:
“Answer.”
Nora backed toward the red door.
The creature wearing Leah’s face crawled through the opening.
Its fingers stretched across the floor.
Nora couldn’t move.
Then the little girl with the red balloon appeared behind it.
She whispered:
“Don’t look at its face.”
Nora closed her eyes.
The creature screamed.
The sound wasn’t human.
It sounded like hundreds of voices speaking at once.
Nora grabbed the little girl’s hand.
“Where do we go?”
The girl pointed toward a narrow tunnel.
“Follow me.”
They ran.
Behind them, the creature screamed Nora’s name.
They reached the tunnel.
Nora looked back once.
The creature was standing in the doorway.
Its face was changing.
Her mother’s.
Her father’s.
Leah’s.
Nora’s.
Then—
her own.
It smiled.
And spoke in Nora’s voice.
“You can’t run from yourself.”
Nora turned away.
She followed the little girl deeper into the darkness.
After several minutes, they reached a tiny room.
There was one chair.
One telephone.
And a photograph on the wall.
Nora stepped closer.
The photograph showed her mother holding two babies.
But someone had scratched one baby’s face out.
Underneath the photograph was a sentence:
ONE DAUGHTER WAS BORN.
Nora frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
The little girl looked at her.
“It does.”
Nora turned.
“What?”
The girl pointed at the photograph.
“Look again.”
Nora stared.
There were three babies.
Not two.
Three.
Her mother was holding one.
A nurse was holding another.
And in the corner—
a third baby lay inside a small glass bassinet.
Nora’s heart began pounding.
“Who is that?”
The little girl whispered:
“That’s the one nobody remembers.”
The telephone rang.
Nora looked at it.
The little girl grabbed her hand.
“Don’t answer.”
The ringing continued.
Then the phone display lit up.
CALLING FROM: 2:13 A.M. — 1999
Nora stared.
The little girl began crying.
“What?”
She whispered:
“That’s the night I was born.”
Nora looked at the phone.
Then at the three babies.
And finally understood something terrifying.
The house hadn’t been taking daughters for generations.
It had been creating them.
And somewhere in the darkness…
the third daughter had just woken up.
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