Adex and Ben remained silent and didn't move.
The whisper came again from down the hallway—Adex...—soft, dragging, almost alive.
Ben took a step back and collided with the coffee table, the sharp edge catching his leg. He snarled without looking down.
Adex fixed his eyes on the hallway—that narrow stretch of darkness once led to a bathroom, but now it felt like it led somewhere else, somewhere deeper.
"Don't turn your back," Adex said, voice low. "Not even for a second."
Ben glanced at him. "Is it in here?"
Adex didn't say a word. He reached out and took the hammer from Ben's hands. He stepped toward the hallway instead, moving slowly and carefully, as if the floor might break if he placed too much trust in it.
He gripped the hammer tightly as if he were ready to fight. His eyes locked onto the hallway ahead, where darkness stretched out from the room.
Ben followed because silence had become the scarier option. "We're not going in there, right?"
Adex raised a hand to silence him. He halted just at the edge where the darkness from the hallway spilt onto the living room.
Then, faintly, came another sound.
Ben shivered. "I swear I just heard—"
But Adex was already moving. He stepped into the hallway.
Ben followed him without thinking, his heart punching hard against his ribs.
Adex approached the bathroom door. It was slightly open, just barely.
Inside the bathroom, there was no light
He raised the hammer and pushed the door wider.
Nothing moved.
He walked in, found the light switch, and turned it on.
A sputter. Then the bulb above the mirror flickered to life, dim and trembling. The room appeared unchanged: toilet, sink, mirror. A damp towel hung by the door. Except—
The mirror.
Ben saw it too.
He whispered, "What the hell is that?"
Because the reflection didn't match the room, it seemed correct at first until you stared for too long. Then you'd notice the small details. The towel looked wet in the mirror, but it was dry in real life. The bathroom door was wide open in the reflection, even though they'd barely nudged it.
And there was a shape.
Faint.
Just over Adex's shoulder in the reflection.
He stood tall and completely still, watching.
Adex turned quickly—there was nothing there.
But the reflection remained.
Unchanged.
Ben whispered, "That's not us."
"No," Adex said. "It's not."
He stepped back and slammed the door closed.
The mirror behind it groaned, producing a soft screech like nails dragging across old glass.
Ben exhaled sharply. "We need to leave. Right now."
Adex turned to face him. "We can't."
Ben blinked. "Why the hell not?"
Adex's jaw twitched, crushing something invisible between his teeth. "Because I believe if we step outside now, it will follow us. We are presently inside its eye. If we run, we carry it somewhere else."
Ben's voice broke. "So what, we wait for it to kill us?"
Adex looked toward the hallway's end. "We wait until I know what it wants."
A soft thud.
They both turned.
It came from Ben's room.
Ben grabbed his arm. "Please. I don't want to see what's in there."
Adex didn't want to either, but his feet were already moving.
They reached the door.
He paused and listened.
Nothing.
Then, suddenly—
Knock.
Not from outside.
From inside the room.
From the closet.
Ben whispered a curse beneath his breath. "That's not possible. That's not—"
Adex opened the door.
The smell of dust and copper filled the room. Light from the hallway spilt in behind them, casting long shadows across the floor.
He stepped in.
The knock came again.
From inside the closet.
Adex reached for the knob.
Ben grabbed his wrist. "Don't."
Adex looked at him. "You don't open it... It keeps knocking."
He turned the knob.
The closet creaked open—
And it was empty.
Just hangers, a coat, and a pair of worn shoes.
Ben stepped closer, shaking his head. "That's—"
A voice breaks the silence.
Right in the centre of them.
"You shouldn't have intervened."
They both turned. The closet remained empty. However, the voice had emerged from it. Ben stumbled back, nearly tripping over himself.
Adex reached into the closet, pulled out the coat, and something slipped free and hit the floor.
A photograph. Adex picked it up. It was old, wrinkled, and burned at the edges. Three people were in the picture—two adults and a boy.
It resembled a family photo—a dad, a mom, and their son. The parents smiled while the boy, likely about four years old, stood still with a blank expression on his face.
Ben looked over his shoulder. "Who are they?"
Adex stared at the boy in the picture. "I don't know, have never seen this before."
Ben frowned. "How did it get in my house?"
Adex kept staring at the photo, as if searching for answers in the faces frozen on the paper.
Adex held up the photo.
He flipped it over and read the message scrawled in blue ink on the back.
"We promised never to come back."
Before Ben could reply—
The hallway light went out.
In the living room, the door slowly started to creak open.
Neither of them unlocked it.
Ben whispered, "Tell me that's the wind."
Adex held the hammer firmly.
Strange footsteps echoed in—
Slow and measured.
Then a voice came from behind.
Deeper now. More intense.
"Adex… forget everything you've ever known. You're mine."
Suddenly, a mysterious hand grabbed his chest. He gasped with fear as it dragged him closer. Adex shouted out in pain.
"Find Anna. Find Jill and Mr. Halden."
Ben didn't hesitate. He raced out of the room—
And just like that, everything blurred.
Adex was gone.