Chapter 11
The air in the attic was thick with cold. Olivia's breath came out in ragged gasps, visible in the frigid air. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she reached out to her sister—or what had once been her sister. The figure standing before her was not the Lila she remembered, but something far darker. Something twisted.
"Lila," Olivia whispered, her voice trembling. She took another step forward, ignoring the frantic calls from Henry and James, who were still pulling at the door, their panic rising. But it didn't matter. She was lost in the shadow of the thing that used to be her sister.
The creature in front of her tilted its head, the grotesque smile never leaving its face. It was so like Lila, yet so far removed. The eyes that had once sparkled with life were now black voids, empty and cold. And that smile—it was all wrong. It was cruel, mocking.
"You think you can save me?" The voice was distorted, as if it were speaking through layers of broken glass. It wasn't Lila's voice anymore. It was something ancient, something hungry.
The walls of the attic seemed to pulse, the house breathing around them. Olivia could feel it in her bones, the weight of it pressing down on her. The air felt heavy, thick with something malevolent that wrapped around her chest, making it harder to breathe.
"Please," Olivia begged, her voice breaking as she stepped closer. "Please, Lila, come back to us."
The creature's lips curled into a smile, but it was not her sister's smile. "You never should have come here," it whispered, its voice low and serpentine. "You opened the door that was never meant to be opened. You're just as much a part of this as I am."
Olivia's heart slammed against her ribcage. She didn't understand. What door? What was it talking about?
Henry's voice snapped her back to the present. "Olivia! Get away from it!"
But Olivia couldn't move. She was rooted to the spot, her gaze locked on the thing that wore her sister's face. The thing that was never Lila.
"I have to help her," Olivia muttered, more to herself than anyone else. "I can't leave her like this."
The creature laughed, and the sound was low, guttural. It wasn't human. It never had been.
"You can't save what's already dead," it hissed.
A shudder ran through Olivia's body. A chill unlike anything she'd ever felt seeped into her bones, creeping up her spine, sending tremors through her limbs. She wasn't just facing her sister anymore. She was facing something ancient, something that had been waiting. Waiting for the right moment to strike. Waiting for her to come back.
The room seemed to tilt. The shadows on the walls stretched and twisted, warping around her. The air became thick, suffocating, as though the house itself was alive, feeding off their fear.
Henry's voice broke through again, frantic. "Olivia, move now!"
But Olivia couldn't. She didn't know why, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from Lila—or whatever was left of her. Her heart ached for the sister she once knew, but there was nothing left of that girl in this thing.
This… creature.
"Don't you get it?" The creature's voice was softer now, almost tender, as if trying to lull Olivia into submission. "You are just like me. You're trapped, just like I was. You can never leave."
Olivia's breath caught in her throat as the words echoed in her mind. She was trapped. Trapped in this house. Trapped with whatever had claimed her sister. The thought hit her like a punch to the gut.
Her knees buckled beneath her, and she collapsed to the floor, her hands pressed to the cold wooden planks. She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. The weight of what she was facing—what had taken her sister—was too much.
Suddenly, a sound broke through the suffocating silence—a loud, hollow bang. The attic door shook violently, as if something was slamming against it from the other side. The house seemed to groan under the pressure, its walls vibrating with an eerie resonance.
"What the hell is happening?" James's voice cracked as he pounded on the door, the desperation in his voice cutting through the tension like a knife.
Olivia's head snapped up, her heart racing. The creature in front of her had stopped moving. Its eyes—those empty, soulless eyes—were fixed on something in the distance. Something beyond the attic.
Olivia followed its gaze, her breath catching in her throat.
A shadow had appeared at the far end of the room. It was tall, dark, and for a moment, it seemed to flicker, like a candle flame caught in the wind. Then it solidified, a figure standing tall, its face hidden in the shadows.
"Who… who is that?" Olivia whispered, her voice barely audible.
The creature, the thing that had once been Lila, turned its head slowly to regard the new arrival. A dark, unsettling energy rippled through the room, like the house was holding its breath.
The figure stepped forward, moving with a fluid, unnatural grace. Olivia's heart skipped a beat when the figure finally stepped into the light.
It was a man. Tall, with sharp features and eyes that gleamed with something dark. His presence seemed to fill the room, suffocating the air around them.
"You've come too late," the man said, his voice smooth, cold.
Olivia's breath caught. She knew him. She didn't know how, but she knew him. It was like a memory trapped deep inside her, one that was just out of reach.
"I didn't come here for her," the man continued, his gaze flicking to the creature. "I came for you, Olivia Hawthorne."