I woke up gasping.
My eyes flew open as I shot upright in bed.
For a few seconds, I had no idea where I was.
My heart hammered against my chest.
I looked around frantically.
My room.
My bed.
My curtains.
My desk.
The familiar pile of clothes I’d abandoned on the chair that morning.
Home.
I was home.
I pressed a trembling hand against my chest and tried to slow my breathing.
“Inhale…”
I took a shaky breath.
“Exhale.”
Another.
My heartbeat refused to cooperate.
I looked at the clock beside my bed.
I had no idea how long I’d been asleep.
The last thing I remembered was sitting on the floor of my room, crying until exhaustion finally took over.
Then…
Harold.
Charity.
The cave.
The forest.
Emily.
The creature.
The words carved into the tree.
DON’T LET HER LOOK BEHIND YOU.
I shuddered.
“Just a dream.”
I whispered it aloud.
“It was just a dream.”
But the words didn’t feel convincing.
Not anymore.
I slowly climbed out of bed.
My legs felt strangely weak.
I walked toward the mirror.
My reflection stared back at me.
Messy hair.
Puffy eyes.
A tear-stained face.
I looked exhausted.
Like someone who hadn’t slept in days.
I lifted my shirt slightly.
My scar was still there.
I stared at it.
The jagged mark stretched across my stomach exactly as it had before.
Except…
There was something different about it.
I leaned closer.
My breath caught.
There was dirt beneath my fingernails.
I stared at them.
Dark soil.
Tiny pieces of leaves.
I rubbed my fingers together.
No.
No, no, no.
That wasn’t possible.
I had been sleeping in my bedroom.
I hadn’t gone anywhere.
I hadn’t even left the house.
So how…
I rushed toward my bedroom door.
I yanked it open.
“Mum?”
Nothing.
I stepped into the hallway.
“Mum?”
Still nothing.
I hurried downstairs.
My mother was in the kitchen, standing over the stove.
She turned when she heard me.
“There you are.”
I stopped.
She smiled.
“You slept for quite a while.”
I stared at her.
“How long?”
She glanced at the clock.
“Almost three hours.”
Three hours.
I swallowed.
“Did I…”
I hesitated.
“Did I leave the house?”
She frowned.
“What?”
“Today.
Did I leave the house?”
“No.”
Her expression became concerned.
“You’ve been in your room since dinner.”
I nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
She studied my face.
“Are you alright, honey?”
“Yeah.”
The lie came too easily.
“I’m just tired.”
She smiled softly.
“Well, dinner will be ready soon.”
I nodded.
“Okay.”
I turned to leave.
Then stopped.
“Mum?”
“Yes?”
“Do you know anyone named Harold?”
Her expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
A tiny pause.
A flicker of confusion.
Then she smiled again.
“No, honey.
Why?”
I shook my head.
“Nothing.”
I walked away.
But something inside me told me she had lied.
Back in my room, I shut the door.
I locked it.
Then I stood there.
Listening.
Nothing.
I walked toward my desk and sat down.
My hands were still shaking.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Harold and Charity.
Their names.
Their knowledge.
The way they spoke about the creature as if they’d known it for years.
We haven’t experienced it in 49 years.
Forty-nine years.
Why?
What happened forty-nine years ago?
And why had they been hiding in that cave?
I opened my notebook.
I don’t know why.
Maybe because writing things down would make them feel less real.
I wrote:
Harold.
Then:
Charity.
Then:
49 years.
I stared at the words.
My pen hovered over the page.
I wrote another.
Emily.
My stomach twisted.
Then I wrote:
The thing.
The moment I finished writing those words…
The lights flickered.
I froze.
Once.
Twice.
Then they went out.
My room fell completely dark.
I stopped breathing.
The silence was deafening.
I slowly reached for my phone.
The screen lit up.
11:47 PM.
I frowned.
That wasn’t right.
It had been evening when I fell asleep.
How had three hours suddenly become nearly midnight?
Then…
I heard something.
A faint scratching sound.
Coming from my window.
My blood ran cold.
Scratch.
I stared at the curtains.
Scratch.
Again.
I slowly stood.
“No…”
I took one step backward.
The scratching stopped.
I waited.
Nothing.
Maybe it was a branch.
Maybe the wind.
Maybe—
Scratch.
This time…
Three slow scratches.
I didn’t move.
I couldn’t.
My eyes remained fixed on the curtains.
Then something whispered from the other side of the glass.
So quietly I almost convinced myself I’d imagined it.
But I knew that voice.
I had heard it before.
In the forest.
In the dream.
In the cave.
My stomach dropped.
“Destiny…”
I backed away from the window.
The voice came again.
“Destiny…”
I covered my mouth to stop myself from screaming.
Then the curtains moved.
Not from the wind.
Something was standing behind them.
My eyes filled with tears.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t breathe.
And then…
Two faint points of light appeared through the thin fabric.
Watching me.
Waiting.
I remembered what Emily had said.
He knows you’re awake.
The lights disappeared.
The curtains stopped moving.
Silence.
I stood frozen for several seconds.
Then my bedroom door suddenly rattled.
I screamed.
“D!”
My mother’s voice came from the hallway.
“Are you okay?”
I ran to the door and unlocked it.
She opened it immediately.
“What happened?”
I turned toward the window.
The curtains were completely still.
Nothing was there.
I looked back at my mother.
“I…”
I couldn’t finish.
She pulled me into her arms.
“It’s okay.”
I clung to her.
But over her shoulder…
I caught sight of something written across the fogged window.
Three words.
Words that hadn’t been there before.
My blood ran cold.
I FOUND YOU.