Chapter 2

Mara couldn't move. Her grandmother's voice echoed through the hallway. “You finally came home.” The bedroom door remained open. Beyond it was nothing but darkness. Mara raised her flashlight, but the beam seemed to disappear inside the room, as if the darkness were swallowing the light. “Grandma?” she whispered. There was no answer. She took a hesitant step toward the staircase. Then another. The floor creaked beneath her feet. She stopped. Something inside the bedroom moved. Mara immediately pointed the flashlight toward the doorway. Nothing. “Who's there?” Silence. She wanted to run outside, but a strange feeling stopped her. It wasn't fear alone. It was curiosity. Why had her grandmother told her never to enter this house at night? Why did the voice sound exactly like her? And why had it said, You finally came home? Mara slowly climbed the stairs. When she reached the second floor, the bedroom door was still open. She stood several feet away from it. Then she noticed something on the floor. A small wooden box. It hadn't been there earlier. Mara crouched down and picked it up. Her name was carved into the lid. MARA Her hands began to tremble. She opened the box. Inside was an old photograph. It showed her grandmother standing in front of the house. Beside her was a young woman Mara didn't recognize. Mara turned the photograph over. There were only six words written on the back: “Never let her hear the third knock.” Mara stared at the sentence. “What does that mean?” A cold breeze passed through the hallway. The bedroom door slowly began to close. Mara jumped to her feet. “Wait!” She grabbed the door before it could shut. Inside the room, she saw an old wooden desk, a broken mirror, and several boxes covered in dust. Then she noticed something on the wall. Three dark marks. They looked like fingerprints. Mara stepped closer. Suddenly, the grandfather clock downstairs began ticking again. Tick. Tock. She looked toward the staircase. The clock had stopped at midnight. Yet somehow, she could hear it clearly from upstairs. Then came a sound from inside the bedroom. Knock. Mara froze. Another. Knock. Her heart began pounding. She slowly turned toward the closet. The third knock never came. Instead, the closet door opened a few inches. Mara took a step backward. Something was written on the inside of the door. Three words. DON'T LET HER IN. Mara stared at them. Then a voice whispered directly behind her. “You already did.” She turned around. The hallway was empty. But the bedroom door had slammed shut. And from behind it came three slow knocks. Knock. Knock. Knock. Mara stepped away from the door. For the first time that night, she understood what her grandmother had been trying to protect her from. The three knocks were never meant to come from outside. They had been waiting for her inside the house all along.