I stood there, frozen, my eyes still fixed on the kitchen door long after Lucy had vanished behind it. My heart raced, and the smoke from the pipe I’d abandoned swirled in front of me like some twisted omen. The room seemed colder all of a sudden, despite the crackling fire.
This didn’t make sense.
I wasn’t dreaming—I knew that much. But the woman who had just walked through the door wasn’t the same Lucy I knew. She looked like her, moved like her, spoke like her, but something about her was…off. The way her eyes gleamed in the firelight, too sharp, too calculating. The way her voice dripped with something darker than the bitterness I remembered.
I had to know.
Pushing through the weight in my chest, I stepped into the kitchen. The scent of freshly brewed coffee hit me first, though I didn’t recall making any. Lucy—or whoever this was—stood by the stove, her back to me, humming some tune I didn’t recognize.
“Lucy,” I said quietly, trying to mask the tremor in my voice. “What…what’s going on here?”
She didn’t turn around.
“Why are you here?” I pressed, my fists clenching unconsciously. “How is this even possible?”
Slowly, she set the coffee pot down and turned to face me. Her eyes bored into mine, and for a split second, I saw something flash behind them—something dark. It was as if the person standing before me was wearing Lucy’s skin like a costume, but whatever was inside was far more sinister.
“You don’t get to ask questions anymore,” she said calmly, her voice low, almost too quiet. “Not after everything.”
I took a step back. “You’re not her. You can’t be.”
“Who else would I be?” she asked, a mocking smile curling her lips. “The woman you left to fend for herself while you played with your precious computer? Or maybe the woman who took care of your children while you were out chasing whatever demons you could never catch?”
Her words hit like knives, but I knew this wasn’t Lucy. Couldn’t be.
“Stop playing games,” I demanded, my voice firming. “What are you? Why are you here?”
Her smile widened. “Oh, Christopher…do you really want to know?”
Before I could answer, she reached into the pocket of her worn jacket and pulled out something small and shiny—a coin. I recognized it instantly. It was the same coin I’d found in the attic weeks ago, the one I swore had a strange energy to it. I’d pocketed it without thinking, too caught up in the past to care about superstition. But now, seeing it in her hand, I felt my stomach twist into knots.
“You really shouldn’t have taken this,” she said, her tone light but menacing. “It belonged to someone. And now…they want it back.”
I felt the room shift, the air growing thick with tension. It wasn’t just her anymore. Something else was here, watching, waiting.
“You opened a door,” she continued, stepping closer, her eyes never leaving mine. “And now you’re stuck with the consequences.”
“What door?” I asked, though I already knew the answer deep down. My obsession with unlocking hidden knowledge, my careless dabbling in things I didn’t fully understand—this was the price. I had taken the coin, thinking it was just another relic of the past, and now, whatever I’d disturbed was coming for me.
Lucy—or the thing that wore her face—took another step forward, the coin glinting in her hand. “This is a key, Chris. A key to things you shouldn’t have touched.”
I swallowed hard, my mind racing for a way out, but before I could respond, the house groaned. The lights flickered. The fire in the living room suddenly went out, plunging the space into darkness, save for the faint glow of the moon through the window.
“I didn’t mean to—” I started, but she cut me off with a sharp laugh.
“Meaning doesn’t matter anymore,” she said. “Intentions are worthless when you’ve invited the wrong kind of attention.”
And then, as if on cue, the house shuddered violently. The walls creaked, and I heard something…moving. Something large. It was coming from above, the ceiling rattling like bones as the sound grew louder, closer. It wasn’t the wind, and it wasn’t the house settling. This was something alive.
“Lucy—” I began, but the name felt wrong on my tongue. This wasn’t Lucy, and she wasn’t here to help me.
“You wanted answers, didn’t you?” she said, her voice calm in the chaos. “Now you get to meet the thing that’s been watching you all along.”
The sound above grew more intense—heavy thuds, like footsteps, but far too slow, too deliberate. The air was thick with the scent of burnt wood and something else, something rotten.
I backed toward the living room, instinct taking over. I needed to get out of here. But before I could make it to the front door, the house shook again, and this time, I heard a crash from the hallway—something breaking through the ceiling.
I turned just in time to see it—a shadow, massive and twisted, descending from the upper floor. It was neither human nor animal, its form shifting like smoke, but with too many limbs and eyes that gleamed with malevolent intent.
Lucy—or whatever had taken her place—smiled as the thing approached. “You should have left the past where it belonged, Chris.”
The creature moved closer, its dark tendrils snaking across the floor, leaving scorch marks in their wake. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. The weight of its presence pressed down on me, suffocating, as if the very air was being pulled from the room.
“What…what do you want from me?” I managed to choke out, my voice barely audible over the sound of my own heartbeat.
She tilted her head, her eyes gleaming in the dim light. “To settle the debt you’ve been running from.”
I stumbled backward, my legs weak, but the creature was faster. Its tendrils reached out, wrapping around my ankles, pulling me toward it. The heat from its touch burned through my skin, and I screamed, clawing at the floor, desperate to get free.
But there was no escape.
As I was dragged toward the shadow, I caught one last glimpse of the woman who wore Lucy’s face. She watched me, unmoving, her smile fading into something cold and final.
“Goodbye, Chris,” she whispered, just as the darkness swallowed me whole.
And then…silence.
To be continued…
Plot🫀Pulse | Short Stories & Blog 
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