Chapter 6 - Midnight Visitors
The doorbell chimed through the silent house, a cheerful, jarring melody that felt entirely wrong against the heavy, oppressive dread suffocating the hallway. Elena scrambled to her feet, clutching her bruised wrist against her chest while staring down the dark stairwell toward the entryway. "Who could possibly be here at this hour? Mark, are you expecting someone?" she demanded, her voice trembling with rising panic. Mark stayed frozen on his knees, his eyes fixed on the white door, which had begun to bleed a dark, viscous fluid from the wood grain. "I didn't call anyone. Nobody knows about this address, Elena. Nobody," he whispered, his hands hovering over the floorboards as the liquid pooled around the white plate. Maya descended the stairs slowly, her eyes wide with shock as she pointed toward the frosted glass of the front door downstairs, where a tall, silhouetted figure stood motionless under the porch light. "She said they were coming back for her," Maya whispered, her voice barely audible over the relentless ringing of the bell. Elena swallowed hard, wiping her sweaty palms on her dark pants as she took a tentative step toward the stairs. "Stay here. Both of you," she commanded, though her own knees felt weak and unreliable. As she descended into the foyer, the bell finally stopped, replaced by the heavy, deliberate sound of someone trying the front door handle from the outside. Elena froze on the bottom landing, her hand hovering over the deadbolt as the lock clicked open by itself, swinging the heavy oak door wide to reveal an empty porch and a single, rain-soaked envelope resting on the welcome mat.
---
