Chapter 14 - The Final Seal
The combined pull of Sarah and Buster gave me the crucial leverage I needed. I braced my boots against the jagged edge of the bedroom floorboards, twisted my wrist sharply to break the entity's freezing grip, and wrenched my arm free from its grasp.
With a hollow, echoing shriek that sounded like grinding steel and tearing wind, the entity fell backward into the infinite corridor of white doors.
As it vanished into the distance, I lunged forward, grabbed the heavy wooden panel we had unscrewed from the wall earlier, and slammed it back into the opening.
“Quick! The screws!” I shouted, grabbing the drill from my toolbox while Sarah held the wooden panel firmly in place against the furious pressure pushing from the other side.
The wall shuddered violently as something heavy slammed against the interior lath. The wood groaned, cracking down the center under the incredible force of whatever was trying to push its way back through into our bedroom.
I grabbed the first zinc-coated screw, jammed it into the corner hole, and pulled the trigger of the drill. The bit whined loudly, driving the screw deep into the ancient stud with blinding speed. The wood held.
I grabbed the second screw, driving it into the opposite corner as Sarah pressed her entire body weight against the panel to keep it from buckling outward.
"Hurry, Mark! It's coming through the sides!" she cried out, her breath ragged as the temperature in the room plummeted further, frosting over our eyelashes and hair.
I fired the third and fourth screws into place, securing the wooden square tightly back into the drywall frame. The moment the final screw seated flush with the surface, a blinding flash of white light erupted from behind the wall, accompanied by a deafening clap of thunder that shook the entire foundation of the house.
Then, total, absolute silence descended upon the master bedroom.
The frost on the windows began to melt in an instant, running down the glass in fast rivulets of water as the room's temperature surged back to normal. The jagged portal in the hallway vanished completely, replaced once again by the solid, painted white panels of our spare bedroom door at the end of the corridor.
Sarah collapsed onto the carpet, shaking from head to toe, burying her face in her hands as silent tears finally broke free. Buster trotted over, licking her cheek gently before sitting down beside us, his tail giving a slow, reassuring thump against the floor.
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I dropped the drill, fell to my knees beside them, and pulled my wife into a tight, shaking embrace, knowing deep down that while we had survived the night, the house would never truly let us leave.
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