It was floating.
Closer.
And closer.
I could just see the thing’s feet: too large, swollen, bruised, toes curled like they’d been frozen. They hovered inches above the floor. Just hanging there. Then they stopped. Right next to my bed.
I clenched my fists so tight my nails bit into my palms. The air turned cold.
Fingers crept over the edge of the mattress. Long. Too long. Joints bent like branches. The nails were thick, yellow, and cracked down the middle. One of them dragged slowly across the wooden frame, making a sound that pierced the marrow of my bones.
And then…
A face.
It dropped down in front of me—upside down, grinning,watching.
The skin was sloughing off in patches, purple veins spider-webbed beneath the eyes that were white, blind, and yet seeing everything. Its grin stretched too wide, yellow teeth jagged, gums blackened like they’d been burned.
It was smiling. Smilingjustfor me.
I couldn’t scream. My breath caught, choking in my throat.
I blinked.
And it wascloser.
I screamed.
Everything after that was a blur. Ian rushed, grabbed me by the ankle, and dragged me out from under the bed like he was saving me from drowning. I thrashed, still screaming, but the room was empty.
That thing was gone.
Ian knelt beside me, his face pale and scared, but not at what he saw. At whatIhad seen.
He looked at me like I was broken.I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t make a sound.
Just stared at him, my voice still trapped in that place beneath the bed.
I was cursed. Cursed to see the things no one else could. Cursed to remember what everyone else forgot.
Or maybe I was meant to carry the dead with me.
Or maybe I was already dying, piece by piece, soul first, right alongside them.
THREE
LENORE
7 YEARS OLD
Mommy is sick again.
Daddy says she might not make it through next month. But I don’t believe him. I think she’s stronger than that. Stronger than he knows.
I ran down the hall to her room. She was sitting in her wobbly old chair, the one with the loose leg that always creaked when she leaned too far. Her eyes were fixed on the window, watching the outside like she was waiting for someone to show up.
“Mommy,” I said, throwing my arms around her waist and resting my head in her lap. “Look what I made.”
