CHAPTER 4: GRANDMA IS COMING DOWNSTAIRS
Step.
The sound echoed through the basement.
Daniel tightened his grip around Emily.
Step.
Another footstep.
David pressed himself against his father's side.
Claire stood frozen near the wall, staring toward the staircase.
“Daniel,” she whispered.
“What?”
“Don't let her see the children.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who?”
Claire didn't answer.
Step.
The figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
Only her silhouette was visible.
Long hair.
Thin shoulders.
One hand gripping the railing.
Daniel's breath caught in his throat.
“Mom?”
The figure stopped.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then she slowly began descending.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Daniel's mind refused to accept what his eyes were seeing.
His mother had been dead for six years.
He had stood beside her hospital bed.
He had watched the monitors go flat.
He had attended her funeral.
He had scattered her ashes himself.
Yet she was walking toward him.
Alive.
Or something wearing her face.
“Mom?”
The woman reached the bottom step.
Lightning flashed through the basement windows.
Daniel saw her face.
It was his mother.
Exactly as he remembered her.
The same silver hair.
The same small scar beneath her right eye.
The same blue cardigan she had worn almost every Sunday.
But there was something wrong.
Her eyes were completely black.
Emily screamed.
“That's not Grandma!”
The woman's head snapped toward the little girl.
Daniel immediately moved in front of Emily.
His mother smiled.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Emily began shaking.
“You're not Grandma.”
The woman tilted her head.
“Of course I am.”
“No!”
Emily buried her face against Daniel.
Daniel stared at the woman.
“What are you?”
She smiled.
“Your mother.”
Claire stepped backward.
“Don't listen to her.”
The woman looked at Claire.
“Still giving orders?”
Claire's face went white.
“You should be dead.”
The woman laughed softly.
“So should you.”
Daniel turned toward Claire.
“What is happening?”
Claire didn't answer.
“Claire!”
She looked at him.
“You need to understand something.”
“What?”
“This isn't your mother.”
The woman smiled.
“She knows.”
Daniel looked back.
“What does she know?”
The woman took a step forward.
“That your mother never died.”
Daniel's heart slammed against his ribs.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“My mother died.”
“You saw a body.”
“Yes.”
“You saw a funeral.”
“Yes.”
“You watched her coffin being buried.”
Daniel's voice shook.
“Yes.”
The woman smiled.
“But you never saw her face.”
Daniel froze.
He remembered the funeral.
The coffin had been closed.
His mother had suffered severe injuries before death.
He had accepted that explanation.
But now...
“Why was the coffin closed?”
The woman stepped closer.
“Because she wasn't in it.”
Daniel couldn't breathe.
Claire whispered:
“Daniel, don't believe her.”
The woman turned toward Claire.
“Tell him.”
Claire remained silent.
“Tell him what you did.”
“Stop.”
“Tell him where you buried his real mother.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“What is she talking about?”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't bury anyone.”
The woman laughed.
“You helped them.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Daniel stared.
“My father was dead before my mother.”
“No.”
The woman shook her head.
“Your father was alive.”
Daniel felt dizzy.
“That isn't possible.”
“He lived for years after you thought he died.”
“Where?”
The woman pointed toward the hidden passage.
“Here.”
Daniel looked at the darkness.
“What happened to him?”
The woman smiled.
“He learned the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That this family doesn't die.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
The woman stepped closer.
“People die.”
She pointed at herself.
“But we don't.”
Daniel stared.
“You're saying you're immortal?”
“No.”
Her smile disappeared.
“We are replaced.”
The word hung in the basement.
Daniel frowned.
“Replaced by what?”
The woman looked toward Evelyn's passage.
“By the next one.”
Daniel suddenly remembered the photograph.
The little girl.
The woman.
His father.
Three generations.
Except the woman in the photograph looked exactly like Evelyn.
He pulled the photograph from Claire's hand.
“How old is this?”
Claire didn't answer.
“HOW OLD?”
“Thirty-two years.”
Daniel looked at Evelyn's face in the passage.
Then at the woman standing before him.
Then at the photograph.
His mother.
His mother had been twenty-eight when that photograph was supposedly taken.
But the woman in the picture wasn't his mother.
It was Evelyn.
Daniel looked at the woman in front of him.
She looked exactly like his mother.
Not similar.
Exactly.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same scar.
“How?”
The woman smiled.
“Now you're asking the right question.”
A metallic sound came from behind them.
Daniel turned.
Evelyn was standing in the hidden passage.
She was holding something.
A small wooden box.
Claire saw it.
“No.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Yes.”
“What is inside?”
Evelyn smiled.
“The truth.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“Give it to me.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“You aren't ready.”
“I'm ready.”
“No.”
She looked toward David.
“He is.”
David immediately began crying.
Daniel pulled him closer.
“Don't touch my son.”
Evelyn ignored him.
“David has already seen the room.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“What room?”
“The room beneath the room.”
Claire whispered:
“Daniel, we have to leave.”
Daniel turned.
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“Upstairs?”
“No.”
“Outside?”
Claire shook her head.
“Not anymore.”
Daniel looked toward the basement door.
“Why?”
“Because the house is sealed.”
Then they heard something.
A low mechanical hum.
The walls vibrated.
Daniel looked at the countdown display.
It had restarted.
10:00.
The numbers began falling again.
09:59.
09:58.
“What now?”
Claire's voice trembled.
“The first countdown opened the house.”
“And the second?”
She looked at Evelyn.
“It opens the family.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn answered.
“You're about to meet everyone.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
“Everyone?”
“Everyone who was supposed to be dead.”
The basement door suddenly opened.
Daniel stared.
A figure stood on the other side.
An old man.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
A scar across his forehead.
Daniel stopped breathing.
The man looked directly at him.
Then smiled.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Daniel dropped the flashlight.
It hit the floor.
The beam rolled across the stone.
Illuminating the man's face.
Daniel knew him.
There was no doubt.
He had seen that face in hundreds of photographs.
His father's face.
Thomas Morgan.
The man Daniel had believed dead for twelve years.
Daniel stumbled backward.
“No.”
Thomas smiled.
“You've grown.”
Daniel couldn't speak.
His father took one step into the basement.
Claire covered her mouth.
Emily whispered:
“Daddy...”
Daniel stared at the man.
“How are you alive?”
Thomas didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward the hidden passage.
“Evelyn.”
She looked at him.
“Thomas.”
Their eyes met.
There was hatred between them.
Ancient hatred.
Daniel suddenly understood something.
His father wasn't surprised to see Evelyn.
His mother wasn't surprised.
Claire wasn't surprised.
Only Daniel was.
Which meant one thing.
Everyone had known.
Everyone except him.
Daniel's voice broke.
“How long?”
Thomas looked at him.
“How long what?”
“How long have you all been lying to me?”
Thomas sighed.
“Since the night you were born.”
Daniel felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath him.
His father walked closer.
“You were never supposed to come back here.”
Daniel stared.
“I grew up in this house.”
“No.”
Thomas shook his head.
“You grew up believing you did.”
The countdown continued.
08:21.
08:20.
Thomas looked at David.
Then Emily.
His expression changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Why did you bring them?”
Daniel stepped protectively in front of his children.
“What are you talking about?”
Thomas whispered:
“Because now she can choose.”
Daniel looked toward Evelyn.
“She?”
Thomas nodded.
“Your daughter.”
Emily.
Daniel's heart stopped.
“No.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Evelyn has been waiting thirty-two years for another Morgan girl.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Not just any Morgan girl.”
She looked directly at Emily.
“The last one.”
Daniel pulled Emily closer.
“What does she want with my daughter?”
Thomas looked toward the countdown.
“Her life.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“You're not touching her.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
Thomas pointed toward David.
“You saved him from the freezer.”
Daniel frowned.
“Yes.”
“You think that was the danger?”
Thomas shook his head.
“That freezer wasn't holding David to kill him.”
Daniel stared.
“Then why?”
Thomas's voice dropped.
“It was holding something else back.”
Silence.
Daniel slowly looked toward the freezer.
The broken door was open.
Empty.
The motor was still humming.
“What was inside?”
Thomas looked at him.
“You.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
Thomas's eyes filled with fear.
“The thing inside that freezer wasn't David.”
Daniel felt the blood drain from his face.
“Then where is David?”
Everyone turned.
The spot where David had been standing...
was empty.
Emily was still holding Daniel's hand.
But his son was gone.
Daniel spun around.
“DAVID!”
No answer.
He searched the basement.
Nothing.
Then, from inside the hidden passage, David's voice echoed.
“Dad?”
Daniel ran toward it.
“David!”
Claire screamed behind him.
“DON'T GO IN THERE!”
Daniel ignored her.
He stepped into the passage.
The door slammed shut behind him.
And in the darkness ahead...
David whispered:
“Dad, she found me.”
Then another voice spoke directly behind Daniel.
His wife's voice.
Sarah.
“You were never supposed to save him.”
Daniel slowly turned.
And saw Sarah standing three feet away.
Alive.
May you like
Smiling.
Holding David's hand.
