claimed lands is the title/ please no hate-let me know how i did so far

Chapter 1: UNSETTLED

In June of 2009, a married couple, Kaleb and Serenity Carver, moved into an old house built in 1869. The structure sat alone on six acres of land, its nearest neighbors long buried in the cemetery resting beyond the treeline behind the property.

The house groaned beneath every step. The walls were thin enough to carry whispers from room to room, and loose tiles shifted underfoot as though the place had not yet decided whether to accept them.

Despite its age, the outside looked almost welcoming.

A white porch wrapped around the front of the house. Wildflowers climbed stubbornly along the siding, and an old wooden swing creaked softly whenever the wind stirred. Rusted chimes hung from the porch beam, their hollow notes lingering long after the breeze had passed.

Serenity loved the house.

Until she stepped inside.

The wallpaper was a sickly yellow, peeling in strips that resembled old skin. The kitchen floor sagged in places, several tiles cracked or missing entirely, as if they had been torn away instead of worn down naturally.

The air felt wrong.

Heavy.

Stale in a way that suggested it had not truly moved in years.

When Serenity entered the bedroom, something darted across the floor.

She screamed.

Kaleb came running and found her frozen in the doorway, staring at the darkness beneath the bed.

“There was a rat,” she whispered. “It came out of the bathroom.”

Kaleb tried to calm her, though his eyes lingered on the shadows beneath the bed a little longer than necessary.

They had spent every dollar they had on the house.

Leaving was not an option.

“It’s alright,” he said finally. “We’ll fix it up. Just give it a chance.”

They continued through the house, taking note of everything that needed repairing.

In the second bedroom, they found an old piano pressed against the far wall. The dark wood had been worn smooth with age. A single stool rested in front of it, slightly angled, as though someone had stood up from it in a hurry.

Kaleb immediately took a liking to the room.

“This one should be ours,” he said.

Serenity nodded, though the thought running through her head was much less enthusiastic.

I don’t want to sleep in this house at all.

Kaleb wandered off to inspect the rest of the property, leaving Serenity behind to unpack what little they had brought with them.

As she folded clothes into the dresser, the house remained unnervingly quiet.

Then she heard Kaleb call her name.

“Serenity.”

The voice came from outside the bedroom window.

She paused.

It sounded like him.

Familiar.

Calm.

But something about it felt flat, almost hollow, as though the house itself were speaking through his voice.

After a moment, she stepped outside.

“Kaleb?” she called.

The yard was empty.

The porch swing moved gently in the breeze, chains creaking softly. Beyond the house, the land stretched silent and still.

Kaleb was nowhere in sight.

Serenity stood there longer than she meant to, waiting for him to appear from around the corner and laugh at her.

Nothing moved.

The only sound was the faint ringing of the porch chimes.

There was no wind.

Irritation replaced her fear.

She turned toward the house, convinced Kaleb was trying to scare her.

Then she looked through the window.

Kaleb stood inside the laundry room with his back turned, sorting through a crate.

He had not moved.

He could not have moved.

Her anger collapsed into something colder.

She rushed inside and told him everything at once, her words tumbling over one another.

Kaleb listened quietly before shaking his head.

“You’re hearing things,” he said gently. “We’ve both been stressed. Anyone would feel unsettled in a place like this.”

He rested a hand on her shoulder.

“You should lie down for a while.”

Serenity hesitated before finally sighing.

“You’re probably right,” she muttered.

But even as she said it, one thought continued circling through her mind.

Why did the voice outside sound exactly like him?

Chapter 2: MARKED GROUND

Kaleb walked the property searching for the perfect place to build a bonfire.

Planning fires had always relaxed him. It was one of the few things that helped him forget work, bills, and the endless noise of the outside world.

As he moved farther behind the house, a cool breeze brushed against his face.

For the first time since arriving, the property felt peaceful.

No neighbors.

No traffic.

No interruptions.

Just him and Serenity.

This could work, he thought.

He wandered deeper into the back of the property until the grass thinned and the ground became uneven.

That was when he realized he had reached the cemetery.

The graves were old.

Older than the house itself, judging by the weathered stones and collapsed earth around them.

Most of the markers were simple, their names barely legible.

But one grave immediately caught his attention.

Its headstone was cracked and blackened with mold. Grass pushed through the fractures as though the earth itself were swallowing it.

Etched into the stone were symbols Kaleb did not recognize.

Curved markings.

Sharp lines.

Patterns that seemed almost wrong to look at directly.

Beneath them sat writing in a language he had never seen before.

Kaleb leaned closer.

The longer he stared, the more his eyes began to ache.

An uneasy thought crept into his mind.

The symbols were not meant to be understood.

Only noticed.

As though the grave marker was less a memorial and more a warning.

A sudden chill swept through him.

Kaleb straightened quickly.

He told himself he was being ridiculous.

Still, when he chose a location for the bonfire, he made sure it was much farther away from the cemetery than he originally intended.

When he returned to the house, Serenity was awake in the kitchen preparing lunch.

The smell of warm bread and stew filled the room.

Kaleb suddenly realized how hungry he was.

They sat together at the dining table in silence for a while.

“I don’t think this place was worth what we paid for it,” Serenity said finally. “There are rats, the floors are uneven, and nothing about this house feels right.”

Kaleb set his spoon down.

“It’s all we could afford,” he replied. “There aren’t any neighbors, and it’s close to your work. Just give me some time. I’ll fix it up.”

Serenity sighed.

Kaleb opened his mouth to continue speaking.

Then stopped.

He froze.

“Kaleb?” Serenity asked.

He slowly raised a finger.

“Do you hear that?”

They listened.

At first there was only silence.

Then, faintly, unmistakably…

Music.

A piano.

The melody drifted down the hallway from their bedroom.

Serenity’s face paled.

Kaleb grabbed a baseball bat from the dining room corner.

“Stay here,” he whispered.

He moved slowly down the hallway, each step more hesitant than the last.

By the time he reached the bedroom doorway, the music had stopped.

The room sat silent.

Marbles were scattered across the floor beneath the piano.

Kaleb exhaled shakily.

They must have fallen from somewhere above the piano and struck the keys on the way down.

That had to be it.

He crouched to gather them.

Then froze.

The temperature dropped instantly.

His breath fogged in front of his face.

The cold pierced through his clothes and settled deep into his bones.

Kaleb remained perfectly still, teeth chattering.

Why is it so cold in here?

Then, just as suddenly, the cold disappeared.

The room returned to normal.

Kaleb quickly gathered the remaining marbles and headed for the doorway.

The second he crossed the bedroom threshold, his entire body jerked violently.

A sharp shiver rushed through him, as though he had walked through something unseen.

He stopped just outside the room.

Behind him, the bedroom felt warm again.

When he returned to the dining room, he explained what had happened.

Serenity listened quietly.

She did not believe the piano had played because of falling marbles.

But she said nothing.

Neither of them wanted to admit how frightened they already were.

Chapter 3: THE WATCHING GROUND

It was nearly dark, and they still had boxes left outside.

Wanting to finish unpacking before night fully settled in, Serenity hurried into the yard.

She never saw the rock.

Her foot caught against it.

She fell hard.

Pain exploded through her skull as her head slammed into the ground.

Warm blood poured down her face.

She screamed.

Chapter 3: THE WATCHING GROUND

It was nearly dark, and they still had boxes left to unpack.

Wanting to finish before night fully settled in, Serenity hurried outside to gather the last of them. She never saw the rock buried beneath the grass.

Her foot caught.

She fell hard.

Pain exploded through her skull as her head slammed against the ground. Warm blood immediately poured down the side of her face.

She screamed.

Her vision blurred as tears mixed with the blood running into her eyes. Through the haze, she noticed a figure standing several feet away.

Watching her.

It didn’t move.

It simply stood there in silence.

Then Kaleb was suddenly beside her, dropping to his knees and pulling her into his arms.

“Serenity? Hey, look at me. Are you alright?”

She trembled violently, crying until the world finally slowed enough for her to speak.

“I’ll be fine,” she whispered weakly. “Just… take me inside.”

Kaleb carefully lifted her into his arms. His hands shook badly enough that she noticed.

Relief washed across his face the moment she spoke.

He carried her into the bedroom and laid her gently on the bed before hurrying off to find bandages and something cold for her head.

Left alone, Serenity stared at the ceiling.

The pain no longer mattered.

All she could think about was the figure.

And how it had already been standing there before Kaleb reached her.

A moment later, Kaleb returned with cloths and bandages. He knelt beside the bed and carefully pressed the cold cloth against her forehead.

“Did you see it?” Serenity mumbled.

Kaleb paused.

“See what?”

“That thing,” she whispered. “Standing out there. Watching me.”

Confusion crossed his face.

“I didn’t see anyone,” he said gently. “I was too worried about you to notice anything else.”

He adjusted the cloth against her head.

“You hit your head pretty hard. You’re probably hallucinating.”

Serenity swallowed but said nothing.

Maybe he was right.

But deep down, she knew she had seen something.

Kaleb stepped back outside to gather the remaining boxes from the yard.

The light was fading fast now, shadows stretching longer across the property. As he approached the place where Serenity had fallen, something caught his eye near the dirt.

He frowned.

Something lay half-buried beside the rock.

Kaleb crouched slowly, unease tightening in his stomach.

No…

It couldn’t be.

He picked up the object carefully.

It wasn’t a rock.

The surface was rough and cold, blackened with age and mold. Carved into one side was a symbol made of curved lines and sharp angles.

The same symbol from the cemetery.

Kaleb’s breath caught.

The object was a broken fragment of stone.

A piece of the grave marker he had seen earlier.

He stared at it silently, the weight of it heavy in his palm.

Then he slowly closed his fingers around it.

And said nothing.

Without fully realizing why, Kaleb found himself walking toward the cemetery.

The air grew colder as he crossed the treeline. Dead leaves crunched beneath his shoes while the wind whispered softly through the branches overhead.

When he reached the grave, his chest tightened.

The headstone stood exactly as he remembered it.

Except now something was missing.

The top right corner had broken away.

Kaleb swallowed hard.

Slowly, he lifted the fragment in his hand and pressed it against the broken section of stone.

It fit perfectly.

A chill crawled down his spine.

Was that piece already missing before?

He honestly couldn’t remember.

Unease prickled across the back of his neck.

Kaleb stepped away from the grave and turned toward the house.

Then froze.

Leaves rustled somewhere behind him.

The trees stood perfectly still.

Faint whispers drifted through the cemetery, too quiet to understand yet close enough to make his skin crawl.

Kaleb shook his head and hurried back toward the house.

With every step, the wind grew stronger, pushing against him, howling through the trees as though warning him not to leave.

Or begging him to stay.

He didn’t look back.

He kept walking.

He needed to check on Serenity.

By the time he returned to the house, the sound of running water echoed faintly through the hallway.

Serenity was showering.

Relieved she was safe, at least for the moment, Kaleb entered the bedroom and laid clean clothes neatly across the bed.

He stood there for a moment longer than necessary, staring at them as though the simple act of organizing something could steady his nerves.

Then he reached up to remove his shirt.

Clack.

Kaleb froze.

The sound came from the window.

Another sharp tap followed.

Something small striking the glass.

“What the hell was that?” he muttered.

Slowly, he stepped toward the curtain.

His pulse thudded painfully in his ears as he reached out and pulled the flowered curtain aside.

He gasped.

Someone stood outside the window.

The figure was half-swallowed by darkness, motionless beneath the weak glow spilling from the bedroom.

Kaleb’s mind raced desperately for an explanation.

A trespasser.

A traveler.

Someone lost.

Anything except what his instincts were screaming at him.

This isn’t real.

The figure remained perfectly still.

Too still.

Then it smiled.

The grin stretched impossibly wide across its face, wider than any normal mouth should have allowed.

Its eyes reflected the light from inside the room.

Red.

Streaked with yellow.

Unblinking.

The clothes hanging from its body were filthy and torn, as though it had crawled through mud and gravesoil for years.

The smile widened further.

And the thing outside the window continued staring directly at him.

Chapter 4: THE SMILING MAN

Kaleb tore his gaze away from the window, his heart slamming violently against his ribs.

His hands shook as he dragged his shirt back on, fumbling badly with the buttons.

Whatever stood outside the house, he couldn’t leave it there.

He rushed from the bedroom and burst through the front door.

Night had fully settled over the property.

The yard sat silent beneath pale moonlight.

Empty.

No footprints.

No movement.

No sound except the wind brushing through the grass.

“Hey!” Kaleb shouted.

His voice cracked harder than he intended.

Nothing answered.

He circled the house quickly, scanning the porch, the treeline, and every stretch of shadow surrounding the property.

Then he moved farther back toward the cemetery.

Still nothing.

The graves stood silent beneath the moonlight, their weathered stones pale and lifeless.

No torn clothes.

No glowing eyes.

No unnatural grin.

Whatever he had seen was gone.

Kaleb swallowed hard and turned back toward the house, unease tightening deeper in his chest with every step.

The moment he stepped inside, he locked the front door.

Then the back door.

Then every window latch he could find.

“Are you okay?”

Serenity stood in the living room, her hair still damp from the shower.

Concern had already begun creeping into her voice.

Kaleb leaned against the door, struggling to steady his breathing.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m fine.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“You locked every door in the house,” she said slowly. “And you’re breathing like you just sprinted a mile.”

Kaleb forced a weak smile.

“I’m okay,” he repeated too quickly.

Serenity didn’t respond immediately.

She studied him carefully, her eyes lingering on his shaking hands and the way he kept avoiding the windows.

“Tell me what happened,” she said.

Her voice had sharpened now, concern giving way to irritation.

Kaleb hesitated.

If he told her the truth, she would leave.

And financially, they couldn’t survive that.

“I saw the rat again,” he lied. “I followed it outside to see where it was getting in.”

Silence settled between them.

Then Serenity laughed once.

Short.

Cold.

“You’re lying.”

Kaleb looked away.

“You locked the entire house because of a rat?” she snapped. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

The weight of it settled heavily in his chest.

There was no harmless version of the truth left to tell.

Kaleb swallowed.

“I saw someone,” he admitted quietly.

Serenity froze.

“Outside the bedroom window,” he continued. “Just standing there. Watching me.”

The room went silent.

The color slowly drained from Serenity’s face.

“How long?” she whispered.

Kaleb hesitated.

And somewhere deep inside the house, the wood creaked softly.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Almost listening.

“I don’t know how long it was there,” Kaleb admitted.

Serenity turned away from him without another word.

She crossed the room quickly and grabbed an empty box from the corner before shoving clothes and books into it with trembling hands.

“Serenity,” Kaleb said cautiously. “What are you doing?”

She stopped packing but didn’t face him right away.

When she finally turned around, fear was written plainly across her face.

“We’re leaving.”

Kaleb stared at her.

“What?”

“Rats and bad floors are one thing,” she said shakily. “Creaking pipes. Weird noises. Stress. Fine. I can handle that.”

Her voice cracked.

“But this?” she whispered. “Ghosts. Stalkers. Whatever the hell you saw outside that window… that’s different.”

“You’re overreacting.”

“No,” she snapped immediately. “I’m reacting exactly enough.”

The house groaned softly overhead.

Serenity flinched.

“I don’t care how much money we lose,” she said. “I am not staying in a house where something watches us through the windows at night.”

Her words lingered heavily in the room.

Kaleb had no argument left.

By morning, Serenity was gone.

The house felt different without her.

Larger.

Emptier.

Kaleb stood alone in the doorway long after her car disappeared down the road.

The silence settled around him slowly.

Oppressively.

What am I going to do now?

She had gone to stay with her parents for a few weeks. Long enough to clear her head. Long enough, she hoped, for whatever was happening inside the house to stop.

Kaleb never told her the truth.

Deep down, he no longer believed it would stop at all.

Now he was alone.

Alone in the house.

Alone on the land.

Alone with the thing that had smiled at him through the window.

Chapter 5: ALL ALONE

Two days passed.

Nothing unusual happened.

No voices echoed through the halls. No piano music drifted from the bedroom. No tapping came from the windows in the middle of the night.

The house simply creaked and sighed the way old houses always did.

But somehow, the silence felt worse.

It pressed down on Kaleb heavier than the disturbances ever had.

By the third morning, he couldn’t take it anymore.

If something was tied to the house, then there had to be records. Someone else had to have seen it before. Someone else had to know what happened on that land.

He decided to start with the grave.

Kaleb drove into town and spent hours inside the local library, digging through brittle newspapers and forgotten records. He searched for anything connected to the house, the cemetery, or the land surrounding it.

Most of what he found were fragments.

Half-truths.

Mentions of ownership changes with no explanations attached.

When the library gave him nothing useful, he went to the register of deeds and requested records that had not been touched in decades.

Names.

Dates.

Transfers of ownership.

Tiny pieces of a story that seemed determined to stay buried.

And as the afternoon dragged on, Kaleb realized something deeply unsettling.

The house had changed owners many times over the years.

But no family had ever stayed there very long.

More than ten families had lived in the house.

Seven were still alive.

Three were not.

The records listed addresses and dates, but no causes of death.

That omission alone was enough to make his stomach tighten.

The following morning, Kaleb found himself standing inside the local sheriff’s department asking questions he wasn’t sure he truly wanted answered.

The deputy behind the desk disappeared into the back room before returning with several dusty boxes tucked beneath his arm.

“These haven’t been opened in decades,” the man said.

When he set them down, dust exploded into the air thick enough to make Kaleb cough.

The folders inside were yellowed with age, their edges curled and brittle.

Kaleb began reading.

The first file detailed the murder of an entire family in 1896.

Every member of the household had been found dead inside the home.

Strangled.

The second report was dated 1920.

Another family.

This time, the deaths had been ruled suicides.

The report stated they had hanged themselves inside the bedroom.

The bedroom with the piano.

Kaleb’s grip tightened around the papers.

The final case was dated 1980.

A family of four.

According to the report, they had been drowned in the kitchen sink one by one.

Kaleb stared at the page, his vision beginning to blur.

Every name listed in the reports matched the names carved into the gravestones behind his house.

He slowly leaned back in the chair, stunned.

When he stood to leave, the sheriff stopped him.

“There’s one more,” the man said quietly. “Older than the others.”

Kaleb hesitated before sitting back down.

The date on the final report read 1870.

The file described a man found dead in the yard outside the house.

Right beneath the same window where Kaleb had seen the figure smiling in the dark.

The man had taken his own life with a knife.

But what unsettled Kaleb most were the photographs attached to the report.

Symbols had been carved into the man’s chest.

The same symbols from the grave marker in the cemetery.

The same symbols Kaleb had already begun seeing in his nightmares.

The man’s name was Adam Coffey.

Attached to the final page was a handwritten note recovered from the scene.

The writing was shaky but deliberate.

“Anyone who trespasses on my land will suffer and feel the power Satan grants me. No one will live in this house or walk my land without consequences.”

Kaleb lowered the paper slowly.

The house had not been cursed accidentally.

It had been claimed.

His phone vibrated suddenly inside his pocket.

Kaleb flinched and pulled it out.

A text message from Serenity.

I’m back at the house. Where are you?

His stomach dropped.

Back at the house?

His fingers fumbled as he immediately called her.

The phone rang.

Once.

Twice.

No answer.

“Come on,” he muttered under his breath.

He called again.

Straight to voicemail.

Panic tightened in his chest instantly.

His mind spiraled through every terrible possibility at once.

He pictured Serenity standing alone in the kitchen.

Saw invisible hands forcing her beneath the sink water.

Saw the bedroom door slowly creaking shut behind her.

Saw the smiling figure waiting outside the window.

What if she had come back alone?

What if something inside the house had been waiting for her?

What if Adam Coffey had already found her?

Kaleb barely remembered handing the file back to the sheriff.

The man said something to him, but the words barely registered.

A moment later, Kaleb was outside.

Running.

The drive home felt endless.

Every red light felt personal.

Every mile stretched longer than the last.

He called Serenity again and again, each unanswered ring feeding the panic building inside him.

By the time the house finally came into view, his hands were slick against the steering wheel.

The property looked normal.

Too normal.

No lights glowed from inside.

No movement crossed the windows.

The porch swing hung perfectly still.

Kaleb slammed the car into park and bolted toward the front door.

“Serenity!” he shouted as he grabbed the handle.

The door swung open immediately.

Unlocked.

His pulse quickened.

“Serenity?”

Silence answered him.

Kaleb stepped inside slowly.

The air felt wrong.

Heavy.

Close.

As though the walls themselves were holding their breath.

“Serenity!” he yelled again.

Then he heard it.

A single piano key.

Soft.

Deliberate.

Pressed slowly somewhere deep inside the house.

Kaleb stopped moving.

His phone buzzed in his hand.

Another text message.

Why are you just standing there?

Slowly, Kaleb raised his eyes toward the hallway.

Darkness stretched before him.

Waiting.

And from the bedroom at the end of the hall came the faint sound of breathing.

Not hers.

Chapter 6: NEVER ENDING

“What do you want?” Kaleb shouted.

His voice cracked violently as it echoed down the hallway.

The answer came immediately.

Laughter.

It poured from the walls, the ceiling, the floor beneath his feet.

Thick.

Wet.

Layered.

As though multiple mouths were laughing at once.

Kaleb clutched his ears and staggered backward before collapsing to his knees.

“Oh God,” he sobbed. “Please… please don’t let it have her.”

His hands pressed desperately against the floorboards.

“Take me instead,” he whispered. “I’ll do anything. Just take me.”

The laughter softened.

Not gone.

Listening.

Kaleb slowly lifted his head.

The bedroom door now stood open.

Darkness filled the room beyond it, deeper and heavier than darkness should have been.

Kaleb forced himself to stand.

Then he stepped forward.

And saw her.

A woman hung suspended from the ceiling beam above the piano.

Kaleb cried out and rushed toward her.

“Serenity!” he gasped. “I’ve got you—I’m here—”

Then he stopped.

This wasn’t Serenity.

The woman looked older.

Gaunt.

Her skin was swollen and bruised in deep shades of purple and yellow. Long scratches covered her arms as though she had clawed desperately at something before dying.

Then her eyes fluttered open.

Kaleb froze.

She was alive.

The rope creaked overhead as her body twitched violently.

“It’s okay,” Kaleb whispered frantically as he reached for the knot. “I’ll get you down. I promise.”

The woman’s mouth opened slowly.

Blood spilled out instead of words.

Dark.

Thick.

Trailing down her chin as she began quietly sobbing.

“Help me,” she whispered.

Her voice sounded wrong.

Too hollow.

Too close.

“Please,” she murmured. “Get me out of here.”

Kaleb’s hands shook violently as he struggled with the rope.

“I will,” he promised. “You’re not alone. I won’t leave you here.”

Suddenly, the woman went still.

Her eyes rolled backward.

The last trace of life drained from her face as her skin turned an unnatural gray.

The blood stopped flowing.

The room fell silent.

Kaleb stumbled backward in horror.

Behind him, the piano released a single low note.

Slowly pressed.

Deliberately played.

The rope tightened overhead.

The woman’s body lifted slightly.

Then vanished.

The rope dropped limp onto the floor.

Kaleb screamed.

A voice whispered directly behind him.

Male.

Calm.

Pleased.

“I’ve been waiting.”

Kaleb ran.

The hallway twisted around him as he sprinted toward the front door. His lungs burned. His heartbeat slammed painfully against his ribs.

The walls began to shift.

Stretching.

Narrowing.

Breathing inward like the inside of a living throat.

Don’t look back.

The thought screamed through his mind louder than the laughter chasing him.

Ahead, the faint glow of the front door flickered through the darkness.

Kaleb pushed harder toward it.

Then his feet slipped.

The floor was wet.

Blood coated the hallway in thick, gleaming layers.

Kaleb crashed down hard, his palms slamming into the warmth of it.

The smell flooded his senses instantly.

Metallic.

Rotten.

Wrong.

As he scrambled upright, symbols began bleeding through the walls around him.

The same symbols from the grave marker.

The same symbols carved into Adam Coffey’s chest.

They burned themselves into the wallpaper and wood as though the house itself were being branded from the inside out.

The front door drifted farther away.

No matter how fast Kaleb ran, the hallway stretched longer.

Endless.

The walls pressed inward tighter.

The light ahead flickered weakly.

Then came footsteps behind him.

Slow.

Heavy.

Certain.

A freezing breath brushed softly against the back of his neck.

“You can’t leave,” the voice whispered.

The hallway went dark.

Chapter 7: MOMENT OF RELIEF

Kaleb jolted awake.

A sharp gasp ripped from his throat as his hands flew to his chest. His heart slammed against his ribs, wild and uneven, as if trying to escape altogether. For a terrifying moment, he was certain he was dying—that the smiling man had finally reached inside him and squeezed.

“Easy,” a voice said.

Kaleb blinked hard.

The walls weren’t bleeding.

The symbols were gone.

The hallway wasn’t stretching into infinity.

Instead, fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, cold and steady. Metal filing cabinets lined the room. A desk. A chair tilted back behind it.

He was still in the sheriff’s department.

His shirt clung to his skin, soaked with sweat. His hands hovered near his chest, trembling, half-expecting to find carvings etched into his skin.

There was nothing.

No blood.

No marks.

Only his heartbeat, still hammering too fast to be real.

“You passed out,” the officer said from across the room. “Dropped like a sack of bricks.”

Kaleb swallowed. His throat burned dry as sand.

He pushed himself upright in the chair. The leather creaked beneath him, loud in the quiet room. The memory came back in fragments—the laughter, the woman, the rope, the voice whispering I’ve been waiting.

It hadn’t felt like a dream.

He looked down at the open folder on the desk.

Adam Coffey. 1870.

The pages were still there, exactly where he had left them.

His pulse skipped.

If he had never left the chair… then what the hell had he just lived through?

And deeper still, beneath the fading panic, sat a quieter certainty he didn’t want to name:

Whatever was on that land now knew him.

“Can I keep the files?” Kaleb asked.

The sheriff nodded. “They’re cold cases. Been sitting a long time.”

“Thank you,” Kaleb said, already standing.

By the time he pulled into the driveway, dusk had settled over the house.

His stomach dropped.

The front door hung open.

Curtains stirred faintly in the windows like they were breathing.

Kaleb stepped inside slowly.

The house smelled wrong—stale, dense, like it had been holding its breath for hours.

He laid the files across the dining table.

Exhaustion hit him all at once. Heavy. Absolute. His thoughts blurred at the edges.

He didn’t remember lying down.

He just remembered sleep taking him.

A sound pulled him awake.

Rustling leaves.

Probably wind.

Then—

CLACK.

CLACK.

CLACK.

Kaleb shot upright.

The sound came from the window.

He moved fast, yanking the curtain aside.

Nothing.

Just darkness. Trees. Stillness.

He leaned closer.

CLACK.

He flinched.

The sound wasn’t outside anymore.

It was behind him.

Every instinct in his body told him not to turn.

He turned anyway.

“I’m home.”

Kaleb froze.

Then spun around.

“Serenity?”

Relief hit so hard his knees almost buckled.

“You’re back?”

She smiled, dropping her bag by the door.

“I thought I’d be gone longer,” she said. “But I missed you. I couldn’t stay away.”

Kaleb didn’t answer right away. His heart still hadn’t slowed.

She frowned slightly. “What’s wrong?”

Then she tried to lighten it with a small laugh. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Kaleb swallowed.

“You wouldn’t believe me,” he said.

Somewhere deep in the house, something seemed to enjoy that answer.

Chapter 8: CREAKING

Serenity sat on the bed and patted the space beside her.

“So,” she said, stretching the word out. “How was it?”

Kaleb sat beside her and exhaled slowly.

“Eventful,” he said.

The word almost felt like a lie.

Hours passed like that—talking, filling in the gaps of the days they’d been apart. Serenity listened closely as Kaleb described the dream, the sheriff’s office, and the laughter that had felt too real to dismiss.

“That must’ve been terrifying,” she said quietly.

“Yeah,” Kaleb said with a weak laugh. “Hopefully I don’t get that nightmare again.”

Later, Serenity stood and stretched.

“What do you want for dinner?”

“I haven’t had a real meal in a while,” Kaleb admitted.

She smiled. “I know exactly what you want. Chicken breast with Cajun seasoning. Green beans. Corn on the cob.”

His expression softened despite everything. “You’re a lifesaver.”

While she cooked, Kaleb set the table.

For a short time, the house almost felt normal.

That was what made it worse.

They sat down to eat.

Halfway through, Serenity set her fork down.

“Are you still planning on staying here?” she asked carefully. “After everything you found out?”

Kaleb hesitated.

“We don’t really have a choice,” he said.

Her fork clinked against the plate as she set it down harder than necessary.

“Are you serious?” she snapped. “You’re joking, right?”

“Calm down,” Kaleb said. “We haven’t been hurt. And honestly… I’m starting to get used to it.”

Serenity stared at him.

Then shook her head.

“I’ll stay,” she said firmly. “But the second one of us gets hurt, I’m gone.”

Kaleb nodded. He believed her.

And worse, he knew she meant it.

After dinner, Serenity washed dishes while Kaleb cleared the table.

When she finished, she leaned in and kissed him softly.

“I’m going to shower,” she said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he replied.

She disappeared down the hall.

Steam slowly fogged the bathroom mirror.

Serenity stepped into the shower, letting the warm water ease the tension from her shoulders. She closed her eyes as shampoo lathered through her hair.

Then—

The door creaked.

She smiled faintly, not opening her eyes.

“You can come in,” she teased. “I don’t bite. Hard.”

No answer.

The silence stretched.

Her smile faded.

She pulled the curtain back.

The bathroom was empty.

The door stood wide open.

Her breath caught—

—and Kaleb stepped inside.

“That’s not funny,” she snapped immediately. “Really? A prank?”

Kaleb frowned. “What prank?”

“You were just in here,” she said. “Standing there.”

“I wasn’t,” he said slowly. “I’ve been in the bedroom.”

Serenity went quiet.

Then nodded once.

“I guess I’m just tired,” she muttered. “On edge.”

Kaleb nodded, but something cold settled in his chest.

Because the door hadn’t opened itself.

At 3:00 a.m., Kaleb woke to scratching from the kitchen.

He moved through the dark hallway carefully, each step deliberate.

When he reached the kitchen, he stopped cold.

Fresh claw marks gouged the tile.

Long. Deep.

As if something had been dragged across the floor—

—and fought desperately to get away.