Eva sat quietly, the warmth of the tea doing little to settle the tension curled in her chest. Jian was beside her, silent, but alert, his eyes still occasionally flicking toward Mael, who sipped calmly from his cup like he hadn't frozen mid-motion minutes earlier.
Elara moved about the kitchen with practiced ease, humming to herself.
"Mom?" Eva said suddenly, her voice light, careful.
Elara turned with a cheerful, "Yes, sweetheart?"
Eva glanced at Jian, then looked back at her mother. "Do you think Jian could stay the night?"
Jian turned slightly, eyebrows lifting. His gaze slid to Eva questioning.
Eva didn't say anything out loud. She just looked back at him, steady and quiet. And her eyes said it for her: Yes. You're staying.
Jian held her gaze for a moment… then nodded almost imperceptibly and looked away, staying silent.
Elara blinked. "Stay the night? It's still morning," she laughed gently. "Planning ahead, are we?"
Eva shrugged a little, trying to seem casual. "We haven't had a sleepover in ages. And… I'd feel better. I mean, it'd be nice."
Elara's eyes softened. "Of course, sweetie. As long as his parents are okay with it."
"They're fine with it," Eva said quickly. Too quickly. But Elara didn't notice.
"Well then, I'll set up the guest bed later," Elara said, returning to the stove. "I love when the house is full."
Mael's eyes lingered on Jian. A flicker of a smile touched his lips thin and unreadable.
"How nice," he murmured. "Safety in numbers."
Neither Eva nor Jian replied.
But Eva's hand curled tighter around her cup.
And Jian didn't take his eyes off Mael again.
Eva led Jian up the creaking stairs, her fingers tight around the banister. Behind them, the house remained warm and humming, but it felt like a mask now. Like a stage.
As soon as they reached the threshold of her room, Eva stepped inside quickly and gestured for Jian to follow. The moment he did, she shut the door and twisted the lock with a sharp click.
"Shit…" she muttered, pressing her back to the door. "What's wrong with Mama? Letting a total stranger stay here...smiling like he's some lost puppy. For what? That guy is weird , Jian. I mean dangerous weird."
Her voice rose in frustration as she started pacing across the room. Her hands moved with her words sharp, frantic gestures. Jian stayed near the door, watching her quietly, arms folded.
"He shows up out of nowhere, looks like some kind of storybook villain pretending to be in high school, and she just lets him in ?" she continued. "What the hell is going on?"
She turned and caught Jian staring at her.
She stopped mid-step, brows drawing in.
"What?"
Jian didn't flinch. His expression softened, and then...he smiled. Calm. Warm.
"You look cute," he said.
Eva blinked.
She wasn't sure if she was ready to laugh or scream. Her arms dropped to her sides, lips parting in disbelief.
"What?"
Jian shrugged lightly, leaning back against the wall. "You do. All fired up like this. Kind of like when you used to yell at me for stealing your fries."
Eva stared at him for a second longer… and then, despite everything...the fear, the confusion, the unease, her lips twitched.
A breath of laughter slipped out.
"You're such an idiot," she muttered, sitting down on the edge of her bed and dragging a hand down her face.
But her shoulders relaxed just a little.
And for a moment, they were just Eva and Jian again.
Even if the house still held its breath.
--------------------
From the kitchen, the soft sound of dishes clinking faded as Elara dried her hands on a towel and stepped out into the hallway. Her eyes landed on the table...now empty except for the gently steaming teacups.
Her smile faltered.
"Oh… where is Eva and Jian?" she asked, glancing around. "Did they go outside?"
Mael, still seated, turned his head slowly to look at her. His expression was calm, pleasant, just like before.
"They left," he said.
Elara blinked. "Left? Left to where?"
Mael tilted his head, lips curling into a mild, innocent smile. "Eva took him."
Elara hesitated, eyes narrowing slightly. There was something off in how he said it—too still, too certain.
"Oh… that's Eva for you," she said with an awkward chuckle, smoothing down her apron. "I suppose she's just in her room. You can go join them if you want, sweetheart."
Mael's smile sharpened just slightly at the corners. "Thanks."
He stood with slow, deliberate grace and turned toward the stairs. But as he ascended, step by careful step, he didn't stop on the second floor where Eva's room sat in quiet tension behind a locked door.
He kept going.
Higher.
Past the attic door.
Past the dim lightbulb that flickered overhead.
Until he reached the top...an unfinished landing where the boards creaked under his weight and the ceiling dipped low. No doors. No windows.
Just a blind wall covered in faded, cracked paint.
Mael stood in front of it, calm.
Then he lifted one hand and pressed his palm flat against the center of the wall.
For a second, nothing happened.
And then....hummmmm.
A soft vibration spread through the wood.
Veins of light, thin and cold blue, crackled beneath the surface...like lightning behind skin. The wall shimmered, warping subtly like water under heat.
And then, without sound, a door appeared.
Not a normal one. A tall, narrow, seamless shape—slick like metal and too perfect for the old house around it.
Mael's expression changed. The mask dropped.
No more warmth. No more softness.
Only focus.
He placed his hand on the strange handle and whispered, almost reverently:
"Finally."
Then he stepped through the door....
And vanished.
Downstairs, the house fell into a strange hush.
Elara stood at the bottom of the stairs, still facing where Mael had disappeared. The last of the light from the hidden door above had barely faded when her face soft and motherly just moments ago...twitched.
Her lips curled.
Not in confusion.
Not in worry.
But in something older. Deeper.
A smile.
A slow, creeping thing that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Finally," she whispered, her voice thin as spider-silk.
Upstairs, Eva froze.
Something cold ran through her spine like ice water in her veins.
Jian caught the shift instantly. "You okay?" he asked, brow furrowing.
Eva didn't answer right away. She was staring off, past the walls, as if she'd felt a sound no one else could hear.
"I…" she started, but her voice broke off.
Her arms wrapped around herself instinctively. A tremble.
Then silence.
Jian blinked.
And suddenly, there she was.
Elara.
Standing right in front of him. Still, Pale.
Her eyes hollow and endless, like a ghost pulled straight from the folds of time.
His breath caught. His entire body went stiff. Eyes wide.
Then, just as suddenly...she was gone.
He jerked back, rubbing his eyes hard with the heel of his hand.
When he looked again… nothing. Just the empty room.
"The dream this morning… about her," he muttered to himself, swallowing the unease rising in his throat.
"It's still affecting me…"
A few seconds later ..
Jian's heart slammed in his chest, fast and wild...like it knew something his mind hadn't caught up to yet.
Then he heard it.
"Please come, Jian…"
A whisper, soft and distant, but it curled through his veins like static. He blinked, frozen in place.
Again it came.
"Help me…"
His breath caught. Something inside him snapped.
Jian stood up abruptly, his chair scraping across the floor with a sharp screech.
Eva flinched. "Jian?"
He didn't look at her. His eyes were wide...fixed on something far beyond the room.
"This voice…" he whispered. "I've heard it before."
He clenched his fists.
And then, like the truth finally cracked through the fog in his head, he said it. Not softly. Not gently.
But like a gunshot.
"Elara."
Eva's eyes widened in shock. "What? Jian, what do you mean..?"
But Jian turned to her, voice low and shaken.
"It's her. I know her. That's… Elara 2001. The original version. The one from before everything broke."
Eva's blood went cold.
He didn't wait for a response. He was already at the door. Already moving.
Whatever was calling… wasn't just calling anyone.
It was calling him.
Jian flung the door open in a sharp, hurried motion. The hallway yawned before him, quiet and dim. Eva scrambled after him, confused but alert.
"Jian, what are you...."
He didn't answer. He stepped out and looked up the stairs. The place where Mael had gone.
But… nothing.
Just the blind end. An old wall. No sign of doors, no sound, no light. It was as if Mael had vanished into thin air.
Behind him, Eva had just stepped out when her breath caught in her throat.
She wasn't looking up.
She was looking down.
"Elara…" she whispered.
Jian turned sharply, following her gaze.
At the foot of the stairs stood Elara. Still. Smiling.
But something was off. Her eyes shimmered faintly under the dim light like glass over darkness.
Eva's eyes widened.
Then, Elara's expression shifted. The smile faded not fully, but just enough to let something else show through.
Confusion.
"Sweetie," she said slowly, voice honeyed, pleasant. "I was… searching for you. I just was asking…"
She trailed off.
Her head tilted, like a glitch in motion. She blinked. Then spoke again, softer. Strained.
"I was just now… asking him… about you."
Jian narrowed his eyes.
Then Elara stopped talking again.
Her gaze moved too suddenly up to Jian.
She stared at him. Studying him.
Then whispered, barely audible:
"…Who is he?"
The air turned colder.
Jian and Eva locked eyes. They didn't say a word.
But both understood something had cracked.
Eva, without speaking, turned and stepped back into her room. Jian followed, shutting the door quietly behind them.
She leaned against the wall, pale. "What… does she mean by who?"
Jian's voice was low. Tense.
"Something strange is happening."
He looked at the door as if expecting it to vanish.
"What… does she mean by who?" She shook her head. "I feel like I'm confused too. Like… someone was here. But also… wasn't.
Eva stared at him, a sick feeling coiling in her gut.
Jian turned his head toward her, eyes dark.
"Either someone's rewriting this reality… or it's starting to remember what it used to be."
To be continue ...