Chapter 4 The Hall of Doors

The girl hesitated in the doorway, clutching the baby tightly. The dimly lit hallway stretched before her, impossibly long, with shadows clinging to the walls like living things.

Behind her, the room she had just left seemed to close in on itself. She could still hear the whispers-soft, distant, but present.

She swallowed.

She had to move forward.

The wooden floor creaked beneath her bare feet as she stepped into the corridor. The baby remained eerily still, its tiny body warm against her arms.

The hallway was lined with doors. Dozens of them. All identical-tall, wooden, with brass handles that gleamed faintly in the candlelight.

She turned her head to glance behind her, and her breath caught in her throat.

The doorway she had just stepped through was gone.

Her stomach twisted. There was no going back now.

Taking a shaky breath, she moved forward.

The air was heavy, thick with something she couldn't name. The flickering candle sconces on the walls barely cast enough light to push back the darkness.

And then-

A whisper.

Soft. Barely audible.

"Choose wisely..."

She froze, heart pounding.

The voice hadn't come from behind her. It had come from one of the doors.

She turned slowly, her gaze scanning the identical doors stretching down the hallway.

Then-

A thump.

Loud. Heavy. Coming from the nearest door on her left.

She jumped, tightening her hold on the baby. Her fingers ached from gripping the thin blankets too hard.

Another thump.

Something was inside.

She took a slow step back.

The handle on the door rattled.

She held her breath.

Then-silence.

Her pulse thundered in her ears. The hallway stretched endlessly in both directions, offering no clue which way to go.

The baby stirred in her arms.

And then-

Another door creaked open.

She spun around, gasping.

A door three paces ahead of her had opened by itself.

Darkness gaped beyond the threshold, thick and unnatural.

She took a shaky step forward. She didn't want to go inside. But what choice did she have?

She hesitated at the doorway, peering into the gloom.

Then, slowly, she stepped inside.

The door slammed shut behind her.

She gasped, whirling around.

Darkness swallowed the room whole.

Then-

A whisper.

Soft. Near her ear.

"The days are counting down."

The candle sconces flared to life.

The girl sucked in a sharp breath.

She was no longer in a hallway.

She stood in a circular room, lined with mirrors.

Each mirror reflected a different version of herself.

In one, she was older, her hair longer, her eyes hollow.

In another, she was younger, barely a toddler, sitting on the floor, staring blankly ahead.

And in the mirror at the very center-

She wasn't alone.

A figure stood behind her reflection.

Tall. Cloaked in shadows. Its face was obscured, but its eyes-

Its eyes burned.

Her breath hitched.

The baby let out a soft sound-a tiny, breathy giggle.

She turned to look at it.

And in that moment, the figure in the mirror moved.

It stepped forward.

Out of the mirror.

Into the room.

The girl screamed.

The candlelight flickered violently, the room tilting as if the very walls were shifting.

The shadow loomed over her.

Then-

A whisper.

"It is not yet time."

The darkness collapsed inward.

And then-

Silence.

She opened her eyes.

She was back in the hallway.

The door she had entered was gone.

The baby lay still in her arms.

But she knew something had changed.

Something had followed her back.

And she was running out of time.