The Stranger at the Door

It’s 2:50 AM and Graça couldn’t sleep. Her husband still hadn’t come home. Recently, he had been arriving later than usual. Her marriage was no longer like it used to be. Time passed, and they weren’t the young lovers they once were when they met, passionate and inseparable.

Graça knew things had changed, that the passion had slowly faded. The warmth of the first years was replaced by the distant coldness of a routine that, for her, seemed long dead. She suspected there was another woman, perhaps several. But that no longer bothered her like it once had. Her body, which had once been the subject of eager glances and sincere compliments, no longer attracted in the same way.

But Graça didn’t want a divorce. She couldn’t handle the shame of divorcing and admitting things hadn’t worked out. She couldn’t deal with the looks of others. And what she feared more than anything was the hell of office gossip. She was a woman of power, a leader, and she had to be firm and tough with people. She had to maintain her posture, and a divorce would only admit that she was a person who didn’t deserve love. Deep down, she knew she didn’t deserve it. She had done many bad things in her life.

Graça feels good about mistreating others, it gives her a sense of power and satisfaction. She walked back and forth, thinking of a plan to make her husband pay dearly for his late arrivals, when she noticed that her dog was staring intently at the front door. Completely still, without moving or making a sound.

Graça looked perplexed at the door. Slowly, she approached, each step cautious. She peered through the peephole, heart racing, but there was nothing. No one. Her gaze flickered to the dog, whose eyes were fixed on the door, then back to the door. Something felt wrong.

"C’mon, Nico, let’s go to bed." she says to the dog.

As she walked toward the bedroom, she heard the doorbell ring. She froze, her eyes looking straight at the door, then at her dog, who remained motionless in the same place. She noticed the clock 2:55 AM. Her mind raced, immediately thinking it could be her husband, maybe he’d forgotten his keys. She looked through the peephole, but there was nothing. Her mind was so confused, she knew it was dangerous to open the door, but what if it was her husband?

She gathered her courage and opened the door, but no one was there. Had she imagined the sound of the doorbell? As she closed the door, Nico began to growl.

'There's nothing there." she looked at him and whispered.

And then someone knocked at her door. Three knocks in a row. She rushed to look through the peephole but saw no one. She quickly opened the door to see who was messing with her but saw no one.

She closes the door, and Nico runs in fear, hiding. She notices that the clock reads 3 AM.

She glances back at the door, a sudden chill crawling up her spine. At first, she thinks it's just her mind playing tricks, some leftover fear from the frantic moments before. But then, she sees it.

A shadow.

A shape, dark and indistinct, stands in the doorway. Her heart races, her hands tremble. Nico whimpers softly from the corner. The shadow begins to advance toward Graça. She can’t move, she is frozen, paralyzed and unable to make a sound. The shadow moves closer, little by little, until it envelops her completely. It’s still 3 AM.

...

Graça's husband arrives home at 7 AM. He hopes to see his wife dead. Recently, she has been losing her mind more than ever, and he is scared for his life. Desperate, he summoned an entity to make his wife disappear. He isn't a man who believes in the supernatural, but he has nothing left to lose. Days later, he uncovers dark secrets about her. She is not the woman he thought she was.

One year later, a coworker of hers disappears without a trace. He knows she didn’t like the woman. The tension between them was intense at work.

It was late one night when he stumbled upon his wife’s old, tattered belongings. Among them, he discovered things that clearly belonged to that poor woman. Included was a piece of clothing stained with blood. He could barely believe what his eyes were seeing. He had suspected for a long time that his wife carried darkness with her, but this was the confirmation he needed.

Every day that passed, his fear of his wife grew. He has only one terrifying thought: What if she kills him while he sleeps? His mind raced with wild images of her harming him in the night. He knew she would never divorce him. If he tried to run away, she would find a way to track him down, and it would only make things worse.

Desperation clawed at him. He needed a solution. Then, a memory surfaced, one of a friend who was obsessed with the supernatural. His friend had once spoken of an entity that could be summoned to grant any wish, in exchange for a soul. The thought struck him. Maybe, just maybe, he could summon this entity to take his wife and her own soul away.

If everything went as planned, the entity took care of his wife at 3 AM. When he entered the room, he saw the lifeless body of his wife lying on the floor. The expression on his face was one of pure horror. His wife’s mouth was wide open, as if something had forced its way inside of her.

Nico came out of hiding and, went to his side, seeking comfort. He petted him and said, "Now we are safe."

He looked again at the grotesque corpse before him, which was a reflection of the malice within her. This corpse represented the hideousness, as vile and repulsive as the person she had been.