The Third Night Window

🕯️ The Third Night Window

☠️ Once You See It It Sees You Forever

written by; HUZAIFA HAROON

They say the house only takes the ones who look

But no one says what they see

Leah arrived at dusk her car grumbling up the gravel path like it didnt want to go any closer The house rose at the edge of the forest crooked narrow and older than memory

She wasnt alone

Her childhood friend Mara had insisted on coming along Youre not sleeping in a house from a ghost story alone shed said Mara was loud skeptical and brave in the way people are right before they break

And there was Jonas the local groundskeeper hired to clear vines and check pipes He had grown up near Black Hollow and never once stepped inside

When Leah asked him why he didnt answer

He only said Dont look out the window Especially not on the third night

Inside the house seemed aware It creaked before footsteps Whispers slid behind walls The wallpaper shifted slightly when no one was looking curling like it had ears

The window on the third floor was always open

Leah shut it

Mara nailed it closed

Jonas salted the floor beneath it

By morning it was open again

On the second night Father Elric the village priest arrived uninvited

He had heard whispers Had seen candles burning in the attic when the house was supposed to be empty

He walked with a limp and held a rusted silver cross Its not a ghost in there he warned Its the memory of something that remembers you

They laughed But he didnt

That night at 317 am Mara screamed

She had gone to the bathroom But she didnt return

Leah found her at the thirdfloor door standing still hand on the doorknob staring into the dark room Frozen

When Leah touched her shoulder Mara turned eyes wide mouth twitching

Theres a version of me in there she whispered

But she never learned how to stop smiling

Father Elric tried to cleanse the room the next morning He chanted threw salt burned herbs

And then he opened the window

He stared too long

He didnt speak after that He just sat in the chapel pews with eyes closed mumbling prayers for people who had never existed

That night Jonas packed his truck to leave

He made it to the curve in the road

The engine stalled

The thirdstory window glowed faintly even from the trees

When villagers found his truck the next morning the engine was still warm The door wide open And salt poured in a perfect circle around the drivers seat

But Jonas was gone

On the third night Leah knew what was waiting

Still the dream returned the girl at the window skin slick with fog eyes empty mouth whispering

Come see what I saw

Leah didnt wake

She simply rose

Mara begged her not to go

But Leahs face had changed Her eyes looked like glass pressed too tight against a flame

She climbed the stairs

317 am

The door was open

The room was waiting

And the window

was not showing the forest anymore

It showed a hallway The same hallway

A mirror but aged Twisted Decayed

In the window stood her grandmother Or what remained of her

Behind her Mara Father Elric Jonas All watching

All trapped

Their mouths were open but no sound came

Only smiling Endless aching smiling

The reflection of Leah stepped forward

But Leah hadnt moved

The reflection reached out

The real Leah disappeared

The reflection remained

In the morning the villagers said nothing But they walked a little faster past the house

Some said they saw two women standing behind the window now

One of them smiled The other cried

But only one ever blinked

They say the house only takes the ones who look

But now the house has a memory

And its building a collection