(Izzy's POV)
I didn't dream that night.
Or maybe I did, and I just couldn't remember.
But when I woke up, the window was wide open again, and my skin was covered in goosebumps. The morning air seeped into my bones, and there was something strange in the light—like the sun hadn't quite reached the house yet.
It felt… paused.
Still.
I sat up slowly, letting the blanket fall from my shoulders. The closet door across from my bed was cracked open.
No.
I knew I had closed it last night.
I always closed it.
I got out of bed, heart in my throat, and crept toward the door. My fingers hovered over the knob. I half expected another knock, another whisper, another—
Nothing.
Just darkness.
But it felt like something was in there, just out of sight. Watching. Breathing.
I grabbed the small flashlight from my desk and flicked it on. The beam cut through the shadows, revealing old dresses, dusty boxes, and a peeling trunk. No monsters. No Elias.
Still, my skin prickled. The kind of instinct you don't argue with. The kind that keeps you alive.
I shut the door hard and re-latched the hook. Just in case.
***
Downstairs, Mom was already making tea. The scent of peppermint floated through the air, masking the house's usual musty scent.
"You okay, Izzy?" she asked, glancing at me over her cup.
"Yeah," I lied. "Didn't sleep well."
Her expression softened. "It's probably just the stress of moving. New place, new energy. That always messed me up too."
I didn't know how to explain that it wasn't the place that was bothering me.
It was the person.
Or whatever Elias was.
"I think I'll go for a walk," I said.
Mom looked surprised. "In the woods?"
I nodded.
She hesitated. "Stay close. Those trees go on forever."
I smiled faintly. "I won't get lost."
But I already was. Somewhere between this world and his.
***
The woods felt different in the daylight. Less haunting. More alive. The trees whispered with wind and the soft flutter of birds overhead. Still, something pulsed just beneath the surface. A tension. A heartbeat.
I didn't call for Elias. I didn't need to.
He was there.
Sitting on a fallen log, head down, fingers tracing the rough wood like he was trying to remember something that had been carved there and faded.
He looked up when I stepped closer.
"You came," he said.
"You left my window open."
A small smile tugged at his lips. "You left your heart open."
That line might've sounded ridiculous from anyone else, but from him, it struck something deep in me. Something warm and unfamiliar.
"What are you really?" I asked, sitting on the log across from him.
Elias stared at the ground for a moment, as if the answer might be buried beneath the roots. "A memory," he said. "A curse. A shadow that never faded."
"That's not an answer."
He looked up at me, silver eyes unreadable. "I died here once."
My breath caught. "You're a ghost?"
"Not quite."
"Then what—"
"It's not something you can label, Izzy." He leaned forward slightly. "The dead don't always leave. Sometimes they stay. When their story isn't finished. When they're tied to something… or someone."
I swallowed hard. "Like Annabelle."
His expression flickered. "You read her letters."
"She loved you."
"She remembered me," he corrected. "That's not the same thing."
"Did you love her?"
Silence stretched between us. The wind stopped. Even the trees listened.
"I tried," he said finally. "But she wasn't you."
I froze.
The way he said it wasn't romantic. It was heavy. Like it had been waiting to be said for a very long time.
I stood up, suddenly needing air. "You're playing some kind of game."
"I'm not."
"You haunt girls until they fall for you? Then disappear?"
"I never meant to haunt you, Izzy." His voice was sharp now. "I was drawn to you. The first night you stepped into that house… something shifted. I hadn't felt anything in decades. And then there you were."
I shook my head. "No. That's not how this works. You don't get to say that. You don't even know me."
"I do know you," he said, standing now too. "I've seen you before. In dreams. In echoes. You're tied to this place. To me."
I took a step back.
But even as my heart pounded in panic, part of me wanted to believe him. Wanted to fall forward into that strange warmth in his eyes.
"You're insane," I whispered.
"Maybe," he said. "But I'm not lying."
Then he reached into his coat and pulled something out—a necklace. A thin silver chain with a cracked blue stone, like a fragment of the ocean.
"This was yours," he said, holding it out.
"I've never seen that before in my life."
"You wore it the night you died."
My breath hitched. "I'm not dead."
"No. But you were once. A long time ago. In a different life."
A laugh escaped me—dry, sharp. "Reincarnation? That's your big twist?"
But when I looked at the necklace, something did stir. A flash. A flicker of an image. A girl with blonde hair, standing in the same woods… crying as a boy disappeared into the dark.
I stepped back. "I—I need to go."
"Izzy—"
"Don't follow me!"
I turned and ran, feet pounding against the earth, lungs burning. Branches clawed at my sleeves, and shadows chased me until the house came into view again.
I didn't stop until I was in my room, door slammed shut behind me.
The closet was open again.
Wide this time.
Inside, something gleamed.
Not eyes.
A mirror.
One I'd never seen before.
I stepped forward slowly, the surface fogged over. When I reached out and touched it, cold jolted through my fingers.
And then a vision—
Me, standing in these woods… in a gown soaked in blood.
Elias kneeling over me, crying.
My own voice whispering, "You'll find me again. I promise."