John sat silently on the bed, sketching once again. She asked softly,
"What did you draw today, John? Show me."
Without a word, he passed her the notebook. This time, he had drawn their family. It was Daniel, Mary, Novia and John - the Ashbournes. She was happy to see their family united but then noticed that her face was scribbled out with red ink.
She asked, almost in a whisper, why he had crossed out her face.
He laughed in a loud, jarring sound and said, "Because it is going to happen soon."
Her heart dropped. This wasn't a joke anymore. She ran to her mom and told her about the strange drawings, but her mother just said, "You know that he loves horror movies. He was probably copying a scene or something."
She returned to her room but John wasn't there. The door creaked open. In the dim hallway, John passed by…something followed him. But she noticed shadows trailing behind him as he walked. The shadows that didn't seem to belong to him. She dismissed it as her hallucination as she was scared by the drawings.
Five minutes later, John burst in the room, screaming -
"They are coming for you!"
"Who is coming for me?" she asked, her voice trembling. "What are you talking about?"
But John only smiled and the next second, he was fast asleep as nothing ever happened. Her hands were trembled. Her chest tightened with every breath. Fear gripped her whole body. She could feel eyes on her. But she didn't dare to look. Curling into the blanket, she forced herself to sleep.
At exactly 3:00 AM, a loud knock jolted her awake. But John was right there, asleep next to her.
She questioned herself:
"Who the hell could be knocking at 3:00 AM?"
As the knocks grew louder and more desperate, she finally opened the door.
It was John.
He said, "Why didn't you open the door? I've been standing out here for like 15 minutes."
Then he asked, "Do you let them in?"
She stammered, "Yeah… um, ofcourse, I let you in."
She turned slowly toward the bed, and John was still sleeping.
She hadn't let John in. She'd invited something else.