Lena didn't speak to anyone outside Hollow Pines for nearly a week.
It wasn't just because there was no cell signal, or that the landline stayed eerily dead. It was something deeper—a sense that the house had begun to breathe with her. She wasn't just living in it anymore. She was becoming part of it.
And it wasn't just Julian.
The house itself had started speaking.
Whispers in the walls. Footsteps in empty rooms. A music box that played on its own. And most chilling of all—her dreams.
They weren't nightmares. Not exactly. But every night, she'd drift into sleep and awaken there—in another version of the house. Alive. Lit with sunlight. Voices from another era echoing down the halls. And always, he was there. Julian. Flesh and blood. Smiling. Laughing. Kissing her hand.
Except… in those dreams, he never called her "Lena."
He called her "Liora."
---
On the sixth night, Lena awoke with a gasp, soaked in sweat. Her fingers trembled as she lit the candle beside her bed.
Then she heard it again.
A knock.
From the attic.
It was soft. Deliberate.
She wrapped a shawl around herself and climbed the stairs, candle in hand. The light flickered wildly as she pushed the attic door open.
Julian stood at the far end of the attic, near the window.
Only… he wasn't alone.
There was another figure. A woman. Her back turned. Her body half-faded, like torn silk in the wind.
Julian turned toward Lena, his face grim. "You shouldn't be here right now."
"Who is she?" Lena whispered.
The woman turned.
Her face was hollow, eyes empty like black holes. Her mouth opened, but no sound came. Only a feeling—pure, cold dread.
Julian stepped between them. "You need to go."
The woman's form flickered, her hair whipping around her like a storm.
"I SAID GO!" Julian roared.
The attic door slammed shut on its own.
Lena turned and fled.
---
Back in her room, Lena collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. Her hands were ice-cold. Her chest tight.
Who was that?
Not Eleanor. Not Julian. But a presence that felt far older. Angrier.
The next day, she scoured the library and found something chilling in the journal of a Reverend who had once lived in the house during the 1800s.
> "The Lady in the Walls" they called her. The one who lived before Julian's time. She cursed the house when her lover betrayed her, swearing she would never rest until love itself was destroyed within these walls. She died in the east bedroom. They never found her body. But they say she remains… feeding on broken hearts."
Lena ran her fingers along the spine of the book.
> So this house… doesn't just hold ghosts of the past. It holds something evil.
And if that spirit sensed her bond with Julian—real, growing, and undeniable—then Lena knew she was in danger.
So was Julian.
---
That night, she waited.
When Julian appeared by the fireplace, she stood and walked toward him, eyes fierce.
"You lied to me."
His eyes softened. "Lena—"
"You knew she was here. That this house wasn't just your prison. It's hers too."
He sighed, a shadow of regret flickering across his face. "I didn't lie. I only hoped… I could protect you from her."
"Why does she want me gone?"
"Because you're undoing the curse. Every moment you love me—every step you take toward remembering who you once were—you weaken her."
Lena's hands shook. "So what happens if I keep remembering? If we keep… loving each other?"
Julian met her gaze. "She'll try to stop it. She'll try to hurt you."
Then his voice dropped.
"She'll try to make you leave me again."
---
Later that night, Lena stood before the portrait of Liora and Julian in the attic.
Her fingers brushed the canvas.
"I won't leave you," she whispered.
A wind blew through the room, extinguishing every candle in a single breath.
Then came the voice—deep, female, rage-laced:
> "You will."
---
Author's Thought:
This chapter shifts the tone of the story. It's no longer just a romance—it's now a war between love and bitterness, between the past and what's been cursed to remain. Julian and Lena's connection has awakened not only memories of a former life, but a dark entity determined to end love before it's fulfilled. I wanted you to feel the danger rising here—and also the urgency. Lena now knows love comes at a price. Would you stay and fight... or flee for your life?
In Chapter Five, the haunting intensifies. Lena must choose: surrender to fear, or face the ghost who wants her soul.