Chapter 7 – "We Don't Say Her Name"
> Location: Town Library – 5:33 PM
Malik had gathered the group.
Only six of them showed up.
The others? Not responding.
Not answering their radios. Not home.
Clara sat with her arms crossed, watching the others.
> "Has anyone seen Jacob?"
"Or Elena?"
"Or… Kieran?"
Silence.
Until Zoe whispered:
> "I think the house took them."
They laughed. Nervous, cracked laughter.
But no one told her she was wrong.
---
INT. LIBRARY – BASEMENT READING ROOM
Malik laid out the map they'd drawn.
It was small — the entire town could fit in your palm.
But now, sections were crossed out in red.
Areas no longer safe.
Too quiet. Too... alive.
He pointed at Hallow Street.
> "That place's wrong. It breathes. Zoe saw it."
Zoe nodded.
Then Clara whispered:
> "I've seen her."
The room went still.
> "Who?" Malik asked.
Clara didn't answer.
She just drew in the dust:
a stick figure with long arms.
And beside it — a smaller one.
> "The girl. Lou. That's her name."
---
FLASHBACK – CLARA'S MEMORY – NIGHT BEFORE
She had heard giggles outside the school dormitory.
Childlike, pure.
She followed the sound, barefoot in the cold.
At the playground, a swing moved gently.
And standing behind it —
a little girl in white, hair long, unmoving.
Clara stepped forward.
The girl turned.
Her eyes were stitched shut.
Her voice like wind passing through teeth:
> "It's rude to leave when we're playing."
---
BACK TO PRESENT – LIBRARY
> "She's not a ghost," Clara said.
"She's what's left when a town forgets its children."
Zoe stood.
> "We can't stay here."
Malik nodded.
> "We need to go underground. We need shelter.
We need something that wasn't built above the silence."
They all agreed.
And that night, they made a pact:
> No one says her name out loud again.
Not even whispering.
Because the girl — Lou —
only comes when she hears you remember.