A phone call rang... Ervan instantly knew it wasn't good news. He called his brother afterwards to inform him, and they quickly went to the hospital. When they got there, the doctor explained that their mother had suffered a heart attack. She had been healthy and strong, with no known diseases even as she grew older. Ervan couldn't understand how this could happen. The doctor noted that these symptoms can appear at any time, even in healthy people, often caused by stress or a sudden shock. She stayed in the hospital for a week until she was discharged, ready to be taken home. Ervan took on the responsibility of staying with her for a few days until she got better.
During those few days, Ervan observed his mother closely, but something caught his attention. He saw her talking alone in her room through a partially open door. When he got closer, she stopped talking. When he asked who she was talking to, she acted blunt, saying she wasn't talking to anyone and that he was just hearing things. He nodded, telling himself he was just imagining it.
Later that night, after taking a shower, Ervan went to his room. Suddenly, he heard whispers coming from his mother's room, as if two people were conversing, but she was nowhere to be seen. He left his room and called out his mother's name. When he received no answer, he searched outside, but found nothing. When he went back to his room to get his cellphone, his mother was there. She asked why he was calling for her, claiming she had been in her room the whole time. Ervan knew something was wrong; she wasn't acting normal. He told her he was just playing a joke on her, laughing it off, but his mother's facial expression remained dark as she smiled back.
The next morning, Ervan went back to the hospital and told the doctor everything. Shock ran through the doctor's eyes as he heard the news. He told Ervan to see a psychiatrist immediately and gave him several phone numbers for doctors who could help.
When Ervan told his brother, Matthew, what was going on, Matthew was also in disbelief but promised to come home the next day to see for himself. That night, around midnight, Ervan heard a scream from his mother's room. He rushed in and saw her standing at the edge of the balcony, as if being lifted by an unknown force, holding a kitchen knife. She was murmuring words he couldn't understand. Ervan pleaded with her to stop, but she looked at him with a dark, twisted smile. Her eyes looked hollow and tears streamed down her face as she fell from the balcony. Ervan rushed to her, but when he looked down, he saw her lying in blood. He called emergency services and then called his brother, tears streaming down his face. Matthew arrived only after the ambulance, finding Ervan sitting where their mother had fallen. While Matthew comforted him, a police investigation began.
After the funeral, Matthew decided to sell the house and began removing the furniture. In his mother's room, he found a box under the bed filled with mementos and souvenirs from her younger years when she traveled. He found an old lidded vase, but what surprised him most was what lay underneath it: a diary.
Matthew sat on the bed and started reading:
"After Ervan stayed for a few days following my hospital visit, I stopped feeling safe. He was constantly observing everything I did... he was too overprotective. Today, while I was praying in my room, he slowly opened the door and asked who I was talking to. His eyes seemed weird and dark; his tone was serious. I told him I was doing a morning prayer and asked if he'd like to join, but he quickly left the room. Later that night, he came to my room screaming my name. Again, his eyes were dark—it was as if he couldn't even see me. I answered, 'I am here,' and he left the room, still screaming. At this point, I was scared. He was scaring me. He came back in and asked where I was. I told him I had been here all along, and he started laughing with a weird, non-human laugh before leaving without saying anything.
The next day, I received a call from the doctor. He said Ervan had been at the hospital and looked 'off.' He told me Ervan had said things about me that he couldn't understand—he wasn't even sure if Ervan was speaking English. He said my son needed help and gave me a psychiatrist's number. I wanted to tell the doctor everything that was happening, but I saw Ervan watching me from upstairs. He was holding what appeared to be a knife. I ended the call. I am so scared. He locks all the doors except for my room and the bathroom. He always looks at me with a weird face and doesn't allow me to use a phone. This diary is the only thing I can use that he doesn't know about. I am not safe in this house anymore. I have to tell his brother about the dream I had, where I saw Ervan sleeping on his bed while something like black smoke entered his body through his mouth. Tomorrow Matthew must know the truth—he must know that whoever I am living with is no longer his brother, but something else."
Matthew quickly turned the pages to see what happened next, but they were all blank. This had been written before the night Ervan told him about their mother's death. Reading that his mother believed he was living with someone else, Matthew realized his brother had a hand in her death.
But as he stood up, Ervan appeared in the doorway, holding a knife and asking about the book.
Days passed. Matthew and Ervan were reported missing. No one knows where they went. The only lead investigators found was in the house Matthew was supposed to sell: a vase under the bed containing burnt bones. When the remains were identified, it was discovered that they didn't belong to neither brothers, nor to any human who had ever lived.The case was shut down entirely after the discovery.