The wooden door cracked again.
A loud splintering sound echoed through the hallway as another plank bent outward. Tiny pieces of wood scattered across the floor.
Rohan stepped back instinctively.
The whispers grew louder.
Not one voice.
Not two.
Dozens.
Maybe hundreds.
"…open…"
"…we waited…"
"…Rohan…"
The voices sounded like they were pushing through the cracks in the door along with the cold air.
Rohan felt his skin crawl.
Behind him, his father tried to sit up, wincing in pain.
"Rohan… listen to me," he said weakly.
"But Dad—" Rohan said, staring at the shaking door.
"There isn't much time."
Another loud CRACK split the silence.
A large piece of wood snapped off the door and fell to the floor with a heavy thud.
Through the opening, darkness moved.
Not normal darkness.
Something inside it was shifting.
Breathing.
Rohan slowly stepped closer to his father.
"What is that thing?" he whispered.
His father's face tightened with fear.
"It's not just one thing," he said.
Rohan frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Before his father could answer, a long grey finger pushed through the broken plank.
It curled slowly around the edge of the hole.
Then another finger appeared.
Then another.
They bent at strange angles as they forced the hole wider.
Rohan's heart pounded loudly in his ears.
The whispers suddenly turned into laughter.
Soft.
Broken.
Wrong.
Downstairs, his grandmother shouted.
"Rohan! Get away from the door!"
But it was too late.
The wood exploded outward.
The door burst open with a violent crash.
Splinters flew across the hallway like tiny knives.
Rohan covered his face with his arm.
When he looked again, the doorway was no longer dark.
Something stood there.
At first, it looked like smoke rising from the floor.
But slowly the shape became clearer.
Tall.
Very tall.
Its body was thin like the creature from before, but this one looked different.
Its skin moved.
Not like normal skin.
More like something was crawling underneath it.
Its head slowly tilted downward to look at Rohan.
Two hollow eye sockets stared at him.
Then more shapes moved behind it.
Another creature stepped into the hallway.
Then another.
And another.
Rohan's stomach dropped.
There were many of them.
Each one tall and thin.
Each one with the same empty eyes and wide, unnatural smiles.
Behind him, his father whispered hoarsely.
"The door wasn't meant to keep them inside…"
Rohan looked back at him quickly.
"What?"
His father forced the words out.
"It was meant to keep them away from you."
Before Rohan could understand what he meant, one of the creatures stepped forward.
Its long arm stretched across the hallway wall.
The fingers tapped softly against the wood.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The sound echoed through the silent house.
Downstairs, Rohan could hear his mother crying.
The grandmother's chanting had started again, louder than before.
But the creatures didn't seem afraid this time.
In fact…
They looked excited.
The first creature leaned closer to Rohan.
Its mouth slowly opened wider and wider.
Inside was nothing but darkness.
Then it spoke.
Its voice sounded like many whispers speaking together.
"We found you."
Rohan felt frozen in place.
The creature's long finger lifted slowly.
And pointed directly at his chest.
"You are the door."