Fated Loss


For as long as we’ve lived here on top of this hill, only one other house stood nearby; and it stood still in time, abandoned and alone for the thirteen years I’ve been alive. Whenever I’d ask Mom and Dad about it, they would simply say it had been that way for as long as they could remember. Their responses were often rushed, and dismissive of further inquiry. My experience questioning neighbours about the strange house was similarly strange, although they seemed more afraid than reluctant.


“Stay away from that place… Especially you. That house is bewitched.” That is the most I got from Anna, the oldest lady in our neighbourhood. Her statement made me wonder just what had happened there. “Why me especially?” I wished Mom and Dad would open up to me about it, but they dodged my questions each time.


One night, I stared away into the distance, looking at that abandoned house for perhaps an hour, when, suddenly, I noticed a light illuminate a room on the upper floor. It wasn’t something I had ever seen before, so I asked Mom about it the next day. She said I was probably sleepy and imagining things. At this point, I was exhausted. I decided to take my phone and record the light the following night—and I did.


I went downstairs with my phone the second I woke up the following morning; I needed to show Mom my proof, hoping she’d stop treating me like a five-year-old. However, I wasn’t met with the reaction I expected. Mom chuckled and handed me the camera back, saying I was most definitely imagining things. I couldn’t believe what I saw when I played the recording. Nothing… There was no light coming from the house, just the shadows of the night.


This made me want to explore the house itself and seek the source of the light. I snuck out of the house in the middle of the night and entered the abandoned premises. The atmosphere around me itself seemed to shift without warning. The air grew colder and denser, and there was a strange longing that I had never felt before that pulled me ever closer towards the decaying door before me. I felt a sudden need to step inside—an overwhelming emotion I had never felt in my life.


I took a deep breath and took my first step inside, the creaking of the door behind me echoing through the vast and empty halls. There were antique dining tables and chairs, and relatively modern sofas and electrical items, all coated in layers of dust and cobwebs. The light was on upstairs; I rushed into the room where it was coming from. Inside, I was met by a woman who looked almost exactly like Mom. My mind went blank the moment our eyes met.


“Alina…” Tears began to form in the woman’s eyes. “Oh, how you’ve grown.”


I took a step forward. “Who…are you?”


“I’m your mother, Alina. Your biological mother.”


A sudden surge of chills rushed down my spine. I was unsure why, but it somehow felt like she was telling the truth—I just knew it. “Explain, please.”


“Your adoptive mother is my twin. Her child was stillborn, so she paid a local witch to imprison me here so she could adopt you. Documents were forged, and hospital staff were bribed… In the end, I was left here to wither for thirteen years.”


My body was shaking; I didn’t know what to say. Was she really telling the truth? Why did I have this overwhelming need to believe her? It was inexplicable. The woman saw the struggle in my eyes and spoke once more: “It’s the witch’s change of heart that you’re experiencing now. She accepted my sister’s large sum, but she left a loophole in her spell that bound me here. Your pursuit of this place would be inevitable, and it would finally release me from my imprisonment.”


We both left the house together to confront my adoptive mother, and as soon as she locked eyes with my biological mother, my “mom” ran at her with a kitchen knife without even saying a word. It was then that my body moved on its own—before I knew it, I was between them, feeling the sharp sting of steel plunging into my chest. I felt my entire body writhe for a moment, and then there was silence… Everything around me blurred into a haze. I heard screams and cries echo around me as my vision decayed into darkness.

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