The scratching behind the wall continued.

Slowly.

Patiently.

Scratch.

Silence.

Scratch.

Silence.

Scratch.

Elias stood in the underground corridor with his father’s pocket watch clenched inside his fist.

The little boy was gone.

The hallway was empty.

Yet Elias could still hear the child’s final words.

He’s waiting for you.

Elias looked at the wall where his own name had been carved.

The date beneath it still glowed faintly.

SEPTEMBER 13, 2026.

Tomorrow.

His eighteenth birthday.

He swallowed.

The pocket watch began ticking again.

Backward.

He opened it.

The photograph showed his father standing beside him beneath the dead tree.

The black figure stood behind them.

Elias stared at it.

Then something changed.

The black figure moved.

Not in the real world.

Inside the photograph.

It had been standing several feet behind Daniel.

Now it stood directly behind Elias.

Elias dropped the watch.

“No.”

The photograph fell open on the stone floor.

The black figure’s face was still hidden.

Elias stepped backward.

A voice came from behind the wall.

“Don’t be afraid.”

He froze.

It was Daniel’s voice.

“Dad?”

“I’m here.”

Elias moved closer to the wall.

“Where?”

“Behind the door.”

“What door?”

“The one your grandfather sealed.”

Elias looked around.

“There is no door.”

“There is always a door.”

The voice became weaker.

“Look beneath the tree.”

Elias remembered the dead tree above the house.

He looked toward the staircase.

“Why?”

“Because that is where it began.”

“What began?”

“The curse.”

Elias waited.

His father’s voice whispered,

“And where it will end.”

Then silence.

“Dad?”

Nothing.

“Dad!”

Only the sound of scratching answered him.

Elias picked up the pocket watch.

He climbed the stairs.

---

The house was different when Elias returned to the ground floor.

The walls seemed darker.

The photographs were gone.

The staircase had changed.

The front door was missing.

There was no way out.

Elias walked from room to room.

Every window showed the same thing.

The dead tree.

No matter which side of the house he looked from, the tree stood directly outside.

He touched the glass.

The tree moved.

Its branches bent toward him.

Elias stepped back.

Then he noticed something beneath the tree.

A small door.

It had not been there before.

The door was barely large enough for a child.

Elias left the house through a broken window.

Rain had started again.

The forest was covered in fog.

He walked toward the tree.

The closer he came, the colder the air became.

When he reached it, he saw the small door.

It was buried halfway beneath the roots.

A symbol had been carved into the wood.

A circle.

Inside the circle was an eye.

Elias remembered seeing the same symbol in his father’s diary.

He knelt.

There was no handle.

Only a keyhole.

He took out the iron key.

It fit.

He turned it.

The little door opened.

Darkness waited beneath the tree.

Elias switched on his flashlight.

A narrow tunnel descended.

He hesitated.

Then climbed inside.

The entrance closed behind him.

---

The tunnel was too narrow for him to stand properly.

Roots surrounded the walls.

They moved slightly whenever he touched them.

At first, Elias thought it was because of the wind.

Then he realized there was no wind underground.

The roots were moving on their own.

One wrapped around his wrist.

He pulled away.

It tightened.

“Let go.”

The root tightened again.

Elias grabbed his pocketknife and cut it.

Black liquid spilled onto the ground.

The root immediately withdrew.

A whisper came from the darkness.

“You hurt us.”

Elias froze.

He pointed the flashlight ahead.

Nothing.

“Who’s there?”

The voice answered.

“You know.”

“No.”

“You saw him.”

“Who?”

“Your father.”

Elias continued walking.

The tunnel opened into a large chamber.

The ceiling was covered with roots.

At the center stood a stone table.

Something was lying on it.

Elias approached.

His flashlight shook.

A photograph.

He picked it up.

It showed his father.

Daniel was standing beside a woman Elias didn’t recognize.

Behind them was the black house.

Written on the back:

THE FIRST WIFE.

Elias frowned.

He turned the photograph around again.

The woman looked terrified.

Her hand was resting on Daniel’s arm.

Elias looked at her face.

She seemed familiar.

Then he realized why.

She looked like his mother.

Not exactly.

But enough.

Elias stepped backward.

“No.”

A voice spoke behind him.

“She was your grandmother.”

Elias turned.

An old man stood near the chamber entrance.

His clothes were old-fashioned.

His face was pale.

His eyes were tired.

Elias knew him.

He had seen his photograph thousands of times.

“Grandfather?”

Samuel smiled.

“Yes.”

Elias couldn’t move.

“You’re alive.”

Samuel shook his head.

“No.”

“Then what are you?”

Samuel looked at the darkness around them.

“A prisoner.”

“Of what?”

“The same thing that will come for you.”

Elias stepped closer.

“What is it?”

Samuel pointed toward the ceiling.

“The thing that lives between death and grief.”

Elias frowned.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It doesn’t need to.”

Samuel walked toward him.

“It feeds on love.”

Elias felt cold.

“Love?”

“More precisely, the love a father has for his son.”

“Why?”

“Because that love makes a father willing to do anything.”

Elias remembered Daniel’s diary.

“You used a ritual.”

Samuel looked ashamed.

“Yes.”

“To bring your son back.”

“Yes.”

“Did it work?”

Samuel’s eyes filled with tears.

“For one day.”

“What happened?”

“He returned.”

“Then why did you regret it?”

Samuel looked at Elias.

“Because my son came home.”

He paused.

“But my son wasn’t inside him.”

---

The chamber became silent.

Elias stared.

“What was inside him?”

Samuel whispered,

“Something that had been waiting.”

“What did it want?”

“A father.”

Elias shook his head.

“I don’t understand.”

“It cannot exist without one.”

“Why?”

“Because it was created by a father’s grief.”

Samuel touched the stone table.

“When I begged for my son to return, I opened a door.”

“What was behind it?”

“Every father who had ever refused to let his child die.”

Elias stared.

“That sounds impossible.”

“Most evil things do.”

Samuel looked toward the tunnel.

“Daniel tried to destroy it.”

“Why didn’t he?”

“Because he loved you.”

Elias’s eyes filled with tears.

“He sacrificed himself.”

Samuel nodded.

“He believed that if he gave himself to the thing, it would leave you alone.”

“And?”

“It lied.”

Elias’s breathing stopped.

“What happened?”

“It took Daniel’s face.”

Elias remembered the figure at the window.

The wet clothes.

The black eyes.

The smile.

He whispered,

“So the thing wearing his face…”

“Was never your father.”

---

A sound came from the tunnel.

A child laughing.

Elias turned.

“Who is that?”

Samuel’s face became frightened.

“The first son.”

“Who?”

“He has been waiting.”

A little boy stepped into the chamber.

He looked about nine years old.

His clothes were soaked.

His skin was pale.

His eyes were black.

Elias recognized him from the old photographs.

Samuel’s son.

The first child who had returned from death.

The boy smiled.

“Father.”

Samuel stepped backward.

“No.”

The child laughed.

“You called me.”

“I made a mistake.”

“You wanted me.”

“I wanted my son.”

The boy tilted his head.

“And I came.”

Samuel began crying.

“You’re not him.”

The boy’s smile disappeared.

Then his face changed.

For a second, he looked like Daniel.

Then Elias.

Then Samuel.

Then someone Elias had never seen.

The creature spoke.

“You are all the same.”

Elias stepped back.

“What do you want?”

The creature looked at him.

“You.”

“Why?”

“Because your father loved you.”

Elias felt his stomach tighten.

The creature continued.

“That makes you valuable.”

Samuel shouted,

“Don’t listen!”

The creature turned toward him.

“You failed.”

Samuel lowered his head.

“You failed too.”

The creature looked at Elias.

“Your father came here to destroy me.”

“Where is he?”

The creature smiled.

“Everywhere.”

Elias stared.

“What does that mean?”

“You hear his voice because he is trapped inside me.”

Elias’s heart shattered.

“Let him go.”

The creature laughed.

“Why?”

“Because he’s my father.”

“And I am wearing his face.”

Elias clenched his fists.

“You’re not him.”

The creature’s eyes became blacker.

“Then why are you afraid?”

Elias didn’t answer.

The creature stepped closer.

“You want him back.”

“Yes.”

“You would do anything.”

Elias hesitated.

The creature smiled.

“Exactly.”

Samuel shouted,

“Elias! Don’t make the mistake I made!”

The creature raised one hand.

Samuel was thrown against the wall.

His body disappeared into the darkness.

“Grandfather!”

Elias ran toward him.

The creature grabbed his shoulder.

Cold spread through his body.

He saw images.

His father laughing.

His father carrying him.

His father teaching him to ride a bicycle.

His father sitting beside his bed.

Then—

his father’s funeral.

The coffin.

His mother’s tears.

Then another image.

Daniel standing beneath the dead tree.

Holding Elias’s hand.

But Elias was six.

And behind them stood the creature.

Daniel was crying.

“I’m sorry.”

Elias watched the memory.

His father whispered,

“I can’t let it take you.”

Then Daniel turned toward the creature.

“Take me instead.”

The creature smiled.

Elias screamed,

“No!”

The memory changed.

Daniel disappeared.

The creature wore his face.

Elias fell to his knees.

The vision ended.

The chamber returned.

Samuel was gone.

The creature stood before Elias.

“You understand now.”

Elias looked at it.

“You killed him.”

“No.”

“You took him.”

“Yes.”

“You made him suffer.”

“Yes.”

Elias stood.

His fear was disappearing.

Something stronger was taking its place.

Anger.

“You don’t get to use his face anymore.”

The creature smiled.

“Then stop me.”

---

Elias attacked.

He swung the iron key.

The creature caught his wrist.

It was impossibly strong.

Elias kicked it.

Nothing.

The creature threw him across the room.

He hit the stone wall.

Pain exploded through his shoulder.

He tried to stand.

The creature walked toward him.

“Your father begged for you.”

Elias wiped blood from his mouth.

“He should have let you take me.”

“No.”

The creature smiled.

“He said the same thing.”

Elias froze.

“What?”

“He begged me to take him instead.”

“Why?”

“Because he believed a father’s duty was to die for his son.”

The creature leaned closer.

“That belief created me.”

Elias stared.

Then he understood.

The curse wasn’t born from hatred.

It was born from love twisted into obsession.

The creature fed on fathers who believed they had to sacrifice themselves.

It used grief.

It used guilt.

It used love.

Elias slowly stood.

“You need fathers.”

“Yes.”

“You need sons.”

“Yes.”

“And you need them to believe that sacrifice is the only way to love.”

The creature stopped smiling.

Elias realized something.

“You’re afraid.”

The creature’s face changed.

“Do not mistake understanding for power.”

“You’re afraid I won’t play your game.”

The creature screamed.

The chamber shook.

Roots fell from the ceiling.

Elias ran toward the tunnel.

The creature chased him.

He climbed.

Behind him came footsteps.

Slow.

Heavy.

Then Daniel’s voice.

“Elias!”

He stopped.

“Dad?”

“Don’t turn around.”

Elias closed his eyes.

The creature laughed.

“Turn around.”

Elias remembered his mother’s warning.

If you hear your father’s voice behind you, don’t turn around.

He kept walking.

“Elias.”

The voice sounded exactly like his father.

“I need you.”

Elias began crying.

“I know.”

“Come back.”

“I can’t.”

“Please.”

Elias climbed faster.

“I love you, Dad.”

The voice stopped.

Then it became something else.

A monstrous scream erupted behind him.

Elias reached the surface.

The small door slammed shut.

He fell onto the wet ground.

For several minutes, he couldn’t move.

Then he heard footsteps.

Someone was standing behind him.

Elias didn’t turn.

A hand touched his shoulder.

He closed his eyes.

“Elias.”

His father’s voice.

He whispered,

“Goodbye, Dad.”

The hand disappeared.

The forest became silent.

---

Elias returned home before sunrise.

His mother was waiting at the front door.

The moment she saw him, she ran toward him.

“You’re alive.”

He hugged her.

“Mom.”

She cried into his shoulder.

“What happened?”

“I saw him.”

“Daniel?”

“Yes.”

“Was it really him?”

Elias hesitated.

“No.”

She closed her eyes.

“I knew it.”

“But I also saw Dad.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was trapped.”

She looked at him.

“Where?”

“Inside it.”

His mother began crying.

Elias showed her the pocket watch.

The photograph had changed again.

Daniel was standing alone.

His face was peaceful.

No black figure behind him.

No darkness.

Just Daniel.

And beneath the photograph were three words.

DON’T SAVE ME.

His mother covered her mouth.

Elias whispered,

“He wants me to break the curse.”

She looked at him.

“How?”

Elias turned toward the forest.

“The house has a room beneath the tree.”

His mother went pale.

“You found it.”

“Yes.”

“And your grandfather?”

“I saw him.”

Her face changed.

“Your grandfather died twenty years ago.”

“I know.”

She stared at him.

“What did he tell you?”

“That Dad wasn’t the first.”

“What?”

Elias looked at the pocket watch.

“He said the curse began long before them.”

A cold wind passed through the room.

The watch began ticking.

Once.

Twice.

Then stopped.

Elias opened it.

A new message had appeared beneath Daniel’s photograph.

TOMORROW IS YOUR BIRTHDAY.

His mother whispered,

“No.”

Elias looked at the forest.

“I think that’s when it comes for me.”

Then the front window shattered.

His mother screamed.

Elias turned.

There was nobody outside.

Only a small object lying among the broken glass.

A child’s wooden toy.

An old wooden horse.

Elias picked it up.

Written across its side were five words.

A FATHER MUST CHOOSE.

Elias stared.

Then he heard a child’s laughter outside.

He looked through the broken window.

The little boy stood beneath the streetlight.

The first son.

The creature.

It smiled.

And behind it stood Daniel.

For one brief second, Elias saw his real father.

Daniel looked directly at him.

He raised one finger to his lips.

Then pointed toward the house.

The creature turned around.

Daniel disappeared.

The little boy looked back at Elias.

His eyes became black.

And he whispered:

“Tomorrow, you become a father.”

Then the boy vanished into the darkness.

Elias stood motionless.

His mother held his arm.

“Elias…”

He looked at her.

Tomorrow was his eighteenth birthday.

Tomorrow, the curse would choose him.

And somewhere beneath the dead tree, something was waiting.

Something that had been waiting for generations.

Something that wore the faces of fathers.

Something that wanted Elias to make the same choice his father had made.

Sacrifice.

Love.

Grief.

Death.

But Elias had begun to understand the truth.

The curse didn’t need his blood.

It needed his heart.

And tomorrow night—

it would try to break it.