As the days passed by, Elijah spent his free time reading the diary. However, most of the pages of the next diary were blank, leaving him puzzled. He read one page, but when he turned to the next, he found that the author had not continued writing. This intrigued him.
"Where are you going?" Elijah asked his parents, peeking his head out of his room as he saw them walking down the hallway.
"We're going to your brothers' meeting," his mother replied. His other two teenage sons, Sam and Robert, were twins, and they had a meeting of notes to attend. "We'll come back later, and there's some food in the fridge..."
"I know," Elijah interrupted her. "I know how to be alone, mother."
"I left you alone once, and you said the fab four wanted to mow you down," Josh couldn't help but laugh.
"I was ten!" Elijah exclaimed with a laugh. "It doesn't count."
"Yes, it does," they said in unison, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"See you later, dear," said his mother as she headed downstairs and closed the door behind her.
He left his room and headed straight to the refrigerator for an ice cream. After sitting for several minutes on the high stool at the mahogany table, he got up and moved to the sofa, turning on the television while still holding onto his book. As he finished reading a page, he let out a slight grunt of frustration upon realizing that the rest of the pages were missing. He turned the pages until he felt a sense of being watched or being in close proximity to someone. He looked around but found nothing. It was illogical as he was completely alone. His siblings were not there and his parents even less. So, he settled deeper into the sofa and continued reading the book with yellowed pages. Suddenly, he felt a presence too close for comfort.
" I'm going crazy," he muttered to himself.
" Oh... No, you're not," said a voice that sounded too close.
He turned around quickly, but no one was there. He let out a breathless gasp and stood up, looking around while clutching the book. He froze as he felt a gust of wind behind him. He turned around slowly in fear, and his breathing quickened even more. He felt like he was about to collapse, his legs becoming weak with fear as he hugged the book tightly like a teddy bear.
He closed his eyes tightly.
"I'm seeing things. I'm seeing things," he repeated. "I'll open my eyes, and there will be nothing." He counted to three, opened his eyes, and let out a sigh amidst a nervous giggle. "There is nothing," he said, swallowing hard. "There isn't..."
"Yes, there is. There is..." In the blink of an eye, she was already in front of him, looking at him coldly, without any expression.
He couldn't take his eyes off her face, it was impossible. He noticed how around her eyes, the small unseen veins became more visible than he could ever manage to see. They could be the size of a thick needle that just took on a dark color covering most of her face, until she wrinkled her nose and grunted in such a way that when he opened his mouth, Elijah Orleans felt like the unimaginable was now imaginable.