MEMENTO

II.

Burning sage before a party was one of the oddest things Erica had ever done. She wandered around the house, waving the bush around and making sure not to spill any ash on the expensive furniture.

            At this point, she wasn't even sure if she believed in the power of a sage cleansing but went through the motions regardless. She felt it was a good way to quell any worries Dux or Ally had without admitting she couldn't pinpoint what was releasing so much malevolence in this house.

            Dux gave a half-hearted tour of the house as they went along, opting to speak about something more cheerful than the dead. Erica only registered half of it, planning her outfit for tonight in her head.

            Then again, she'd been performing these rituals without much value to her. It'd been a while since she felt like what she was doing was important anymore.

            "This is my room," Dux continued, fingers curling around the doorframe. "We haven't really settled in very much, as you can tell."

Unopened boxes littered the floor as it seemed Dux had only unpacked her essentials. In the center of the room, a magnificent bed with an intricate mahogany bedframe stood. That was the only part of the room that looked lived in with sheets strewn haphazardly.

            Erica let the sage burn a little before deciding she couldn't sense anything. The house, overall, seemed to be lacking in its malice even though Dux and Ally complained that the issues had simply been getting worse.

            "Our guest room is right down the hall though I can't imagine we'll be putting it to use," Dux commented with Ally nodding beside her. Erica couldn't really see why that was an issue but kept her mouth shut as she strolled along.

            Wait.

            Her bones felt heavier with each step she took, and panic flooded her chest as she nearly dropped the sage to the floor, scattering ash everywhere. She clutched it tighter and inhaled deeply, pausing in her tracks.

            "What's that door?" she found herself asking before she even recognized what she was looking at.

            "The guest bedroom?" Dux returned, raising an eyebrow.

            "No," Erica murmured. "Beside it."

            "Oh, that?" Dux pointed towards the small, black door sunken into the wall and emanating something that instilled fear with Erica. "That small little passage?"

            "Yes," Erica answered immediately, eyes glued to the door. Something loomed behind it, approaching the exit but never tempting to leave. A chill ran up her spine as she could nearly picture its curling, colorless fingers extending like claws from its shapeless hands. It couldn't breathe in that small of a space and filled the air with loathing.

            "That's a passage to our attic," Dux informed her, glancing quizzically between Erica and the door. "We can't possibly enter it, though. The door's jammed no matter how much you jiggle it. The realtor said the door frame was too small and that the wooden steps had rotting wood so some of them caved in."

            "And you never thought to look further into that," Erica couldn't help but respond, mouth falling ajar. For someone so frightened by the presence in their house, they seemed to rule out one of the most obvious sources of their distress.

            "We don't want to open it," Ally suddenly piped up, the first time that evening. "We're scared. We hear strange noises coming from the attic, so we figured the door acts as a barrier between whatever's up there and us."