Something Wrong

It isn't a normal house. It resembles one, and every room feels like a normal room, but it isn't. Hella doesn't know how she knows, but she does.   There's a swamp outside, a dark one, with trees close together and water everywhere she looks. Even in daytime, no light can be seen inside. During the night, when she looks out the back windows of the building that isn't a real house, eerie golden lights dance through the darkness.   Something is out there. The man who owns this house lost his wife last week to it. That's why she and her siblings are here, while their parents are away. They are here to comfort him, to keep him sane, to watch his little girl, and to hold the house steady for the monster hunters to protect.   She wanted them all to stay in one room together, or at least next to each other. But her sister wanted one room, wanted to share it with their cousin, and her brothers found one above the master bedroom. She is relegated to a chamber two staircases away from them and one landing away from their friend and his daughter.   It's their second night there when she realizes something is wrong with the television.   She has sent her siblings to sleep, put down Nica, forced Petyr to go to bed, and is seated on the couch in the front room, watching something mindless while she sews. Just as a commercial comes on, the screen flickers. She frowns at it. It flickers again.   She reaches for the remote, but then the show solidifies on the television and doesn't move again. But she notices there are no more commercials for the rest of the night.   When she stands up to head to bed, turning off the device, it changes suddenly to a channel she's never seen before, with a black background and a pale man with black hair and red eyes staring out. The screen shuts off immediately after.   It might be nothing. It might be an oddity with the television. It's ten years old, after all. Petyr and his wife didn't own a lot of technology even before they moved here.   But something roots her to the ground, keeps her still, holds her in place. Something keeps her eyes locked on the screen. Something tells her not to look at the windows right now.   Almost five minutes pass before her muscles loosen and she moves, stumbling backwards, gaze flicking around the room. For a sudden moment, she sees through the walls, sees no supports for the floors, sees only staircases that lead to enclosed chambers, sees why this isn't a normal house.   She sprints upstairs and changes faster than she ever has. When she is under the covers of her bed, phone clutched in her hands, she realizes she is shaking.   Everything is normal in the morning. Petyr looks pale at breakfast, but that is nothing new. Ever since Claire died, he has looked pale. Hella's siblings laugh and joke and play with Nica and their cousin. Nothing is amiss.   But in the afternoon, her cousin's husband finds her cleaning the front room and leans closer. He's frowning, worry creasing his brows. He asks her if she was awake last night around midnight.   She goes still. That was what time it was when the television changed and she couldn't move. She nods. He asks her if she felt anything strange. She frowns in confusion. He tells her he got up to go to the bathroom, but just as he was about to climb back into bed, he felt there was something wrong. He tells her his eyes fell on the gun he brought just in case, that he felt certain there was danger outside, and if he heard anything, he had to go and kill it.   She tells him that she felt she shouldn't look outside. Something happened to the television. When she could move again, she could see through the walls and see what was wrong with the house.   They stare at each other in horror, unable to voice the thought that whatever killed Claire may have been outside last night.   She calls her parents that night before bed. She tries to keep the fear out of her voice. Her siblings are happy and eager to share the stories of their day. They hurry up to bed after saying goodnight.   She looks down at the phone in her hands. Her father asks if there's anything else. Hella tells him no. Can they hurry? She's starting to feel strange here. Something's wrong. Her mother sounds worried when she asks if there's been any other attacks.   No. There haven't been any attacks. But she thinks one is coming soon.   She tells them goodnight and goes to check on Petyr and Nica. The baby is sleeping. Petyr is watching a show on his computer. He looks up at her and tries to smile. It looks lifeless.   Her cousin Lina is downstairs watching television with her husband, Theo. They gesture for her to sit down with them.   Nothing happens with the television all evening. Lina finally gets up and yawns. She tells them she's going to bed.   Hella and Theo look at each other when Lina's gone. He asks if they should stay. She shrugs. They continue watching television.   Midnight comes and goes. Nothing happens. They decide to turn in. Theo heads to the kitchen for a glass of water while she points the remote at the screen.   It doesn't turn off.   She pushes the button again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Harder. Nothing. She smacks the side of the remote with her palm and tries again.   The screen changes. It's the same image as last night, the man on the black background. But this time, the screen doesn't turn off.   The man stands there, skin white as paper, his hair almost as dark as the background, his eyes the color of blood. He doesn't move, and yet she knows it isn't a still picture. There are faint movements, flickers of his eyes, flares of his nose, a shift in his hair like a breeze moved it.   Horror washes over her. This. This is the monster.   The screen won't shut off. The scream for Theo is caught in her throat.   With nothing else to do, she turns and flees for the stairs, running to the landing, reaching for the nearest door, throwing it open, and falling inside.   Petyr looks up in confusion. He's still on his computer. He opens his mouth, but she interrupts him.   "Turn off the television," she says, shoving the remote in his face. "It won't turn off. Petyr, it won't turn off. You have to do it." She doesn't know where the words are coming from, doesn't know what she's saying.   Petyr takes the remote. His face has changed. He doesn't look confused anymore. He looks terrified. "That's what Claire said," he whispers. "When she was dying. She said I had to do it."   He points the remote down through the floor and pushes the button. After a moment, Hella creeps back to the door and cracks it open. She peers down the stairs and flinches when she can see through the walls again.   The television is still on.   "It didn't work," she gasps. She looks at Petyr. "You—you have to go out there."   Petyr looks like chalk. He looks quickly at Nica, asleep in her crib, oblivious to the nightmare happening less than ten feet away. He looks back at Hella. He looks at his daughter one more time. Then he looks back at Hella. His eyes are suddenly bright with courage.   "Do not leave this chamber," he says. "If I don't come back up, take care of Nica."   She steps away from the door, he replaces her, presses one hand to her shoulder, gives a tight-lipped smile, and exits. The door closes sharply behind him.   She stumbles away from the door. There's a knife in the desk, Claire told her about it. It was in the letter she slipped under Hella's pillow before her death. Claire knew something was wrong. She was too late to share any more than she did.   Hella pulls it out and stands over Nica's crib. Everything is silent. She can't hear Petyr's footsteps anymore. It's just her and Nica's breathing, alone in the master bedroom.   Petyr called it a chamber. She thinks that might be what it is. There must be a reason all other walls except the ones around the bedrooms disappear when she can see clearly.   This is a building that isn't a house at all.   It's a gathering of sanctuaries, all connected with staircases and landings. There is no safety outside the chambers.   And Petyr and Theo are outside now.