Payment

Julian burst into the house, the taste of bile and fear still etched in his throat. The words Don't you remember me anymore?”throbbed in his temples like a second heart of pure terror.

“ Akari! ” he shouted, his voice a tear in the heavy silence.

The scene she found in the living room took her breath away. Hana was curled up in a corner, moaning desperately. Akari was kneeling, shaking Haru's lifeless body, which lay pale on the floor.

“ Julian! Help me! He's not responding! ” Akari's scream was pure edge, charged with hysteria that escaped through her wild eyes.

“ What happened? ” he asked, even though his stomach was already twisting into a knot of guilt and anticipation.

“ I saw her” Akari sobbed, nodding toward the dark hallway. " I was in the kitchen and I saw her there. A woman in a wet dress. It wasn't a shadow, Julian, it had its own shape and it was looking at me... and I couldn't move. It was as if the air had turned to cement. And then... she just raised her hand and pointed at Haru. “ Akari squeezed her son's chest, as if she could transfer her own life to him. ” And he... he just collapsed. As if someone had taken his life away. "

Julián's world instantly fell apart. Twenty-five years of running away crashed down on him with the weight of a rock. He fell to his knees, a deep, visceral groan tearing from his throat.

"I brought them here... It's all my fault!

" I brought them straight into the lion's den. I lied to myself... I thought I could bury it all, just like I buried her memory. "

" Julian, what the hell are you talking about! Call an ambulance! We need a doctor! "

For Julian, Akari's words were empty. He knew that a paranormal problem could not be solved with something normal.

“ There's no time! ” he roared, standing up with frenzied energy. “ Pack only the essentials! We're leaving in five minutes! ”

He ran like a man possessed, throwing things into the suitcases: clothes, Haru's camera, anything his hands could find. The car became a metal refuge, a shell that promised escape. When he loaded the last piece of luggage, he noticed the silence.

A thick, stifling silence that weighed heavier than any scream.

" Akari! Hana! Let's go now! " 

No response. Only the buzzing of fear.

The panic he felt then was of a new quality, colder and sharper than anything he had ever experienced. " Akari! "

When he reentered, he found the three of them standing in the center of the room, forming a macabre family portrait. Even Haru was now standing, her eyes open but empty, without a trace of the vibrant personality she used to have. The three of them stared, with terrified fascination, toward the top of the stairs.

Julián followed their icy stares.

And he realized that she was on the landing.

It wasn't the watery specter from before. This was the rotten reality. Elena's body, swollen and grotesque from its eternal immersion, stood out against the gloom. Her skin had the grayish tone of deep-sea fish, clinging to her bones in some places while peeling away in shreds in others. Her hair, a tangle of seaweed and mud, dripped over her shoulders. But the worst part was her face: her eyes were two purple abysses that pulsed with a cold light, and her mouth, torn at the corners in an eternal grimace, revealed a row of sharp, dark teeth.

"No... you're not real!" Julian struggled, denying the evidence of his senses.

The creature bowed its head with an unnatural movement, and a sound came from its throat, like sea stones gnawing at a wooden coffin.

“ Julián. Don't you remember me anymore? ”

" Let them go, Elena! " he shouted, finding one last shred of courage. " I am the one to blame! They didn't do anything to you, they have nothing to do with this! "

Elena's smile widened, a horrible gesture that threatened to split her face in two. " They are the interest on a twenty five year debt that you never paid. "

" I did what I had to do! " he pleaded, collapsing. " I went to your grave! I broke the damn talisman! I freed you! "

A dry, harsh laugh, like hundreds of crab shells breaking, echoed through the room.

" My grave? " he hissed, his voice dripping with pure contempt. " That piece of stone on empty ground. A place for your conscience to feign mourning. THEY NEVER FOUND MY BODY, JULIÁN! "

The revelation hit him like a punch in the stomach. It had all been in vain. The ritual, the false peace, the escape. He had been fighting a shadow while the real corpse lay elsewhere, accumulating hatred.

" No... please, no... "

" You left me behind. " continued the creature, taking a step forward. The wood creaked and rotted instantly under its foot. " The tide swept me away. The crabs and fish devoured me. My unborn child became food for the beasts of the sea. You stole everything from me. And now, you will pay with your family. "

" I'll do anything! " cried Julian, his voice broken by sobs. " Anything! "

Elena stopped. Her purple eyes fixed on him, and for a moment, Julián saw the infinite pain behind the hatred.

" Fine" she roared. " I want you to find my bones. Give me a proper burial... Gather what the ocean couldn't swallow. You have until the sun sets behind the mountain. "

Before he could respond, the house took on a life of its own. The doors and windows slammed against their frames, sealing shut with a final sound of breaking bones. An invisible force, cold and damp like a wave, grabbed Julian and threw him through the front door. He fell backward onto the ground, and the door slammed shut with a crash that was the final note of his old life.

From inside, he heard Akari's heart-wrenching screams and her children's terrified cries, which gradually faded into an even more terrifying silence.

He stood up, staggering, looking at the house that was now a living tomb for his family. The sun was already beginning its descent.

I had to find Elena's bones. But where, in all the vastness of the coast, should I start looking?