My husband was able to fulfill his dream, living in a house in the middle of the woods. At first I was against it, I didn't want to drive for an hour every time I wanted to buy something or get together with friends. I changed my mind after I started working online. I was home all day working, but almost every day someone would come up and interrupt me.
"You're not even working, you're on the computer."
"Your work is online, you can do it later."
Besides getting deeply irritated, I never said anything because I hate conflict.
"Come in, we can gossip all day." - I always said, smile on my face, but in reality, holding myself from punching the person.
As the expert conflict solver that I am, I moved to the middle of the woods because I didn't know how to say "no".
My husband seemed to be in paradise:
"Feel the fresh air, the sounds of the forest, this place is wonderful."
I only noticed the endless insects and the deafening noise of the forest at night. At least the air really was nice.
Our daughter, Sara, was five years old, my husband dropped her off at day care every morning and brought her home shortly after noon. I wondered how that would work in the long run; when she was older she would hate having to spend almost 2 hours every day on a means of transport just to get to school. Anyway, that's a problem of my future self, for now she was an adorable and obedient child who never gave us any problems.
After a week of living there, Sara started to act strangely. I would hear her talking to the window, and when I entered the room she would stop abruptly and look at me, smiling.
-Who were you talking to?
-Nobody, Mom.
After a month Sara started asking strange questions.
-Mom, do I have a sister?
-No, you are an only child.
-Oh, there's a girl just like me at my bedroom window.
-Just like you? This is called reflection, my love.
-Refeton?
-Reflection, like in mirrors.
I picked her up and carried her to the bathroom mirror.
-See? That's our reflection, not another person.
-No mom, a girl like that in the backyard, at the window.
I concluded that Sara had created an imaginary friend.
-A friend visits you every day at the window? That's nice baby, but she's not your sister, just a friend, even if she looks a lot like you.
-Alright, mom.
Sara gave me a hug and went back to playing.
When my husband got home, I told him about our daughter's imaginary friend, arguing that maybe it wasn't ideal for her to grow up without interacting with anyone. He replied that it was silly of me, she interacted with other children in the nursery and that was enough.
Sara started talking to herself more and more. One day, I could have sworn I saw a child, curly hair just like Sara's, run out of the window as soon as I entered the room.
-
The days were pleasant, I spent the nights reading books and watching series. On Saturdays, we drove into town to hang out with our friends, and it was enough social interaction to sate my craving for small talk until the following week.
I was a little worried about the forest, the environment could be dangerous for a 5 year old girl, so I kept an eye on Sara all day long. When I couldn't observe her directly, I would lock her in her room, turn on the baby monitor and check on her every half hour. The other day, I locked her in her room, leaving her with a children's show about dinosaurs and cows being best friends. Don't even ask, after watching a few hundred children's shows with my daughter, I'm sure the writers of those shows use heavy hallucinogens before work.
To my surprise, after I sat down on the laptop to work, I saw my daughter running around the backyard. I immediately opened the window and yelled at her:
-Sara, how did you get out of your room? You cannot go into the yard without my permission.
She pretended she didn't hear me and ran into the middle of the forest. I got desperate and quickly put on my sneakers to run after her, when I heard Sara laughing in the bedroom. When I unlocked the door, she was there, still watching the children's show.
-Sara, did you leave the room?
She made an expression of disbelief, as if she didn't understand the reason for my question.
-Never mind, if you need me, call me right away.
There was no way Sara could have left the room, the door and window were locked; much less come back from the woods so quickly. I must have seen things.
The following week, on a sunny day, I let Sara play in the backyard, and I watched her through the window as she played. If she tried to get out of my line of sight, I immediately asked her to come back. However, a few minutes later, when looking at the window, I felt shivers down my spine to the bizarre scenario that I was looking at. There were two Saras playing in the backyard, a few feet away from me.
-Honey? Come here right now. – I yelled as I recovered a bit.
The two started running towards me. However, only one of them entered, the other one stood in the doorway, smiling and looking at me without blinking. She was identical to my daughter, but she didn't look human, she looked like an android trying to imitate a child.
- Mom, may I come in? - The little girl standing in the doorway asked.
-Who are you? – I asked.
-May I come in? – The entity that imitated my daughter asked again.
-Are you the daughter of someone in the neighborhood? – I asked, trying to rationalize what was happening, even knowing that a 5-year-old wouldn't have walked alone for almost 1km, which was the distance from our house to the nearest one.
- Someone daughter, can I come in?
I slammed the door in the child's face, and closed all the curtains in the house. As I looked out a window, I watched the little girl stand still for minutes, staring at the door, not moving a muscle. After a while, she put both hands on the ground and ran towards the forest, galloping like a horse. I closed the last curtain and waited for nightfall. As soon as my husband arrived, I explained what had happened and said I was leaving that place immediately. He even tried to argue, said I was making excuses because I didn't want to live there. I saw that it was useless trying to talk to him, he simply would not believe me. I took Sara, filled two suitcases and went to my mother's house.
When I got there, I explained to my mother what had happened. She was surprised, but said that I could stay there as long as I wanted. After dinner, I decided to call my husband.
-Hey.
-Hi love, why are you calling me from inside the house?
-What do you mean? I 'm at my mother's.
-It's not funny, you kept knocking on the door and when I opened it you kept asking "may I come in, may I come in?" non stop, refusing to talk to me, you didn't eve call me when you left Sara at your mother's house.
-Listen carefully to what I 'm saying. Get out of this house now, don't take anything, just leave.
-What are you talking about? This is stupid. I don't know why I 'm talking on the phone if you're here. Wait, how are you talking without hol...
I heard the sounds of crashing, fighting and tearing flesh, along with screams and then gasps that got lower and lower in volume until everything was silent. After a few seconds I heard footsteps and someone picking up the phone from the floor. In a cheerful and jovial tone, a voice identical to my husband's said:
-Hi love! Mother's house, knocking on the door. May I come in?
