18eighteen: Sarah

The heavy iron key felt cold in Sarah’s palm, a stark contrast to the stifling, humid air of the forgotten attic. It was her eighteenth birthday, but there was no party. There was only the house—18eighteen Oakhaven Lane—a sprawling, creaking Victorian that had belonged to a family she never knew, until today.

Sarah took a deep breath, stepping fully into the room, abandoning the fearful child she was yesterday. She walked to the window, looking out over the overgrown, wild garden, and spoke to the silence. "I'm home."

“You cannot run, my sweet Sarah,” the shadowy man’s voice echoed in her memory. “The house keeps what it claims.”