We Used to Live Here

Someone wakes in a small room containing an old bed and a single window, unsure of how they got there. The words “you have to hide” repeat in the person’s mind (169).

Eve wakes on the couch with a horrible headache. She looks over and sees Paige sitting by the fire, casually knitting. Paige notices that Eve is awake and explains that she was screaming in the attic before passing out. When Thomas enters the room, Eve tells him that she saw an intruder in the attic and insists that it wasn’t a trick of the light. She suggests it might have been Alison, but Thomas denies that possibility and goes to look around the attic. While he’s upstairs, Paige apologizes to Eve for interrogating her about her personal life the night before and tells Eve about how she met Thomas at a soup kitchen. He was there with his church, and Paige was there doing court-ordered community service.

Thomas returns and insists he found nothing in the attic, but Eve senses that he’s lying. She immediately feels the urge to get away from the family, and then hears her phone ringing. Dashing upstairs, she finds Kai with what appears to be her own cracked phone in his hand. When she tries to get it back from him, he resists, and Shylo bites his leg. Kai starts screaming, and Shylo refuses to let go until he kicks her. Thomas and Paige run into the room, seeing the end of the scuffle, and Paige decides that they should leave immediately. Eve suddenly notices, incredulous, that the phone in her hand isn’t hers but Kai’s. She hands it to Paige and stands, stunned, as the family walks out. Afterward, Eve notices that the stained glass window with the tree on it is gone, replaced by an ordinary window. Eve looks out and watches the family as they walk away. Downstairs, she hears Shylo whimpering in the basement and goes down after her. When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she turns around to see Shylo standing at the top, perfectly fine. Mo (Eve’s inner voice) tells her to “get out of here. Now” (181).

A document explains that five hikers went missing in a park in Canada and only one was ever seen again. The woman who was found claimed that the hikers stayed in an abandoned fifties hotel but that one by one they were each taken to some other place and never seen again. Since no such hotel was known to exist, authorities determined that sleep deprivation and hypothermia altered her memories.

As Eve walks down the road away from the house, she sees Charlie’s truck pulled up next to the family’s moving truck. Thomas is clearly telling her about what he witnessed occurring in Eve, and Eve resists the urge to interfere, knowing it will only make matters worse. When Thomas and his family pull away, Eve rushes up to Charlie’s truck with Shylo and gets in. She urgently tells Charlie that they must leave the house immediately. Charlie admits that Thomas told her Eve was acting strange, hit her head, and claimed to have seen a person in the attic. Eve doesn’t deny anything and adds that the stained glass window changed into a normal one. Charlie doubts everything but can see that Eve is upset and agrees to leave the house for the night. Before leaving, however, Charlie goes inside to grab some things for the night. Eve watches her through the windows anxiously, and when Charlie returns, she confirms that the window is different but tries to explain it away, even knowing that it doesn’t make sense. Eve looks back at the house as they pull away, hoping never to return to it.

A lengthy document describes found film known as the “Andrew Melvin Interrogation Footage” (193), which has long been the object of scrutiny among the people who study Old House; some believe it’s real, while others are sure it’s a hoax. The video shows a police officer interrogating a teen boy named Andrew about his friend who became catatonic after witnessing some unknown terror. Andrew explains after being dared to break into the old house and explore its basement, he and his friend found a door that appeared brand new, and when he opened it, it led into a hospital. Looking down the hallway of this hospital, Andrew’s friend saw something terrifying and stopped moving, stiffening, flashlight in hand. Andrew tried to nudge him back to reality, but it didn’t work, so Andrew left on his own and fled to seek help. The police officer claims that not only does no evidence exist of a break-in at the house but that neither Andrew nor his friend are on record as existing. In 2017, the footage, including all physical and digital copies (even those uploaded online) went missing.

On the drive away from the house, Eve gives Charlie the locket, which she found hanging over the fireplace, and Charlie blames it on one of the children. Charlie drives to the only motel around, which Eve thought was abandoned, and gets a room for the night. The motel room is typical and small, and Eve can’t stop looking out the window at every car that passes by, wondering if it’s the family or some other threat. She suddenly feels distant from Charlie as they settle into the motel room, and an “all-knowing and ancient” voice whispers to Eve that Charlie is an imposter (215). Eve asks Charlie to explain how they met, and Charlie has the answer, but it doesn’t remove Eve’s suspicion.

During the night, Charlie’s phone rings, and Eve answers it to hear Charlie talking to her on the other line. The voice is distant and quiet, but it indicates that the Charlie in the motel room isn’t the real Charlie. Eve wonders if she’s having a nightmare, but then Charlie wakes up and questions Eve for being on the phone so late. Eve makes an excuse about an inspection of the house. Convinced that the real Charlie is in danger, Eve leaves with the keys and no shoes to drive Charlie’s truck back to the house. Charlie yells at her to stop, pleading and almost crying, but Eve is certain that she isn’t real. As Eve drives away, she notices that the tank is out of gas.

A document explains the nature of the psychological phenomenon known as pareidolia, or the tendency for people to see faces and other familiar shapes in abstract or shapeless objects, like clouds. Some theorize that this psychological response is related to survival instincts and to a person’s level of anxiety.

Eve pulls up to an old gas station, and when she sees her reflection in the store window, she’s alarmed at her disheveled appearance but doesn’t have time to care. Eve goes inside with her few dollars in cash and drops a quarter, which rolls away; she follows until it strikes a police officer’s boot. The officer looks suspiciously at Eve, who has no shoes and looks unkempt, but Eve rushes outside to fill her truck. The police officer stops her only a few yards down the road questions whether she has slept lately and asks if she has been drinking or using drugs. Eve insists that she’s fine, and the officer lets her go. She drives fast and nearly hits a girl in the middle of the street. The girl looks strange and stands with her arms hovering by her sides. Suddenly, she turns toward Eve and runs past her and into the forest. Eve drives back to the old house, ignoring a voice that warns her against it, and crosses the threshold into its interior once again.

A document explores the termination of the license of a psychologist who believed that his patient was experiencing more than delusions. The patient claimed that his entire reality was changing, including the people around him, and his psychologist believed that the phenomenon was genuine. Capgras syndrome is a psychological condition in which a person starts to believe that the people they love have been replaced, and it is usually not assumed to be a real experience.