Hmmm Lies

July 14th, 2025

 

Don’t Let Her In - Iris Heine

 

A ring of the doorbell. That was how it began last time, and that was how it would begin again. Evelyn immediately dashed to the front door. She had to be there, and she couldn’t let her in.

But this time, there was nothing there. Not even a cold whisper. But then what had…

A flash of realization. She hadn’t locked the back door, had she? Before her mind could even put the pieces together her legs were already moving. By the time she made it, the knob had already begun to turn.

No. Evelyn slammed the lock to the side with all her strength. And it worked, the movement stopped. Another victory—she couldn’t help but gloat. “You can’t get in. I won’t let you.”

There was silence. Evelyn’s thoughts turned to Charlotte, still sleeping peacefully upstairs. But there was no need to wake her up—not when Evelyn could take care of this situation just fine.

“Are you listening? You can’t come in.”

Only silence followed. Evelyn wasn’t sure if she should have expected anything else.

Regardless, she was satisfied with her work, so she left the back door, thinking about what had happened. The doorbell was a distraction this time. If that was what she could already do, how crafty could she get? Evelyn had to do something now, before she could get in.

Evelyn took herself to the kitchen, and grabbed a box of pasta from the cabinet. It would go perfectly with her family sauce recipe. Though the smell was pungent, the taste was divine. 

After she had her fill—contemplating just how late she was eating dinner—she made her way to the front door once more and peered through the window. The welcome mat, sickeningly sweet, read out “Welcome to our home” with a pattern of red roses around the words that would light up a few moments after the doorbell rang. This gateway was her home’s greatest vulnerability. When she rang the doorbell last night, Evelyn thankfully made it in time to deter her. She should’ve realized that she wouldn’t try the same trick two nights in a row.

Still, it wouldn’t do well to just ignore the front door. If Evelyn ever got complacent and stopped checking it, no doubt she would get in. Evelyn would have also loved to remove the damned welcome mat, but important as it was to not let her in, it would likely be worse for Evelyn to go out where she was. 

“Evelyn!” It was Charlotte. And she sounded scared. “Evelyn, are you there?”

The back door was locked, and she wouldn’t try to get in through the front door again. The house was safe from her—for tonight at least—so Evelyn could tend to Charlotte. “I’m coming dear.”

She climbed up the stairs, and saw Charlotte in her bed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” Charlotte replied, “But I woke up and saw you missing. Did she try to get inside again?”

“Yes, she did. But I secured both doors tonight. We’re safe for now. And I made pasta. Do you want any?”

“No thanks, I’d rather save as much as we can for later. It is amazing, though.”

“Thank you. I’m going to put the rest of it in the fridge for tomorrow night. I’ll be right back.”

Evelyn walked back down to the kitchen and put the rest of the pasta into the fridge. She almost got in that night, but with all luck, Evelyn wouldn’t have to worry about her ever again soon enough. She turned around to leave the kitchen.

And then she saw that welcome mat. It was glowing. But… It was in front of the kitchen window. Why was it—

“NO!”

Evelyn tried to make it in time to hold the window down, to close the blinds, to do anything to keep her out.

But it was too late. She got in.

 

~~~

 

Charlotte never did believe she got in. Of course she realized it, deep down, but she refused to believe it. She should have believed it when Evelyn stopped talking about her as much. She should have believed it when Evelyn’s skin got just a little bit colder. She should have believed it when she noticed the pasta tasted different, not like heaven like before, but as if it was missing something very important.

After all, she could trust Evelyn. What were a few oddities anyway? Charlotte didn’t dare think of the alternative.

When Evelyn told Charlotte after a week that she was gone for good, she was elated. She didn’t consider for even a moment that she wasn’t trying to get in anymore because she had already made it. It was a joyous occasion, and there wasn’t any reason to suppose otherwise. 

 

“Charlotte, you’re back! Did your checkup turn out okay?” Evelyn said as Charlotte stepped through the door.

“Oh it was horrible.”

“Really? What happened?”

Charlotte told Evelyn about how the doctors told her that there was something horribly wrong with her body, and that they said she would have to stay overnight.

“They were acting really weird and I was scared! Naturally, I got out of there as soon as I could. I don’t think I’ll be going back.”

“It’s okay, you’re right, you shouldn’t go back.” Said Evelyn.

Charlotte attempted to pull herself together “It wasn’t just that, but everyone was hiding from me when I was walking back home. They were giving me strange looks and whispering such terrible things about me.”

Charlotte tried not to listen to those whispers. They might convince her of things that just couldn’t be true. 

“Well, if you don’t feel safe out there, maybe you should stay inside with me?”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Thanks.”

 

Charlotte never believed she got in. One night, she went to bed, noting how much weight she had lost. She knew it must have been from all of her exercise; the strange marks on her body had nothing to do with it. She slowly fell asleep.

The next morning, she didn’t get up. But she did.