Sally Williams waits in the twilight, clutching her ragged teddy bear inside an abandoned house.The floorboards groaned, a familiar echo in the hollow silence of the old hallway. Sally looked up from her spot on the tattered rug, her bright green eyes catching the faint silver glow of the moon through the dirty windowpane. Her pink dress was stained and torn, a permanent reminder of a summer day that ended too soon, yet today she didn't feel like crying. She clutched her stuffed bear, Charlie, a little tighter against her chest as a tiny, hopeful smile crept onto her dirt-smudged face.Outside, the crickets sang their steady evening song, masked by the heavier, dragging footsteps coming up the front porch. Living in the woods meant visitors were rare, and most who stumbled upon the cursed estate were adults foolish enough to test old town legends. Sally hovered an inch above the floor, her bare feet curling instinctively as she listened. It wasn't the heavy, lumbering stride of a careless trespasser, but something softer, hesitant, pausing right outside the splintered front door.A soft knock rapped against the wood—four distinct scratches rather than a polite tap. Sally giggled, the sound light and airy like wind chimes in a storm, and phased straight through the solid oak door. Standing on the porch was a stranger holding a flashlight, their breath hitching as the ambient temperature plummeted around them. She tilted her head sideways, letting her curly brown hair fall over her shoulder while the shadows behind her stretched unnaturally long.