You Promised Me
You Promised Me "Don't leave me. Don't you dare leave me." A chilling scream echoed through the dark room. Claire looked at the couch where her husband had been sitting. The shadows clung to the corners like cobwebs, thick and unmoving. He was just there—then suddenly, he wasn’t. She blinked hard. Once. Twice. The cushion still bore the impression of his weight, warm and sunken, as if mocking her. Her breath hitched in her throat, eyes darting across the room. Claire was used to Dave’s constant disappearances. The first time it happened, she’d torn through the house screaming his name, thinking it was a cruel prank. But when she heard his voice humming from the kitchen an hour later—calm, casual, untouched by time—she stopped asking questions. She stopped asking a lot of things. She knew he’d come back. She told herself that every night. He would. That was the promise. The vow. He should. The room fell silent again, thick with absence. A grandfather cloc...