While staying up late watching horror movies, a teenage girl sees her foster sister step out of a room—and seconds later, sees her again, still inside. What followed shattered her trust in what was real… and what wore her sister’s face.
00:00We were in Leah's room, her tiny string lights casting a soft pink glow across the walls, halfway through a horror movie binge.
00:08It was one of those summer nights where everything felt stuck in slow motion, when time didn't exist, and you weren't quite awake but not tired either.
00:19At some point between movies, around 2am, I got up to use the bathroom.
00:25Leah's room was right next to it, which made it easy.
00:27The hallway was dim.
00:31Our parents always kept a single lamp on in the living room, and its warm light barely reached that far.
00:38It gave just enough to make out the door frames and the edge of the carpet.
00:43The bathroom in our house had two parts.
00:46One door from the hall led to the sinks, and another, located inside, led to the toilet and tub.
00:53I remember feeling cold.
00:56Not just chilly.
00:58Cold.
00:59Like when you've been outside too long in the fall.
01:02That shouldn't have been possible.
01:04Not in July.
01:06Anyway, I took care of my business and opened the door to wash my hands.
01:11That's when I saw her.
01:13Leah.
01:14She was at the far end of the hallway, 30 feet away, right outside my parents' door.
01:19She was just closing it gently, slowly, as if she had just come out.
01:25I froze.
01:27Leah, I whispered.
01:30What are you doing?
01:33She turned toward me.
01:34Her face was shadowed, but I could see her finger rise to her lips.
01:40Shh.
01:42Then she turned and walked down the hallway toward the living room.
01:46I could hear the unmistakable creak of our old couch as she sat.
01:50You couldn't sit on that thing without waking the dead.
01:55It groaned like it was alive.
01:57I stood there a second longer, blinking.
02:01I wasn't scared yet.
02:03Just confused.
02:05What had she been doing in our parents' room?
02:08They were dead asleep.
02:09I hadn't heard them stir once.
02:13I washed my hands in the cold water, glancing at the mirror more than once.
02:18Something about the hallway behind me made my skin crawl.
02:22However, I didn't want to seem out of place about it.
02:26Just sleep-deprived, I thought.
02:29Then I walked toward the living room.
02:32As I stepped into the open space where the kitchen met the couch, I stopped short.
02:37The sofa was empty.
02:40And at that exact moment,
02:42Where are you going?
02:45I jumped.
02:47Leah was behind me, standing just outside her bedroom.
02:51Not the hallway.
02:53Her bedroom.
02:54Hair must.
02:56A blanket wrapped around her like she hadn't moved all night.
02:59I stared at her.
03:01I mean,
03:03stared.
03:05Then I turned back to the couch like maybe something had glitched.
03:09Like I'd missed a step in a dream.
03:12But it was still empty.
03:15You were just…
03:17I began, pointing toward the hallway.
03:20I just saw you come out of Mom and Dad's room.
03:24You told me to be quiet.
03:27Leah's face was initially blank.
03:28Then, slowly, it twisted into something unsettled.
03:34What?
03:35I didn't leave my room.
03:37I've been in bed.
03:39Number I saw you.
03:41You walked down the hall.
03:43You sat on the couch.
03:45Leah shook her head, backing slightly into her room.
03:48I didn't leave.
03:51I swear.
03:53I've been watching TikToks the whole time.
03:55Why would I go in their room?
03:59My body felt like it didn't belong to me.
04:02The air was too still.
04:05Too quiet.
04:05And yet, that creak of the couch still rang in my ears.
04:12I turned back to the hallway.
04:14Looked toward the couch again.
04:17Nothing.
04:18Nothing but shadows.
04:21I heard it sit.
04:23I whispered.
04:25I heard it.
04:27Leah said nothing.
04:29She stepped aside, opened her door wider,
04:32and without a word, I walked in and lay on the floor.
04:36She didn't make me explain again.
04:39She just tossed me an extra blanket,
04:41and we stayed up the rest of the night with the lights on.
04:44What I didn't tell her until years later
04:46was that when I stepped into the hallway before washing my hands,
04:51I felt something move past me,
04:54not with footsteps, but like air pressure.
04:58Like the way a room feels when someone steps inside it.
05:02And I never said anything about the door to my parents' room
05:06being just slightly open when I walked back.
05:10I couldn't sleep in my room for a week after that.
05:13My room was past the living room,
05:16the furthest from the rest of the house.
05:18I would have had to walk past that couch again,
05:22past the empty space where the thing that looked like Leah had sat.
05:26Past whatever had worn her face so well it fooled me completely.
