The room was silent except for the click of Lorraine's cross against the floorboards.
June sat stiffly on the edge of the couch. Her hands rested in her lap.
So did the doll.
It hadn't blinked, of course.
But Daniel could've sworn it had smiled.
Lorraine lit the incense. Ed read from the old book.
The ritual was supposed to be gentle.Peaceful.Non-invasive.
But June started bleeding before the second verse.
Her nose. Her ears.Then, her eyes.
Tiny red rivers.
She didn't move.Didn't blink.
Until her voice broke the silence.
"He swore he'd never leave me. And yet you drag me away again."
Lorraine's hand trembled.
"Eleanor… you were consumed by grief. This isn't love. It's vengeance."
June's head snapped toward her, in a motion too sharp for bone.
"You sealed me in a doll.You called my love unnatural.Now you want to take him again?"
The doll levitated.
Daniel cried out. The cross Lorraine held burst into flame in her palm.
June's mouth opened wide—
And Eleanor screamed through her.
Not a sound.
But a wave.
A psychic force that blew the candles out, cracked the mirror on the opposite wall, and sent Ed sprawling backwards.
Then June collapsed.
Breathing shallow.
Bleeding.
Eyes wide.
Empty.
Lorraine crawled toward her. "June... you have to fight. Do you hear me?"
June blinked.
But she didn't answer.
Not with words.
Her voice came as a whisper inside Lorraine's head:
"You should have let me burn with him."
From the corner of the room, the doll sat upright again on its own.
Its cracked eye gleamed red under the candlelight.
And June, eyes open but soul gone, slowly began to smile.