Uncle Shom Part 1 Today

“It found me again,” he said without turning around. “They always find me.”

“What happened?” I breathed.

Introduction: A Name That Echoes in Family Whispers Every family has a legend. Someone spoken of in hushed tones at reunions, whose name is a key that unlocks a forgotten closet of secrets. In my family, that person was Uncle Shom. Uncle Shom Part 1

“Who?” I asked, my voice a thin wire.

Not on my front door.

“In the cave, in ’43, I didn’t just find a door, boy. I found a version of myself who never left. A version who is still standing there, waiting. The watchmen want me to trade places with him. If I do, I become a ghost. He becomes real. And he’s not kind.” Then Uncle Shom did something that still haunts me. He opened the pocket watch, placed it on the floor, and stepped through the red door without another word. The door slammed shut with a sound like a breaking rib. And then… it faded. The wallpaper reformed. The hallway was just a hallway again.

Uncle Shom finally looked at me. His eyes were wet. “It found me again,” he said without turning around

“The watchmen of the in-between. They want their toll. They want the memory I’ve been hiding from them for forty years.”