Marcus Kliewer

The Turn of the Key meets Parasite in this eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit—soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit. As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in. As soon as the family enters their home, strange and inexplicable things start happening, including their toddler going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

A Novel

We Used to Live Here

james cao

it was an oil painting – a tree line lit by dreary sunlight. The colors were cold, pale greens, light grays, and blueish- browns. In the foreground, a chocolate Lab faced the woods. Its tail was straight, ears pricked up, sensing some unseen threat. On the ground to its left was a red gas lantern, casting an orange glow into the woods, revealing nothing but branches, trees, and shadows.

Eve fought the urge to scramble down there and defend herself. It would only make her look worse: the more one tried to prove their sanity, the more insane they appeared.

Some propose the high prevalence of this phenomenon is closely related to the fight-or-flight instinct. The quicker a threat is detected, the faster one can react. Therefore, from a natural selection point of view, it can be advantageous to perceive threats were none exist; that vague shape in the dark could just be a rock… or it could be a predator ready to pounce. Better for your brain to assume a predator than to be eaten alive.

 The realization hit Eve with a sick and sudden lurch: this was a game of hide-and-seek.

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