We Used to Live Here
by Marcus Kliewer
Contents
17. Reunion
Overview
Eve reunites with Charlie just after Thomas has had a chance to shape Charlie's view of the day's chaos, raising the risk that Eve will be dismissed as irrational. Eve insists the house has changed, and Charlie reluctantly agrees to leave for the night. When Charlie goes back inside and sees that the study's stained-glass window has truly become a plain window, Eve gains crucial confirmation that something impossible is happening in the house.
Summary
Wrapped in Charlie's winter coat and accompanied by Shylo, Eve leaves the house determined not to return. Near the end of the driveway, Eve sees Thomas speaking privately with Charlie and immediately fears Thomas is presenting Eve as unstable. Eve resists rushing in, knowing that defending herself too forcefully might only make Charlie doubt her more.
Once Thomas drives away, Eve gets into Charlie's truck and urgently asks to leave the property. Charlie explains that Thomas told her Eve had been acting strangely, had gone into the attic, fallen, hit her head, and then claimed she saw a woman there. Because Thomas's version is built from real events, Eve cannot simply dismiss it, so she tests Charlie another way: Eve asks whether the upstairs study has a stained-glass window. When Charlie says yes, Eve reveals that the window is now an ordinary one.
The impossible change unsettles both of them, especially because it echoes earlier stories about the house changing. Charlie still tries to reason through it, but she agrees they should spend the night somewhere else. Eve feels briefly safe when Charlie comforts her, yet Eve still cannot bring herself to explain everything else she has seen, including the cabin stranger and what Heather said about Thomas.
Charlie then insists on going back inside for a charger and clean clothes, despite Eve's repeated warnings. Eve stays in the truck with Shylo, anxiously watching the house while Charlie moves through the bedroom upstairs. After a tense wait, Charlie returns with a bag and immediately confirms that the window has changed. Shaken but still grasping for a practical explanation, Charlie drives them away, while Eve hopes she has seen the house for the last time and Mo suggests she has not escaped it so easily.
Who Appears
- Evetries to get Charlie away from the house and prove that its impossible changes are real
- Charliereunites with Eve, hears Thomas's account, then confirms the altered window for herself
- Thomas Faustspeaks to Charlie before Eve arrives and frames the day's events as signs of Eve's instability
- Shylostays with Eve in the truck and reacts nervously while Charlie goes back into the house
- MoEve's intrusive inner voice, intensifying her fear that Charlie will not believe her