The House That Breathed Back

In 2020, a rental house near Benton Falls, Oregon emptied after one night that police

refused to describe. The couple inside said the lights dimmed all at once, and the air felt

heavier, like the house had inhaled. Footsteps followed them from room to

room with no delay, stopping exactly when they stopped, close enough to warm the air behind

their necks. Doors began closing the way they closed doors, floorboards creaked

in the same rhythm as their steps, and the walls echoed their breathing a half-second late,

deeper and stronger. In the bedroom, the ceiling felt lower and the corners crept closer,

as if the room was tightening to fit them. When the man tried the door,