The door opened.
"Come on, move forward," the smallest girl among them said in a hesitant voice.
The tallest boy, a young man with blonde hair named Aden, bypassed the others, pushed the door a little more, and stepped into a place that resembled a house.
Besides Aden, there were two other children. The second tallest was a teenager named Alain. He appeared to be about 15 years old, which meant roughly three years younger than Aden.
The last was Zaya, a small girl who looked about 11 years old.
The three of them entered what appeared to be an abandoned house. The house was half dark.
There were matches and torches on a table, with a few pieces of cloth soaked in oil beside them.
"It seems like no one's here," Alain said. Aden and Zaya exchanged a knowing look, nodding as they understood that indeed, there was no one in the house.
Aden slowly and carefully approached the table and picked up one of the torches."It really looks like no one's here, but let's explore the house to the end."
Alain and Zaya approached him and also grabbed torches from the table. They wrapped the torches in cloth soaked in oil, and Aden lit them with the matches.
Once they had light, they were able to see the house much more clearly. They were in the living room, where there was a wooden table with the torches on it. Next to the table were a few cabinets and broken chairs. Around the living room, there were several openings leading to different rooms.
"Let's head toward the rooms, we can split up and check them out," Alain suggested.Zaya looked at him and immediately expressed her understandable concern.
"But what if someone is in the rooms? Let's go together. If we see someone, we can run away together."
"Zaya right," Aden whispered and led the way toward the nearest room. Alain and Zaya followed him, their faces showing increasing concern. They entered the room and illuminated every corner with their torches, but found no one.
In the room was a large bed with many planks on it. Next to the bed was a small wooden nightstand with three drawers.
Aden moved toward the nightstand and began opening the drawers, but none of them contained anything.
"Should we check the other rooms?" Aden asked the younger ones.
Zaya still showed a look of concern but didn't object to continuing their search.
"Yes, I think we should move forward and check all the rooms," she replied.
They moved as a group and searched through all five rooms in the house, including the kitchen, but found no one.
"There really is no one here. Maybe it was all just rumors," Alain said, disappointment on his face.Aden nodded and replied, "Yeah, I figured there wasn't really a witch in this house. It was all just nonsense."
"Well, we still have to find something here. Maybe we should look for treasure?"
"Don't be greedy Alain. You're not going to find anything of value here."
"Still, it wouldn't hurt to look for something. We could show the others proof that we were here!"
Aden paused for a moment. Something in Alain's sentence sparked an unexplainable reaction, but he quickly recovered and responded, "Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't hurt to look for something."
"Then we can split up. Each of us will search a different room, and maybe we'll find a treasure!" Alain said mischievously.
"I told you, Alain, there won't be any treasure here... but okay, let's split up and start searching."The three kids began searching. They checked drawers, cupboards, and under the beds, but found nothing.
"Didn't find anything either?" Alain asked, a disappointed look on his face.
"It really seems like there's nothing here. I told you, Alain" Aden responded.
"There has to be something! I don't want to leave here empty-handed!"
Zaya, who had been silent up until now, suddenly decided to speak up.
"Actually, there was a cupboard in the kitchen I didn't open. Its door was broken, and I was afraid to touch it, but maybe there's something in there."
She finished the sentence, and Alain immediately smiled and went to the kitchen, with Aden and Zaya following him.
Alain carefully opened the cupboard, and at that moment he jumped back in fright."What is this??" Aden asked sharply.
"It's..." Alain mumbled. But there was no need to finish the sentence. Aden and Zaya had already seen what was inside the cupboard.
It was a skull, the size of a child their age. After a few moments of silence and shock, Aden took the skull from the cupboard.
"This is strange," he immediately expressed interest. "The entire cupboard is covered in dust, but the skull is completely clean."
Alain and Zaya immediately understood the confusion, and a chill ran down their spines. They moved toward the living room and placed the skull on the table.
"Hey, there's something written here," Zaya suddenly said, pointing to a small inscription on the back of the skull.
Aden and Alain immediately noticed the writing and began to read the word.
"WITCH."
"I knew there was more to this than just empty rumors!" Alain immediately shouted, but his face was still filled with fear and concern.
"There's no one here, Alain. We searched the whole house. This is probably a prank or something."
"A prank is one thing, but a skull? It looks like it's from a real person..."
Aden looked at the skull and couldn't deny what Alain was saying.
"Maybe we should continue searching the house," Zaya suddenly suggested.
Aden and Alain – despite their growing fear, agreed with the idea and continued searching the house.
Soon, another skull was found, above a cupboard in one of the rooms. Alain and Zaya immediately screamed for Aden, who arrived in the room and helped them take the skull to the living room.
This skull also had a word written on it.
"RIGHT."
"Right? What does that mean?" Alain asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, but I think we should continue searching. Maybe there are more skulls in this house."
Aden sent everyone off to search again.
Another skull was found, this time under one of the beds. Aden took the skull and began reading the word written on it.
"IS."
"I really don't understand this," Aden said and continued asking himself and the other kids, "Does each skull have a specific meaning? Maybe it's a word game?"
"That sounds reasonable. But still, I can't seem to form a coherent sentence... maybe we need to keep searching."
The three of them kept searching.
"You know, since we entered this house, I've been feeling a really strange sensation. Like something is off, or not right."
"What do you mean, Alain?"
"I'm not sure myself..."
The conversation was suddenly cut off when they heard Zaya calling them from one of the rooms.
They rushed to the room where Zaya was. She pointed to a spot on the ceiling.
"I think there's a hidden drawer in the ceiling. Aden, can you lift Alain up there?"
Aden lifted Alain onto his shoulders, and Zaya supported him by placing a hand on Alain's leg.
Alain opened the drawer, and another skull fell out.
Aden took the skull to the living room and saw a new word written on it.
"THE."
The three of them stared at the word in confusion, trying to form a sentence with the other words, but to no avail.
"This feeling is only getting stronger..." Alain whispered to Aden and Zaya, continuing to speak.
"I feel like something just isn't right... Aden, what did we do before we came to this house?"
"Huh?" Aden didn't understand the meaning of Alain's question. "What did we do before? I don't remember exactly, but we came here because everyone else said there was a witch in this house."
"Everyone else? Who are you talking about, Aden?"
"I mean..." Aden stopped talking suddenly. He felt a similar sensation, a feeling that something was off.
"Okay, I don't know what this is, but I think we need to find all the skulls and get out of here," Alain said, holding his head as if struck by a severe headache.
The next skull was found.
"GREATEST."
"Let's keep searching," Zaya immediately said, a spark of curiosity in her eyes.
"I..." Alain suddenly began to mumble, "Aden, what were our lives like before we got here?"
"What do you mean Alain? We were living together with Dad. We've been living like this ever since Mom passed away," Aden answered.
"Yeah, that's true, but..." Alain felt a stronger headache as time passed. Something about his memory seemed to be distorted.
Zaya and Aden looked at him in silence. They knew he wasn't just feeling some silly sensation, but that there was something real and strong in what he was feeling.
They tried to distract themselves from Alain's questions and began searching again.
Zaya and Alain found the next skull. Alain searched for the word on it.
"Hey, Aden, come look, there's nothing written on this skull."
Aden entered the living room, lifted the skull, and began reading what was written on it.
"HERE."
"Huh? Let me see," Alain called out and took the skull. Aden had indeed read it correctly.
Suddenly, the word "Here" appeared on the skull.
"Hmmm, I think I managed to piece together a sentence," Aden said. "The Greater Witch is right here."
The three of them stared at all the skulls laid out in the living room in a moment of silence. Aden was the first to speak.
"I feel like something changed all of a sudden... I'm not sure... Actually, I've also been experiencing a growing sense of something being off, a feeling that something just doesn't add up."
"Yeah, we've been living with Dad up until now. And the others told us there was a witch in this house, so we decided to come here. We're - three siblings." Alain said.
"No, something here feels wrong. I'm not sure what..."
They tried to remember and find the root of the problem. The atmosphere in the room began to feel heavier, more tense. They attempted to recall their entire lives up until that point, but to no avail. They also thought about the sentence the skulls had formed, which only intensified the strange feeling in them.
"I think I'm starting to understand," Alain said, drenched in sweat, his face expressing fear. He continued, "Something really doesn't add up. We're supposed to be three siblings: me, you Aden and you Zaya, but... there was never a dad in the story, and we weren't really three at all. We were..."
Aden understood. He began to sweat. He and Alain exchanged fearful glances toward the table and the skulls.
"THE GREATEST WITCH IS RIGHT HERE."
In that moment, they understood.
In that moment, they turned around.
In that moment.
In that moment, Zaya smiled.
The smile stretched. And stretched. And stretched.
Her mouth began to tear open, and from it emerged a long tongue.
Zaya giggled lightly.
In that moment, her neck expanded, her tongue lengthened, and her body grew. She looked at the two brothers with a smile—the only brothers present in that moment.
Her neck extended to the ceiling, and they looked at her in complete fear.Suddenly, the house exploded.
Before she could attack them, another figure appeared.
The figure grabbed the unconscious Aden and Alain in both hands and began running away.
Aden, barely conscious, looked at the figure lifting them and running.
He managed to understand that it was the witch.
"No..." he whispered weakly.
"Mom...!"