The group of six pushed open the stiff door and stepped into the Mansion only to be greeted by the sound of the wind forcing itself through the cracks of the building.
"Not gonna lie, but that definitely sounds spooky," Sam commented, a statement they all agreed with.
The interior of the mansion was a lot darker than they expected, so dark that they couldn't even see their own hands even though the door was still open, allowing moonlight to enter.
Or rather tried to allow moonlight in, but for some strange reason, it never went past the door.
Leo squinted into the dark, muttering, "Why the hell is it darker inside than out? That doesn't even make sense."
'Maybe because the ghosts of this house don't like the light," Noah said with a grin, as he quietly sneaked up behind Leo, leaned close, and whispered, "Boo."
"Fuck—!" Leo jolted so hard he almost crashed into Sam. "Damn it, Noah!"
His scream coming out louder than he intended and it echoed in the entire mansion, freaking him out even more.
"I wish I could see the look on your face right now," Noah burst out laughing, unconcerned about the echo laughing alongside him.
Eden just sighed at their antics, before turning in the direction where he had seen the creature standing during Dr. Ghoul's visit.
And although it was completely dark, it looked no different than seeing in an extremely low light for him.
Maybe that was a perk his eyes came with....or maybe it was due to the carrots, regardless of the reason, he could clearly see better than the other five.
And again, he saw that apart from the shadows that pooled in that corner, there was nothing else there.
Click
Was heard before a light suddenly turned on, chasing the shadows away. The group turned to Hana who hadn't spoken yet and look at her in surprise.
In her hand was a small torchlight, the origin of the light that was suddenly turned on.
"Finally," Maya said, "I thought we'd be standing here in total darkness."
With Hana's lead, the team also took out torches, turning them on one after the other, causing the room to brighten up.
The inside was no better than the outside, well, minus the vines, this place looked like it hadn't seen the touch of human hands in decades….. which it hadn't.
Even the fallen pipe during Dr. Ghoul's visit was still here.
"Guys?" Sam called out, bringing the group's attention to him, "how far from the door did we walk?"
On his words, the team turned with their lights towards the door only to realize that what should've been right behind them was now a long way down an entire hallway.
"How the hell is that possible?" Noah muttered, "we only took a few steps forward."
"Okay, I've seen enough," Leo suddenly said, already turning back toward the faraway door. I'm leaving,"
But before he could even take more than a few steps forward, the door suddenly slammed shut.
"T-that was the wind right?" Noah asked, nervously waiting for someone to confirm that it was indeed the wind.
But Eden knew better, the door was too stiff to be forced close by the wind, but just like Noah, he really hoped it was just the wind.
"Let's not freak out yet," Sam said, raising his light toward the door. "We just… go back and open it, yeah? No big deal."
With that,the group moved towards the door and Sam took the lead, turned the knob a couple of times but the door refused to open.
"Is it jammed or something?" Maya asked nervously as Sam continued trying to pull the door open.
"No," Eden said, his eyes locked on the door as he slowly pointed towards it, "look."
The team followed the direction where he pointed, towards the door's frame....or rather where the frame was supposed to be.
What had once been a door was now solid wall, the wood had completely merged into it, creating a seamless blend with the wall.
If not for the handle still hanging on it, the team would've doubted there was ever a door there in the first place.
Eden's hunger, for some reason, seemed to be getting excited as the unease in his heart grew.
It seemed to be in complete glee, almost as if it was excited for what was to come.
"T-that's impossible," Sam let out, his voice trembling as the realization dawned on him and the rest of them.
They had wandered where they shouldn't, and now, it seemed, the mansion wasn't going to let them leave.
A heavy silence fell between them as no one dared to speak at first. The only sound that could be heard was of the wind entering into the Mansion, which now sounded as if it was laughing at them.
Then Noah, desperate to break the suffocating silence, muttered, "Maybe… maybe it's like, an illusion. Or some kind of—"
"W-where's Hana?" Leo cut in.
They all froze and in sync, turned to where she was previously standing, only for their torches to light up an empty space... The space where she previously stood.
"T-this has to be a prank right?" Noah said, his laugh shaky. "She's just hiding somewhere, trying to scare us. Right? Hana?!"
"Hana?" Maya called out, her voice trembling as she turned in a slow circle. "This isn't funny—come on, stop messing around."
Leo collapsed to the floor, curling his knees tightly against his chest as he clutched his head with both hands.
"I knew I shouldn't have come here," he choked out, his voice cracking. "I'm gonna die… we're all gonna die in here"
"C-calm down, " Noah tried to calm him down but that had the opposite effect as Leo's fear suddenly became anger as he looked at him with bloodshot eyes.
"Calm down?" Leo slowly stood up, his chest heaving as his torchlight shook in his trembling grip. His bloodshot eyes locked on Noah with a mixture of fear and rage. "You're the one who dragged us here in the first place!"
"What are you talking about?" Noah's said as he took a small step back. "It was just a dare—"
"Exactly!" Leo snapped, his voice resounding in the hall. "Your stupid dare! 'Oh, let's check out the haunted mansion, it'll be fun,' you said. Well guess what, Noah? Hana's gone. The door is gone. We're trapped in this nightmare because of you!"
"Noah didn't know this would happen," Sam cut in quickly, putting himself between the two before things escalated further. "None of us did. Fighting each other won't get us out of here."
Leo let out a laugh that was closer to a sob. "Won't get us out? We're not getting out, Sam! Don't you get it? We're next—every one of us!"
While they argued, Eden's eyes were locked in the darkness, specifically towards what looked like a door, for some reason his eyes couldn't see past that point.
But that wasn't his concern right now, as he muttered, quietly at first, "shut up."
When there was no response, he said again, louder this time, "SHUT THE HELL UP!"
That quieted the three down and he added, listen.
And that's when the group of five heard it, the sound of footsteps coming directly from where Eden's eyes were locked.
Tap. Tap. Tap
Moving the light towards the darkness, they quickly realized that it was useless as the beam didn't move past a meter past them and before they had noticed, the darkness had encroached closer.
But their lights didn't need to reach far as whatever was coming soon revealed itself.
Maya was the first to react, as strength left her legs and she crashed into the floor. Her pupils shrank and her torch left her grip, clattering unto the floor before switching off.
Her trembling lips parted and a loud scream immediately left them, her whole body trembling.
Seeing the creature, the team immediately knew, there was no escaping this Mansion anymore.