House of Deception

A layer of freezing sweat prickled across Duncan's forehead. He stared at the bare wooden shelves, his mind racing to process the grim implication.

Duncan wiped his brow. "What? Do they all just walk around barefoot?"

Gideon kept his gaze fixed on the empty cabinet. "Did the lady of the house ever mention her job to you?"

Duncan tilted his head, racking his brain for any casual conversation they might have had with the woman. "No. I do not think so. But to support a family this large, even if she did not work a traditional job, she would still need to leave the house, right? Could it be she packed all their footwear when they left?"

Gideon turned to face him, his expression cold and unyielding. "Do you honestly believe women and children would own a few pairs of shoes? They have been gone for less than a week. Is it necessary to pack every single pair they own?"

The logic hit Duncan like a physical blow. A chilling sensation slithered down his spine. The lady of the house presented herself as a meticulous, refined woman. She managed the whole household. There was no way her family did not own spare shoes.

Gideon narrowed his eyes. "Unless there is only one possibility. Just as you suspected, no one lives in this house."

The horrifying realization settled heavy in the foyer. The house was nothing more than a facade. It was a fake venue designed solely for these twisted supernatural tasks.

Gideon turned his attention to the glass panels on the front door. The pitch-black darkness pressed against the glass. The continuous rain formed a thick, impenetrable curtain. A deep chill emanated from the storm, seeping through the cracks in the doorframe. Gideon felt an intense, prickling sensation on his skin. Something was lurking out there in the dark, watching him, watching all of them.

Gideon instructed them. "Let us go back to the living room. Everyone needs to gather together. Check all the windows on your way. Make sure they are locked and draw the curtains tight."

The atmosphere in the living room was suffocating. Everyone looked exhausted, their faces drawn and shadowed by the dim lighting. Excluding the deceased Chloe and the missing Maya, only five of them remained.

Edgar broke the heavy silence, his sudden voice making everyone flinch. "What were you talking about with that patient just now? How did you get him to cooperate with you?"

The top university professor looked terrible. His face was the color of a faded sheet of paper, taking on a sickly grayish-white hue. Despite his obvious terror, he clung to his academic arrogance, refusing to lose his composure in front of the group. He forced himself to sit straight, trying to project restraint.

Following Edgar's question, all eyes shifted toward Gideon.

Gideon let out a dry cough. "I told him if he did not eat, I would force it down his throat."

A stunned silence swept over the room. Haley let out a short, incredulous laugh.

Edgar furrowed his brow, scrutinizing Gideon's face for any sign of deception. "Just like that? And he ate?"

Gideon nodded. "It is that simple. What could a bedridden patient do to resist me?"

He was hiding his true methods. He had zero intention of explaining the strange, silent connection he had established with the giant upstairs to Edgar or the rest of the group.

Tessa hugged her knees to her chest. "I think we should avoid too much contact with that man. Everyone saw the bloodstains caked around his mouth. Chloe's murder might be related to him. That patient is not in a vegetative state. Why did the lady of the house lie to us? Why did she say her husband was a vegetable? And why was there blood on his face? Could it be..."

Tessa clamped her mouth shut, terrified by the conclusion her own mind was forming. She shot a panicked glance toward the dark staircase leading to the second floor, then looked away, burying her face in her hands. She slumped against Haley.

Duncan's expression tightened with anxiety. "Stop scaring yourself. You need to stop thinking about it."

Tessa began to sob, the miserable sound echoing in the large room. "I am scared. I do not want to die. Chloe died in such a brutal way. I am terrified I will be the next one."

Haley wrapped an arm around Tessa's trembling shoulders, patting her back in a rhythmic motion. "It is okay. We are all trying to find a way out of here. We will survive this."

Duncan released a heavy sigh and shifted his attention to Gideon.

Gideon sat in his armchair, chewing on his thumbnail. During their short time trapped together, Duncan had learned this was a nervous habit Gideon displayed whenever he was deep in thought.

Duncan pulled his wooden chair closer to the armchair. "Gideon, do you have any ideas on what we should do next?"

Gideon lowered his hand and shifted his body to face Duncan. "I want to test a hypothesis tonight."

Duncan frowned. "What hypothesis?"

Gideon stood up, his gaze sweeping over the remaining survivors. "I need someone to go with me. Who is willing to volunteer?"

The question sucked the remaining air out of the room. The horrific memory of Chloe's mutilated body from the previous night flashed in everyone's minds. The group lowered their heads, staring at the floorboards, nobody daring to make a sound.

The silence dragged on for a long time.

Duncan gritted his teeth and stood up to face him. "Why does it have to be at night?"

Gideon stepped closer, locking his olive-colored eyes onto Duncan's. "It has to be at night. Only at night."

A strange, hazy sensation washed over Duncan's brain. He stared into those deep, unblinking green eyes, feeling his willpower evaporate. It was as if a heavy, manipulative spell had been cast over him, dulling his sense of self-preservation.

Duncan murmured, his voice sounding distant to his own ears. "Then I will go with you."

The second the words left his mouth, Duncan slapped a hand over his lips. His eyes widened in shock. Why did he agree to that? Why did his vocal cords act on their own, bypassing his rational thought?

He snapped his head up and caught a fleeting, barely noticeable smile playing on Gideon's lips.

Gideon kept his voice soft. "Alright. Then stay close to me tonight."

A sudden, piercing scream shattered the quiet of the house.

The horrific sound tore down from the second floor, vibrating through the wooden beams above them.

"No!"

The voice was shrill, desperate, and filled with unimaginable agony.

"Spare me, please! I will tell you!"

"Ahhhhh!"

A final, wet, gargling shriek echoed through the walls before the screaming was cut off. A dead, suffocating silence reclaimed the house.

The brief sense of safety they had cultivated in the living room was obliterated. The raw terror rushed back into their hearts, freezing the blood in their veins. They looked at each other in sheer dread, their faces drained of all color. Every single person in the room recognized the unmistakable pitch of that voice.

It was Maya, who had just escaped into the storm outside.