My House of Horrors

“Tails?” Hu Ya walked at the front of the team. She yelled into the half-open steel door, but there was no reply. “I’ll go take a look.”

The light on the door gave off a weak, yellowish glow. Hu Ya moved forward alone. She leaned against the wall and slowly moved toward the door. The door was covered in rust, and something that looked like blood was flowing down it. “What is this room used for?”

Hu Ya moved her feet to nudge forward one more step. She leaned her body forward and adjusted her head to glance inside the room without touching the door. However, before she got a close look, a drop of liquid fell from the ceiling and hit the back of her hand. It was sticky, kind of like blood, but it was mixed with something else that gave off a strange stench.

“It’s leaking?” She slowly raised her head when the lights around them dimmed, and the steel door vibrated.

“Be careful!” Yang Chen shouted, and the lights in the corridor started to go off again. They went off very fast like a hungry beast dashing at them!

Without giving them a chance to prepare, darkness swallowed everything.

“Squat down now! Stay where you are!” Yang Chen was agitated, but there was no better solution. When the lights went off last time, three people disappeared. How many will disappear this time?

The whole corridor was thrown into darkness, and it was so quiet that they could hear the breathing and beating hearts of the people next to them. Everyone was squatting on the floor, and nobody moved. In the dark, the wind picked up, and a blurry shadow could be seen teetering at the end of the corridor before disappearing. It felt like it had joined their ranks.

Time dragged on, and the heartbeat echoed in their ears. Combined with the creepy background music, the fear in their hearts was amplified.

Creak…

An ear-scratching sound came from Hu Ya’s direction. The door before her had been pushed open. “Who would open the door at a time like this?”

As the steel door opened, formalin filled up the air. A different sound now echoed in the corridor.

Tik tok, tik tok…

It was the sound of water dripping. It dropped from a high position and fell against the ground. The sound neared Hu Ya before stopping in front of her. In the dark, no one could see anything, but the dripping sound kept coming.

“The thing is just standing next to me.” Hu Ya’s palm was soaked with sweat as an indescribable pressure swallowed her. She gathered her courage and raised her hands to reach forward, but she touched nothing but air.

“It should be here; the sound came from here.” Hu Ya was certain, and her hands continued to reach forward.

Tik tok…

Another drop fell, and this time, it fell on her arm. “I couldn’t touch it, and it is moving and dripping. Could it be… that it’s above me?”

Her eyes had gotten used to the darkness. Hu Ya lifted her head and saw a humanoid shadow attached to the ceiling above her. It was leaking like it had just crawled out from a pond. Its four limbs were attached to the ceiling like a lizard, and its skull dangled downward. Its empty skull hung just above Hu Ya’s head like it was preparing to bite away her face!

” What is this! ” Hu Ya’s half-squatting body went numb, but her mind was moving fast. The woman’s courage should have been the greatest among all the visitors.

“It’s above me!” Hu Ya screamed. She grabbed the phone in her pocket and flung it at the spot above her head.

The phone hit the wall, and a flash of light appeared behind Hu Ya. Ah Nan turned on the flashlight on his phone. The light came on, and the monster on the ceiling ran away in response. All they could see was the shadow slithering away.

…

The sound of the trolley became clearer. Fan Dade and Fan Chong could not move anymore. The two of them had already lost all sense of direction. They were not hoping to clear the scenario now—they just wanted to get rid of the thing following them.

“Quick, come in here!” The two of them ran into a white corridor, and they saw a half-open steel door. The words ‘Morgue No. 2’ were written on it. Without stopping to take a look, Fan Dade dragged Fan Chong into it and slammed the door shut.

“Bro, slow down.” Fan Chong struggled loose from Fan Dade’s grasp. He gasped for air and leaned against the wall as he slid down to the ground. He had not done such intense exercise for so long. Several seconds later, the sound of the wheel passed by the door and disappeared.

“We’re saved.” Fan Dade was soaked in sweat like he had just been pulled out of water. His legs were weak, and he collapsed to the ground. “That was too tiring. I need to rest.”

Fan Chong did not expose his big brother for his stubborn lips. He sat next to his brother and added, “Why did we have to do this, coming to the Haunted House to find trouble for ourselves? We’re a family of cowards, so why do this?”

“It’s that attitude of yours that makes me want to do this. No one is born a coward; plus, the reason we’re here has nothing to do with Mom and Dad. It’s purely because I want you to come out to take a walk. Don’t just stay at home to play those games; a little exercise is good for you.”

“Bro, that is more than just a simple game.” Fan Chong thought about it and decided to come clean. “That game, according to legend, is made by a killer, and the evidence of his child abuse cases are hidden inside it. However, no one has been able to solve it.”

“Stop finding excuses. I’m your old brother—do you really think that I don’t know what you’re going through?” Fan Dade shrugged. “It’s just a break-up. If you lose this one, there’s always a next one.”

“Who told you all that?” Fan Chong was too lazy to argue with his brother. “I’m not going to waste time arguing with you. We’re not going to clear this scenario. We’ll just stay here for thirty minutes and wait for the boss to come save us.”

“That’s not so nice, right?”

“What’s wrong about that? No matter what, I’m not leaving this place again.” Before Fan Chong finished, the row of freezers that lined the walls suddenly issued a sound. His whole body shivered from the shock. “What was that?”

“Don’t know, but it sounds like it came from the freezers.” Fan Dade crawled up from the ground. The brothers leaned against the door and were panicking.

“I think we should just stand here. As long as we don’t trigger the trap, nothing will come out.” The sweat covering Fan Chong had not gotten the chance to dry before new sweat appeared.

“You have a point.” Neither of them had the courage to get close to the freezer, but the thing inside the freezer did not seem like it was going to let them go.

The light in the room flickered, and one of the freezers elicited the sound of nails scratching on the metallic door. It sounded like the thing was looking for an opening to crawl out.