Episode 5: Shadows in the Dark

The air in the villa had grown thick with unease. No one spoke as they retreated from the upstairs hallway after hearing that bloodcurdling scream. Their footsteps echoed through the empty, silent corridors, each of them too afraid to break the silence. The light from the flickering lamps did little to banish the creeping shadows that seemed to stretch longer with each passing moment.

Ava’s mind raced. The scream hadn’t been a figment of her imagination. It was real. It had to be. Yet, when they rushed to the source, they found nothing but empty halls and cold, dark rooms. Sarah’s hand tightened around hers, and she could feel the tremors in her friend’s grip.

“What the hell is going on?” Liam muttered, his voice barely more than a whisper, as if speaking louder would invite the dark forces closer.

“I think it’s clear,” Caleb said, his voice steady though the fear was evident in his eyes. He had always been the calm one, but the past day had worn down even him. “This place isn’t just haunted by memories. There’s something here. Something that doesn’t want us here.”

No one spoke for a moment, but the truth hung in the air like a suffocating fog. The presence was real. The rumors about the villa were more than just tales told to scare children.

“What do we do?” Alex asked, his voice tight, his usual bravado nowhere to be found. The young man who had always been the joker and the carefree one was now visibly shaken, his eyes darting nervously from shadow to shadow.

“We leave,” Sarah said sharply, her voice filled with a rare, no-nonsense tone. “We get out of here. Right now.”

Ava looked at her friend, grateful for her courage but knowing that leaving wouldn’t be as easy as Sarah thought. They were trapped in a place where time seemed to bend, and the villa’s eerie presence clung to them. They weren’t the ones in control here. The house was.

But before anyone could respond, the lights flickered and then went out entirely, plunging them into pitch blackness.

Ava gasped, her heart thudding in her chest. Liam cursed under his breath, and Sarah immediately grabbed Ava’s arm.

“This is it,” Liam said, his voice thick with panic. “This place is cursed. The lights are gone, and we’re all stuck here. We need to get to the front door. Now.”

But the sound of their frantic footsteps was drowned out by a low, guttural sound—a sound that wasn’t quite human.

A low, whispering voice emerged from the dark, cutting through the tension like a blade.

“You should never have come here…”

Ava’s breath caught in her throat. The voice was cold, as if spoken from the depths of the grave itself. And it was close. Too close.

“Who’s there?” Caleb demanded, his tone forceful but shaking with the growing realization that they were no longer alone. The air around them had grown colder, and they could feel the invisible presence pressing in on them.

“We… we need to get out now,” Sarah said, her voice trembling. She was the one who had been the calmest until now, but even she could feel the weight of the malevolent force that surrounded them.

Then, in the darkness, there was a sudden loud crash, like something heavy being thrown against the wall. The group jumped back, and Ava’s heart leapt into her throat as she clutched Sarah’s arm.

“Move!” Caleb commanded, his voice hard and authoritative. He grabbed Ava’s hand, pulling her toward the front door, but it wasn’t easy to find their way in the blackness. It felt as though the villa itself had closed in on them, trapping them.

They stumbled through the hallways, the echoes of their panicked footsteps the only sound they could hear. But just as they neared the door, the coldest breeze swept through the house, extinguishing their remaining light.

The door slammed shut in front of them with a deafening bang.

“No!” Caleb shouted, yanking on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. It was as if the house itself had sealed them in, and the terror that had been building in each of them grew with every second.

Ava’s pulse quickened, her breath shallow as she backed away from the door. Then, there was a flicker of movement in the darkness—a shape, a shadow that seemed to dart between the walls, following them.

A cold voice drifted through the air, soft and insidious. “You will pay for disturbing my rest…”

Ava’s skin crawled as she felt the presence grow stronger. It was watching them. The entity, whatever it was, was watching and waiting.

The Discovery

After what felt like an eternity of frantic searching and failed attempts to escape, the group reconvened in the main hall. There was no sign of a way out. No matter how many times they pulled at the doors or tried to force their way through the windows, it was as though the villa had become a labyrinth, trapping them inside.

“We need to understand what we’re dealing with,” Caleb said, his voice filled with urgency. His brow was furrowed as he paced back and forth. “We need to find a way to break the curse, or we won’t make it out alive.”

The group was quiet, the reality of their situation sinking in. Ava felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness. It was clear they weren’t dealing with just a haunted house. They were dealing with something far older, far darker.

“Where do we start?” Liam asked, his voice strained.

Ava glanced at the walls around them, her eyes searching for something—anything—that could offer a clue. Then, something caught her attention.

There, at the far end of the hall, stood an old, ornate mirror. The frame was tarnished with age, and the glass seemed clouded, as if it hadn’t been cleaned in years. But what drew her in wasn’t the mirror itself, but the strange sensation she had when she looked into it. The reflection didn’t seem quite right. The shadows in the glass twisted unnaturally, shifting as though they were alive.

“I think I’ve seen this mirror before,” Ava said quietly, her voice trembling. She moved toward it slowly, her fingers brushing the cold surface of the glass.

As she looked closer, something in the reflection shifted. A figure appeared behind her, its form distorted by the shadows. Ava’s heart skipped a beat as she spun around, but no one was there.

“Ava!” Caleb’s voice cut through her panic. He rushed to her side. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“The mirror,” Ava whispered. “It’s—there’s something in it. Something watching me.”

Before Caleb could respond, the temperature in the room dropped even further, and the air seemed to thicken. Ava’s breath clouded in front of her, her pulse racing as she reached out to touch the glass again.

That’s when she saw it—a pair of eyes, glaring at her from the mirror, bloodshot and filled with malice. A voice echoed in her mind, cold and cruel:

“You are not leaving this place…”

The Realization

The truth hit them all at once. The mirror was a portal, a gateway to whatever malevolent force haunted the villa. Elara’s spirit was more than just a memory. She was alive, in the shadows, in the darkness, and she had been waiting for someone—anyone—to stumble into her web.

Ava’s heart pounded in her chest as the voice grew louder, more insistent.

“We need to leave,” Sarah said, her voice shaking. “Before it’s too late.”

But there was no leaving. Not now. They had entered the villa, and now the curse had them.

And soon, the darkness would claim them all.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***