NO ESCAPE

POV- MIA CARTER

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We ran blindly through the darkened hallways, our breaths sharp and ragged, hearts thudding like war drums. Claire kept sobbing, her fingers digging into Ethan’s hoodie as he dragged her forward. My flashlight flickered in my grip, the beam casting twisted shapes on the crumbling wallpaper.

We reached the front door.

Gone.

Not locked. Not jammed.

Gone.

Where the door should have been was a seamless wall—aged wood panels, splintered but solid. No trace of hinges. No outline. As if it had never existed.

I pounded my fists against it. “NO! NO! IT WAS HERE! I SWEAR IT WAS HERE!”

“Mia...” Claire whispered, tears streaking down her cheeks, “I want to go home. I want to go home now.”

“We’re trapped,” Ethan muttered. He backed away slowly, eyes scanning the shifting shadows dancing across the room. “This place is playing with us.”

The chandeliers above us trembled again. Dust rained down like ash.

Suddenly—

A new message appeared on the mirror behind us. Red letters forming one by one, dripping as if carved into flesh:

“ATTIC.”

Claire screamed. Ethan swore under his breath. I stared at the message, heart hammering against my ribs.

Jason’s voice—twisted and distorted—echoed faintly in the distance.

“Finish... the game...”

“Damn it,” Ethan growled. “It’s not letting us leave.”

I nodded slowly. “Then we go back. To the attic.”

Claire looked like she might pass out. “Are you insane?! After what we just saw?!”

“We don’t have a choice,” I said, already stepping toward the staircase. “The only way out is to finish what we started.”

The climb felt like walking into a grave. The air grew colder, heavier. My flashlight buzzed again—and then flicked off.

Darkness swallowed us whole for a moment.

Then—

The attic door creaked open on its own.

We stepped inside... and froze.

Jason.

His body hung in the center of the attic, suspended by a thick, frayed rope tied tight around his neck. His limbs dangled limp, head tilted at an unnatural angle. His eyes—glassy, wide—stared right at us. Right through us.

Claire collapsed to her knees with a shriek, sobs strangling her breath.

Ethan cursed and turned away, fists clenched, but even he couldn’t hide the tremble in his voice. “He was just with us. He was just—he spoke to us—how is this even—?!”

Blood had soaked the floor beneath Jason, forming a perfect, deliberate circle.

A second rope swayed beside him. Then a third.

Three ropes. Three people left.

Back in the corner, the chalkboard had changed again.

The word was still there.

RECKONING

Six letters. A gallows already drawn. One limb of the stick figure in place.

But now Jason’s name was scribbled below in crimson. Crossed out.

I stared at the board, numb. “It started without us…”

Claire was whispering to herself, rocking. “It knows... It knows we’re here. It wanted us to see him…”

The attic door slammed shut behind us, making us all jump.

We were trapped again—