EPILOGUE :LET'S PLAY SHE IS NEAR YOU

POV- MIA CARTER

They found my body at 3:07 AM.

I was lying in the middle of my padded cell, eyes wide open, a smile carved into my cheeks—not with a knife, but with fingernails.

The nurses swore they never heard a sound.

No cameras. No visitors.

Just one chilling discovery—

A message, written in blood across the floor:

“GAME OVER”

No fingerprints.

No explanation.

And yet… I remember everything.

Because death wasn't the end.

Somewhere Else – A Place Between

I stood barefoot in the cold, a mist curling around my ankles.

The world was gray, flickering like a dying bulb.

And across the fog… she waited.

Lillian.

Not the girl from the stories, not the legend.

But real. Tall. Pale. Her eyes bottomless and burning.

Her white dress was stained with soot, her bare feet soaked in blood.

She smiled at me.

Not cruel.

Not kind.

Just final.

> “Welcome, Mia,” she said softly.

“You played well… for a mortal.”

My voice trembled. “What are you?”

Lillian stepped forward. “A storyteller. A judge. A mirror of sins.”

Behind her, I saw the nooses again.

Only this time—Jason, Claire, Ethan… they stood upright. Still dead. Still watching.

> “Why me?” I whispered.

“Why us?”

Lillian tilted her head.

> “You broke the rules of life before you ever broke the rules of my game.

Lies. Greed. Jealousy. Rage.

I simply turned your truths into puzzles.”

I sank to my knees.

Tears didn’t fall.

I had no more left to give.

> “And now?” I asked.

Lillian knelt before me, touched my forehead with her cold finger.

> “Now… you join the house.

Every game needs a new ghost.”

Dust motes swirled lazily through the shafts of moonlight breaking into the attic.

The air was still.

Too still.

Not lifeless—just waiting.

The mirror in the far corner, once dull and cobwebbed, trembled with a low hum. A shiver passed through the glass—not from wind, but from presence.

Then, without warning—it flickered to life.

Silver bled into black.

Black faded into red.

And across the glass, something began to scratch itself into existence.

WELCOME TO ROUND ONE

The words appeared slowly, etched from the inside like claw marks dragging through flesh.

A creak echoed downstairs.

The front door—ajar.

Footsteps on old wood.

Familiar laughter.

The sound of five friends daring one another into an abandoned house for one night of mischief.

They didn’t know it had been waiting.

Feeding. Resetting. Rewatching.

They didn’t see the mirror flash for just a second—just enough to reflect something that wasn’t there.

Her.

Mia Carter.

No longer trembling.

No longer the girl accused.

No longer human.

Her eyes, once wide with fear, now glinted with the calm of understanding.

Of ownership.

She stood beside the mirror, unseen.

Watching.

Smiling—not cruelly, not kindly.

Just like Lillian had.

And outside, as the friends explored the overgrown yard, the wind whispered their names.

Each one.

Already chosen.

Already playing.

Already too late.

Somewhere Between Real and Not

Lillian stands in the fog, further now, fainter, her shape beginning to dissolve into memory.

Behind her, dozens of others. Former players. Former souls.

Some stare forward, empty.

Some weep.

Some smile.

All trapped.

And in the center of them all—Mia now walks among the ghosts.

But she isn’t lost.

She’s guiding.

Calling the next ones in.

Because every game needs a storyteller.

A judge.

A mirror of sins.

And the house?

The house is always hungry.

The chalkboard reappears in a new room.

Clean.

Waiting.

Six empty spaces.

A hangman without a head.

A piece of chalk begins to rise on its own—

And somewhere far away, a voice giggles.

> “Let’s play. THE HANGING GAME "

❤️THE END❤️

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