The Dare - 2

For a few seconds, I couldn’t move.

That voice hadn’t come from the house. It had come from right beside me. The air where it spoke was still warm. My body refused to obey me, frozen in a kind of quiet panic that felt too real to be a dream.

Then, like a switch flipped, fear took control.

I spun around, shining my flashlight wildly, but the hallway was empty—only dust floating in the air and the faint echo of my own ragged breathing.

It’s in your head, I told myself. You imagined it. Fear does that.

But deep down, I knew better.

I turned and ran for the front door, my sneakers slipping on the dusty floor. I didn’t dare look left or right. I could feel something behind me, not close enough to touch, but close enough to know I wasn’t alone.

The door loomed ahead like salvation. I grabbed the cold brass handle and pulled.

It didn’t move.

I yanked again, harder. Still nothing.

My pulse spiked. It had opened when I came in—but now it was jammed, like someone had bolted it from the outside.

A faint sound broke the silence.

Thump.

It came from directly above me.

I froze, staring up. The ceiling was cracked, bits of dust falling like ash. Another thump. Then a dragging sound—dry and rough, like fingernails scraping wood. But it wasn’t on the floor above. It was inside the walls.

The sound moved fast, scuttling through the ceiling and down the wall beside me.

My flashlight flickered.

Then came a soft, childlike giggle.

“You’re good at hiding!”

My stomach turned. My breath came in quick bursts as I backed away from the door. The voice sounded so close, so playful, like a little kid enjoying a game. But this wasn’t a game.

A new sound started, worse than the rest—a slow, wet dragging. It came from the kitchen doorway to my right. Something was moving. Crawling. Pulling itself across the floor.

I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t even want to know what shape it had.

My eyes darted to the door under the staircase. A closet? A basement entrance? I didn’t care. Anywhere was better than standing here.

I bolted for it, yanked the handle, and slipped inside. The door clicked shut behind me just as that awful dragging sound reached the hallway.

Darkness swallowed me. The air was thick with the smell of damp wood and mothballs. I crouched low, trying not to breathe too loudly. My heart pounded in my ears.

Outside, silence fell again.

And then—

The doorknob right in front of my face began to turn. Slowly. Gently. Like a small hand was playing with it.

I covered my mouth, holding back a scream.

A whisper came through the wood, soft and gleeful.

“Found you.”

Now only last part is left so go and read the last part too byieee

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