Steadily we forwarded to the front door and it seemed there was no one in the house. We kept pressing the doorbell ring but everything was insanely quiet. We decided to use the backdoor and as soon as we reached the back of the house, luckily it was half-open. The door creaked as one by one we entered the house but turned our attention towards the sudden speaker, "You guys? Did you notice these footprints- or should I say clawprints?"

We switched our gaze downward and Travis was right. The footprints began from the direction of the backdoor towards the dark forest that laid in front of us.

"We are now right! Lucas is a serious suspect. I mean an animal can't just enter the house just like that, right? He must be _"

"Not a spirit. Like they are anyway in the human form, so it is ought to be-"

"Shapeshifters? Horrendous creatures dressed as humans so they would not be suspected for eating the other humans?" Clay suggested but we weren't aware of the whole problem.

"Let's not assume things and just head for the house with the information it holds on to."

As I ordered, we proceeded our search but separately in groups. Clay decided who goes with whom but none were much happy with the arrangement. With a little bargain, Clay made them agree to his decision and went away for the search. I was partnered with Austin unwantedly.

"Hey Reccy, do you think there was something Joey and Travis? I have a huge feeling they were exes." Austin whispered into my ear, pestering me since.

"Firstly, don't call me Reccy. Secondly,we don't have the right to interfere in their life. And lastly, even though we are not sure about their relationship, I am 100% sure about ours. So keep some distance. By that I mean, 5 foot away."

He sided away counting his steps, "Here we go, literal 5 feet. Okay, princess?"

"Whatever."
I instinctively smacked my forehead in frustration, but made an effort to concentrate on the intense atmosphere and its underlying reasons. Initially, we made another attempt to locate the light switches, despite having done so ten times already, but to no avail. Feeling discouraged, we resorted to using the flashlight feature on our phones and scanned the surroundings. It all looked like a normal family abode except we saw bizarre implements put in places. Wonder if those were the weapons or maybe just decoration sets.

Promptly, we saw a dark figure covered in a wimple, standing still infront and at being noticed, he simply swished away just like wind. I took a glance at Austin and we both were frightened.

"Gu-Guys! Guys, I-I think we ju-just saw someone- or something!" I informed but there was deafening silence, "Guys? He-hey? Are you all here? Where are you? "
I looked towards Austin, but he vanished before my eyes, "Au-Austin? Please don't leave me! This isn't funny!" My words ended in a whisper as I searched around with my eyes. The entire place was engulfed in darkness with no signs of any person around.

Gathering the leftover courage, I proceeded to the nearest room slowly guiding myself holding the walls and the torch.
I walked in, but the entire room appeared empty. I expected to sense or perceive some trace of furniture, even in the absence of light, but there was none to be found.

I was startled and caught off guard as I heard a noise and saw the door shutting behind me. A wave of fear engulfed me, causing my body to go numb. Acting quickly, I hurriedly approached the door, only to find it locked. I tried knocking on the door multiple times, but as it appeared futile, I couldn't contain my terror and let out a loud scream for help, "Help! Help! Casper! Are you there?"

Nothing happened.

No one came.

And guess I was on my own.

Giving up, I let out a deep breath and decided to observe the room. It was quite dull and smelt of dust mixed with old age. Out of nowhere, paintings appeared to hang up of rich people's potraits and their eyes following my every move. I shivered, icy with panic.

I detected a musty scent as air entered my nostrils, and I became aware that the window was ajar. Filled with a mix of excitement and fear, I cautiously moved closer to it, prepared to flee. However, my attention was quickly drawn to a shattered picture frame resting on the windowsill. The sight of blood droplets scattered around the frame made me shudder. I carefully picked up the photo and examined its contents. In the image, I saw a small boy holding hands with another person, one of whom bore an uncanny resemblance to Casper, perhaps even Casper himself as a child.

From the corner of my eyes, I felt as if there was something big appearing and looked to see a mirror. With my eyes drawn to my image on the mirror , I perceived another figure veiled with a smirk standing right behind. I didn't dare to move as intense fear eclipsed my thoughts . He inched closer and I couldn't help but instinctively turned around with my fist ready to punch him in the cheek.

But when I did, he held my hand and snorted, "Tsk tsk. Po'r Reccy of yond harebrain'd pathetic spirit. No more brain than stone Casper, eh?"

"Don't dare to talk trash about him. A-And leave my hand, it-its hurting."

"Oh well yond is what mine own nameth sayeth. I'm Peine Lucas Douleur. Desire thee know-"

"French. I do know french." I stared in surprise , understanding what his name actually meant, "It is the french of- pain and-pain. Wha-what are you?" I muttered, backing away from him; my heart pounding.

"The penalty f'r knowing too much. Thy demise. "

I widened my eyes with a sense of alarm and frantically reached out with my hand, searching for an object to strike him with. However, he swiftly raised his knife, causing me to shield my face with my arm. Despite my fear, I hesitated to close my eyes, desperately hoping for divine intervention. Suddenly, a loud thud startled me, prompting me to open my eyes. To my relief, I saw the attacker who had been pursuing me sprawled on the ground, while a recognizable person stood behind him, firmly holding a cane.

I couldn't believe my luck could turn like that, and relieved from the tensity, I ran towards the striker and wrapped my arms around his neck. I felt a tingling aura surround my senses and it wasn't less than a heartfelt, protective hug, "Thank you, thank you so much!"

He chuckled slightly and uttered a welcome. Feeling embarrassed about the whole action, I jerked back and rubbed my arm.

"Wha-What was that?" I asked.

"I don't know. But since the last discovery in this spontaneous haunted house, I figured that this- all is delusional with constant deceptions. Which is why things look scarier than they really are. And this is also helping the killer get to us easily."

I nodded and explained what I found in there, when suddenly we heard Joey's voice, "Guys! This house is super insane! Just come for a proper damn informative reunion!"

As we made our way towards the exit, I glanced back and noticed that the picture frame featuring Casper and the other boy had toppled over.

While passing through the door, I accidentally collided with Austin, feeling embarrassed once more. Trying to recover, I quickened my pace, but I could hear him laughing softly behind me. His chuckle brought back memories of the intimate moment we shared earlier.

"Guys, nothing bad happened to any of you right? Like I was calling everyone a while back but the whole was silent and empty. Like- Like a delusion." Travis stated.

"True. You won't believe, but Lucas just attacked us before. But we got saved. "

"Did he say anything or any clue?"

"Yeah. Like he wanted to slay us because apparently we know too much."
I frowned when a howl echoed throughout the house .

"That- That same shriek was heard before. Didn't any of you listen?"

"No. Not before. I'm sure this abode is full of illusions so we must be careful."

Everyone remained in place momentarily when I noticed the absence of someone. Clay. However, I soon spotted him seated on his knees beneath the staircase, prompting me to approach him. I gently tapped his shoulder, causing him to abruptly rise and accidentally hit his head on the upper part of the staircase. He began shouting, "No! Mr. Toilet ghost, I promise I'll give you all my food. Just please don't harm me! I'm a cherished tooty wombat to my grandmother. Please..." Suddenly, he opened his eyes and swiftly transformed his expression into a cheerful and relaxed one, asking, " Oh hey Rebecca, what's up?"

Without saying anything, we all erupted into a laughter and the tensity vanished- until we heard crayon markings scramble itself upon the wall and the similar voice snarled, "Lost the opportunity to live but decided for knowlegde, well surprise- you just entered a death trap."

We all surrounded each other's back in a circle and finally witnessed the dark figure with his cloth. The creature dropped its cloak, revealing it's scaly horrendous body. It stood to a slightly taller height than a grown man. His prussian blue skin contrasted with a deeper red made him look totally abnormal. But what was more noticeable and perilous was his long claws instead of hands and his elongated head accompanied with numerous sharp teeth protruding from his saliva-filled mouth.

"What in tarnation is that? Like even a warthog's body is prettier." Joey commented, which only seemed to increase the creature's wrath. His tone rate enhanced deeper, "I'm poised to attack you and serve your own pet dog with your own severed head, similar to what I did to the principal when you attempted to access my student record. Don't underestimate my knowledge; I am fully aware of everything about you, you maggots!"

It was Lucas after all.

Clay whispered, "Tonight, we're going to die. It's important to me that you tell my grandmother that I love her, even though she neglects to clean her socks and has hairy armpits." His words momentarily repulsed me.

Lucas then extended his arm, revealing a radiant light emanating from his palm, clearly aimed at attacking us. Acting on instinct, I quickly moved away from his intended strike, causing Austin to be pushed aside by my actions. As a result, both of us ended up falling, with me ending up on top of him. I couldn't help but wonder why these embarrassing situations only seemed to occur between the two of us.

However, I swiftly got back on my feet to confront the villain, but there was no time to spare even a glance. Before he could continue using his unexpected supernatural powers to harm us, I gestured with my hand for us to run up the stairs, realizing that he wouldn't allow us to escape through the front door directly.

Despite Lucas's relentless beam attacks directed at us, we maintained a swift pace, managing to evade our impending doom. At a turning point, as I gripped the banister, a section of the upper railing broke off, which I seized as a makeshift weapon. I hurled it back at Lucas, who was far from being quick on his feet.

"It's an infinite staircase!" Clay yelled swinging his hands in the air as we kept climbing the boundless circular stairs.

"We need to hit him with something hard, long enough for his mind to stop the tricks so we would finally just get up!" I whisper-yelled.

"The only thing we have around is these damn handrails and its pillars." Joey complained.

"Maybe they could help. It does seem like an old house, so with a little force we may be able to break the sides."

The others acknowledged my suggestion, and one by one, we almost managed to remove the upper piece of wood. However, a chunk of it remained stubbornly intact, proving impossible to break with our bare hands. As we stood there, attempting to dismantle sections of the banister and small pillars, Lucas swiftly closed in on our position. With a snarl and a wicked smirk, he swung his figurative yet deadly weapon, seemingly aimed at our necks. In a split-second response, I shielded myself with whatever means I had, just as Clay called out, "Beca, catch!" He shouted, throwing a wooden fragment from the staircase, but Austin managed to catch it.

He swung the sharper side towards Lucas's neck but it hit an edge of his shoulder. He put his weapon down to hold the part where he got hit and I took the same chunk of wood from Austin, swaying it right into Lucas's stomach.

" Thee bethink these pieces of junk art gonna holdeth me backeth?"

"No we don't." I replied before ordering everyone to reach the higher floor as his tricking intellect was weakened and distracted.

Relieved for the unpromising survival, we tried to chose a door; just when I saw a familiar door adjacent to the room that I first went to.

"It's so similar to..." I paused, pointing my hand to the medievel twin door.

"To what?" Travis asked.

"Casper's library's door."