"Well?"

"Everything," Connor answered. "I'll set this house and that forest on fire if I have to."

He didn't say anything else, so I answered next. "If I die on the other end of the bridge, that's good enough for me."

The woman in the painting growled. "Do you know why you're here?"

"The Screech."

"The Screech."

I hit my head on the frame again as she tugged on my hair. "No!" she cried. "Wrong!"

"The Screech! Th-the Screech, if you hear it you have to go to this mansion and you can't get out."

I felt a warm substance on my hand. Looking down as far as I could with my head tilted back I saw a small stream of red liquid ending on the floor, making a puddle and splattering on our hands.

I tried again. "...To feed an Entity?"

We waited. The woman in the painting spoke next with a hesitant but somewhat satisfied tone, leaving me thinking I said something only half-correct.

"That's only what you know for now.

"Good."

Immediately we got to our feet, taking the painting off the screw and nearly dropping it with our bloody hands. When we were halfway in, there was a woman in a white dress singing a haunting melody following the child with the yoyo, so we decided to just throw the painting on the bed and kick the door shut.

I took my coat off and went to scrub the blood off my hands, but Connor said, "Y/N."

"What?"

"Your hands."

My hands? I held them up in front of my face, and sure enough, the blood was gone. The specks of red on my coat disappeared, too.

The curtains were closer to each other, and I pulled them apart and continued reading the rules.

"4. If the painting of the woman in your room (both the music and master's rooms have a painting of her) starts moving or emitting sounds, bring her out of the room and hang the painting outside. There is a place where you can hang it outside each room. Sit under it with your back to the wall and answer her questions. (If there's another person with you, answer form oldest to youngest.) Tell the truth and stay calm. She won't hurt you...hopefully. She's just aggressively curious, if that makes sense. Don't leave until she lets go of you and says 'good'. After that you can put the painting back inside."

"5. If you feel someone behind you, or a cold chill while going down the stairs, don't look back or stop walking. Head straight to the library but only if this happens. Don't go to the library under any other circumstances. There will be a fake bottom stair, too, so be careful."

"6. Go downstairs to the pantry, you will see a teapot. Inside the teapot is water mixed with coconut oil. Go to the kitchen and put the teapot in the microwave for 1 minute. Take out the teapot. That will be your only drink for the night."

"7. You'll need a weapon. Look for the painting of a garden and there will be a thorny bush painted in grayscale. Rub some of the paint off with the mixture in the rule stated above and read the name of the plant. Go to the garden and in the pot of that same plant you'll find knives. There will also be a gardener tending the flowers outside. Quickly hide out of sight. Usually he will go back inside the mansion to have a drink or use the bathroom, and that's your chance to go and get the knives. DON'T GET CAUGHT."

I wanted to read more but at the same time my mind was getting overloaded. I tore my eyes away from the hastily-written words and cleared my throat. "So..." I glanced at the broken tile and brick on the floor. "Do you wanna get the knives now?"

Connor shrugged. "After you finish that."

"8. The knives are not only your weapon, but a tool. Once the grandfather clock near the front door signals it's midnight, go to the garden and use the knife to cut some herbs. You will need to put them in the drink mentioned in Rule 6. Only do this after midnight. (+8. If you see something or someone, avoid looking at it and hide. DON'T LEAVE THE HERBS BEHIND. If something or someone approaches you, stab them and run back into the mansion. Don't look back.)"

"9. If you hear squeaking from the dining room, flip on a switch in the living room. The squeaking means the Third Entity knows that it has food and it's ready. The switch in the living room turns on the lights in the dining room but the switch in the dining room opens a door to the basement. You have to turn on the switch in the living room because they won't let you turn on the lights in the dining room. They don't like light, you see. So after flipping on the lights in the dining room, take note that the switch in the dining room opens a door to the basement. Don't open it yet. If the butler left anything in your room when he refused to leave, here is where you can use it. Leave it on the top of the stairs leading down to the basement. Flip on the switch in the dining room when you're done doing this. You have one minute to hide. Once blood appears anywhere, in the sink, under doors, on your clothes, take the plate and close the basement door with the switch again."

"10. If the lights start flickering, find the doll in the children's bedroom and lock it in the toy chest. If the chest starts moving or doing anything strange, give it to the child playing in the hallway, turn around and go back to the music room or master's bedroom. If the child follows you, keep going. But if the child faces you and blocks your way, stab it and continue going back to the room."

"11. If you hear tapping on the window and nothing is there, sit down wherever you are and don't get up or go anywhere until you hear a glass shatter."

"Are you done?" Connor asked. I shook my head.

"12. If you look in a mirror and see something that's not supposed to be there, or anything suspicious, break it at once. Now you have read all the rules, don't forget to follow them. If you're with another person, don't stray away from each other. If none of the things mentioned here happen to you, you're doomed. But if they do, you have a chance of escaping. Good luck."

At the bottom of the paper was a messy signature with thin letters. The last letter was smudged with an elongated tail, like the writer's hand was whisked away.

"Hey, Connor, I'm done."

"Cool. Do you wanna get the knives now? And I think we should get the thing inside the teapot, too."

I put the paper down and swept my hair away from my face. "Okay." I sighed, taking off my coat. I had started to get used to the cold. "The teapot water thing first, cause we need that for the painting."

So far, there was no playing child or singing woman in the halls as we went down to the kitchen. It was unnaturally quiet, and even though the wind blew the trees against the windows, they didn't make a sound. There was no one following us on the stairs, either.

The kitchen wasn't as grand or as clean as the rest of the mansion. The stove was greasy and the refrigerator smelled like a dead rat mixed with old, sweaty clothes. The counter was greasy, too. We pulled all the curtains open. On the right side was a big cabinet, with drawers on the lower part and a shelf on top. A teapot sat on the top shelf. Nothing else was there, just the teapot, as if it was waiting to get picked.

I glanced at Connor. "You get it."

"Why me?"

"Because you're tall."

He reached up, but even standing on his toes wasn't enough, and we had to pull out a drawer for him to stand on. As he reached up again to get the teapot, I looked down at the drawer and gagged.

Several severed human limbs and other body parts were there, swimming in goo. There was a head of what looked like a man, with its eyes gouged out and its mouth frozen in an "O" shape. Bugs and maggots crawled on the pale skin.

Connor saw it too and slipped. The teapot shattered on the floor and he had to grab my shoulder to avoid falling.

I kicked the drawer closed, putting my face in my hands. Then I looked back up. "The teapot!"

But...there was no liquid on the floor. It was dry. So was the teapot, even the biggest piece. Connor and I locked eyes and he said, "Your turn."

I wanted to do this quick and get it over with. I wanted to do anything to go home and get out of this mansion. I pulled open the cabinet to see moss and snakes writhing around. In the middle compartment was a bigger teapot, with black and white swirls against gray ceramic. I grabbed it and kicked the doors shut harder than I intended to, making both of us jump.

"Then we microwave it, right?" Connor asked, pointing at the teapot in my arms. It was about twice the size of the first one, which I could carry if I had one fairly large hand. I nodded.

Strangely, the microwave light was blue instead of yellow. The rest of it seemed normal enough, so we waited for one minute. I sat on the counter with my legs crossed while he leaned against it. That one minute felt like a day. My eyes wandered over to Connor every few seconds as I cracked my knuckles to at least do something.

38...37...36...35... I took another quick look at him, and he was smiling right at me.

"Hi, Y/N." He grinned, as if we weren't in a haunted mansion and we didn't have four Entities after us.

"Hello," I said, cheeks burning.

"So what brings you to a place like this?"
"Oh, I got tired of my Netflix teen movie party and left dramatically after someone read my diary out loud."
"Nice."

I chuckled, then hopped off the counter to open the microwave. The water smelled like...well, coconut oil. "So do we drink it later?"

"I guess so."

We found the painting of the garden in the hallway leading to the courtyard. It was huge and detailed. Our shoes clicked loudly against the floor and we passed the teapot to each other to warm our hands.

We put a bit of the water on the gray part of the painting and waited.

I stared at the water in the teapot, cupping it in my hands. There was a mirror on the other side of the hall, parallel to the painting. I thought about the rule telling us to break it if we saw anything.

Connor leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "Hey, instead of the teapot to warm your hands, what about I hold—is that it?"

"Is what it?" I asked.

He pointed to the painting. "There's nothing there."

The gray and white paint was dripping down like tears, leaving nothing but a patch of blank canvas underneath. "Maybe it's in an empty pot?"

We went through the glass door to the courtyard. The rest of the mansion went around it, so we were in the middle of the place. There were many plants on the far side. Other rooms hung above us held up by pillars. A man in overalls and gloves was watering them, the water falling onto the floor and reflecting the moonlight. We quickly stepped behind a pillar when the gardener turned around and went inside the mansion.

We left the teapot on the ground, which made me anxious, but there were only a few pots to look at. We turned them over, but the empty ones didn't have anything. My eyes trailed over to one pot with only soil in it. It was fairly large, and even with both of us carrying it it was hard to upturn.

In the soil lay three knives. We dusted the dirt off of them and found that they were still very sharp and shiny. Each of them was two handspans long with a wooden handle.

"Nice," I mumbled, turning it over in my hand.

Then the temperature seemed to drop as I felt a hand on my shoulder. Connor was still squatting on the ground trying to push the soil back in the pot.

Remembering the rule to stab anyone that approaches, I swung the knife so the blade pointed down, spun around and thrust it down onto the first thing I saw.

It was a solid black oval-shaped thing, with no features or limbs except for one white circle in the middle and two bloodshot eyes. It pupils were mere pinpricks. It didn't look solid, just like smoke. The white circle grew larger and larger, stretching towards the ground. The cement around the foot of the figure cracked.

"Y/N, it's time to go," Connor said, standing up and lightly pushing my shoulder. My knife stuck out of its side and I pulled it out, running away.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I cried. "The teapot! Connor, give me your knife!"

He nearly cut me with the blade, shoving it into my hands in panic, but at least he got the teapot. I could hear the ground cracking behind us as we ran past the glass door and into the mansion. the hallway felt longer as we ran through it. The painting of the garden got closer, and on the opposite wall was a new, red painting. No, it wasn't a painting, it was the mirror.

The sound of a huge vacuum came from behind us, and before I had any more time to worry, one of the knives was taken from my hand and my ears were filled with the sound of a thousand shards of glass falling to the floor. Connor had stabbed the mirror.

The tiles cracked beneath our feet as we turned a corner. We sped up the stairs and into the hallway leading to the master's bedroom. I hated how huge the mansion was, with its stretching hallways and big empty spaces. My heart was beating too loud in my ears, almost enough to block out Connor calling my name.

"Y/N! Y/N, the tapping!"

"Now?!"

"Yes, now!"

I cursed as we turned the corner, sitting down and putting the knives on the floor. Miraculously, none of the water in the teapot had spilled yet.

"Do we have to hide or close our eyes?" I hissed.

"Maybe close our eyes to be safe?"

The sounds of the floor cracking stopped. After about 4 slower heartbeats they sped up, for humming echoed through the mansion.

There were no words, just a haunting tune resonating through my head. I locked eyes with Connor and mouthed, what now?

Don't go. Wait for the glass, he mouthed back. I shut my eyes, gripping my knife in one hand. There was still tapping, and whoever was singing sounded closer. It got louder and louder and I was sure my knuckles were white. My hand shook with how hard I was squeezing the handle. I don't remember any of the windows being open, but a cold breeze caressed my face.

It got louder and louder and when the song sounded like it was playing right in front of me I heard a glass shatter, much louder than the mirror.

I snatched the knives off the floor and followed Connor into the room. Collapsing on the bed, I said, "Mission accomplished. Any idea how we're gonna get out?"

"Not yet. Wanna drink first?"

I put the knives on the dresser and glanced at the painting of the woman in the corner. "Sure." I took a few swigs out of the teapot and made a face. "It tastes like cooking oil with pasta water, but tropical. Bone apple tea," I said, passing the teapot to him.

"It's not too bad, but it still tastes weird," He admitted, opening the curtains. "Next move is getting the herbs?" He said it with the H sound.

"You mean herbs." I repeated it without the H.

"Fine."

I was biting back a grin when I heard a muffled voice say "Your dinner, sir" from the door.

Connor nudged the teapot; it was getting too close to the edge of the dresser. "Your turn."

No need to remind me, I thought. I unlocked the door and held my breath as I swung it open.

There stood a ghost of a man in a suit like the ones you'd see in movies about royalty and all. Where his face was supposed to be, only a transparent image of an old man was.

"No, thank you," I said, glancing down the hallway.

"You must be getting hungry. Take it," He said in a low voice.

"No," I said again, and closed the door. I went to Connor and pulled him to the bathroom. "In the bathtub, now," I whispered.

Closing the bathroom door and leaving the lights off, I hoped that this would go well. I stretched out my arms, looking for the shower curtain. I heard it be swept aside and Connor whispered my name.

"Close your eyes," I mumbled, nearly falling over the side of the bathtub. I sat down and pulled my knees to my chest. There was no difference in the darkness when I covered my eyes. I heard the door open and footsteps followed. The sound of hissing bounced off the bathroom walls and just when it got too loud, it stopped and the door banged shut.

We locked the door and found the room the exact same way as it did before including the painting of the woman, except for the curtains, which were closed. Connor and I pulled them apart. I stood in front of the dresser, shuffling my feet.

Reaching for the teapot, I said, "Shit, a human heart!"

Connor jumped and spun to face me while I calmly sipped the water. "What? Where?"

I swallowed. "Nowhere. Just messing with you." I turned around, put the teapot back, pulled open the curtains and yelped, too horrified to make any louder noise.

Just about to fall from the windowsill was a human corpse with its hair in little tufts, eyes rolled back and completely naked. There were cuts all over its body with blood trickling out. The cheeks were sunken in and the bones were visible through its wrinkled skin.

"Oh my God, it's a fucking life-sized Ken doll," Connor gasped behind me. Well, he was right, the corpse didn't have anything between its legs, just a lot of blood and...nothing else.

I glared at him as the corpse fell off the windowsill. "Connor!"

"What else was I supposed to say? 'Rest in peace, our bald beloved,'?"

Just as he said that, the lights flickered. My heart rose up to my throat and I felt like I was burning up. I sighed, trying to steady myself, and said, "Let's deal with the doll, get the herbs and wait until the thing in the basement starts squeaking so we can get rid of the corpse, then figure out how to get out."

Connor didn't even flinch, and neither did I, when a large boulder was hit against our window. It barely made a sound. "Wait, the lights flickered? And did you realize the corpse doesn't smell like any-what are you doing?"

I pulled my sweater over my head and smoothed my white shirt out. Seriously, was I really cold under all those layers? "Say hello to my third layer of artificial skin. Yes, the lights flickered. Any idea where the children's bedroom is?"

"Just right beside this one, I think," He replied.

It was, in fact, beside the master's bedroom. Toys lay everywhere and the curtains were already open. It was a big room, with two beds facing the wall where the door was, a shelf of other toys on the right, and a closet on the left. In between the two beds was a doll, its face in shadow.

"Okay, so who will do it?"

"What about you?"

"What about you?"

"Why do you keep asking?"

"Y/N, I am scared and I want to go home."

"I'm scared, too, but I want to just finish everything we have to do so we can get out of this place."

"We are fifteen! We're supposed to be doing...stuff!"

"Yes, except we are not. So how about a joint effort?"

"Of course, but you make the first move."

"Why?"

"Because it's always like this in video games! You make one move and the doll starts moving or things start flying around!"

An unearthly roar shook the room as the doll rose up higher than our heads and the lights flickered wildly. I started to regret taking off my sweater, because the air swirled around us. The doll opened its mouth and it stretched to be almost as long as the doll's whole body. Fangs lined the black emptiness. The sight made me shudder and grip my knife.