“W-who is it…?”
Idris’s lips were dry, his breath unsteady as he clutched the mouse with such force that it let out a faint, plastic creak beneath his fingers. A shadow began to stretch beneath the character on the screen, lengthening slowly before his eyes, and with it, a tremor ran through Idris’s entire body.
His mind started to swirl with all sorts of thoughts as he struggled to grasp his current situation.
“Officer?”
Hearing the old woman’s voice again, Idris felt the urge to turn toward it. But could he? The warning from the previous room echoed in his mind, the words printing themselves before his very vision.
’They try to trick me! They trick me through sight and sound!’
’Run!!’
It was a warning.
A warning that described the current situation properly.
Idris’s body trembled harder, each breath coming out more ragged than the last. His eyes darted frantically across the screen, scanning every corner in search of a clue, anything that could explain what was happening or tell him what to do next.
At the same time, he constantly reminded himself to stick to his plan.
’I don’t have to turn around. I shouldn’t look at anything. So long as I don’t look at anything, then I don’t have to worry about getting tricked.’
Taking a couple of more breaths to calm himself, Idris moved ahead with the game.
“Officer? Why are you not responding to me? Is something wrong? Did you figure something out?”
The old woman’s voice echoed steadily behind him, each word soft and brittle. But Idris refused to acknowledge it, forcing himself to focus entirely on the screen and the task in front of him.
’It’s very clear that there’s a message in each room. This is the second-to-last room before going to the final room, and if my estimates are correct, then the door will most likely be locked. In that case, the goal should be to find the next message and find the key that will lead me to open up the last door.’
Each floor was comprised of three rooms, from what Idris managed to observe.
The goal of each room was to find the letters and writing, with the game growing progressively more tense with each clue found.
He was just two rooms away from clearing the game.
He had to hold steady.
’Now, where could the next message be?’
“It’s right underneath the bed.”
“…..!?”
Hearing the old lady’s voice, which seemed to be able to read his thoughts, Idris’s hand shook further as his breathing, which he had managed to steady a few moments prior, suddenly became more erratic.
“…The message that you’re looking for is right underneath the bed.”
Idris slowly dragged the mouse across the screen until the leg of the bed came into view. From what little he could see, it looked like he was in yet another bedroom.
His throat tightened as he swallowed, placing the cursor over the bed’s leg.
The moment he did, every sound vanished.
It felt as if the entire room were holding its breath, and with it, so was he. A suffocating tension gripped the air shortly after that as his finger lifted and he prepared to click the mouse.
However, right as he was about to do so, he stopped.
’No, wait… This could also be a trap!’
Why else would the old lady so blatantly tell him to check the bed? This was obviously a trap!
Yes, it had to be a trap.
Idris quickly pulled the cursor away, no longer daring to look at the bed. As soon as he did, the oppressive silence shattered, replaced by the low, rasping sound of breathing that echoed across the screen.
It seemed to come from right… behind him.
“….H-ho.”
Idris’s face turned pale as he fought to maintain his grip on the mouse, his fingers slipping slightly from the sweat. With a shaky breath, he pulled his hand away and clenched it into a tight fist, the pressure helping to squeeze out the moisture as he tried to steady himself.
’This is just a game. This is just a game. This is just a game.’
He had to remind himself over and over again that all of this was fake in order to keep his mind steady as he once again had to remind himself that this was just a game.
…A very twisted game.
One that played with the player’s mind.
“Hoo.”
Taking another deep breath, Idris kept the cursor down, inching forward slowly until he stopped right before a wardrobe. He clicked on it and searched through its contents in order to find something, but…
’Nothing.’
There was nothing useful.
Pressing his lips together, Idris guided the cursor toward another part of the room, clinging to the hope that he might find something.
Anything.
He checked the drawer beside the bed, then moved to the small desk resting opposite it. His eyes scanned every detail, every corner, but no matter how thoroughly he searched, the room offered nothing.
Instead, the more he looked, the rougher and louder the breathing behind him became, and as he moved away from the desk, he felt his ear shiver as the skin around his neck crawled.
“What the hell am I supposed to do? There’s nothing. Literally nothing at all!”
With the increasing tension, Idris also felt a sense of frustration. His previously calm emotions now started to run rampant as the frustration was starting to get to his head, making him less rational.
In the end, his mouse once again fell on the leg of the bed, and he paused.
The room fell silent shortly after as the breathing behind him stopped, and everything came to a pause.
The signs were all there.
No matter how he thought about it, he had to look under the bed.
This was clearly the next part of the game, and yet…
Yet..
“I… don’t want to.”
Looking at the bed, his heartbeat quickened.
Ba… Thump! Ba… Thump!
It drummed so loudly that for a moment, Idris struggled to concentrate.
’I really don’t want to look under the bed. I feel like it’s a trap. I know when my guts are right. There has to be something else. Another way…’
Biting his lips and feeling the sting, Idris once again pulled the mouse away from the bed frame.
The moment he did, the breathing returned.
Everything was as it was before.
Or at least… until a faint flickering sound echoed.
Flick. Flick.
“….!?”
The light above flickered violently, casting erratic shadows across the room. Idris’s legs locked around the chair, muscles tense as his body braced itself.
“Haaa… Haaa….”
His breathing grew faster, unintentionally syncing with the heavy, rhythmic breaths of whatever stood behind him.
Idris’s hand shook as he moved the mouse, his face paler than it was before.
The tension was at an all-time high, and cold sweat trickled down his back. His shirt clung damp against his back, but he forced himself to ignore the discomfort, pushing onward as he continued to move cautiously around the room, every nerve screaming in protest.
“Huh?”
It was just as he was growing desperate that he spotted something near the corner of the room, and his eyes lit up.
’This…!’
Looking towards the wall, it was there that he spotted an arrow, and his eyes lit up.
“I knew it! I knew that it was a trap!”
A triumphant smile flickered across his face as he followed the arrow pointing toward the floor. There, a small gap between the wooden tiles caught his eye. Without hesitation, Idris clicked on it, pushing it slightly as a result and revealing a folded piece of paper hidden beneath.
Idris quickly read the message.
[I… did it!]
[I found a way to get into the room.]
[…She doesn’t know it, and she will never know it!]
[I left the clue right above. It’s… It’s… Where is it?]
[Hmm… Oh, right!]
[On the ceiling! It’s on the ceiling!]
Reading the message, Idris breathed a sigh of relief. He could feel it. The end was near.
He was also certain that this was the correct message.
’Looks like all I have to do now is get into the room. The game is almost over. I should be done soon.’
Breathing another sigh of relief, Idris patted his chest.
Easy. This was easy.
Pulling the cursor away from the message, Idris brought it up towards the ceiling, thinking about his next set of actions.
As he looked up, he was met with the sight of a blank white wall.
Faint cracks spread across the wall as a small lamp hung up above.
“Hm? I don’t see anything?”
Squinting his eyes, Idris tried to look for the clue that was left behind by the husband. However, regardless of how hard he looked, he couldn’t find a thing.
Or at least that was until…
Cra Crack!
A sharp, splintering sound shattered the silence.
Idris froze, heart hammering in his chest.
Ba… Thump! Ba… Thump!
Slowly, hesitantly, he moved the cursor toward the corner of the ceiling.
All noise ceased.
And then…
He saw it.
The tall figure that lurked in the corner of the ceiling. It clung to the ceiling like a grotesque spider, dressed in a dark suit and top hat. Its eyes bore into him, and that twisted, unnatural smile stretched wide enough to chill his very soul.
Before he could react—
“…..!!”
It lunged forward, moving with unnatural speed.
“…Heaakk!!”
A heartwrenching scream tore through the air.