Joseph couldn't sleep.
His body buzzed with the adrenaline of the fight, of Mindy's final words echoing in his brain: "If more than one survives to dawn… they both die."
He wandered the hallway like a ghost, the house creaking beneath his steps, his flashlight trembling in his hand. The beam caught flecks of dust, scratches on the walls, and strange symbols—half-scrubbed out, too faded to understand.
Then he tripped.
"Shit—!"
He hit the floor hard, his knee slamming against something solid.
But it wasn't the floor.
It was a hollow patch behind the baseboards.
Joseph froze. He knocked once.
Thump thump.
Hollow.
He stood slowly, heartbeat thudding in his ears, and started pulling at the molding. It cracked apart easier than expected—old wood, brittle from time and rot.
Behind it was a small, square hole—stuffed with torn pages, melted candles, and a stack of yellowed Polaroids.
Hands shaking, he pulled them out.
And then he saw it.
Photos of teenagers.
Different ones.
Same house.
Same rooms.
In one of them, the wallpaper peeled the exact same way it did in the living room. In another, a boy stood holding what looked like a rusted blade, mouth slack and eyes gone. Black voids.
But the final photo made Joseph stumble back, heart nearly stopping.
It was Mindy.
Years younger.
Standing behind her uncle.
Both of them smiling.
Behind them, someone was mid-scream.
Joseph didn't wait.
He sprinted down the hall, yelling, "WAKE UP! WAKE THE HELL UP!"
Doors slammed open.
Sophia rushed out holding Mae's hand.
Karrie emerged from the back porch, knife still tucked in her belt.
Derreck came from the attic stairs, shirt wrinkled, Elli beside him, silent and alert.
Olivia, Mindy, Eric, Lorenz—all followed, startled and half-asleep.
Joseph dumped the photos and papers onto the table. "LOOK. Everyone look."
"What is this?" Lorenz asked, flipping through them.
"It's the last group," Joseph said. "This happened before. They were here. In this house. And it killed them."
Eric held up one of the burned pages.
"Once it begins, it never stops. The game restarts with every breath of the house. The chosen one must not be aware of who they are. If they remember, the possession fails."
Mindy stared at the photos, pale.
Olivia looked up at her. "That's you."
"You lied about your uncle," Karrie said.
Mindy's hands were shaking. "I didn't remember. I was so young—just a kid. I thought he was doing research. I didn't know…"
"You knew enough to find that chant," Derreck growled.
"No," Joseph said suddenly, his voice shaking. "This game doesn't start until someone says it."
Elli stiffened.
Derreck frowned. "Joseph—"
"I didn't say it," Joseph said quickly. "But I think… I think it's already started."
He turned to Mindy.
And Mindy, quietly, almost inaudibly, said:
"Slash me, slash him, slash her, slash them, slash us."
The house went silent.
No storm. No wind.
Only the breathless stillness of something listening.
The air after the chant felt electric.
No one moved. No one breathed.
Then the lights flickered—and didn't go out.
A sign? A delay? A warning?
Derreck broke the silence. "We need to talk."
Everyone turned.
He looked tired now. Older, like the past was finally pressing down on him.
"This happened before," he said. "Two years ago. Me and Elli were part of it."
Elli's eyes were downcast, unreadable.
Derreck continued, "It was a different group. Elli's parents ran this… retreat thing. Youth crap. One weekend, they hosted six kids—friends, strangers. Didn't matter."
"They found the game," Elli said. "Or maybe it found them."
Sophia's arms tightened protectively around Mae.
"What happened to them?" Joseph asked.
"First night, nothing," Derreck said. "Second night, someone screamed so loud it woke the whole house. She was... different. Possessed. I don't know how else to explain it. Eyes black. Mouth full of blood. She tried to drown her best friend in the upstairs tub."
Elli added, "She died. So did three others. My dad—he survived. He kept journals. I read them last summer after he passed. That's how I knew the rules."
Karrie narrowed her eyes. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because we didn't think the game would start again," Elli said. "Not after it ended. Not after it chose us to survive."
"And now it's back," Olivia said. "Because of Mindy."
Mindy, pale and still, whispered, "I didn't want to kill anyone."
"You didn't have to start it," Joseph said, but the anger was dull now—replaced by bone-deep fear.
"Okay," Sophia said, stepping forward. "No more lies. We've all got things we're ashamed of. But this isn't the time for guilt. It's time for survival. So we either fall apart, or we build something together."
Everyone was silent.
Then Lorenz nodded. "Agreed."
Eric added, "We need to set watches. Groups of two. No one's alone."
"Unless they're possessed," Karrie said. "Then we'll wish they were."
A weak laugh passed through the group—dry, but human.
Derreck looked at Joseph. "We cool?"
Joseph wiped at his split lip. "Not really. But I trust you now. That'll have to be enough."
Derreck nodded.
Elli spoke up. "We survived last time because we figured out who the possessed was before they turned. There's a moment. A look. Something off in the eyes."
"Then we watch each other," Mindy said. "Like hawks."
"No secrets," Olivia said.
"No lies," Mae added.
"Swear it," Sophia said.
They all did.
In blood and breath, in guilt and fear, they swore.
As the house breathed around them.