The manor's hallway stretched unnaturally long, far longer than it had been minutes ago. The wallpaper peeled in slow curls, as though the walls were shedding their skin. The ceiling groaned, timber cracking like bones shifting into place.
Evelyn held her lantern higher.The flame flickered.Then bent sideways.Like something was breathing beside it.
Leo whispered, "The corridor wasn't like this before… right?"
No one answered. Because they all knew the truth—the manor was changing around them.
A low hum vibrated through the walls.Almost like… chanting.
Sophie swallowed hard. "Do you hear that? It's saying something."
Alex stepped closer, listening…Then froze."It's—"His voice died in his throat.
Because the whispering voices were chanting their names.
Slow, rhythmic… ancient.
"Evelyn…Leo…Sophie…Alex…"
One by one, in perfect eerie harmony.
Evelyn's skin crawled. "It's remembering us."
Suddenly, the hallway lights burst, showering the floor with glass shards that didn't fall—they floated mid-air like a deadly glittering fog.
The walls twitched.Then bulged.As if something beneath them was pushing out.
A handprint formed on the wallpaper.Then another.And another.Thousands of them, pressing outward like trapped souls trying to claw their way through.
Leo grabbed Sophie's arm. "Run. Now."
They sprinted down the corridor, but with every step, the floor shifted direction, tilting sideways like the manor was trying to throw them off.
Alex was breathing hard. "It's looping us! We've passed that painting three times!"
The painting—a portrait of a faceless woman—was now facing them directly.No matter where they stood.
Evelyn's heart thrashed. She lifted the lantern again—and the flame stretched upward like something was pulling on it.
Then the portrait's face slowly formed.Eyes opening.Mouth twisting.And it whispered in Evelyn's voice.
"Don't… look… back…"
But Sophie did.
And the corridor behind them—was collapsing like a throat closing, darkness devouring everything in a rolling wave.
"GO!" Evelyn shouted.
They lunged toward the end of the hall where a door flickered into existence—sometimes there, sometimes gone—as if deciding whether they deserved escape.
The chanting grew louder, rising into a scream of overlapping voices.
"WE REMEMBER YOU."
Evelyn grabbed the handle.It burned her palm—but she yanked the door open anyway.
The four of them fell through.
The door slammed shut behind them with a thunderous crack, cutting off the voices, the darkness, the reaching hands.
They landed in another room…
Silent.Cold.Too cold.
Evelyn stood slowly, shaking."Guys… the manor isn't just haunted."
She looked at the frost creeping across the floor.The frozen walls.Their breaths fogging around them.
"It's alive.And it has a memory."