Emma's phone trembled slightly in her grip as her livestream chat exploded with colorful text flying across the screen. Her viewers were spamming demands, dares, and jokes, but she barely paid attention. Her heart thudded in her chest as she and Ethan crept deeper down the second-floor hallway.
The doors were lined like a row of dark teeth, some ajar, others hanging loosely from rusted hinges. Each step forward creaked so loudly it was as if the house itself wanted them to be caught.
"Okay," Emma whispered, her voice strained but trying to sound casual for the stream. "We're going to check each room one by one. If something's here, we'll find it."
Ethan shot her a sharp look. "You're too calm about this. I swear that sound was not a rat. It was… heavy, like footsteps."
Emma forced a laugh, though it was too high-pitched. "You watch too many horror movies."
Ethan leaned close and dropped his voice lower, almost too soft for the mic to catch. "I'm serious. What if it isn't just us in here?"
Emma raised her phone, plastering a fake grin for her audience. "Don't listen to him, guys. He's already scared."
The chat exploded:
"ETHAN SCARED LOL"
"Protect Emma bro"
"Footsteps upstairs = rat in steel-toed boots confirmed"
"Don't split up you idiots"
Emma laughed weakly. "Alright, first room."
She nudged the first door open with her sneaker. The hinges screeched like a dying animal. Inside, her flashlight revealed nothing but a collapsed bedframe, shredded curtains, and a toppled dresser. Dust clung to the air like fog.
"Empty," she muttered.
"Thank God," Ethan whispered, quickly shutting the door again.
They moved to the second room. It was the same: broken furniture, moldy wallpaper, more silence. The third, fourth, and fifth were no different. The longer they searched, the more Ethan's nerves frayed.
Halfway down the hall, Ethan turned his head slightly and whispered into the collar of his hoodie, his voice muffled for the viewers. "Evan. You there?"
There was a brief crackle in his earpiece, then Evan's calm voice. "Yeah. What's up?"
Ethan's throat felt dry. "Be straight with me. Is the actor that will scare emma already inside? Because I swear we're hearing stuff that doesn't sound fake."
There was a pause. Evan glanced at Alex, who was sitting in the van outside, typing furiously on his phone. Evan raised a brow at him in question. Alex smirked, lifted his phone, and showed the screen: a short text conversation with someone labeled "Ghost Actress." Then he gave Evan a thumbs-up.
Evan leaned back into his mic. "Yeah, she's already in the building. Probably just trying to spook you guys. Play along."
Ethan exhaled in relief, his shoulders slumping. "Good. Thought we were in for some real haunted crap."
He turned back to the stream, forcing a smirk. "You guys heard that creak earlier? Someone's trying to scare us, and honestly, they're doing a good job."
The viewers filled the chat with jeers.
"Called it. Actors."
"Boooo your basically admitting it."
"Keep going losers."
"Yeah right, prove it then!"
Emma shook her head at the comments and whispered, "I swear, half our viewers want us to die in here."
Ethan shrugged. "Yeah, and the other half want to see you scream. Win-win for them."
They reached the final door at the end of the hallway. The wood was swollen with damp, its paint peeling like rotted skin. Emma and Ethan exchanged a nervous look.
"This one?" Emma whispered.
"This one," Ethan replied.
He pushed the door open slowly, the hinges screeching.
Inside, the faint beam of their flashlights landed on a figure.
A tall woman sat slumped in a chair, her long arms covering her face as if hiding from the world. Her body was motionless, unnaturally still, every inch of her too perfect to be a trick of light. Her hair fell over her shoulders like a curtain of black, and the air around her seemed heavier, colder.
Both Emma and Ethan froze.
Emma's breath hitched so sharply her mic picked it up. "W-what the hell is that?"
Ethan staggered back a step, his voice breaking. "No. No, no, no. That's not funny."
Emma's phone wobbled as the chat went berserk.
"IS THAT A REAL WOMAN???"
"Holy shit she's tall"
"Bro what the fuck is that"
"What are we looking at???"
"Emma your actress is TALL AS HELL WTF"
In the van, Evan blinked at the feed, his jaw slack. "Wait… that's… no. That's not the actress."
Alex looked up sharply. "What do you mean? Of course it is. Who else would it be?"
Evan shook his head, pointing at the screen. "Look at her. The girl we hired is like five-three, tops. This thing looks six foot plus. That's not her."
Alex's smirk faltered. He pulled out his phone, quickly typing a message to their contact. No reply came.
Back inside, Ethan grabbed Emma's arm and yanked her back into the hallway. "Run."
They bolted down the corridor, ducking into a corner, their breaths ragged. Emma pressed her phone close to her chest, the livestream showing nothing but the wall. "Oh my God oh my God oh my God. Did you see that? Did you SEE that?"
Ethan peeked around the corner, his hands trembling. "She didn't move… did she? Please tell me she didn't move."
Emma shook her head wildly. "I don't know, I don't care!"
The stream chat slowed, comments filling with nervous emojis and disbelief.
Ethan pressed his back against the wall, whispering furiously. "What do we do? Do we get out? Do we check again? I don't… I don't even…"
Emma glanced down at the scrolling comments.
"Check again cowards."
"Don't punk out now."
"Go back. For real. We need to see her."
"Emma don't be a chicken!"
"Yeah right, fake. Show her again."
Emma groaned. "They want us to go back. They're calling us chickens."
Ethan's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? We almost had a heart attack in there!"
"Ethan…" Emma bit her lip. "If we back out now, the whole stream dies. Nobody's gonna take us seriously. Look at them."
Ethan cursed under his breath. His chest heaved as he tried to calm down. Finally, he grabbed a broken piece of wood from the floor, jagged on one end like a club. "Fine. But if she moves, I'm smashing her teeth in."
"Don't joke about that," Emma hissed.
"I'm not joking."
Together they crept back to the room. Emma held her phone high, her flashlight trembling across the figure in the chair.
The tall woman hadn't moved. She was still sitting there, arms crossed over her face, silent and unmoving.
Ethan raised the club defensively, edging closer. His footsteps were loud in the silence. He stopped just a foot away, his flashlight catching on the pale curve of her hand.
"She's not… she's not breathing," he muttered.
Emma swallowed hard. "What do you mean she's not breathing?!"
"I mean she's not breathing! She's just… stiff."
He lowered the club slightly and leaned closer. Carefully, he tried to push her arm down to reveal her face. The moment his hand touched her, he froze.
"What the hell. She won't move."
Emma frowned, edging closer with her phone. "What do you mean she won't move?"
Ethan grunted, straining. "I mean she won't move! Her arms are stuck like they're carved in stone. I can't pull them down!"
He tried to lift her off the chair. Nothing happened. She didn't budge an inch.
The stream chat erupted.
"LOL weak"
"Can't even lift a mannequin???"
"Fake fake fake"
"Statue prank 100%"
Ethan spun toward the phone, his face red with exertion. "Shut up! You think this is funny? This isn't a mannequin! It's like… it's like she's fused to the damn chair!"
Emma raised her eyebrows, lowering her phone slightly. "Are you sure you're not just being weak?"
"Emma!" Ethan's voice cracked. "I swear, she's heavy. It's not normal!"
Emma stepped closer, reaching out herself. The moment her fingers brushed Hina's shoulder, her face drained of color. The body was ice cold, yet solid like iron. She yanked her hand back.
"Oh my God, she is a statue."
Ethan nodded furiously. "That's what I've been saying!"
The viewers roasted them harder.
"Statue LMAO"
"Biggest prank in history"
"Bro can't lift a prop"
"Emma acting scared of a doll"
Ethan was about to snap back when a loud thud echoed from downstairs.
BANG.
Both of them jumped, nearly screaming.
Emma's phone whipped around, showing only the dark hallway behind them. "What was that?"
A second later, a shriek cut through the house.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
The sound was so sudden, so piercing, that Emma nearly dropped her phone. Ethan raised his club like he was ready to fight death itself.
From the first floor, the figure of a pale woman in ragged clothes appeared in the doorway. Her long black hair whipped around her face, and her back was arched unnaturally as she staggered forward. Her jaw hung open, releasing a guttural wail that sent shivers up their spines.
Emma screamed, bolting behind Ethan. "Oh my God oh my God oh my God!"
Ethan shouted into his mic. "EVAN! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
Evan burst out laughing in the van, slapping Alex's shoulder. "Gotcha! That's the actress. That's the one we hired."
Alex smirked again, leaning toward the screen. "Told you she'd show. Perfect timing."
The chat exploded in chaos.
"LMAO THEY SCREAMED"
"Best scare ever"
"Fake but funny"
"Bro about to piss himself"
"Actress came in clutch"
"I just pissed myself"
Emma and Ethan clung to each other, breathing hard, as the pale woman on the first floor crawled up the wall with inhuman movements, screeching like something out of a nightmare.
Ethan's hands shook violently. "That's not acting. Nobody moves like that!"
But Emma was too terrified to reply.
And outside, far beyond the laughter and screams, something else had stirred.
In the shadows of the overgrown garden behind the mansion, a pair of eyes gleamed faintly in the dark. They did not blink. They did not move.
Something was staring at the house.