[News Anchor]: "Good evening, RQ News viewers. Today, we've received numerous reports and photographic evidence from local residents regarding the discovery of body parts in a house that appears to have been uninhabited for a long time. For more, we're connecting to our field team already on location in front of the house. Over to you, Tony."
[Field Reporter]: "Alright, thank you, Joanna. Yes, I'm standing right in front of the old house reported by the locals here, specifically in Flaxemburg. As viewers can see, it's—"
[Camera falls, broadcast is damaged]
The TV's volume was quite loud in Emma's ears.
"Hi Mom, I'm home."
Emma walked through the door. She saw her mother sitting calmly, staring at the TV. In her hand, she held the remote. But her mother didn't answer Emma at all. Emma moved closer.
"Mom, are you asleep?" Emma said, gently tapping her mother's shoulder. Her mother still didn't respond.
Emma took the remote from her mother's hand and turned off the TV. Strangely, her mother's hand was incredibly limp. Emma leaned in closer to her mother.
Slowly... she looked at her mother's face, which had...
It had now turned into a gaunt skull. Spiders crawled all over the gaps in the bone.
"Aaaaa!!"
-----
Emma jolted awake from her sleep. She looked at the digital clock beside her, it showed 9:00 AM. Emma yawned and rubbed her eyes. Not long after, her mother burst through her bedroom door.
"Emma, are you okay?" her mom asked, her expression full of worry.
"Yeah, Mom. I'm fine. It's just..."
"Because you were watching horror movies again?"
Emma's mouth widened into a tight-lipped grimace.
"Yeah. Probably because of that again," Emma replied, slightly annoyed.
Her mother rolled her eyes.
"Oh, you. I've already told you to cut back on all that horror stuff. It's not real and it just makes you paranoid," her mother said, her voice slightly raised.
"I know, Mom, I have to cut back. But I'm just head over heels for it, it's hard to let go of horror. Just imagine if you had to be away from Dad, how would that feel?" Emma retorted.
"Hmph. You... anyway, you're going to campus now, right? Don't be late again."
"Yeah, Mom. Thanks for the reminder."
Shortly after that, Emma's mom closed the bedroom door.
"Treating me like a little kid, always being watched over," Emma muttered.
Emma stretched, got out of bed, and then tidied up her room. A few minutes later, she went to shower. It took her a while to get out of the bathroom because of the many 'rituals' she performed in there. You know how women have so many procedures when they shower.
After about 20 something minutes, Emma emerged, still damp. She put on her favorite casual clothes for campus.
On her desk were several horror movie CDs. Every wall in her room was covered in horror movie posters. The books stacked on her shelf were also horror titles. There were a few political satire and science fiction novels mixed in.
On her computer and tablet, she also played a lot of horror games. But her favorite genre was horror with an investigative mystery subgenre.
She put on her photochromic glasses, then fixed her hair into a ponytail. She didn't like spending a long time on makeup, but a light touch made her look more stylish.
Toting a rather large shoulder bag, she walked out of her house. It didn't take long for her to reach her campus, as it was only 300 meters from her home.
Once at campus, she had about an hour of class. After that, as usual, she went to hang out at a cafeteria table with her fellow horror-lover group.
When Emma arrived, they greeted her. They seemed to be in the middle of a serious conversation. Curious, Emma joined them.
"I know, right? All that killing is so scary. It's insane to see a real body all bloody, eww..." one of Emma's friends said with an exaggerated gesture.
"Totally, girl. Seeing a bloody body like that, especially cut into pieces, it just gives you extra chills, you know? It's so different from villains in slasher movies, since they're just using makeup effects, right? But this is soo real."
Emma was confused by her friends topic of conversation.
"What are you guys talking about?" Emma asked, her brow furrowed.
"Oh, you haven't heard, Emma?" asked a friend from across the table.
Emma just got more confused.
"No, I have no idea. What's all the fuss about?" Emma replied, looking at her friends.
One of her friends then typed something on her phone. She then held the phone out to Emma.
"Here, see for yourself," said the friend holding the phone.
Emma then stared intently at the article on the screen.
Haunted House in Flaxemburg Reportedly Emits Foul Odor Every Night, say Locals. Screams and crying are also heard quite loudly every night—making many nearby residents uneasy. Residents grew curious, even entering the house themselves. Many residents claim to have found body parts and organs.
However, every time they try to bring them out of the house, the body parts and organs strangely vanish instantly. As if invisible. A small number of residents managed to capture photos of the body parts and organs they found. For the rest, several residents said their photos just turned out black, blurry, unclear, or were simply gone.
"Vanished? I hardly believe that. You know how it is... the media just likes to create a sensation, right?" Emma said in a smug tone.
"You can say it's fake or that the news media is just looking for clicks, but this." Her friend then swiped her finger on the phone until a photo appeared. "You'll definitely believe this," her friend continued.
Emma's eyes went wide. She felt sick just looking at it for a few seconds.
"Oh my god, is that... real human intestines?" Emma asked, the feeling of nausea still caught in her throat.
"Yeah, it's definitely real. Disgusting, right? But hey... you've got those in your body too," her friend joked, letting out a laugh. The other friends laughed along.
"Not funny, that's just gross," Emma said.
Her friend immediately swiped right on the phone again, and a new photo came into clear view.
Although she was still a bit scared and disgusted, a sense of curiosity continued to grow inside Emma. Eventually, she looked back at the photo on her friend's phone. Emma stared intently at the image. This time, she didn't feel sick. Instead, her curiosity only grew. Her mind was flooded with questions about the photo.
"This is... a woman's head, and her mouth... why is it open so wide?"