by Tim Alan White

1 Entrance Hall

Shadows at the hours of darkness. A floorboard creaks upstairs. The hole doorways inhale. ‘Hello?’ you name.

Go to Library (2) or Sitting Room (3)

2 Library

Tables, candles, partitions of books—books hung from the ceiling. You stumble and fall. The ground is made from books, spines vertical, trampled like cobbles.

Go to Gallery (4) or Study (5)

3 Sitting Room

Varnished black ground. Cigar smoke. A wood prepare on its facet, wheels nonetheless turning. You blink and the room is dancing with hearth. Then you’re again within the black room. It reeks of ash.

Go to Study (5) or Kitchen (6)

4 Gallery

A framed river. Water swells, advantageous brushwork misplaced to thick, blue oil. It swallows the canvas. It slicks the ground. It’s filling the room.

Go to Conservatory (7) or Bathroom (8)

5 Study

An unfinished essay on the desk. A half-hearted historical past of Christianity begins, however drowns on the backside of an upturned ink nicely.

Go to Bathroom (8) or Cellar (9)

6 Kitchen

A range kettle whistles. Fruit turns to mud earlier than your eyes. A faucet drips, as night-time seasons go exterior the window.

Go to Cellar (9) or Dining Room (10)

7 Conservatory

Thick vines strangle empty window frames. But their colors aren’t proper. Shards crack underfoot. You contact a vine—it’s plastic.

Go to Balcony (A) or Bedroom (B)

8 Bathroom

It shines like a glacier, however your reflection is sick and twisted. The wall is melting! You splash by the slush in direction of the door.

Go to Bedroom (B) or Attic (C)

9 Cellar

Bare partitions. No ground. Darker nonetheless. Mouthy, mouldy respiration surrounds you, like the home needs to eat you.

Go to Attic (C) or Wing (D)

10 Dining Room

Hot radiators. Voluptuous lamps. A desk neatly laid, a lidded platter within the centre. It rings like a bell—there’s one thing alive beneath there. Cooked, however alive.

Go to Wing (D) or Garden (E)

A Balcony

You’re cornered. There’s no approach again and somebody is crossing the touchdown. A chilly wind rides over your pores and skin. You bounce.

Go to End

B Bedroom

Someone’s chained to the mattress, beneath the sheet. His head lifts, nonetheless lined. His mouth opens; he’s consuming the sheet. It recedes, however there’s solely empty chains.

Go to End

C Attic

Moonlight shines by the skylight. A rocket races in direction of the sky. It explodes. There have been individuals onboard, you realize. The wealthy.

Go to End

D Wing

You shouldn’t be on this home. Most definitely not on this wing. Someone lives right here. They need you to go. NOW!

Go to End

E Garden

Is it nightfall or daybreak? Summer or winter? What’s the distinction after they all come again round? Just as all these paths lead again to the home. This just isn’t the way in which out.

Go to End

End
You resume doomscrolling by Netflix. You ought to draw the curtains, however you possibly can’t. You ought to go to mattress, however you received’t.

Go to Entrance Hall (1)

Tim Alan White is a author for video video games. He has OCD, which he felt was related to this theme.

Our Reader mentioned:

I actually loved the language on this and the ambiance of hidden menace with a twist on the finish.

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