***

Yes, it was dark here. Yes, it was terrifying. But not knowing where the mystery door would lead to in comparison to the upper floor, Tao thought that perhaps going up the stairs was the less scary option.

The painting of the strict man made him uneasy, but if it was just a painting, there was little else it could do but stare, right?

“Let’s go upstairs, Lu-ge,” Tao stated, still shaking in his shoes. “If it’s super scary there, we can still head back down, okay?” he added quickly as his brothers nodded.

“That sounds fair,” Luhan agreed, taking another deep breath as he stepped up as the eldest to take the lead. He, too, looked slightly hesitant when the grim-looking painting seemed to be glaring at him, and he swallowed when he saw the strange liquid dripping from the frame.

“H-how do you think they did that? That’s really well done,” Luhan tried to make the mood less heavy and foreboding, but at this point Tao couldn’t even try to convince himself that the haunted house was fake.

“Maybe it’s like a fountain,” Lay tried as he shuffled behind Luhan closely, Tao already clinging to his shirt.

“I don’t care how they did it, can we please keep walking?” Tao urged as Luhan finally moved.

The stairs creaked and groaned as they moved which made Tao wince and grab onto Lay’s shirt tighter. With all the sound they were making they could potentially draw the attention of whatever else was roaming the haunted building along with them.

“Can’t you be more quiet, Lu-ge?” Tao complained as Luhan clacked his tongue in derision.

“Yah, do you want to be in the front?” he threatened. “Stop whining then and keep moving,” Luhan stated strictly as he shuffled forward until they finally arrived at the first floor.

As expected, the floor upstairs was a lot more foreboding than the floor below. Haunting glowing orbs floated about to shine dim lights and cast strange shadows on the walls. The three teens looked left and then right, all of them cautious and weary for anything that might pop out to scare them into needing new pants to wear.

“Which way?” Luhan mumbled, using Tao’s phone to shine the light at both directions.

“Well, the left ends over there, gege,” Lay started quietly, watching the stained window. “I guess we go right?”

“As long as we keep moving, please,” Tao added, trying to hide his face in Lay’s shirt now, afraid to look around.

“Okay…” Luhan muttered, shuffling forward while shining the flashlight.

There were more paintings here, too. The eyes on the animals and the people were following them with morbid interest and with Luhan moving the light from side to side, it gave the paintings the illusion of moving as if they were alive.

“All the doors here are locked,” Luhan announced quietly, shuffling forward.

“There’s one opened there, Lu-ge,” Lay pointed ahead at the last door, which still appeared to moving as if someone had just opened it. How Lay still sounded so calm was beyond Tao, but it gave him more reason to cling even tighter to his shirt, knowing he could depend on this gege not to abandon him.

Luhan peeked inside the room first. He startled when from inside the room a blaze of fire shot out from the fireplace and started burning. It was this warm glow of light that convinced them to step inside. Well, that, and the fact that a horrid, angry scream sounded behind them and heavy footsteps were approaching with certain haste.

“Tao, hurry!” Luhan screamed at the lanky teen, who got it in his adrenaline soaked mind to turn around to look what had suddenly begun to chase them. Tao’s eyes widened in terror before Lay grabbed his shoulders and pulled him inside the new room. Luhan quickly shut the door, the three young men screaming when something on the other side started violently banging on the door. Luhan and Lay pushed against it in a panic, not letting in whatever was on the other side.

“Tao, grab that chair!” Luhan instructed, and after regaining control over his limbs, he ran and dragged the old, heavy chair along with him.

The three brothers placed the chair against the door, locking it shut so whatever was on the other side wouldn’t be able to come in. After a few more violent banging, the attack stopped as abruptly as it had begun.

Just as they thought the threat was over, one last blast against the door sent them flying backward, a deep, malicious voice screaming before it went deadly still.
Tao was panting, looking at Luhan who had fallen onto the floor, his doe eyes wide with utter shock. Lay was the only one still standing, though he stood frozen, watching the door with certain nervousness.

It was only after moments of silence that they relaxed somewhat, Lay helping up Luhan and Tao and checking them automatically for any injuries.

“Aish, what was that?! I didn’t even see anyone there with us at first!” Tao complained, quickly wiping the sweat from his brow and some tears from his eyes before his brothers would make fun of him. Though, considering the circumstances, it seemed like they weren’t in the mood to joke around either. Luhan was paler than usual and Tao bet that if would scare his gege right then and there, Luhan would pass out. If he had been Baekhyun or Chen, he would’ve done it, but he was too exhausted and too scared himself.

Lay, who was usually calm and relaxed, looked a lot more tense himself. He tried to keep his composure, but Tao could tell from his eyes that he was frightened. If his two older brothers were this shaken up, how was he ever going to survive the rest of the house?

“Okay, we’re all okay, right?” Luhan finally spoke, looking at Tao in particular. He nodded weakly and sat down on one of the chairs in the room.

The fireplace was burning hotly, lighting up the rest of the office. It was then that Luhan and Lay started exploring, while Tao refused to even get up from the chair. He had already noticed the strange jars and bottles on the shelves, and he didn’t want to know what this room was all about.

“Hey, Tao, it’s your friend,” Luhan tried to joke weakly, pointing at a painting on top of the mantlepiece. Tao turned around and literally jolted back, exclaiming and scurrying to hide behind Lay.

“Ayowei! What is it?” Lay startled.

“That face!” Tao pointed in a whimper, “The thing that scared us just now, it looked like that man!” Tao exclaimed, his body shaking.

“That man? You must’ve imagined it, Taozi, the dude outside was just a scare actor.”

Tao gazed at Luhan in disbelief. “You can’t possibly still think that, Lu-ge!”

“I think Mr Grumpy-nim is the owner of this house,” Lay interjected quickly before they could start arguing. “Look, it says so on the sign,” he added, pointing at the golden plaque underneath the painting.

“Doctor… uh… Grumpy-nim,” Lay finished, since the writing on the plaque had faded and was practically illegible.

“Doctor? What kind of a doctor looks like that?” Luhan asked, cocking up an eyebrow at the painting.

“Maybe he was a mad scientist,” Lay shrugged far too casually.

“Yah, don’t say things like that, you’ll upset Tao,” Luhan warned.

“I think you’ve upset Lu-ge more, Lay-ge,” Tao retaliated.

“So, this must be the doctor’s office,” Lay continued again, clearing his throat to keep Luhan and Tao from arguing with each other, wandering around and stumbling upon a leather-bound book on the desk. He flipped through the pages with mild interest, while Tao was only interested in getting the hell out.

“Oh, the doctor seemed to be infamous for his fascination of experimental sciences,” Lay read from the book, frowning deeply as he continued reading. “It appears that Doctor Grumpy-nim often experimented on live animals and once he deemed those experiments a success, he would conduct these insane experiments on human slaves. Aiyo… I don’t like this doctor,” Lay shook his head in disapproval, even throwing his face away when he had briefly looked up at the painting.

“Of course this house would have a creepy history like that,” Luhan said as he checked the walls. “It’s just fake, Lay. Don’t you think a doctor like that would have been in Ookami Shinro’s history books?”

“Maybe…” Lay didn’t seem convinced though, but Tao didn’t want to know more about the scary owner. That didn’t stop Lay from continuing to read the book out loud.

“He erected a mansion in a remote, isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to avoid being prosecuted by British authorities after his gruesome deeds were discovered,” Lay read, glancing at Luhan. “Evading prosecution, the mad doctor continued his experimentation, hiding his gory secrets in the many mysterious and confusing rooms of his horrific mansion. He became obsessed with discovering the properties of magic, conducting inhuman experiments in hopes of finding the cure… to death.”

A wind swept through the office then as if Lay had uttered a secret he wasn’t supposed to reveal. He put the book down as the fire in the fireplace started flickering, wildly swooping from side to side.

“Is that supposed to do that?” Luhan asked as the three brothers backed away from the fireplace.

“It has eyes!” Tao practically shrieked as the fire came to life. A horrid face glared at them from the fire as the flames moved like a gigantic serpent, heading straight for them.

Screaming, they ducked as the moving flames soared towards them, the impact knocking down a bookshelf that had been hiding a secret door.

“Tao-Tao, through there!” Lay called out as the lanky teen quickly yanked at the door handle, the heavy door straining to open. Luhan immediately helped him, moving his hand elegantly to yank the door open.

The moment the fire spirit caught sight of their planned escape, it soared straight towards Tao.

I will not let you escape! a gruesome and chilling voice growled.

“Tao, hurry!” Luhan yelled at the younger brother, urging him to go through the door. Tao hesitated for a split second until the fire spirit soared towards him with certain malice. Tao dived through the door, startled out of his wits when Luhan had shut it firmly behind him, the entire mansion shaking and rumbling when the fire ghost roared.

Tao banged against the heavy door until his knuckles hurt, screaming for the names of his brothers.

“Keep going, Tao-Tao!” Lay yelled from the other side.

“You have to find Jae!” Luhan added over the ruckus on the other side of the door.

Panting, Tao punched the door one last time for good measure. “Lu-ge! Lay-ge! I’ll come back for you, okay? Hold on! I’ll come back!” he shouted, tears pricking his eyes when the room abruptly fell silent.

He grunted, turned around and ran further into the haunted house of madness.
 

>>> CONTINUE HERE <<<