***

Tao looked at the key in his hand, wincing again at the monstrous mannequin that guarded the black wooden door. It gave him a taste of the possible terrors that awaited him inside the haunted mansion and he felt terribly worried about that.

It occurred to him that maybe this was his brothers' way of messing with him. Maybe they had already found Jae and were now just waiting around somewhere in the house, knowing that he'd be worried about them and go inside to look for them.

Tao pulled another face of annoyance when he could already hear them laughing after they've successfully scared him. Then again, they wouldn't have stayed away this long. Not to mention that Chen or Baekhyun would have sent him a text to come into the house if they wanted their prank to work out.

Gnawing on his lip, he checked his phone just one last time. When he saw that he didn't have any new notifications, he sighed deeply, as if it was the last breath he was ever going to draw.

"Ah, I really hate this. I hate this!" he muttered under his breath, cursing in Chinese as he stuck the key firmly into the keyhole and turned it.

Tao jumped and let out a soft whimper when the door opened on its own, creaking as it went. He had ducked his head into his neck, attempting to hide his face behind the scarf he was wearing, afraid to look inside of the darkness.

As was expected of a haunted house, the lights inside were dim, glowing green and red, a few candles flickering here and there.

"Aish! I can't do this!" Tao whined to himself, shaking his body as he neared the threshold.

"H-hello?" he tried, feeling like he was going to die if one of his brothers were to pop out from behind a wall somewhere. "Yah, if there's anyone inside, don't come near me! I'll kick you, I mean it!" he shouted into the darkness of the house, shrieking once more when the mannequin had slightly moved due to the wind, but it was an action that proved enough for Tao to jolt and run inside of the house.

While he was suffering from a metaphorical heart attack, he found himself having to process that he actually ran inside the house of doom and he whimpered louder.

With shaking hands, Tao quickly grabbed his phone and used its flashlight to properly look at his surroundings.

The light shook due to his trembling hand, but he didn't care. It was better than standing around in the dark, unable to see if something was sneaking up on him, or worse: following him around.

The lanky teen took deep, steady breaths, trying to put his kung fu teachings to good use. "Stay calm, Zitao, stay calm. Everything is fake, nothing is real, just breathe...AH!" startled, Tao nearly threw his phone at a big, fake spider that fell from the ceiling. He could feel his soul slowly leaving his body, regretting by the secoond that he went inside instead of waiting for everyone to come back out.

"This was a bad idea," he murmured, grasping his phone tight as he heard ghostly whispers and faint piano playing coming from the dark halls. The wallpaper gave him the illusion that a million eyes were watching him and the vague sounds of floorboards creaking and doors clicking open and shut weren't doing much for his nerves either.

"Nope. This is stupid! I'm out!" Tao ran back towards the door, only to find that it wouldn't budge. He pushed and pulled frantically, but the black wooden door remained firmly shut.

What kind of haunted house attraction was this? Wasn't this dangerous? A fire-hazard in the least! Panicked, Tao continued to shake the door handle, even using his shoulder to try and break it open.

"Yah! This isn't funny! I'm really scared, please, let me out!" he yelled in desperation, hoping that whomever worked in this freak attraction would see him on the CCTV and get someone to open the door for him, except...no one came. Now that Tao stopped to think about it, every haunted house he was ever forced to go into by his brothers, didn't have an open layout like this.

He entered through the front door, but that usually led into a creepy chamber that had one way forward to lead them through another creepy chamber, one worse than the other. But not this house. This house seemed to have more ways than one, and there weren't any scare actors that went after him either. The scariness in the house was far more severe and pressing than he had ever felt before as well.

Tao carefully stepped away from the door to examine his surroundings. He was standing in the middle of a foyer, which looked like no one had bothered to clean for years. The scary ambiance aside, he peeked into the doorway that led to what seemed to be a living room and when he looked at the other side, there was a long, narrow, and dark hallway that led to who knows where. All Tao knew was that he definitely wouldn't go into that hallway for a billion won. In front of him stood a lavish staircase, at least, it would have been lavish and grand, were it not as though it seemed those stairs would lead to certain doom.

There was a picture hanging on the wall, but Tao didn't like it. The paint had obviously faded and even dripped at the side of the frame. In the dim light, it looked like a certain crimson liquid that Tao didn't want to imagine seeing right now.

Swallowing, he pointed the flashlight briefly at the painting of an imposing, but stern-looking man and nearly squealed like a little girl again when he thought that the man's strict eyes had flashed towards him.

"Okay, Zitao, think," he said, trying to shake off his shivers while wiping the sweat from his brow. "Which way should I go?"

As he pondered, he felt his ears twitching terribly, sensing someone approaching him. He had enough nerve to look around, but the moment he saw a shadow emerging from the living room on his right, and another shadow moving towards him from the dark hallway on his left, Tao ducked down on the floor out of pure reflex.

"Ah, please, don't come near me, don't come near me! Go away!" he pleaded with a vigor.

"Oh? Tao-Tao?"

Tao had started screaming before he even realized that the voice that called his name was very soft, very gentle, and very familiar.

When he peeked, a wave of relief had washed over him at seeing the face of Lay, looking at him in concern. Tears involuntarily sprung in his eyes when he hugged his older brother's knees.

"Lay-ge!" he exclaimed, unable to form other coherent words.

"Tao-Tao, are you okay? What are you doing here? I thought you said you were going to wait outside. Did something happen?" Lay asked, quickly appraising his little brother as he helped Tao get up on his feet. "Are you hurt?"

He braced himself when Tao gave him another hug, overjoyed by the fact that he wasn't alone anymore. "I'm okay, gege," he sniffed, quickly regaining his composure.

"Are you sure?" Lay asked, patting Tao's back. "You look like you've seen a–"

"No! Don't say it! I haven't seen one and I don't want to see one either, gege, so no!" Tao fervently shook his head. "I want to get out of this house, Lay-ge, come with me!" he pleaded as Lay blinked at his younger brother.

"We can't, Tao-Tao. The front door won't open once you've come in. I've been wandering around for a while and it's so confusing. There aren't any scare actors here, but everything is still so scary," Lay nearly whispered as he looked around the room again, as if he was afraid that he would jinx them and a man with an axe would appear to chase them through the halls.

It gave Tao some comfort that at least Lay-ge had some sense in him. I didn't seem like he particularly enjoyed being in this place either.

"Why didn't you wait outside, Tao-Tao? What if Jae-yah or anyone else had come out? THey would be so confused seeing you gone," he stated, biting his lip.

"Well, everyone took so long, I got worried," Tao replied. "Where is Jae-noona? Isn't she with you?" he then asked, momentarily forgetting his fear and looking behind Lay.

He heard his brother sigh. "I don't know. I've been looking for her as well, but everyone split up and I don't think anyone found her yet. Like I said, this house is so confusing..." Lay scratched the back of his head. "You don't think anything bad happened to Jae-yah, do you? She can get so clumsy, and in the dark–Oh! You don't think she tripped somewhere and is hurt, do you?"

"Aish, Lay-ge, don't say things like that! I'm already scared, that just makes everything worse..." Tao breathed.

Lay watched his younger brother for a moment and suddenly smiled. Tao stayed close to him and frowned.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing. I'm just proud of you, that's all," Lay patted his shoulder. "You're really brave to walk into the haunted mansion on your own, Tao-Tao. You were really worried about us, weren't you?"

Tao blinked a few times before he allowed himself to stand a little taller, feeling a bit more brave and a lot more cocky at hearing Lay's praise.

"Aish, gege, why do you sound so surprised? Of course I'm brave! I just kept in mind that none of this is real, so I walked right in," he nodded determinedly, almost believing his onw lie. "It will take a little more than this to scare me away," he boasted. He stood tall and proud in front of Lay now, when all of a sudden, he noticed too late that a hand grabbed him from behind and he jumped a mile in the air, shrieking and flailing his limbs as he automatically grabbed Lay and hid behind him.

"Very brave, Taozi, bravo!" Luhan chortled, clapping his hands in amusement at having given his younger brother a heart attack.

"Aiyowei, why did you have to do that, Lu-ge?" Lay complained, holding his hand over his chest as well.

Luhan laughed a little louder. "You should both see your face, I should have recorded it," he spoke in mild regret, a bright smile on his face.

"Maybe you should record the face behind you..." Lay's eyes had widened as he pointed to something behind Luhan. The young man froze at Lay's statement, swallowing hard as a look of panic graced his usually handsome face. He slowly turned around to see what Lay was talking about when–

"BOO!" Lay startled Luhan out of his wits the same way he did to them, Tao, however, was still shrieking along.

"Aish, stop it, it's not funny!" Tao whined, panting as he tried to calm himself down. "Can we just please find Jae-noona and the others and get out of here?" he complained, trying his best to recover. He did not want to stay here longer than was necessary.

"All right, you baby, calm down," Luhan teased, "they couldn't have gone very far, right? I mean, we've only been gone for like fifteen minutes."

Tao frowned and gazed at Luhan, wondering whether his brother was teasing him again or not. "You've been in here for more than an hour, Lu-ge!"

"Over an hour, Tao-Tao? Are you sure?" Lay interjected, checking his watch and shaking his head in confusion.

"That's impossible, Lay and I went in just a few minutes ago and left you on the porch! We've covered this entire floor and there were no signs of the others. It's a big place, but not that big!" Luhan argued, "It probably felt like more than an hour to you, Taozi."

Tao firmly shook his head. "No, Lu-ge, I swear! Here, just look–"

As he was about to show the time that shone on his phone, the three brothers heard a rumbling sound around the house that had them clinging to each other for a brief moment. It seemed like the walls shook and the lights flickered even more.

"What was that?" Luhan whispered in a squeak.

"The special effects of this house are really good, aren't they?" Lay inquired with a nervous chuckle, though he wouldn't let go of either of his brothers just yet.

"Can we please get out of here? I think I'm going to die!" Tao muttered, trying to make himself smaller as he clung to his brothers.

"Y-yeah, you're right. We should get out of here before Tao wets himself," Luhan still managed to tease, though at the moment, it looked like he was going to have trouble keeping himself dry as well if they lingered longer. He then pointed at a door that Tao hadn't even noticed before.

"Let's go that way! Maybe that door leads to a way out," he suggested.

"What if we go upstairs, Lu-ge? I'm afraid we'd only get into the house deeper if we take that door," Lay then said, already looking lost.

"Um...I...I don't know," Luhan bit his lip. "Taozi, what do you feel most comfortable with?"

In spite of himself, Tao straightened up and looked at the door and the stairs. Neither seemed like good options. Then, he paused.

"Actually...I want to find Jae-noona before we leave. If you're having trouble getting out, imagine what it must be like for her. We should help first," he said, though a part of him regretted it.

"You're right, Tao-Tao. We'll find Jae-yah first and then the others and get out together," Lay agreed calmly.

"Agreed," Luhan nodded in determination, smiling at his younger brothers. "But, we still have to make a choice. Which way do we go?"

Tao stared at the door and the stairs again. This wasn't going to be easy. If only they could smell Jae-noona's jasmine scent here, but it seemed like his wolf senses were dulled. Was there something more going on in this house after all? Would he find the answers they were looking for through the door or up the stairs?

>>> GO THROUGH THE MYSTERY DOOR. JAE-NOONA WOULDN'T CLIMB STAIRS IN THE DARK–UNLESS SHE WANTED TO BREAK SOMETHING, RIGHT? <<<

>>> NAH, SON, GO UPSTAIRS, GIVE JAE-NOONA A LITTLE MORE CREDIT, HM? <<<