***

Tao wondered whether his brothers and Jae-noona would take the logical option and stay on the ground level. After all, there was no escape if you went upstairs; eventually you'd have to go back down again, right? Not to mention that no one in their right mind would even consider going up the stairs with that creepy painting looming over them with following eyes.

He sighed and pointed at the mystery door, and he resented it a little bit that his finger was shaking when he did so.

"That can't be worse than what might be waiting upstairs, right?" he asked for good measure, needing the assent of his two brothers.

"I think you're right, Taozi," Luhan nodded. "Lay, go open the door," he patted his bewildered younger brother on the shoulder as Lay gave him a look of shock.

"What? Me? Why don't you open the door, gege, you're the oldest!" he protested, pouting his lips.

"Well, yeah, exactly! Because I'm the oldest I should lead you two through this house, right? I'm the leader, so I'm telling you, as your leader, to go and open the door," Luhan nodded stubbornly, not wanting to admit to the others that he was just as frightened as they were.

"But, Lu-ge..." Lay whined.

"Lay-ge, please, I'd die if I have to do it," Tao urged. "We'll be right behind you!" Tao added, already hiding behind Lay.

"Why doesn't that comfort me?" Lay pouted, taking a deep breath and approaching the door.

Tao and Luhan followed him closely and Tao held in his own breath when Lay touched the doorknob. Already anticipating the worst, Tao had started whimpering and hid himself behind Lay as best as he could.

He wasn't even ashamed anymore when he jolted and yelped the moment Lay shoved the door open. They simultaneoulsy took a step back and gazed into the darkness.

"Wah, I can't see a thing!" Lay exclaimed, peering into the darkness, squinting his eyes.

"I have a flashlight," Tao offered, handing his phone to Lay. He shone the light towards the darkness, but they were none the wiser. Luhan and Tao automatically followed Lay when he took tentative steps forward, trying to see more of the chamber with Tao's flashlight.

"Aiyowei, I think we should have chosen the stairs. I don't think there's anything here," he then said, looking at Luhan while Tao was still clinging to him.

"Well, we could head back and go upstairs instead?"

The moment Luhan made the suggestion, the door behind them shut by itself.

"Ah! No way!" Tao jumped into action, wriggling the door handle with much desperation and eventually, pure annoyance. "Aish! I hate this house! Why do things like this exist in the world?" he kicked the door, but it still wouldn't budge.

"Guess this means that the only way we have left, is forward," Luhan muttered and took a deep breath. "Let's go," he took the phone from Lay's hands and true to his word, led them forward.

Tao didn't like how damp it was in this plce, how dark and claustrophobic. It seemed like the walls were slowly closing in on them the further they went into the hallway, sounds of rattling chains echoing from behind them and in front of them. He had clutched Lay's jacket with all the strength he had in his body, not wanting to get split up from him. He didn't want to risk the chance of getting kidnapped by a ghost.

Taking deep breaths, Tao was feeling more frustrated with himself than ever. Yes, he was frightened, up to the point that everything felt numb with fear, but what he loathed the most about his cowardice was the fact that he couldn't be the hero Jae-noona would need in a situation like this. All he was worried about was meething a ghost that he didn't want to see, while she could genuinely wander lost and afraid and alone in this terrible place. He had to be stronger. He had to be braver. He shouldn't let Jae-noona down by being selfish.

"Uh oh," Luhan mumbled as they came to a standstill.

"What is it, Lu-ge? Oh..."

Tao peeked from behind Lay and his stomach dropped. The narrow hallway had ended, only to confront them with a set of stairs...that led downwards.

"Um, maybe this isn't as bad as it looks? It could lead out to the backyard perhaps?" Lay tried, but Tao firmly shook his head.

"This is a basement, gege! Everyone knows that the basement in a horror movie is always trouble!"

"Well, good thing we're not in a horror movie," Luhan interjected.

"Right, this is worse, Lu-ge. A hundred times worse! This is real!" Tao reminded him.

"Is it, Tao-Tao? What if we just think all of this is real while there's someone out there determining our actions making us believe that we're the ones choosing for ourselves, while really it's not..." Lay then said. "Wouldn't that be a real horror story?" he added in a whisper, the three brothers exchanging silent, awkward looks with one another.

"Ah, Lay-ge, be serious," Tao said, breaking the silence and smacking him lightly on the arm. "We can't be joking around now, we have to find Jae-noona," he added, though he was visibly shaking.

"Yeah, I-I'll take the lead and you stay close to me, okay?" Luhan cleared his throat. "Don't leave me behind, got it!" he added for good measure, and only after both his brothers agreed, did they start their descent down the stairs.

Tao startled slightly when he heard a splash and Luhan started cursing. "Damn it, there's water here," he noted, and sure enough, when he shone the light on the floor, a thin layer of it covered the entire floor. Tao stepped in it lightly, not trying to question why the water looked so dark.

"Ugh, I can't see a thing in here!" Luhan complained. "Let's split up and look around for a light switch or something, this is getting us nowhere," he handed Tao his phone back and while Lay didn't seem all too scared to do as Luhan said, Tao still followed Luhan around.

"I don't like it here, gege," he whispered, lighting Luhan's way as they moved around. "There are things dripping into the water, I hear rattling chains everywhere, I think there's something here with us!"

"Yah, stop that, Zitao! Don't freak me out, as well," Luhan scolded. "If there was something else here with us, I would have heard it already."

"Are you sure? What if whatever is here is dead?" Tao squeaked, Luhan clacking his tongue in derision.

"Don't be so ridiculous, Taozi, there's nothing here–"

"AIYU YU YU YU!"

Lay's shout alarmed the two young men, Tao quickly flashing his light towards Lay's voice.

"Lay-ge?"

"Lay-yah! Are you okay? What happened?" Luhan shouted, both of them slowly moving towards Lay's direction. When they were met by silence, Tao felt his heart beat faster.

"Lay-ge, where are you?" he shone the light in front of him, but couldn't see a thing.

"Tao, stay close to me," Luhan whispered as he took the lead once more. "Lay? Say something!"

Tao continued searching for him with his light when he finally saw them sitting on the ground. "Lay-ge! Are you all right?" they rushed over to him, helping him on his feet.

"I'm okay," he mumbled, pouting slightly. "I tripped and fell...my pants are wet," he sounded like a small child as Luhan heaved a sigh of relief.

"Hey, you scared the crap out of us. Don't do that again," he said as Lay nodded obediently.

"Oh, I found a switch on the wall, though! Should we use it?" Lay then said, pointing at the dripping wall behind them. Tao pulled a face when he saw how old and moldy the wood looked. It seemed like it was made to trigger something in the room, which made him feel iffy.

"It looks like a death trap," he commented.

"It might be a light switch," Lay said hopefully.

"Well, one way to find out," Luhan cleared his throat and pulled up his sleeve before touching the wooden handle. He grunted as he pushed it down and all at once, bright, orange light blinded them.

On each side of the chamber, flames had started to burn atop old torches, like some medieval light system. Just as Tao was feeling elated for actually being able to see his surroundings, he also immediately felt his heart sinking into his stomach once more.

His eyes widened in terror when the thin layer of water beneath his designer sneakers seemed worryingly red of color and when he properly took the basement in, he couldn't even find his voice to scream.

"What in the hell...?" Luhan gasped, pulling away from the dripping walls, distancing himself from the rusted, bloody chains that hung from them. Lay quickly pulled Luhan to the side when he nearly ran against suspended metal hooks that could have taken his head off if he had accidentally bumped into them.

"Aiyo! This is not a basement, this is a-a..." Lay stammered as he gazed at a terrifying metal cage contraption that looked like there was still someone inside of it.

"Torture chamber!" Tao squealed.

"They went all out on this haunted house, didn't they?" Luhan stammered, swallowing hard as the three brothers stuck close to one another. The torture devices creaked the hooks and chains swinging lightly as if a ghostly hand had touched them.

Tao's imagination ran wild, up to the point that he thought he could actually see people sitting on the metal chairs that were covered in spikes, screaming in pure agony. He thought he heard their desperate pleads and cries as they hung upside down from the chains. He heard the wood and the metal groan as large wheels spun to stretch out some poor, unfortune soul until they burst.

He covered his ears, trying hard not to panic.

"Let's get out of here," Luhan then stated as they moved forward, in hopes of finding a way out of the basement. Tao was careful in steering clear from any of the devices, suppressing a not-so-manly squeal when he saw a pile of bones haplessly strewn underneath a metal bull statue. If something was going to pop out of that thing, he'd definitely die for sure. He was certain of it.

"Oh, Tao-Tao, Lu-ge, watch your step here, I almost fell into that well," Lay pointed out and Tao immediately made sure not to get close to that thing. He could only imagine how people would meet their demise inside that thing, and he didn't even want to imagine it.

"Yo! There's a door here!" Luhan then called out, the joy obvious in his face. "We can get out!"

The moment Luhan announced the joyous news, Tao felt like the chamber had darkened somewhat. It seemed like his brothers noticed it as well. He swallowed when he saw that one of the torches on the wall had gone out.

"That's probably nothing, right? A fault in the mechanics?" he asked, stepping further back towards the door.

"U-uh, y-yeah, that has to be it," Luhan nodded, not sounding particularly confident.

The three of them yelped when another torch went out and the rattling of chains grew louder. The moment another torch went out, the horrid scream of a tortured man echoed through the basement. Another torch went out and the hooks that hung from the ceiling rocked violently from left to right, something rattled and struggled from inside the metal cage, the devices slowly starting to move on their own.

Tao's scream was perhaps the loudest when only one torch was left to burn and something bubbled from the well nearby. The three young men backed away as best as possible when someone crawled out of the well. Staring at the entity with wide eyes, Tao made out a pale grey hand, an elbow that was bent in a strange angle, and another hand, before a head emerged. Black, slick hair covered the entity's face and that's when Tao felt Luhan and Lay pulling him along with them.

"Hurry!"

They ran to the door and Lay swung it open. Tao looked behind him and saw the creature from the well crawling towards them in a pace that made him scream again. He stood frozen, watching how the entity came closer, and closer. Was this a scare actor? No, it couldn't be...the way it moved, the way its bones cracked as if everything was dislocated. Tao was starting to truly fear that this haunted house attraction might not be an attraction at all...

"Tao! Get out of here, come on!" Luhan's voice shook him out of his frozen state and he nodded, quickly finding the strength to run through the door. When he turned around to wait for Luhan and Lay to come through the door as well, the door shut right in front of their faces.

"Oh, no! Lu-ge! Lay-ge! Open the door!" Tao yelled, banging against it.

"Taozi! It's locked!" Luhan exclaimed, the door shaking.

"No!" Tao panted, kicking at the door. "There's something inside there with you! You have to try and get out!" he called out desperately, hating how his powers could do very little in dire situations like these.

"It's all right, Taozi," Luhan said, breathing heavily. "I don't think it can harm us..."

"You have to find Jae-yah, Tao-Tao! We'll find a way to get back to you," Lay added as Tao could definitely hear his brothers struggling against something. Based on the sounds of things being smashed and flying about, he could only guess that Luhan was busy doing what he did best.

"But... I can't leave you!" Tao insisted, feeling helpless.

"Then come back after you've found everyone!" Lay urged. "Hurry, get out of here!"

"But–!"

"Zitao! Go! That ghost...she went through the door!" Luhan's warning was the last thing he heard when he saw crooked limbs literally emerging from the door and a head, hidden by long, greasy hair melted out. Tao heard his heartbeat thunder in his chest as he backed away, everything slowing down.

When the ghostly apparition tilted its head back to reveal a gruesomely gaping mouth, Tao ran for his life. The creature crawled after him with blinding speed, making him cry out in alarm as he ran. Tao frantically looked over his shoulder to make sure he was staying ahead of the ghost, but as a result, he failed to see where his panicked feet were leading him.

Before he knew what happened, he fell into darkness and was swallowed by it.

>>> CONTINUE HERE <<<