Lonelines hoofed its breath, cold and solitude mused like a song of death. The lanterns were burnt, eyes never blindly turned, voiceless feet trotted. The breeze touched the leaves on the trees, waving it as a welcome greeting.

Crack!

Luhan, Jongin, and Sehun turned their heads in a flash, Kyungsoo unintentionally stepped on a twig, breaking it into two. He chuckled as Luhan groaned in annoyance. They had to be stealthy, this is a 'dangerous mission, Luhan previously said.

They kept tiptoeing, entering the ever mysterious Mrs. Lee's house.

 

*   *   *

 

In front of them stood an old European, castle-like building, that erected in mystery, which Luhan was more than eager to solve. At first, Luhan was just much too intrigued by Mrs. Lee's cold, sharp gaze, as well as the house lawn that was always full of dry leaves, let alone the house itself. However, it soon turned into obsession as he heard the news of a little girl who went missing after she entered this house.

Of course his friends didn't know about this, yes, Luhan's secret mission. What they had in mind was just that they would watch over the house and saw the headless ghost Luhan told them before.

"Luhan, why don't we just leave? We must not throw away our lives just by coming closer to this house," Jongin said as Luhan was about to climb the fence. The warned boy smirked at Jongin.

"Hahaha, you're afraid, aren't you? And I thought you were brave, not a chicken."

Luhan continued on climbing the fence while Sehun giggled as he saw reddened Jongin. Jongin showed his fist to Sehun before following Luhan up.

As they got across the fence, something strange happened. The wind blew really hard as it was furious for their arrival. Jongin clutched Sehun and Kyungsoo's hands.

"What did I say! We shouldn't have come here!"

Not caring Jongin's fret, Luhan marched forward. Sehun and Kyungsoo followed him suit, while Jongin reluctantly did so.

They sneaked their way around the house, before Luhan remembered a room in the back of the house, whose window was broken. He knew that since he once visited this house when she moved here. Mrs. Lee was their new neighbor and his mother insisted in giving her a visit, that drilled curiousity into Luhan's mind. He turned around to the room.

"Luhan, where are we going?"

"Shush! Silence, Kyungsoo!" Luhan pressed his finger on his lips, widening his eyes at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo said no more and they kept walking silently aside the muddy wall.

"What exactly are you looking for? You said that we would just see the ghost from inside the bush?!"

"Sehun, we will never find it if we don't search for it. You know that Mrs. Lee is really mysterious. I will find out something about her."

Sehun, Jongin, and Kyungsoo shared a look, while Luhan started climbing on the window which had been a bit too brittle already.

"Come on, follow me quickly!"

They hopped into the room with a muffled thud. They shushed each other in silence before making their way across the room to the door.

"What are you all doing in my house?"

It stopped their hearts for a second. Mrs. Lee was sitting in front of them, at a couch before the fireplace, sipping a cup of drink that smelled like coffee gracefully. Her eyes never once left the grazing fire.

"P, p, ple... please apologize us... Mrs. Lee.... We, we are just... attracted to this house. We sneaked into this house because we know you wouldn't let us in," Luhan's voice was shaking out of fear.

"Indeed! I won't let anyone in if I'm not forced to."

Mrs. Lee rose from her seat and threw them a dagger look.

"Go home!"

Jongin, Kyungsoo, and Sehun whimpered. Holding on to each other, they doubted that they would end up alive. Mrs. Lee was never close to what Luhan told them. She was not scary, she was beyond horrifying.

"But, Mrs. Lee, let us stay at your place, please," Luhan begged, churning his face with as much pity as he could. His voice was still shaken.

"Sure, sure, Ma'am, we are heading home now. Please excuse our own impudence," Jongin pulled Luhan's hand, but his friend didn't even bulge.

"But, Ma'am," Luhan glanced as his friends. "Please just let me stay here, they can go home."

All his friends gave him are-you-nut look.

"Luhan! Stop being a dumb!"

Luhan ignored Kyungsoo's warning, he kept giving Mrs. Lee a miserable look. The said woman kept herself composed. She gazed at Luhan for a while before rolling her eyes and turning around. Her black gown gracefully waved in the air, full of vanity.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you wish for. Use the room in the corner on the second floor. Do not blame me if anything happen. This house seems not to like you," Mrs. Lee left them four. Luhan lifted his fist in the air.

"YES!"

They arrived at the mentioned room. Luhan was quickly cornered by his friends.

"Alright, what's your plan?"

Sehun stood before Luhan, hands on his hip. Luhan gave Sehun a look, he moved to the bed and patted the pillow on it, laying down.

"Having a sleepover."

"Oh come on, spill it. I know you have another plan. Mrs. Lee won't like our staying here."

"Shut up, Sehun, I'm sleepy!" Luhan gave him his back and just in some second he passed out.

 

*   *   *

 

Just a few hours passed and Luhan blinked, waking up. He looked at his friends, who were sleeping soundly. He took a candle that mysteriously laid on the table and walked out of the room. He slowly made his way to the fire and once there lit the candle.

Luhan looked around the room and his eyes caught a hallway next to the fireplace. His curiousity exploded. He let his body stepped into the hallway and wasn't able to stop as his eyes trailed on the paintings hung on the hallway wall. All of them were the portraits of human, mostly looking horribly bleak and desperate. He shivered. They all seemed to watch his every move.

He kept moving until he passed a painting of a girl with pale face. She looked white as paper but she displayed a defiant, brave gaze. The girl seemed familiar, like he had met her before.

Suddenly, Luhan felt like he lost his courage. He had enough looking already, he had had quite a journey in the hallway and he decided to return to his friends.

The hallway was almost endless for Luhan now, with endless series of human's face paintings. He quickened his pace, horror had attacked him until he was almost fainting.

Mrs. Lee had stood at the end of the corridor.

"How was your tour? Do you like my paintings?"

Mrs. Lee gave Luhan a creepy smile as she his hair. The boy, who strangely couldn't move his body a bit, just heaved a deep breath, his heart beat eratically.

"Yes... they look so... real," Luhan answered reluctantly, fear-coated truth.

Mrs. Lee showed him a smile, a grin - to be exact. This time Luhan didn't dare to look at her. He looked down, avoiding the mean-looking grin.

"Do you want to get painted?"

Luhan said nothing. He lifted his eyes and looked at the more horrifying Mrs. Lee, shutting his mouth tightly.

"Alright. I'll take it as a yes."

Mrs. Lee walked to a couch with Luhan following her against his own will, he got more and more anxious about all this.

"Sit!"

Mrs. Lee walked into a room -- which Luhan thought as her own chamber -- and returned with painting equipments in his arms.

"Take your own pose," Mrs. Lee said as she put the canvas and started mixing the paint. Luhan couldn't help but taking a relaxed seating position, even though he was definitely far from it.

"Are those people in the paintings your friends?"

Mrs. Lee was so focused in her doing, strangely using red paint only. She dipped the brush into the paint and began applying it against the canvas, seeming not to care about the trapped Luhan.

"They were my guests, like you," she finally spoke, not looking at him.

"Will you paint my friends too?"

This time she looked up to Luhan, with a gaze of a feral animal who was looking at a prey. Luhan tore his sight away, fearful.

"They're still asleep, aren't they? Perhaps yes, when they're awake."

"Are you...."

"Shut up! I'm almost done!"

Luhan stopped questioning, this time she looked like an eagle hungry for chicks. A moment later, the old lady dusted her palms. She was smiling satisfiedly as she examined her work, showing it to Luhan.

“That’s not a painting at all.”

It was a writing, Latin words that Luhan beared no knowledge. He read them nonetheless, as the words swirled down in his mind.

And something really powerful him right into the canvas.

That was a spell.

“Ahahahahaha!!!!”

Her piercing laugh echoed in the room, arms stretched wide in front of the canvas, holding it tightly. Luhan was more and more, he screamed as loud as he could, in the hope that it would wake his friends and warn them to get out of there.

“What’s happening! LUHAN!!”

Jongin, Kyungsoo, and Sehun ran out of their room and they saw it before their eyes, what happened to Luhan. They were stunned, unable to move their muscles a bit. Mrs. Lee lifted her face, her demonic smile filled her face. Unfortunately, they were still frozen, as if they were enchanted to stay put already.

“Go! GO! Leave this place! Go, before he cursed you three! Go n—“

Luhan’s voice halted, he had disappeared. The formerly empty canvas was now filled with a picture of a boy who was wandering in a corridor. Luhan, the brave boy, had been made into the possession of Mrs. Lee.

Jonging, Kyungsoo, and Sehun were still intact on their spot. Mrs. Lee engulfed them in her evil gaze before walking toward the corridor with the painting on her hand. Slowly, she hung it on the space next to the other paintings of a girl with a terrified expression. She turned her head, grinning diabolically from ear to ear.

“You’re next.”

 

*   *   *

 

---

March 29, 2015

 

I was writing this after watching Yami Shibai. Heck! I am feeling the goosebumps now though it is just still 3 pm here....

 

Schandelierre