Lila's body slammed into the basement floor with a crunch of splintered wood and displaced dust. Her ribs screamed as she rolled onto her back, every gasp pulling in air thick with the scent of wet limestone and decaying velvet.
Fractured moonlight through a high, barred window cast prison-bar shadows across shattered porcelain dolls (their glass eyes staring)
A grandfather clock lay disemboweled against the far wall, its gears still twitching like dying insects
The ceiling groaned above her, wooden teeth of broken floorboards dangling like a beast's maw
Discovery Sequence:
Physical Inventory:
Her left sleeve was torn, revealing a ladder of bruises up her forearm
Something warm trickled from her hairline—she touched it, fingers coming away black in the low light (blood or ink?)
The Pocket Watch:
A glint of metal caught her eye beneath a splintered chaise lounge
Theo's watch pulsed faintly, its cracked face still keeping perfect time (3:33 AM)
When she lifted it, the chain slithered over her wrist like a living thing
The Message:
A wet sound made her turn thick black liquid oozed from between the stones
Letters formed with terrible precision:
"He is not gone."
The "O" in 'gone' blinked a human eye staring for one second before dissolving
Internal Monologue:
"This isn't happening. This can't " Her denial shattered as the watch chimed softly in her palm a sound it had never made before.
2. The Study of Shadows
Evidence Collection:
Lila limped upstairs, her shadow stretching unnaturally long behind her. She dumped her findings onto the parlor floor:
ItemAnomalyEmotional ImpactVincent's JournalPages 27-29 torn outJagged edges bled ink when touchedConcert ProgramBlood formed musical notesHummed when held near candlelightLion CufflinkEmerald eye pulsed like a heartbeatBurned her palm but left no mark
Puzzle-Solving Sequence:
Journal Analysis:
Held pages to firelight hidden indentations appeared:
"T & E to elope June 18"
"V knows. God help us."
Blood Pattern Revelation:
The program's stains weren't random—they matched sheet music for "Our Song"
When placed over Theo's watch, the blood notes aligned with chime marks
Cufflink Activation:
Pressed into journal's cover left branded lion silhouette
A voice whispered: "Look behind the waltz" (Vincent's terrified tone)
Her chewed cuticles left smears of blood on the program
When the cufflink spoke, she crawled backward until her spine hit the wall
3. Holloway's Revelation
The greenhouse glass panes webbed with cracks, the air stinking of overripe peaches and mildew. Holloway stood over a pot of black roses, pruning shears clicking like insect mandibles.
Lila: "Tell me about the night Theo died." (Fingers whitening on the cufflink)
Holloway: "Ain't my story to tell." (Shears snipped a rose head it screamed thinly)
Lila: "Then whose? The house's?" (Kicked a pot soil spilled like clotted blood)
Holloway: "Theo played that night like a man possessed. Vincent burst in, wire in hand..." His eye twitched toward the manor. "House wouldn't let the music die. Still won't."
Holloway's sleeve slipped his wrist bore piano wire scars
"I tried to stop it," he rasped. "Now I tend the roses. They grow best where Theo bled."
Lila vomited into the rosebushes the thorns twisted toward her mouth like living things.
4. The First Scientific Test
iPhone 13 Pro on a tripod, Night Mode enabled
EMF detector balanced on the piano bench (spiked to 7.4 milligauss)
Voice recorder app left running: "Theo, play for me."
Footage Analysis:
Time StampVisualAudioAnomaly3:30:00 AMStatic40Hz humBreath sounds (not Lila's)3:32:17 AMKeys depress sequentiallyPerfect pitch Middle CShadow leans into frame3:33:01 AMGlitch: 1927 ballroom superimposesTheo's laughLila appears in period dress
Psychological Breakdown:
Lila scratched at her phone screen trying to touch the ghostly Theo
When the footage ended, her reflection blinked separately from her
5. The Mirror Experiment
Ritual Steps:
Lit three candles (tallow, made from 1927 church stock)
Chanted: "Show me what you see."
Breathed on the mirror until fully fogged
Supernatural Response:
First fogging: "I'm here" appeared in Theo's handwriting
Second attempt: Her reflection mouthed different words than she spoke
Third breath: A skeletal hand pressed from behind the glass
Tactile Horror:
When Lila touched the mirror, her fingers sank through up to the knuckles before the surface hardened like ice, trapping her.
6. The Final Proof
Attic Exploration:
Blueprints rolled in human skin vellum
Theo's marginalia included:
"Secret passage behind Fauré's Requiem shelf"
"V's listening posts marked in red"
House Reaction:
As Lila traced a hidden corridor, the walls swelled inward, exhaling:
Hair (auburn, matching hers)
Piano wire fragments
1927 train tickets (two seats to Paris)
7. Theo's Brief Return
Piano builds to painful volume (strings snapping, wood cracking)
Air pressure drops Lila's ears pop
Theo steps from the wallpaper, his tuxedo stitched with shadows
Lila: "You're real." (Hand outstretched)
Theo: "Not enough." (Fingers graze hers static burns both)
Vanishing:
His body unravels like sheet music, last words echoing:
"The house is hiding something worse than me."
Cliffhanger:
From the hallway three slow claps. Vincent's voice:
"Bravo, Eleanor. You always did love his finales.".....