By now, the manor had fully sealed itself from the world. Windows no longer showed the sky, only shifting reflections of the family's sins. Doors no longer led to rooms but to judgments. Screams echoed like music. Time twisted like old vines.
The house was hungry.
And it was no longer satisfied with exposing the past.
It wanted a bargain.
Hemsworth's Descent
Hemsworth had once been the quiet one. A calm soul in a storm of egos. But he also had secrets—a deal gone wrong, a cousin framed for embezzlement, a stolen inheritance that vanished into his name.
Now, the house whispered to him.
"You can survive this, Hemsworth. Give it something fresh. A soul not yet fully tainted."
"The child," it whispered. "The unborn."
He stumbled into the nursery, where Veronica clutched her stomach, trembling. She hadn't told anyone yet. The house already knew.
Hemsworth hesitated. His hand trembled.
Behind him, the crib opened its wooden jaws. It wasn't a crib anymore—it was an altar.
Veronica screamed. I want to return it please!!
I don't want any of this… as she wept holding her stomach. Let us live. Is there a God out there!!
I did all for my dead mother and siblings …. I promised we never be poor. We didn't mean for him to die. Marry for money they say … marry for love they say… I chose my path. Leave my child out of this!!!
Hemsworth fled.
The house laughed.
Sir Dalewood Returns… Changed
By twilight, the front door creaked open.
Sir Dalewood entered.
But not as they remembered him.
His eyes had turned to glass—clear, and full of writing. His fingers were longer than they should be, and his voice sounded like pages turning in reverse.
He didn't walk. He glided.
"Ah… you've finally begun to understand," he said, stepping into the drawing room where the remaining family huddled in terror.
"The Gift isn't cursed. It's an invitation. A test of your will. A gate to something older than time. And oh, what greedy hosts you've been."
Xavier lunged at him with a fireplace poker.
Dalewood didn't flinch.
Instead, Xavier froze mid-air, like a painting. He remained there, suspended. His skin slowly began to crack like dry porcelain.
Dalewood smiled.
"This house isn't haunted. It's inhabited. And I work for the architect."
Little Schwazz Makes a Deal
Somewhere deeper, Little Schwazz the Butcher had been exploring on his own.
He came across a room of puppets, like before—but these ones had no strings.
Instead, they moved on their own, mimicking the family members.
They surrounded him.
And they spoke with his voice.
"You never really killed for meat, did you?"
"No, you did it for fun."
"But we can make a deal. We'll let you cut your way free. But you have to do something for us…"
Schwazz grinned.
"Anything."
The walls split open—an operating theatre, bathed in red light.
He didn't scream.
He laughed.
The House Evolves
As the last light disappeared from the halls, the manor shifted again.
Rooms moved behind the family as they ran.
Staircases looped and turned upside down.
The gift pulsed like a heart in the center of the grand hall.
Now it had arms. Black, oily limbs that reached from the walls, dragging portraits off the frames and whispering temptations to the survivors.
Bell, and Olivia tried to destroy it.
They threw it in fire—it laughed.
They smashed it with an axe—it bled, then healed.
They prayed—and the chandeliers wept blood.
The Final Bargain
Suddenly, the manor silenced.
Sir Dalewood appeared once more. Calm. Cold.
"The house offers one bargain," he said. "One soul may leave… if they offer another in return."
The family looked around at each other.
All eyes slowly turned to the child.
The child who had been born in secret. The child who had once brought the gift with them.
"It's the child's curse," whispered Bell.
"The child's destiny," .
"The child or us," said everyone
But before anyone could act—
Olivia stepped forward.
"I choose me," she said.
Dalewood nodded.
And everything went dark.
One breath.
One scream.
One name left whispered in the dust: Olivia. And a question that lingered in their hearts was "has Olivia escaped? Was she eating? And the manor heard all these and brought more performance.