The moment we heard the scream, both William and I froze.
"That sounded like... a girl," William said, his eyes wide. "And it's coming from the other side."
We scrambled to our feet and rushed to the door.
When we stepped into the hallway, we saw some of the others already moving toward the sound. It was coming from the left side of the hallway — and we were on the right.
Without hesitating, we hurried after them.
But as we moved, something immediately felt... off.
The hallway was different now.
Instead of the wide, open corridor we had walked through earlier, it was suddenly tighter, more enclosed. There were doors lined up neatly along both sides of the walls — dozens of them, like some endless hotel.
We pushed past the staircase, following the others. More doors creaked open as others spilled out, faces pale, obviously hearing the same scream we did. Everyone was moving in the same direction: straight toward the very end of the hallway.
There, a door was waiting for us.
William leaned closer to me, whispering, "When I came up here earlier, I swear... there wasn't a door at the end of the hallway." His voice was shaking a little. "Why the hell is there one now?"
I didn't have an answer. I just kept moving with him, my heart pounding harder with every step.
Soon enough, we all gathered in front of the door.
Nobody dared to touch it.
Everyone stood there, tense, exchanging nervous glances.
No one wanted to be the first.
That's when Ethan finally stepped forward, his face serious.
Without a word, he grabbed the door handle and pushed it open.
The door creaked loudly as it swung inward.
We all peered inside.
At first, the room didn't seem particularly suspicious. Just a dusty, empty bedroom.
Then Marcella's voice cracked the silence, high-pitched and panicked.
"There's blood—!" she screamed, pointing at the floor.
Everyone's gaze snapped down.
There it was: a dark, sticky trail of blood pooling on the floorboards.
Ethan turned sharply to her. "Calm down," he ordered, trying to keep everyone from losing it.
Slowly, almost unwillingly, we raised our eyes.
And that's when we saw it.
Pinned up against the far wall... a body.
Arms spread out, crucified.
Blood dripping slowly down the pale arms, pooling underneath.
A large knife was stabbed right into the chest, holding the body in place.
The sight made my stomach twist violently.
And the worst part—
The body wasn't a stranger.
It was Lyra Erso.
Marcella let out a bloodcurdling scream, pointing frantically at Lyra's body.
Instantly, chaos erupted.
Everyone started panicking — backing away, trying to get out of the room as fast as possible.
But then came the realization.
The door — the door they had walked through — was gone.
Where it should have been was just a seamless, blank wall.
No knob, no crack, nothing.
It was like they had been sealed inside.
Ethan's voice cut through the panic, sharp and commanding.
"Everyone, calm down! I know the door is gone but don't panic" he barked.
But Sebastian's voice rang out, dripping with disbelief and anger.
"Seriously, man? Wasn't she your girlfriend?" Sebastian snapped, stepping closer. "You don't even look sad. You're just trying to play the infamous leader who never shows weakness. You think this is normal? Someone just died!"
The room fell tense.
Ethan turned, slowly, locking eyes with Sebastian — a cold, steely look that made even Sebastian flinch for a second.
"Okay," Ethan said, voice low but deadly clear. "Panic. Scream. Tell me how that's going to get us out of this mess. Go on."
He swept his gaze over all of us, daring anyone to argue.
"Everybody should start panicking," he continued, sarcasm heavy in his tone. "Start screaming. Maybe — just maybe — we'll magically get out of this room with everyone alive and everything back to normal."
The sarcasm hit harder than any shouting would have.
"You all know panicking won't help," Ethan said, his voice steady again. "We have to calm down and find a way out of this. It's not that I'm not scared. Or that I don't care." He paused, looking around. "It's just that in a situation like this, panicking will only kill us faster. If you have a better idea, you're welcome to try it out."
Silence.
Nobody said a word.
Ren, standing near the back, thought to himself, Wow... this guy's a natural-born leader.
He just shut everybody down like it was nothing.
Ethan turned back to the group, his expression serious.
"Alright," he said. "Who was her roommate?"
Marcella stepped forward, trembling.
Her face was pale with terror, her hands shaking so badly she could barely stand still.
Ethan's voice softened slightly. "Tell me what happened."
Marcella swallowed hard. She tried to speak, her voice shaking.
"We... we were just in our room," she began. "I was going through my stuff... I was trying to find something to polish my nails. And Lyra... she said she needed to use the restroom."
Everyone listened intently.
"But..." Marcella continued, "the restroom door in our room was stuck. It wouldn't open. So Lyra said there must be a public one somewhere — since this is a mansion and all. She said she would go find the maid and ask for directions."
Marcella's voice cracked.
"And... after she left... she didn't come back. I waited. I waited for hours."
Ethan's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, hours?"
Marcella wiped at her eyes, trying to steady herself.
"I think... I think it was about three hours," she said. "But she didn't return. And I was getting really worried. I was just about to go look for her when... when I heard the scream."
The group fell into a heavy, uncomfortable silence.
Ethan nodded slightly, processing.
"I see," he said. "And nobody else saw her after she left?"
The others started murmuring among themselves, glancing at each other nervously.
Most of them shook their heads.
"We were all in our rooms," someone muttered. "We didn't see anything..."
Ethan exhaled slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.
The situation was worse than any of them had thought.
"This is serious," he said grimly, scanning the room again.
"If only Ms. Nakamura was here..." he muttered under his breath.
But she wasn't.
We were alone.
Trapped.
And none of us had the faintest idea what was really going on.
CHAPTER END