Snow flickered softly around the window.
Emma opened her eyes slowly, confused for a brief second by the pale morning light. Her body was stiff, her neck aching from sleeping upright. Then memory crashed back.
The tape.
The pact.
Clinton.
Emma sat up sharply.
"Oh no…"
She jumped to her feet and began checking the sitting room. One by one, she counted bodies sprawled on couches, chairs, and the floor.
Her father.
Elizabeth.
Lucas.
Audrey.
Margaret and the others.
Everyone was there.
Relief rushed through her so suddenly she had to steady herself against the wall. She inhaled deeply, forcing her racing heart to slow.
"Okay… okay…"
She hurried upstairs.
The children's room was quiet. Cartoons had long stopped playing. Lily lay curled beside her cousins, breathing evenly.
Emma counted again.
All of them.
She exhaled shakily and tiptoed back downstairs.
Her gaze went straight to the front door.
She pulled the handle.
Nothing.
Still locked. Firm. Unmoving.
A chill crept into her chest.
Behind her, Audrey stirred. She yawned softly, stretching before rolling onto her side.
Her eyes opened.
She blinked once.
Then she turned toward the empty space beside her.
Her breath caught.
She turned again.
"Mark?" she whispered.
Silence.
Audrey sat up slowly, dread already blooming across her face.
"Mark?"
She scanned the room wildly.
Then she screamed.
"MARK!"
The house exploded into movement.
Everyone shot upright at once.
"What? What is it?"
"What happened?"
"Where's Mark?"
Audrey scrambled to her feet, panic pouring out of her. "He was right here! He was sleeping right here!"
Lucas stood up abruptly, eyes wide. "That's not funny."
"It's not funny!" Audrey cried. "Mark!"
Emma's stomach dropped.
She already knew.
They searched anyway.
The kitchen.
The bathrooms.
The hallway.
The storage room.
Nothing.
Audrey ran for the stairs. "MARK!"
Emma grabbed her arm. "Don't wake the kids."
Audrey collapsed against the railing, sobbing. "He's gone… he's gone…"
Elizabeth whispered, "No…"
Lucas staggered back into the living room. "He didn't leave. The doors are locked."
Emma swallowed hard.
Two.
The diary had warned her.
The first is taken quietly.
The last will not be.
This wasn't quiet anymore.
Audrey dropped to her knees, crying uncontrollably. "Please… please bring him back…"
Mark hadn't screamed.
Just like Clinton.
Emma's vision blurred.
Suddenly, the room shifted.
The walls pulsed faintly. The Christmas decorations faded again—replaced by bare wood, frost creeping along the floor.
Emma gasped.
She saw Mark.
Standing by the back door.
Confused.
Listening.
She saw his lips move.
Hello?
Then the vision snapped away.
Emma stumbled back, gripping the couch.
"Emma?" Lucas asked. "What's wrong with you?"
She shook her head, breath shaking. "It took him."
Elizabeth stared at her. "What do you mean it?"
Emma forced herself to speak. "The house. The pact. It's collecting."
Margaret whispered, "Two people… already?"
Emma nodded.
Her father's face crumpled. "This is my fault."
"No," Emma said. "It's the promise that was never finished."
The room went cold.
Audrey looked up suddenly, eyes red and wild. "Then finish it! Whatever it wants—just finish it!"
Emma's chest tightened painfully.
Another strange thing happened.
Lucas suddenly laughed.
Everyone froze.
Lucas stopped laughing as abruptly as he started. "Why… why am I laughing?"
Emma stepped back.
He pressed his fingers to his temples. "I feel like something keeps pulling me. Like my thoughts aren't mine."
Elizabeth whispered, "It's happening again…"
Emma felt it too.
The pressure.
The pull.
The house wasn't just taking bodies anymore.
It was reaching into them.
The clock on the wall chimed softly.
6:00 a.m.
Christmas morning.
The tree lights flickered on by themselves.
Audrey screamed.
Emma stared at the tree.
At the dark red gift beneath it.
Untouched.
Waiting.
She understood now.
Clinton was the reminder.
Mark was the warning.
The rest were choices.
Emma stepped forward slowly.
"We don't have much time," she said.
Her voice shook—but it didn't break.
"The pact wasn't fulfilled. That means it's still open."
Her father looked at her in horror. "Emma…"
"The house wants a Christmas surprise," she continued. "And it won't stop until it gets it."
Audrey sobbed harder.
Lucas whispered, "What kind of surprise?"
Emma closed her eyes briefly.
Then opened them.
"One that ends the debt."
A soft creak echoed from upstairs.
From the children's room.
Emma's blood ran cold.