There was evidence throughout of people having visited the house, such as the pyramid of soda and beer cans on the kitchen counter. Mallory briefly entertained the notion of knocking them down, but didn’t want to fall too far behind Eliza as she was making her way out of the kitchen and into the next room. After all, Eliza had the flashlight. Cigarette butts and broken bits of glass, the remains of beer and liquor bottles, littered the floor, glinting in the light’s beam. It smelled faintly of mold, mice, and piss.

From the spacious living area, there was another arched entry to the dining area. Eliza swept the flashlight back and forth, checking the room carefully. There was no furniture remaining in the house. What little of the carpet was left was rotted and it was impossible to tell what the original color had been. The living room had a wide fireplace darkened with soot and containing the charred remnants of an old fire.

They stood for a moment in the silence. Mallory strained to hear anything that would give away where Isaac and his friends might be, but there was nothing – no voices, no wood creaking under footsteps, not even the faintest breath. Despite that, she felt something… like a presence. Like she was being watched. A chill ran up her spine – Eliza had mentioned feeling the same thing a few times over the summer. Maybe that’s why the thought had even entered her mind.

“Maybe they decided to hide from us?” Mallory said, her voice barely above a whisper. After a moment, she said “Hello?” loud enough to be heard through most of the house. Eliza jumped, then turned to her wide eyed and panicked and making shushing sounds, but there was no reaction otherwise. Mallory grinned at Eliza and shrugged, and then made her way to the stairs. There was a hallway leading off of the staircase that led back to a first floor bathroom and bedroom, but the bathroom had fallen into the basement years ago and the bedroom flooring was also unstable. Mallory doubted anyone would be back there.

As her fingers touched the rail of the stairs, that feeling of being watched overcame her again, so overbearing that she felt the hair on the back of her neck raise. She couldn’t see anyone in the scant light they had, and of course they knew that Isaac and his friends were somewhere in the house… but it felt more foreboding than that. It was like pure and stifling malice. She had to resist the urge to reach into her pocket where she’d put her knife. Instead, she forced herself up the stairs.

Eliza followed her, mumbling something under her breath. Halfway up, Mallory glanced up – for a moment, the bouncing light of the flashlight’s beam caught the outline of a man standing at the top of the stairs. She gasped and froze, but had no time to react because at that exact moment the stairs shifted and there came the loud, alarming sound of cracking wood.