Everything refracted through the curved lens displayed an unnatural, distorted magnification.
The scenery within sight stretched out as if each thing were a living creature, writhing and charging towards Bill with claws bared.
But the most horrifying thing was a little blonde-haired girl in the middle of the scene.
Her mouth was stretched open to an unbelievable degree, her lower jaw extending all the way down past her chest!
Her eyes were pale white, just staring at Bill like that, and a strange “clicking” sound was squeezed from her throat.
The lens in his hand went “crack,” and fine fractures appeared on it.
Bill hurriedly threw it down, but he was still a step too late.
The shattered pieces of the lens scattered, cutting his face. Luckily, he reacted in time to cover his eyes, which saved him from going blind.
“Run!”
Bill yelled.
Only then did the people around him snap out of it and try to scramble away.
Bill had picked up the lens and interrupted the séance.
This weakened the ghost’s grip on everyone. The group quickly broke free, knocked over tables and chairs, and bolted towards the villa’s front door.
But the next second, every single door and window in the house automatically closed. The curtains drew shut, blocking out the outside light.
The interior of the house was instantly plunged into darkness.
Even though the separated individuals were just inches apart, they ran off in completely different directions.
Stumbling in panic, they crashed into the surrounding hard furniture.
Every single one of them, men and women alike, ended up bruised and battered.
“We can’t stay scattered like this, we have to move together!”
“Sarah, where are you?”
“Damn it, why is there a tea table here?!”
“Where are you all?!”
“I’m so scared…”
Realizing they couldn’t escape by running around aimlessly, they started to grope around carefully.
They tried to find their partners by feel.
Soon, Bill felt like he was touching someone’s shoulder.
“Who’s there!”
Izzy’s scream came from right in front of him. Bill quickly spoke up.
“It’s me, Bill.”
“Bill…”
Izzy let out a breath, but quickly tensed up again.
“Where’s that ghostly thing?”
“I don’t know…”
In the darkness, the two of them instinctively held hands.
Under normal circumstances, this might have been a slightly romantic gesture, but neither felt any such thoughts. Because right now, that terrifying ghost was lurking God knows where, watching them like a hawk.
“Bill! Are you guys nearby?!”
Sarah’s somewhat shaky voice called out from not too far away.
“We’re here.”
Staying in the dark might be uncomfortable at first, but as time passed and their concentration heightened, they gradually learned to locate each other by sound.
They moved closer towards each other’s directions and finally managed to make contact.
“Thank goodness… you’re both okay.”
“Where’s Debbie? Isn’t she with you?”
Bill asked.
“No, I haven’t heard her voice at all.”
Sarah answered honestly.
Just then, Izzy seemed to bump into someone.
But this time, she wasn’t as panicked as before. She asked tentatively,
“Is that Debbie?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Hearing the female voice reply, the others all breathed a sigh of relief.
The immediate crisis hadn’t been resolved yet, but thankfully, every one of them was safe for the moment.
“Everyone be careful. Hold hands and don’t let go. Let’s look for an exit together.”
Bill was the first to get up. He turned on his phone and, relying on the screen’s weak light, started groping his way into the depths of the darkness.
The others followed closely behind.
Shortly after they left the living room, not far away on the floor, a figure stirred and slowly opened its eyes.
She felt around herself and shook her somewhat dizzy head.
Debbie hadn’t expected to fall down like that, and on top of that, hit the back of her head.
She reached up and gently touched it, feeling the damp, sticky sensation in her hair.
She was bleeding…
But luckily, it wasn’t too much.
She had no idea how long she’d been out.
Where were the others? Were they still here?
Debbie tried calling out a few times, softly, but no one answered.
Once she was sure there was no one else around, fear and loneliness washed over her.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and that’s when she noticed the Ouija board scattered on the floor.
Debbie crawled over to take a look.
Without the ghost’s power empowering it, the Ouija board was just a piece of wood with letters on it.
What really caught Debbie’s eye was the photograph tucked underneath it.
She picked up the photo and, using the light from her phone screen, could finally make out the face of the person in it.
It was a black-and-white photo, the kind used to summon the spirit of a specific person.
But the photo in her hand wasn’t a picture of Lisa. It was a little girl she didn’t recognize.
Her aching head suddenly reminded her of something.
After the first séance ended, she had seen this child.
The girl was standing right at the villa’s entrance, just staring at her.
The next instant, the girl had flashed right in front of her, her mouth wide open, spitting out a stream of intricate, unknown words.
Debbie felt a bone-chilling cold wash over her, and she slowly came to her senses.
That girl… was the evil spirit in this house.
During their last Ouija board game, the spirit had bewitched her, planting the subconscious urge to hold another séance.
No… it wasn’t just her.
It was the same for the others, too.
The evil spirit wanted them all to come back here again!
To steal their souls and grow even stronger!
Remembering her companions’ and her sister’s recent mental states, a wave of immense terror washed over Debbie.
She couldn’t care about anything else anymore. She screamed out loud.
“Sarah! Bill! Izzy!”
From the other end of the villa, the group heard her calling out to them. They all froze for a second, then felt a chill run down their spines.
They all heard Debbie’s voice coming from the living room they had just left.
Clearly, she had never left that place.
So then… what was this thing holding their hands right now?
Sarah screamed and let go, stepping back with the other two.
In the darkness, a ghostly light illuminated a pale, eerie face.
The little blonde girl stood expressionless, her eyes a milky white, just silently staring at them.
Her feet left the ground, and she began to float.
“Who… who are you?!”
“My name is Doris. Hello there…”
The girl laughed softly, her voice low and echoing strangely from her mouth, as if countless people were speaking simultaneously with her.
The moment she finished speaking, the girl drifted towards them.
Izzy’s eyes suddenly rolled back, turning white. Like a marionette, she actively moved closer to the spirit.
From the darkness nearby, multiple ghostly figures with red glowing eyes emerged.
Their mouths were sewn shut with black thread, and they let out muffled, guttural growls. Then, they shoved their hands directly into Izzy’s mouth!
Her jaw, just like the girl named Doris hovering in mid-air, was stretched longer and longer, down to her chest.
Her body began to spasm and convulse violently. It looked like she was done for.
Bill suddenly roared, gathered his courage, and charged forward, trying to throw a punch at the spirit to save his friend.
But his hands passed right through the dark figure, having no effect whatsoever.
Instead, with just a glare from Doris’s pale white eyes, Bill was sent flying backward, crashing through glass and a cupboard, collapsing in a heap on the floor.
The shadowy figure didn’t even glance at him. It continued, single-mindedly, to cram its entire body into Izzy’s unnaturally gaping mouth!
Desperate, Sarah could only wail, powerless to do anything but watch.
Just then, a faint spiritual light quickly materialized in the air, tracing out a mysterious rune.
It suddenly erupted into a brilliant flash of light inside the room, directly scattering the dark figure that was forcing its way into Izzy’s body!
A black-haired young man had appeared in the room, seemingly out of nowhere. He raised his right hand towards Doris at a forty-five-degree angle.
“Hello.”
