The staircase groaned under her weight as Lily went up. Each step seemed to groan in turn, echoing through the hollow space. The flickering lights cast strange shadows on the walls, and her phone's flashlight barely seemed to cut through the darkness.
She came up to the second floor and stopped. The air was different here: it was colder, damper. It seemed as if time had frozen here in this part of the building. The floor was covered in layers of dust, and a faint smell of something old, something forgotten, hung in the air.
At the far end of the room, something caught her eye. A door, half-open. Dim light from the hallway barely illumines the outline of the doorframe, but Lily sees something beyond—movement.
She steps quietly through the dust-covered floor, nearing the door. The sound of breathing reaches her ears. It's slow, deliberate, as if someone was waiting for her to find them.
Her heart was racing; she slowly pushed the door open.
It was vacant, except for this solitary chair in the middle. One too recognizable chair. Her stomach twisted around when she stepped deeper inside. Flashlight lit the symbol left there on the wooden floor - faded, but not from when. From something she had read-a kind of legend circulating about a cult back years, maybe decades, that would rent out buildings like this for hideaways.
Lily kneeled next to the chair, her hand shaking as she traced the symbols on the floor. These weren't random markings. They were part of a ritual—a summoning. She had thought it was just a myth, but now she wasn't so sure.
As she leaned closer to examine the symbols, the door slammed shut behind her.
She wheeled about, panic rising in her chest. The room was dark except for the flickering beam of her flashlight. The air was heavy with the scent of rot and decay, and for a brief instant she felt she saw something moving at the edge of her eye—shadows, dark figures moving against the walls.
"Who is it?" she shouted, her voice cracking with fear.
A low, rasping laugh filled the air, coming from somewhere just out of sight. The shadows seemed to deepen, gathering around her. She stumbled back, her heart hammering in her chest. She needed to leave. Now.
But the shadows weren't letting her go.
The door behind her creaked open once more, and a voice—soft, familiar—whispered, "You shouldn't have come here, Lily."