CHAPTER 28: HAUNTED HOUSE

The door slammed shut behind me with an ominous THUD, plunging the cellar into near-total darkness.

I sighed. "Of course."

Upstairs, I heard muffled voices.

"Uh... Professor?" That was Julien. He sounded way too entertained by this.

"Yeah?" I called back.

"You alive?"

"For now."

"Oh, good. Let us know if that changes!"

I made a mental note to double Julien’s training time for the next month.

The cellar smelled of damp wood and something faintly rotten, like spoiled fruit. My boots scraped against the floor, kicking up dust as I moved. The faint outline of shelves and barrels filled the space, but beyond that, the darkness was thick.

I took a step forward, and something crunched under my boot.

I froze.

"...That better not have been bones."

I took out the dented lantern Wallace had found earlier and tried to light it. It took a few frustrating flicks of my flint before a weak, flickering flame cast dim light around me. The shadows twisted across the walls, and for a split second, I swore I saw movement at the edge of my vision.

I turned sharply.

Nothing.

Just a shelf lined with glass jars, their contents long since turned into unrecognizable sludge.

Great. I was probably scaring myself over nothing.

Still, I had the distinct, creeping feeling that I wasn’t alone down here.

I exhaled slowly and kept walking deeper into the cellar. The floor was uneven, the wooden planks warped from moisture, and I stepped carefully to avoid any hidden holes.

Then I heard it.

A faint tap... tap... tap...

Like footsteps.

I stopped walking.

The tapping didn’t.

"...Alright," I muttered. "I don’t like that."

I turned towards the sound, raising the lantern. The flickering light stretched across the cellar, revealing an open space beyond a set of toppled barrels. The air felt colder here.

That’s when I saw it.

At the far end of the room, something was written on the wall.

I squinted. The ink—or was it ink?—had long since smeared, but I could still make out the words.

"DO NOT OPEN THE—"

The rest was unreadable.

I turned my head slowly.

There was, in fact, an old wooden chest sitting right next to the message.

I exhaled through my nose. "Oh, come on."

Who just leaves a warning like that and expects people not to check?! This was the equivalent of putting a giant red button in the middle of a room with a sign that says "DO NOT PRESS."

I rubbed my temples. "This is why people die in horror stories."

I carefully approached the chest. It was old, reinforced with tarnished iron bands, and the lock was broken. Dust covered the top, but faint scuff marks on the floor suggested it had been moved recently.

I reached out—

And the moment my fingers brushed the wood, a whisper crawled through the air.

"LEAVE"

I yanked my hand back. "Nope."

That was enough of that. I was not about to get haunted. I was not going to be the idiot who ignored actual ghost whispers and ended up cursed.

I spun around, ready to leave—

Only for the cellar door to rattle violently.

BANG.

I flinched.

BANG. BANG.

Muffled voices carried through the wood.

"Uh, Professor?" That was Felix.

"What?" I called back.

"The door’s kinda... not opening?"

I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly. "Figures."

More rattling. Then:

"Should we try kicking it down?" Garrick asked.

"No, no, let’s not do anything rash," Felix said quickly. "Maybe it’s just stuck!"

"Or maybe it’s locked from the inside," Julien added.

Silence. Then:

"...Professor?" Mira’s voice this time, more amused than concerned. "Is there a reason the door is locked from the inside?"

"Not by me," I muttered.

More whispers drifted through the cellar, curling around my ears like cold breath.

"GET OUT"

"Working on it," I muttered, stepping toward the door. "If anyone has bright ideas, now’s the time."

"Uh..." Wallace hesitated. "What if we just... break the hinges?"

A long silence.

Then, Mira spoke. "Why do you know how to break doors?"

"...No reason."

I shook my head. "Fine, try it."

There was some shuffling, and then—

BANG.

The entire door shuddered.

I backed up, just in case they overestimated their own strength.

BANG. CRACK.

The doorframe splintered. A final, heavy THUD followed—

And the door was gone.

Garrick, standing in the wreckage, grinned. "Fixed it."

I stared.

Julien clapped him on the shoulder. "That was awesome."

"Can we not celebrate breaking more things?" Felix groaned.

I sighed and stepped out of the cellar. The air outside was... lighter. Like the weight in the basement had vanished the moment I left.

Leo, standing furthest from the wreckage, crossed his arms. "So? Anything horrifying down there?"

I hesitated.

Julien perked up. "Wait. Did you find a creepy diary?"

"...No."

"Damn."

I considered telling them about the chest and the message—

Then decided against it.

If I told them, Julien would absolutely dare someone to open it, Felix would panic, and Leo would insist we flee the town immediately.

I clapped my hands together. "Alright. Nobody goes into the cellar."

Leo raised a brow. "Why?"

"Because I said so."

"...Sounds cursed."

"It is cursed."

"Oh, great. That’s normal. That’s totally normal."

Mira smirked. "Well, we did ask for a creepy story."

Julien grinned. "See? This is what I wanted! A proper mystery!"

Felix groaned. "I hate this group."

Ignoring them, I glanced at the ruined cellar door. A faint, lingering whisper brushed past my ears—

"You should not have come."

I clenched my jaw.

Too late for that.

After the whole cellar incident, I decided that staying in the abandoned inn wasn’t just a bad idea—it was practically asking for something worse to happen.

Unfortunately, my students were having too much fun.

Julien, of course, was the ringleader.

"This place is definitely haunted," he declared, looking way too excited for someone who had just broken a door to rescue his trapped professor. "I say we explore."

"Or," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose, "we don’t."

Mira smirked. "Oh? You scared, Professor?"

I gave her a flat look. "No. I just value my life."

"Sounds like fear to me," Julien taunted.

I took a slow breath. "Julien."

"Yes, Professor?"

"You remember what happened the last time you provoked me?"

He hesitated. "Uh—"

"You vomited for an hour straight."

His smirk faltered. "...That was unrelated."

Felix clapped him on the shoulder. "Sure it was, buddy."

I turned to the rest of them. "We’re staying in one room. Together. We do not split up, we do not touch anything suspicious, and if something whispers in your ear, you ignore it."

Cassandra, who had been quiet this whole time, spoke for the first time. "It’s too late for that."

Everyone turned to her.

"What?" I asked.

Her pale eyes drifted to the staircase leading to the upper floor. "Something’s already watching us."

A cold silence settled over the room.

Felix swallowed audibly. "Ha. Great. Cool. That’s normal, right? This is fine."

Julien, ever the genius, turned to me. "So. Do we fight the ghost?"

I resisted the urge to hit him. "No, we ignore it and hope it goes away."

"...Cowardly."

"Smart," I corrected.

Wallace, meanwhile, had already pulled out a small notebook and was writing furiously. "Okay, so. Hypothetically, if this place is haunted, what are our best options?"

Leo gave him a look. "Our best option is leaving."

"But where’s the fun in that?" Julien whined.

Felix snapped. "The fun is that we don’t die horribly!"

A loud creak cut through the argument.

We all fell silent.

Slowly, I turned my head towards the staircase.

The top step had just groaned under the weight of something we couldn’t see.

Another step creaked.

I clenched my jaw.

Something was coming down the stairs.

Julien grinned. "Oh, hell yeah."

I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him behind me.

"Nope," I muttered. "We are not doing this."

I stepped forward, keeping my eyes on the staircase. "Alright," I called out. "I don’t know who you are, but let me make this very clear—if you try to kill us, I will fight you."

Silence.

Then, the next step creaked.

Felix made a strangled noise. "Can we not antagonize the ghost?!"

"I’m setting boundaries," I muttered.

Cassandra, still eerily calm, tilted her head. "It doesn’t want to kill us."

Julien perked up. "See? We’re fine."

"It just wants us gone," she finished.

The lantern flickered.

Mira exhaled. "Well, that’s so much better."

I stared at the staircase. The presence—whatever it was—had stopped. Watching. Waiting.

Then, a whisper slithered through the air.

"Leave."

A gust of cold air blew past us. The lantern sputtered violently. The shadows twisted.

That was enough for me.

I turned to my students. "Alright. New plan—we’re leaving."

Leo let out an exhausted sigh. "Finally."

Julien pouted. "Aw, but I wanted to—"

I grabbed him by the back of the collar and dragged him toward the door.

Felix was already trying to pry the main door open. "Uh. Professor?"

"What?" I snapped.

He gave me a panicked look. "It’s stuck."

A loud BANG echoed through the house.

Everyone froze.

The staircase groaned.

A sharp, splintering crack came from the second floor, like something had just slammed into the railing.

The whisper came again, but this time, it was angry.

"LEAVE."

I turned back to Felix. "Work faster."

"I am!"

Wallace was flipping through his notebook frantically. "Okay, okay, if we assume this is a poltergeist-type entity, we need to either—"

Another BANG.

"—Never mind, theory is useless, RUN."

Garrick, ever the problem solver, kicked the door.

It shattered off its hinges.

I blinked. "That... works."

"OUT," Felix yelled, shoving everyone through the exit.

We bolted into the night.

As we ran, I cast one last glance over my shoulder.

For just a split second, I saw it—

A figure, standing at the top of the stairs.

Shrouded in darkness.

Watching.

Then the door slammed shut behind us.

We stood there in the cold, panting.

Silence stretched.

Then—

"...So." Julien clapped his hands together. "That was fun."

I turned to him, slowly.

He grinned.

I punched him.