Kourriel's Lodge of Sins

"We're coming to you live at the site of what was once a cottage owned by one Benjamin Kourriel." A female news reporter said, looking at the camera in front of her. "Many have claimed that this cottage has been reconstructed, it has been the site of many disappearances since then, but no sooner do we come than we see that it's just a smoldering wreck."

The screen cut to a fat man in an orange shirt and jeans being interviewed. "I swear that cottage pops up every time it's storming outside, and it always gives me the heebie jeebies!" He twiddled his fingers around and shivered. "There's just something about it..."

It cut to another interview, this time a blonde girl twirling her hair. "It's like, you want to both go inside it and not go anywhere near it, if that makes sense." She took a pencil and fidgeted with it in her hands. "I mean, you know, you want to go inside to get to the bottom of it all, curiosity gets the best of you, but then you remember those stories, and...what if you're like, next, you know?"

"I always wanted to go in there, but whenever I head there it's just...rubble, a pile of wreckage." A black haired young man lit up a cigarette while sitting on his porch. "People have called me crazy for thinking it's still there, but I've heard it all, I heard so many stories about that place coming back. So many people have told me so themselves that that place is up and running...and that many people can't be wrong, right?" He looked at the camera. "...right?"

Pictures of five separate teenagers came up on screen. "One year after this cottage was destroyed in a terrible lightning storm, three teenagers stopped by. Sid Chadwick, aged 17, William Norwood, age 16, and Zeke Mordecai, age 18, since then these three have disappeared without a trace, and a year later, two more teenagers have vanished as well, brothers Jack and Joel Robertson, aged 15 and 16."

"Sid was a slacker, he was a pothead who dropped out of school early, and he never listened to me." Sid's father appeared on screen, a microphone being held up to his face. He was a tall, burly balding man with a thick black beard. "But I can't say he deserved this. I was always hoping he'd straighten up and fly right." He looked off to the side. "I'd like to think he would have if he were still here."

"Ahh, Zeke." A tall detective in a brown coat with smoothed back brown hair and long eyebrows recounted his time with his son. "He was a real go-getter, a straight-A student. He approached everything in life with a calm, level head and kept his cool even in the toughest situations. I even thought about giving him an internship at my agency, where we'd solve cases together. I was always proud to call him my son" He looked down and sighed. "If anyone got out of there, I'd have expected it to be him...with every new case I get, I keep expecting him to turn up, I keep trying to look for something, anything that'll give me clues about my boy's whereabouts...but in my line of work, I know to expect the worst..."

"Will." A girl chuckled. "Yeah, I know him. Well, not personally, he was a friend of a friend. Still though, you didn't have to talk to him to know that he was one of those quiet, meek nerdy guys, way too neurotic and nervous for his own good." She looked up at the ceiling. "Still, he was a smart kid, very intelligent for his age. He repaired my sister's computer on his own without a guide or anything. You just knew that there was something there with the guy despite his awkwardness." She looked at the camera. "I always thought he'd be the next Bill Gates, but...well, you know."

"Joining us for an interview is the brother of the man who owned the cottage, Royce Kourriel." The camera zoomed out from the anchorwoman, with Royce next to her, she turned to face him. "Nice to have you here, Royce."

"The pleasure's all mine, stranger." Royce ran his fingers along the brim of his fedora and tipped his hat to her.

"Now, is it true that you witnessed all of these young men entering the cottage?" The reporter asked before holding up the microphone to him.