The House

Chapter 3 - Sacrifice

They quickly barge out of their hiding and approached the dead body lying seeing in front of them. They were totally astonished by what happened. Rajesh, Harish, and Chandini stood paralyzed by the sheer brutality of what they had just witnessed. The husband's lifeless body lay crumpled on the floor, his head a few feet away, eyes still open in a final, terrified expression. The room was thick with the metallic scent of blood and the oppressive weight of death.

As they were looking, Chandini asked, "What do we do now, Rajesh?'" Rajesh, still in shock, shook his head. "I don't know, Harish go through that body and try to find anything which is useful to us and don't touch that scythe."

Harish, his hands shaking, approached the husband's body and began to search for any form of identification. The grisly task made his stomach churn, but he knew it was necessary. After a few tense moments, he found nothing much a watch.

Harish said, holding it up, "Sir, all I found is this watch." Rajesh took the watch from Harish and examined it closely. "This watch... it's from the 1980s," he murmured, puzzled. "Why would he be wearing such an old watch?"

For that Chadini responded, "Might this be another illusion or..." Harish interrupted, his voice trembling, "Or might be the same couple who gone missing."

Rajesh's eyes widened as Harish's words sank in. "You mean, they could be the couple who vanished from this house in 90s?" He turned the watch over in his hand, examining it more closely. "It makes sense. They must have been trapped here, just like us."

Chandini, her voice shaky, added, "But why would they reappear now? And why did the black killed him?" Harish looked around the room, his fear mingled with curiosity. "Maybe the house is trying to tell us something."

Then all of them take some steps and backward and started examining the floor from where black figure raises. Rajesh, Harish, and Chandini took cautious steps back, their eyes scanning the floor where the black figure had emerged. The air felt thicker, almost tangible with the lingering presence of malevolence. Chandini knelt down, her fingers lightly brushing the floor. "There's something strange about this spot," she whispered, feeling a coldness seeping up from the ground. "It's like there's a draft coming from underneath."

As they were examining it, their eyes didn't laid behind. In that silent eerie place, the headless body started raising. The body quickly wielded the scythe which was lying.

As they examined the strange spot on the floor, Chandini's keen senses caught a flicker of movement—a shadow shifting subtly against the dim light. Instinctively, she gasped and leaped back, pulling Rajesh and Harish with her just as the headless body began to swing his scythe.

The body, wielding the sharp scythe that lay nearby, swung wildly in their direction. Rajesh, Harish, and Chandini narrowly dodged the deadly arc, their hearts pounding with adrenaline. Thinking quickly, Rajesh grabbed the heavy wooden table that had been against the wall and hurled it toward the advancing figure.

The table crashed into the body, momentarily pinning it down with a heavy thud. Without wasting a moment, the trio dashed out of the room, their footsteps echoing in the eerie silence of the house. The metallic scent of blood and the haunting presence of death seemed to follow them as they sprinted down the hallway, their minds racing with fear and confusion.

They burst through the door escaping from the room, slamming the door shut behind them and leaning against it, breathless and shaken. Chandini panted heavily, her hands trembling as she tried to steady herself. "How... how could that body rose?" she managed to gasp out.

Rajesh, still catching his breath, leaned against the door, his mind reeling from the terror they had just narrowly escaped. "I don't know," he replied, his voice strained with disbelief. "But it's clear this place is not just haunted... it's something far more sinister."