Tick tock goes the clock,
Until this Manor is
No more
Will the mouse
Find a way out?
Free of guilt;
Oh, safe and sound?
Time is running out, detective.
Angel Mallory has always been unlucky. Seemingly retired from their old job working for the Guil...
Author's Note: We officially hit 1.4k reads and 600 votes! Thank you so much everyone for the support! Expect quicker chapters around the end of December.
We're close to the final countdown!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"WE HAVE to hurry" determined, I stormed towards the stairwell, shooting down the steps. Ava launched herself behind me, barely keeping up.
"Isn't that what we've been doing three days now?" Ava chuckled, her cheeks starting to gain colour again. Her spark had returned, along with her charming smirk.
"What else is there to do?" I argued back, adding to our playful banter. It was a way to lift our spirits, seeing we both found solace in conversation
Our steps echoed around the Manor, tapping insistently, like the downpour outside. The last hour had been a whirlwind of thunder strikes, bolts ripping the skies in half.
We passed Em's office, I noticed, my steady rhythm faltering. I looked back, debating my choices.
I could:
1. Go inside the abandoned basement that could be a trapped and get me and everyone else here brutally murdered
Or
2. Deal with never knowing and possibly dooming the whole Manor, the fault of course, being mine.
There wasn't a different way to go about this. We had to go in. The door creaked open, haze emitting from the passage.
"So, more stairs." I sighed, a chill running down my spine. Ava only returned me a solemn glance. The air grew colder, and the dim light from the single bulb hanging on the ceiling, made eerie shadows stretch on the walls. The stairway came to a narrow end.
I gasped, taking everything in, anxiety settling like a knot wrapped around my lungs. I felt, oddly speechless.
We had found the House of Vines
The walls, floor, and even the ceiling were lined with countless bronze wires, twisting and turning like a living organism. These vines seemed to pulse with a life of their, like they had fused into a single, intense entity.
Each wire was connected to a central point in the middle of the room- the bomb. The device was intricate, with a digital timer counting down the seconds.
It was here the whole time?
The wires snaked out from it in all directions, creating a web that filled the entire space. The sight was overwhelming, and the ticking of the timer echoed in the silence.
This was rigged to blow the entire building. Terror flashed before my eyes. Raw, unfiltered fear and urgency.
Tick tick tick
That's what it was...?, I could only muse, my mind going blank with questions.
