The Candle And The Boy

Crossing into Nothingness

Ren was still standing in the middle of the room after the Red-faced Man disappeared. The feeling of fear and mystery began to mix with something else... something deeper than mere terror. There was a sense of drifting, as if he was drowning in a whirlpool of confused memories.

Ren began to walk cautiously towards the closed door, his hand trembling as it reached for the cold handle. When he grasped it, his fingers felt a slight electric current as if the cottage itself was pulsing with life. He tried to open the door, but it didn't move. A feeling of frustration began to creep in, as if he was stuck in an inescapable trap.

"How will I get out of here?"

He slowly pulled his hand back, stepping backwards, recalling what had just happened. The words uttered by the Red-faced Man were still ringing in his ears. "Not every secret should be uncovered. Some secrets can be deadly."

He began to realize that his presence in this place was not just a coincidence. There was a buried secret, a secret connected to his family and his past. But questions were piling up quickly in his mind, and he had no answers.

In the corner of the room, the painting was still hanging, but this time it was different. The image of the Red-faced Man had disappeared. Instead, there was a new picture... a picture of Ren himself.

"What? How...?"

He quickly approached the painting, staring at its details. There was no mistake, that was his picture. He was standing in the same place he was standing now, but what worried him more was the facial expression in the picture. His features carried the same sense of awe he was feeling now, as if the painting was reflecting his trapped soul.

The room began to sink into darkness bit by bit. The candle that had been lighting the place began to dim, and shadows started to gather around him. Ren felt that time was passing quickly, as if moments were turning into hours.

"There must be a way out of this place..."

As he was trying to think of his next move, he began to hear strange sounds creeping into the room. The sound was like whispers coming from a distant place, echoing in his ears as if they were echoes of thoughts buried long ago.

He slowly backed away, looking around anxiously. The place seemed to be pulsing with life in a strange way. The old dilapidated walls began to move, as if they were breathing with him. Suddenly, he noticed that the floor under his feet had started to crack slowly.

"This isn't real... this is all just an illusion."

But no matter how much he tried to convince himself of that, the realities around him were tightening their grip on him. The cracks in the floor were widening rapidly, and beneath them, an endless dark abyss began to appear. He felt panic as he tried to escape from the place, but the ground was collapsing around him.

Suddenly, he found himself falling... falling into darkness

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