Nightmare Game
Copyright© 2025 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 13
The eerie scene unfolding before them sent a chill racing through the three onlookers.
The music seemed to hit its peak, with the rhythm growing faster and more urgent, while the shades behind the dolls rose and fell, letting out childlike giggles.
Hee hee, hee hee.
The dark shadows kept spreading, and the first to feel their impact was Lily’s body, lying right beneath them.
Her withered form was lifted like a marionette by some unseen force, hovering in midair with her head twisted at a ninety-degree angle and her limbs contorted in opposite directions.
It wasn’t just posed that way on purpose; her movements swayed to the music’s beat, performing a bizarre dance.
Several shades circled around Lily’s body, giggling as they danced along.
No one knew how much time passed before the piano notes abruptly stopped, the final one piercing the air like a scream right in their ears.
The trio instinctively covered their ears and crouched down, only to hear a heavy thud from ahead.
Lily’s body dropped to the floor like a kite with its string cut, and the shades froze in place as if rooted to the spot.
The giggling ceased, replaced by a chaotic murmur.
It was some kind of mysterious, unintelligible whisper echoing through the playroom.
When the whispers finally died down, the shades erupted into chaos, lunging wildly at Lily’s body like sharks drawn to blood.
Amid their frantic surge came the sounds of tearing flesh, crunching bones, and a grating friction that set teeth on edge.
In mere moments, the shades pulled back, and when Ethan peered in curiously, Lily’s body was nowhere to be seen.
The whole thing took less than thirty seconds; not a trace of her remained, whether devoured or disposed of in some other way.
Suddenly, Ethan felt an inexplicable shiver creep up his spine, goosebumps prickling his skin.
He focused his gaze and realized the shades had somehow turned to stare directly at them, eyeing them as fresh prey.
The piano from the next room started up again, its unsettling melody fraying their nerves.
The shadows began expanding once more, creeping visibly toward the door.
“Get out now!”
Ethan bolted for the exit without hesitation, noticing that the shadows couldn’t encroach on the area with the herbivore dolls, and the shades couldn’t venture into lit spaces either, so staying near those dolls should theoretically be safe.
But the path to the main door was slowly being eroded by darkness too, which would soon cut off their escape route.
Once blocked, they’d be trapped and helpless; if daylight faded without light to protect them, the shadows might not even need to act, as the nighttime monsters would kill them for not sleeping in their rooms, just like what happened to Lily.
Their only option was to dash out before the darkness fully covered the way.
Without a second thought, the three sprinted through the door.
“Head downstairs?” Albert panted as he asked.
“No, into the music room next door,” Ethan replied firmly.
“What?” Serena halted in her tracks.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.