“Haunted houses don’t exist.” said John.
“I didn’t say that. But people do go missing in places and are never seen again.” said Lucy.
“And that’s because of horrible humans doing terrible things to them.”
“Sometimes. What about the missing people who are never found again?”
“We just haven’t found them yet. It’s a big world.”
They were walking more slowly as they neared their destination: a trendy newly refurbished apartment building in a gentrified part of the old town whose entrance seemed to be hiding.
“What do haunted houses do - just scare you?” asked Lucy.
“Isn’t that the point?”
“Or what if something inhabits them, like a parasite, and turns them into things that need to consume like any other living thing?”
“I think you’ve cracked it. That’s definitely what’s happening to all the missing people who have never been found. Hungry buildings. Have you tried calling?”
Lucy shook her head. “There wasn’t a number, but the ad said to buzz the front door and they’d let us in.”
“I feel like we’ve circled this building twice now and not seen the front door. Do we need to say a magic word to reveal the entrance? Abraca…”
“Found it,”
“...it worked.”
The door unlatched after Lucy buzzed and the lobby light flickered on when they entered.
“Let me guess: the thirteenth floor?”
“Fourth - there’s only five floors.”
She pushed the button for the lift and they waited.
“Because I was talking about haunted houses?”
John shrugged.
“What would you rather talk about - how broke we are we need to scrounge for free furniture online to fill our tiny apartment?”
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John sighed. “Money’s not everything, you know.”
“It feels like it is when you don’t have any,” said Lucy.
The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. Lucy looked at her phone again to check the room number.
“I’m sorry, I just… horror’s never been my thing,” said John. “I had nightmares as a kid and… you know?”
Lucy grinned at him and nudged him as they ambled.
“Awfully quiet building isn’t it?” she said.
“Mmm. Perhaps everyone has their din-dins at 8pm or turns in extra-early because the residents are all old?”
They stood in front of the apartment mentioned in the ad.
“The door’s open,” said Lucy quietly.
The door was open - slightly. It had been opened and then left against the opened bolt.
She looked at John questioningly, holding up her hand. John nodded and Lucy knocked on the door.
They waited but heard no movement inside.
After a few moments, John sighed and knocked on the door, harder, then called out “Hello? We’re here about the coffee table - you buzzed us in a moment ago?”
Nothing.
Impatient, John pushed the door open and they peered inside. They saw a coffee table and two chairs in the middle of an otherwise empty room.
They looked at each other. This time Lucy called out “Hello?”
No reply.
“Did we get the wrong flat?” asked John.
Lucy looked at her phone. “No, look - that’s the coffee table and chairs in the ad. I wonder if they’ve moved everything else out and this is all that’s left?”
“So the current tenant is just waiting in an empty flat to get rid of their last pieces of furniture?”
“Sure,” said Lucy. “They’re probably on the phone in another room or in the bathroom.”
They waited a few more seconds but no-one appeared from the adjoining room or from the closed door in the corner that probably led to the bathroom.
“What do you want to do?” asked John.
Lucy had already taken a few steps into the flat. “Should we just… take them?”
“We could” said John, then his phone rang and he removed his hand from the door, which swung shut quickly and forcefully.
“Hello?” he said, trying the handle of the flat at the same time, but it didn’t give. Lucy would have to open it.
“John?” said a frightened voice at the other end of the line.
“Lucy? I didn’t even see you call me when - can you open the door? It closed and I can’t open it.”
“John, listen to me: where are you?”
“In the corridor, outside the flat - where else could I have gone? We just…”
“Listen: can you see the lift?”
“The lift… yes.”
“Don’t take the lift. Whatever you do. I don’t know what’s happening but I think the only way you can get out is to take the stairs.”
“What are you talking about - just open the door,”
“I can’t believe the phone worked - I’ve been trying for what feels like days and it’s never connected to anything,”
“Lucy, open the door,”
“I’m not there. I don’t know how much time you have left, but the only way you can get out is if you take the stairs - I think anyway. I took the lift and…”
The call ended abruptly.
John hammered on the door calling Lucy’s name.
He looked back and forth. None of the neighbours were emerging from their doors despite the racket he was making. Were they empty too - was this entire building vacant?
His heart beating fast, he decided to kick the door down. Before he was about to begin though the corridor lights went out, covering him in darkness. The door opened slightly then, a bright light emanating from within.
He pushed through the door. “Lucy, what the hell…”
Before realising he had walked into the stairwell. As this was registering in his mind, the door closed behind him.
He tried opening it but it was shut tight. There were stairs leading up and down and he began running down the stairs.
The stairs kept going, on and on. Four floors, five max, wasn’t it?
After he had gone down over ten flights of stairs, he tried the door onto the floor he was on but the door wouldn’t open. He looked through the viewing pane into the empty corridor, trapped.
The ad and the building are both still there.