In the corridor, Florence stared at the ceiling. Something invisible and sharp stabbed into both of her forearms.

Aisling, who got thrown and crashed through a door, was now nowhere to be seen.

A warm puff of air blew onto Florence’s face. Her heart sank, and she realized she couldn’t force herself to throw a kick.

However, footsteps on the creaky plank floor got closer.

Bang! A bullet whizzed over Florence.

A loud shriek echoed on top of her. The scratching on the wallpaper reappeared, getting farther away by the second.

Immediately, blood gushed out from the deep, pained puncture on her forearms. While she pressed hard with her hands against her wounds, an inky bobbed-haired woman holding a revolver rushed at a steady pace towards her.

This woman’s lips tightened into a thin line. She wore an unbuttoned black leather jacket over her ragged white shirt. Despite all of this, she maintained square shoulders and a straight back. While she put her revolver into her shorts pocket, her violet eyes had no life in them as she made eye contact with Florence.

“Who are you?” Florence asked.

“Yuze,” the inky-haired woman replied. She picked up Florence’s leather briefcase.

Yuze stretched her hands out to Florence and helped her to get up.

“I help,” Yuze said. She stared at Florence’s injured forearms, pointing at the briefcase.

“Absolutely, thank you,” Florence said. “Wait a minute. How did you know that is mine?”

A smirk spread on Yuze’s face, but she instantly concealed it with both hands. She walked through the smashed door.

Florence trudged in weakening steps following Yuze. However, to Florence’s surprise, Aisling was in another corridor with her eyes shut, not another room.

Yuze kicked Aisling in the stomach.

Aisling screamed and jumped to her feet. She grabbed the handle of her dagger and unsheathed it. “Where’s it!”

“Don’t worry,” Yuze replied. “It’s gone.”

Aisling smiled, and she hugged Yuze around the neck, bringing them closer together.

Aisling ruffled Yuze’s hair. “Took you long enough!”

“You… do whatever you are doing now,” Florence said. Her eyelids grew heavier while she applied pressure on her wounds. At this moment, she pointed down the corridor with her elbow. “I will be… heading back.”

In response, Aisling tilted her head, peering hard at Florence.

“Aisling?” Yuze asked.

“Nope.” Aisling laughed, putting away her dagger. She let go of Yuze’s neck. “I already… told her everything.”

Looking straight at Yuze, Florence asked, “Pardon me, could you give me my briefcase?”

However, a rumble rocked the entire building. The light flickered. Instantly, right after that, a screech echoed, bouncing off every surface. Seconds later, scratching on the wallpaper wailed behind Florence, getting louder each second.

Florence spun around.

But… nothing.

Sweat trickled down the nape of her neck, stiffening her muscles. Even now, she couldn’t sink her teeth into her lip. Whatever this thing was… it was chasing after them again.

A scream next to her almost pierced her eardrum. She was then dragged further away by her wrist. The plank floor blurred below her, jetting past various doors for what seemed to be an eternity. With every turn around the corner, another long, endless corridor greeted her.

She faced forward, realizing that the one tugging her was Aisling. At the same time, hurried footsteps followed behind her.

Thud!

Florence wheeled around. Her eyes widened at Yuze, who somehow fell down.

“Yuze!” Aisling shouted. She released her grip on Florence’s wrist and rushed towards Yuze.

Yuze withdrew her revolver from her shorts pocket. A click from the cocking of a revolver. Her arms extended, aligning the front and back sight of the revolver, aiming at the ceiling.

An explosion of gunshot erupted in front of Florence, shaking her. At this moment, she pounded her feet across the plank floor, running towards Yuze.

A shriek echoed above Yuze. Immediately, the scratching on the wallpaper retreated.

As Florence and Aisling got closer, they stopped at Yuze’s side. Blood oozed out from the tooth marks on Yuze’s left thigh.

“Stupid ability,” Yuze said.

Aisling knelt down. She smiled, glaring simultaneously at Yuze without saying anything.

Yuze cleared her throat. She pressed her hand down on her injuries. However, the blood kept flooding out from her laceration between her fingers and forming a puddle of blood.

“We have got to get to a safer place first,” Florence said. A tingle spread through her punctures on both forearms as she stared at the bite injury on Yuze’s left thigh. “Also, you need to pressure it harder. Since, you know…”

Nevertheless, for some reason, Yuze looked Florence in the eye.

“What do you mean by that? It looks kinda alright to me,” Aisling said.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Absolutely not.” Florence raised her eyebrows. She got down on her knees and pressured her elbow on Yuze’s bite mark, slowing down the bleeding.

Yuze threw her right arm over Aisling’s shoulder, and Florence had to remove the pressure on Yuze’s injured thigh as they got back on their feet. But Florence saw that Yuze had learned her lesson and had used enough force to reduce the bleeding.

Aisling yanked Florence’s leather briefcase from Yuze’s hand.

However, they had no time to waste, so they took small steps together. During this time, Aisling’s steady breathing morphed into a wheeze.

Out of nowhere, a bellow blasted through the air, sending electricity through Florence’s body.

A light flashed before her eyes. The entire building flipped upside down, causing her to lose her footing.

She, Aisling, and Yuze suddenly appeared in the middle of an uncrowded hall resembling a shining villa where partygoers would flock like moths. A feast overflowed with baked meatloafs, curried chicken salads, and beverages on the dining table. At the opposite end of the hall, an oil painting of a red eye hung high above an archway leading into a corridor. A sweet scent drifting from the crates of oranges at the corner stimulated Florence’s nose. She blinked at the chandelier, emitting a dim light as her sight blurred. A moment ago, she was in the corridor. So, how did she even end up here?

The bile rose up in Florence’s throat. She zipped her lips tight. The surge of sickness and pain building inside her. But she choked with an acidic fluid that filled and burned her mouth, spilling out and splashing onto the plank floor. A sharp, winy stench filled the air.

Aisling coughed, clenching her chest and abdomen. “At least we didn’t get separated from each other this time.”

“I am not sure what was happening here,” Florence said. “Pardon me, what are you talking about?”

However, before Aisling could open her mouth, a dull thump landed behind Florence. They whirled around, and the wallpaper with a wilted lotus pattern design leered at them.

“Did anyone else hear that?” Aisling whispered.

Scratch. A claw mark manifested on the plank floor a few inches from Florence. She stumbled backward as her arms numbed. And next to her, Aisling’s and Yuze’s faces turned pale.

Together, they dove under the dining table nearby.

Florence sank her teeth into her lips. The meals were blown off the edge on her left, splattering against the plank floor. Glass beverages and porcelain plates fractured, and metal cutlery clattered.

Scratching grew closer. Besides Florence, Aisling covered her mouth while trembling.

Yuze held onto her revolver, swinging open the cylinder. However, from what Florence could tell, the chambers had zero ammo. Yuze reached into her black leather jacket pocket, clicking her tongue.

A puff of wind blew down Florence’s neck, making the end of her hair stand up. She clenched her apron, hoping this would not be the last time she saw her sister.

The dining table that they ducked beneath wobbled and floated into the air. Then, it flew across the hall and crashed against the wall.

The wind howled. A thick layer of air wrapped around Florence’s neck, crushing her trachea. She choked and clawed her neck to no avail.

Suddenly, a powerful and invisible force yanked her, sending her flying above the chandelier. Gravity tugged her back down, and she crashed straight through one of the dining tables. Pieces of piping hot meat burned her skin. Some of the curry got into her mouth, tingling her taste buds.

She let out a groan, picking herself up.

However, Aisling and Yuze got propelled towards Florence, knocking her over.

Aisling gasped. “The good news is that we’ve none… at all.”

“How is that good?” Florence asked.

Aisling hushed, placing her finger on her lip.

A puff of warm air exhaled, followed by a sniff onto Florence’s face. However, it wasn’t Aisling or Yuze. It was something in front of them that couldn’t be seen.

The clawing reappeared again, but this time getting quieter. Whatever this was, it didn’t appear to have seen Florence, Aisling, and Yuze.

Aisling snatched a fork nearby that had clattered onto the plank floor. She stood up, helping both Florence and Yuze to get back up.

Together, step by step, tiptoeing to the archway. Nevertheless, beneath Florence, the plank floor creaked.

The scratching stopped.

When they were about to depart from the hall and enter a corridor, Yuze collapsed next to Florence. Right away, Aisling crouched down, pulling Yuze back up.

Florence looked over her shoulder. The claw marks materialized as each one approached her. She wrapped her arms around Yuze’s cold and clammy waist, supporting her balance.

The plank floor creaked as they limped down the corridor and towards the intersection. One corridor led to an elevator. Its metal doors open. However, the other corridor had no end in sight. There may still be a way for Florence to return to work and take care of her sister.

Her vision blurred as she turned her head towards Aisling’s and Yuze’s wounds. How could Florence simply ignore them in this condition? She couldn’t. She had to do something.

“We’ve gotta keep moving now!” Aisling said, breathing heavily.

Florence and Aisling carried Yuze to the elevator, each step becoming more burdensome for Florence.

Behind them, the scratching grew louder, approaching them faster.

They lunged themselves into the elevator. Aisling’s arm stretched out as she leaped towards the columns of buttons displaying numbers from zero to a hundred. She clicked the lowest floor level.

The elevator whirled to life, sliding the doors to a close. Nonetheless, it halted halfway.

Something invisible in between the gap howled. An invisible force slashed at Aisling’s abdomen. Blood trickled out of her small gash. She let out an ear-piercing scream, tossing the fork through the slit between the doors, clattering on the plank floor. However, it somehow glided from right to left by itself.

The door finally closed.

“Give me my briefcase, Aisling,” Florence said.

Aisling, now pushing down on her own wounds, released her grip around the leather briefcase and dropped it next to Florence. Florence opened her leather briefcase with a finger flick, removing the dressing pad, gauze bandage roll, and scissors. Blood flowed out from the puncture on her forearms.

Immediately, unfolding the dressing pad, she slapped it on one of her bleeding punctures. Then, she unraveled the bandage, wrapping it around her wounds and tying a reef knot on the pad to keep it in place. The longer end of the bandage was snipped.

Again, she performed the same procedure on her other forearm.

Aisling leaned against the wall, holding onto the elevator handrail. “I’m not… going back there any time soon.”

“Is that place… haunted by a ghost or something?” Florence asked. She picked up another dressing pad from her leather briefcase. “And was it like trying to kill us?”

“Yup, I guess you could kinda say it’s haunted,” Aisling responded in a quieter voice, looking away from Florence. “But I kinda doubt that it wants us dead.”

Thud! Yuze nodded off, falling flat. A gush of blood exploded from the bite injury on her left thigh.

At that moment, Florence wiped her hand on her apron. Then she pushed the dressing pad down, stopping the bleeding tooth marks on Yuze’s left thigh.

“But… how does that thing we just encountered have anything to do with our case?” Aisling asked.

Florence wrapped the bandage around Yuze’s bite wound, tying a reef knot as a final touch. “You have to figure it out yourself,” she said. “More importantly, you must get to the hospital first!”

Eventually, she cut the longer end of the bandage.

Her nail pressed beyond Yuze’s wound for five seconds until it went pale, then released the pressure. Within two seconds, the color of Yuze’s skin returned. Immediately, Florence lifted Yuze’s leg above the level of her heart.

After that, she turned towards Aisling, pulling her hooded shirt high enough to treat the wounds on her abdomen.

“Well… Florence,” Aisling said. “We’re actually gonna have to get your stats sorted out.”

But no words came out as she opened and closed her mouth.

Florence blinked. Everything in front of her twisted and spun. Fluid profused out from her bandage, tickling her skin.

Her vision blurred, becoming darker and… darker.

Until… everything went black.