𝔖𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢

Arc 1 (1)

Three years had passed. Death of Alan was concluded as suicide due to overdosing on drugs, while no one knew how he had got his hands on such intoxicating drugs and of course, no one really cared.

The house remained as it was, maintaining its usual schedule of alteration, a heaven's house in the day while a house worse than hell at night. The locals never tried anything nor did they have any courage to even wander within a 1 km radius around that house. The house was now famously described as "The House on the Devil's Hill", though it was quite an underestimated name since it was far worse than that.

As it got well-known, many facts were brought into light about the house. Within these three years along with the years before Alan's death, a total of a thousand people had died in that house. Each of them had either gone crazy and committed suicide, or had an accident causing an immediate death. One thing which was common in those dead bodies was that they all had either a knife or a blade playing a part in the process of their deaths.

Everything was a mystery and remained a mystery as no one dared to get curious because everyone knew one thing very clearly-

First step into that house was the first step towards death.

.......................................................................................

Summer had arrived. The blazing sun no longer offered a comfortable and warm light, rather started having the intensity of fire. The momentary cool wind that blew gave a moment of relief to the surroundings roasting under the extremely hot sun.

A young man, with a look of exhaustion yet excitement stood in front of the so-called Devil's abode. Looking at it in the day, one would seriously laugh at the person who gave the house that name. One might even advise that person to consult a psychiatrist.

As usual the house stood silently bearing an aura of eternal bliss under the blazing sunlight. The young man, named Evan, was informed of this house by one of his cousins, though they did warn him about the situation of the house. Nonetheless, after seeing the house with his own eyes, he just wanted to laugh and mock his cousin for his stupidity and ridiculous superstition.

Evan was a civil servant who earned quite a considerable amount of money. He worked hard at his job, though his dream was to become a writer. Neither able to fulfill his dream nor having the desire to let go of it, he had decided to keep it as a hobby. So his each and every day passed like this- working from morning till late afternoon, and then writing his own stories from evening till late at night if he had no office work to get done. He mostly loved to write horror, thriller and mysterious stories, yet he didn't believe in ghosts. He himself found it quite hilarious. How could he even write a thrilling horror story if he could not even imagine a ghost?!

Either way, he had actually checked out this apparently haunted house in hope that, if not witness an actual ghost, at least he should be able to experience something which could not be logically described. Maybe he would be able to use his own experiences to write a mind blowing science fiction. Who knew what the future held right? He may even become a renowned novelist!

With such bright and optimistic thoughts he went on to open the door of the house which he had bought after spending half of his lifetime savings, though saying lifetime wouldn't be suitable since he had got his job only 3 years ago. So yeah, his three years of savings were used upon this house.

It was quite strange how the price of the house was never lowered, rather had increased every day, despite the fact it was famous for being haunted.

But before Evan could even land his hands on the doorknob, the door was opened from the inside and there stood a dazzling lady in simple clothes with a glittery smile on her gorgeous face. Evan was flabbergasted for a moment. Then he rubbed his exhausted eyes and after putting a gentlemanly face he said, "Oh! Hello there! I'm your new neighbor, nice to meet you! My sincere apologies since it seems like I mistook your house as mine. Hope we could get along well in the future!" He was a rather quick-witted person. Maybe.

Turning around to leave, he took out his phone with a confused look in his eyes thinking his house must be somewhere near. He wasn't so lucky to get his hands on such a majestic looking mansion anyway. Heh! How stupid of him. Well either way, it wasn't that bad of a mistake since he got to meet such a fine-looking neighbor. Thinking about it now, many dramas showed such coincident meetings between the protagonists and their love interests! Suddenly a wide stupid grin spread across Evan's face as he fantasized about his romance filled years to come! Hehehehe! He had struck gold! Spring had finally arrived for him!

How he could make one thought turn around a full 360o, that was also a mystery he himself didn't know.