Minjeong threw her gaze to the guy once again when he made another rustling noise of the bedsheets.
She held her breath.
This attractive guy was about to wake up from his sleep and she didn't want him to find her standing anywhere near him when that happens. He wouldn't be happy to find out that someone barged in when he was asleep.
Quietly, she stepped away from him and made her way back towards the door.
I should have searched for my brother, she scolded herself, skulking through the door.
Jeno attempted to open his eyes but the lids felt heavy.
He couldn't get himself to open his eyes but as he drifted between sleep and awareness, visions of his wife and children floated in his thoughts and caused him to stir again in his bed.
He forced one of his eyes open for a brief moment, but the bright light was overwhelming and he closed it again. Slowly his eyes drifted open and he took in his surroundings through squinted eyes. He found himself in a bright, low-ceilinged narrow room. It took awhile for his eyes to adjust to the bright light.
As Jeno slowly pushed himself to sit up a sudden pain began to surge through his body. He groaned painfully and fell down, his body colliding with the hard floor but soon he brought himself to his knees and rose to his feet.
"My grandmother's sister?" Karina tilted her head to one side thoughtfully.
The scary old woman nodded slowly, walking back towards Karina and stood in front of her with her hands rested on the top of her cane.
"You and Jeno found her body inside the chest in the storage years ago." She explained, a creepy smile across her face.
"How did she die?" Karina asked quietly, many questions began to surface inside her mind. She was curious about the grisly old woman with red eyes who had been haunting her inside the house.
"She killed herself by thrusting a dagger deep within her heart." The old woman replied, still with that creepy smile plastered on her face.
Karina grimaced upon listening to her answer but found herself wanting to know more about her grandmother's sister.
"Let me tell you a little thing about her." The old woman said, stepping closer to her.
"One time, a fugitive ran into this house to hide but just a few hours after he entered this house, his dead body was found lying in the livingroom. A servant said, your grandmother's sister whispered something in his ear and he started to scream for the long hour before he encased his head in a plastic bag and asphyxiated himself."
Karina gasped, chills creeping along her skin.
And in a quietest, menacing voice, the old woman said.
"I tell you, she doesn't like seeing anyone being happy." A grin stretched to each side of her cheeks before turning around to leave.
Karina looked down at the ground, clutching her hands into fists, feeling a sudden anger that once hidden below the surface.
"Just like you." She quietly said and the old woman stopped in her tracks.
"You killed my husband and imprisoned me here! What do you want actually?! I get that you hold a grudge towards my grandmother but she's already dead and I don't know why I deserve all the punishment!" Karina yelled at her, standing up from her seat. The old woman continued to step towards the door, ignoring the things that Karina just said to her.
"I'm not done yet!" She yelled again, grabbing a cushion and threw it at the old woman's back. However, she still didn't want to respond to her, walking through the door without a word.
Jisung was walking down a long, narrow corridor when he heard a strange sound coming from an open door to his left. He stood still for a moment until he heard a low voice.
"Come here, I'll tell you about your parents."
Without a second thought he went through that door but once he stepped inside, the door behind him suddenly slammed shut. He ran back towards the door to open it but to his horror, it was locked from the outside. He slowly turned around and pressed his back against the door only to find that he was all alone inside the room. An empty room with an old wardrobe stood strangely in the middle of the room.
He felt fear fill up his chest when a sudden gust of cold air sinking through his skin and the wardrobe door opened by itself, slowly and eerily.
He shut his eyes tightly and turned to face the door before hitting it with his fists.
"Get me out of here! Please get me out of here!" He cried. Full force, he pounded his left shoulder into the door.
Suddenly, he felt a warm breathing against his nape, causing him to pound the door even harder but to no avail, the door didn't even budge. Not an inch.
Something from behind him slowly ran its hand to his face with a sinister howling voice followed it and he quickly shut his eyes, squatting down with his hands covering his ears. He let out a shriek of so much fear, a shriek from the depths of his soul.
In the midst of tremendous terror the thoughts about his parents whom he long to see floated inside his fearful mind.
"Mom...dad..." he whispered fearfully.
"Jisung...you here?" Minjeong called out as she poked her head into another dim room and quickly stepped away when she didn't get any reply. That was when she felt a cold hand lightly touched her shoulder that sent the creepy-crawly sensation all over her body but when she turned around, she saw no one. She gulped hard and began to walk away as she felt the hairs at the back of her neck stood tall; the eerie feeling of being watched crawled up her spine.
She turned around every so often to see if someone was following her but she didn't see anyone and all that could be heard was only the sound of her own footsteps, thumping against the floor. She walked down the stairs and continued to find her brother until she registered a dark silhouette standing in the shadows.
"Jisung..." she called out but in one fluid motion the dark silhouette disappeared and she felt another cold hand touched her shoulder.
A sudden rush of fear began to creep into her again.
Turning around, she was greeted by the image of a ghastly old woman with a pair of frightening red eyes drilled into hers. Minjeong screamed and stumbled backwards, falling onto her back. She crawled backwards until her back hit a wall behind her.
The frightening creature did not say a word but a corner of her mouth twisting into a devilish grin as she slowly stepped towards her and Minjeong screamed her loudest scream.
Karina looked up from the photo she was staring at when she heard an indistinct screaming sound coming from somewhere inside the house. It wasn't clear if it was a sound of a real person or it was just another strange sound that she heard almost every night inside the scary old house but something inside her told her to run to the sound. She quickly put the photo inside the drawer and grabbed her coat before dashing out the door.
A screaming sound slowly faded as she strolled down a narrow corridor and entered a small hall. She found a scary old woman with a pair of red eyes standing in the middle of the hall, flashing her a disturbing grin. Behind her was a girl with long hair that covered a part of her face, she sat with her back pressed up against the wall with her knees hugged against her chest, her whole body trembling.
Karina could tell that this girl was extremely terrified. The scary old woman then vanished, leaving her with the poor girl alone in the small hall.
Karina slowly approached her and gently tapped her shoulder when she was on her level. The girl let out another scream but quickly stopped when their eyes met.
"Are you okay?" She asked softly while the girl just stared at her in wonder.
Karina looked at the girl concerndly and that was when she realized something about her.
She could see her.
This could only mean one thing; she was also trapped inside this house.
Before Karina could ask her further questions, a sudden clunking noise of the old woman's cane was heard approaching them from behind and she felt a sudden sharp pain on her back before everything went black.
Minjeong let out a gasp of shock when she saw the old woman hit the girl in front of her with her cane until she passed out. Quickly, she crawled away from them in so much terror. Everything that happened in just one night inside this utterly scary house was just too much for her. Now she just wanted to find her brother and leave this place immediately. She climbed to her feet and ran into another long corridor.
"Cheol!" The old woman called out in a loud, shrill voice and a moment later an old servant rushed to her.
"Take her back inside her room and make sure she stay inside her bedroom until the morning comes." She ordered before stepping away.
Jeno hurtled himself into Karina's room and when he didn't find her inside, he quickly ran to the bathroom as he called out for her name.
The sound of the bedroom door creaking open could be heard a few seconds later and he snapped his head to the left, peeking through the crack of the bathroom door. He saw Cheol gently laying down Karina's sleeping body on the bed and instantly his mind overflowing with ecstatic joy. He finally saw his wife again after all this time.
The old servant was about to leave when suddenly he saw Jeno bursting out from the bathroom. He widened his eyes in shock, unable to say something at the sight in front of him.
"I demand you explain to me about all the things that you and that sick old woman have been doing to me all this time! Everytime I tried to wake up, I felt a terrible pain all over my body then you and her would come to make me sleep again!" Jeno said in a heated voice, grabbing the old servant by the collar.
"Mr. Lee, I-I'm so s-sorry. I just followed her order." He stammered and Jeno eventually shoved him away before asking him another question.
"How long did I sleep in that narrow room?" His voice softened but anger still visible on his face.
"For more than thirteen years." Cheol replied quietly.
"What?" Jeno looked at him flabbergasted.
"No. No, that's crazy!" He exclaimed, shaking his head from side to side in stunned disbelief.
"Thirteen years...my wife...look at her, she still looks like she's 23." Jeno said, sitting down on the bed and gazed at her.
"Mr. Lee, both you and your wife stop aging as you two spend your time inside this house." The old servant explained sadly.
"No..." Jeno shook his head again and stood up. Tensely, he paced around the room as the visions of his children began to surface from his mind.
"I haven't seen my wife and my children for more than thirteen years." He said then his eyes fixed on the sleeping Karina, staring at her in utter sadness.
"My wife, she's the one who suffers the most."
Jeno sat down on the bed again and gently held her hand.
Just then they heard a loud banging sound from the walls of her bedroom followed by a strange howling noise that made the old servant feel uneasy.
"Mr. Lee, I have to go." He said before running through the door and slammed it shut.
"Jisung..." Minjeong called out frightfully, walking down a long narrow corridor until she noticed an open door a few meters to her left side. Slowly, she moved towards the door and saw that the room was completely dark, only a tiny shaft of gray light crept through from outside.
She stepped inside but then her foot caught on something. She tripped and fell on the floor. Lying with her face pressing against the cold floor, she realized something that made her chest fluttery; the air held the familiar scent of leather fragrance that she recognized as her brother's. She quickly stood on her feet to find a lightswitch and once the light was on, she finally saw the very clear image of the body she had tripped on.
Jisung was lying on the floor in a fetal position, his face was ghostly pale, and his expression fixed in a blank stare.
Minjeong broke into a scream and sat down on the floor, gently placing his head on her lap. A quiet breathing could be heard from him then his lips parted slightly as he whispered weakly.
"Mom...dad..."
Karina fluttered her eyes open, a tiny scowl creasing her lips when she felt a hand was holding hers. Through her blurry vision she saw a figure of a man sitting on her bed and in a flash she yanked her hand away from the stranger's grip.
But then a voice that was familiar to her rang into her ear. She rubbed her eyes and quickly sat up on her bed.
It was a dream.
She was quite sure it was a dream. A beautiful one, for she found herself face to face with her husband. A person who had passed away many years ago.
She didn't want to wake up from this dream.
She traced the outline of his cheek and cried in joy at how real the dream was. She could feel how he gently placed his lips upon her forehead and the gush of his warm breath touched her face.
"I missed you. A lot." He whispered and pulled her into a warm embrace which Karina gladly returned, reaching her hands around his shoulders and leaning her cheek against his.
"I missed you too." She softly replied and shut her eyes tightly as tears slowly streamed down her face, hoping that this dream wouldn't end too soon.
They brought themselves apart a few minutes later and Karina took his hands, placing them against her now tear-stained cheeks. The warmth of his palms somehow eased the pain that she felt as she thought about their children and that night when she had to let him die in her arms. How she wished this moment would stay forever.
But this beautiful dream had to end forcefully and turned into a nightmare when she suddenly heard a sickeningly clunking noise of the old woman's cane drawing near. Shivers of panic shot through her.
"No...I don't want this dream to end...I don't want it." She said, her voice cracked with fear. Then in a low tone, she could hear Jeno's shooting voice slipped into her ear.
"Honey, look at me. This is not a dream...I'm still alive and we're gonna leave this house together. I promise."
She was dazed and started wondering if this was even a dream or her husband was really there in front of her, whispering some nice things to her.
Jeno swiftly ran to her closet and wedging himself inside before the door creaked open and revealed the scary old woman, grinning evilly to the girl who was sitting on the bed.
"Why do you keep coming to my room?" Karina asked coldly, furtively glanced at her closet, hoping this old woman wouldn't find out that Jeno was inside this room. Even if this was just a dream, she would do anything to save him from this sick old woman.
"I just wanted to make sure you stay inside your room and not wandering around this house." The old woman replied with her signature creepy smile.
"Can you see? I'm inside my bedroom and about to get some sleep so get out of my sight!" Karina said angrily and the old woman let out a grin before closing the door and left.
She waited until the sound of her cane clunking against the floor faded before she rushed to the closet to get her husband.
"You still here. This is by far the most beautiful dream I've ever had since I trapped inside this house." She exclaimed upon seeing her husband still there inside her closet, safe and sound.
Jeno slowly stepped out of the closet and a weak smile crept out of his lips before saying.
"You silly, I told you you're not dreaming. I'm still alive."
Karina was stunned and numb in her spot, hunting some words to reply to him as she was still sure she was dreaming.
Jeno brought his mouth to hers for a long, deep kiss, catching her by surprise.
The taste of the kiss, the warmth of his mouth, and how he gently sucked the bottom of her lip were surprisingly real. She felt the tip of his tongue against her lips, gently parting them, then slowly moving inside her mouth to meet her tongue passionately.
This was absolutely not a dream.
Minjeong jerked her head up when she heard a loud crashing sound from the window. She saw that the window glass was shattered as if someone had slammed a brick through it. Soon, a strong wind gusted through the shattered window, swaying the wardrobe door that was stood in the middle of the room. The door swayed back and forth and its hinges creating an eerie squeaking noises as the lights strangely began to blink on and of.
She swallowed hard and hugged her brother even tighter. A cold chill froze the back of her neck and her throat ached.
Then, she heard a quiet, steady whisper in her ear.
"Lee Minjeong. Lee Jisung."
Her heart pounded rapidly.
"Lee Minjeong. Lee Jisung."
The whisper could be heard once again and she clamped her jaw shut to keep her teeth from chattering. The lights then stopped flickering and soon it went out and the darkness blanketed the room, leaving only a tiny square of lights from outside. She dragged her brother to where the light fell upon the ground.
"Noona..."
Another whisper. But it came from Jisung.
Minjeong quickly snapped her head down and looked at her brother. He was staring at her with his eyes widely open and a gurgling noise escaped his throat.
"Jisung." She called out but he didn't reply.
"Jisung..." she called out again but still no reply then she realized her brother wasn't staring at her.
He was looking past her.
Slowly Minjeong turned her head towards the window.
The ghastly old woman with a pair of terrifying red eyes was peering at them from outside, through the shattered window, sending them a daunting grin; her white hair was wild, flying around that scary face.
She let out a fearful scream and buried her face in her brother's neck.
"Noona..." Jisung said in a weak whisper after several seconds and she lifted up her head again.
"Noona...look..." he whispered haltingly, rising his hand and pointed his finger towards the window.
Minjeong shook her head frightfully.
"Noona...look..." jisung repeated.
Minjeong eventually turned her head back and looked at the shattered window.
The old woman was pointing her finger towards the wardrobe as if telling her to approach it. She looked at her brother once again before she gently lifted up his head from her lap and rose to her feet.
Jisung then weakly rested his back against the wall, his eyes fixed on the swinging wardrobe door that he could barely see in the dark.
"B-b-but I saw you died." Karina stammered, still couldn't believe that her husband was still alive.
"I'll explain to you later. Now we just need to get out of this place." Jeno replied, clasping their hands together and pulled her towards the door.
"Wait, we can't get out of this place. I've been trying to escape but I never found a way out." She said, stopping him from stepping farther.
"That night when I escaped, I found the only way out of this house." Jeno said firmly, pulling her hand again.
"Wait." Karina stopped him again.
"Our family photo."
She ran to her nightstand and began rummaging through the nightstand drawer.
"No...it's gone! The photo is gone!" She cried out before turning to face his husband again.
"Jeno, it's the only photo of our family that I keep in this house." She said frantically.
"Honey, it's fine. I promise we're gonna leave this house and we'll see our kids. You don't need their picture anymore." Jeno soothingly said, running his fingers through her hair and down to her cheek gently.
Karina stared at him and eventually nodded her head.
"Noona...be careful." Jisung weakly said before his sister started to step towards the wardrobe.
A pale white light from the moonlight washed through the broken glass window, illuminating the inside of the wardrobe. Minjeong held its door from swinging back and forth and noticed something on the top shelf of the wardrobe. It was a photograph. She took it out and quickly ran to her brother.
"Jisung, look!" She said as she got to his level. They narrowed their eyes and took a good look at the photo.
A happy couple were sitting side by side with their childern. The girl was holding a baby in her arms and a little girl was sitting on the guy's lap.
"Hey, I saw them before. This guy was sleeping inside a narrow room in the north wing and this girl..." She pursed her lips together.
"That old woman made her pass out." She continued in a low voice.
"The pretty noona...I saw her in the backyard." Jisung said in a weak tone.
"I don't understand why did that old woman show us this picture." Minjeong said glumly, looking at the picture again until she heard her brother chuckling.
Spinning her head to her side, she saw Jisung wiping the tears that ran down his cheeks.
"What's wrong?" She asked, squeezing his hand in concern.
"They are our parents..."
Minjeong blinked her eyes.
"What?"
"Noona, they are our parents...they are Lee Jeno and Yoo Karina. The kids in the picture were us."
"Okay, stop joking. I don't know what did that creepy creature do to you but that's insane. Our parents must be in their 30s right now." Minjeong replied quickly.
"Noona, there was a whisper in my ear...it told me that our parents are inside this house." Jisung said, gripping her wrist.
"No wonder that I felt something very different when I saw her earlier today. Something I've never felt towards anyone before...she's our mother, the one who gave birth to us. I know it. I can feel it." He added and a moment later Minjeong looked at him as a sudden thought swamp through her mind.
"Karina..." she quietly said.
"That guy whispered 'Karina' in his sleep." She said thoughtfully.
"Our mother's name." Jisung softly said and she quickly looked at the photo once again. Her mind racing.
"That means our parents never left us...they are trapped inside this house..."
"Okay, so I almost kissed my own father!"
Jeno and Karina stood in front of a half-opened door, tightly holding each other's hand. Jeno slowly pushed the door widely open and all that could be seen was a hazy light of the moon filtered through the windows that cast the room in a sinister, ghostly blue. He stepped inside first and Karina followed him from behind.
"I've never been in this part of this house before." Karina said, noticing that the room was completely new to her.
The walls were lined with empty bookshelves and in the middle of the room stood a dilapidated king-sized bed, rats were crawling up from it as both of them stepped farther inside the room.
"I found this room on the night I escaped from this house." Jeno replied, leading her closer to an empty bookshelf at the back of the room.
Karina watched him examining the top shelf and stretching out his hand to press it. A grinding sound was heard and soon they saw the wall sliding. She gasped when she realized that the wall spun around, revealing a dark entrance that was once hidden.
"I thought this kind of thing only exist in movies." She murmured, looking at the dark entrance in awe.
"We can't leave this house if we run through the gate but this entrance will lead us into a long tunnel until we find a door to the outside." Jeno explained, remembering the time when he managed to escape from this house.
Karina quickly gave him a tight hug and a peck on his lips.
"You're amazing! Finally we can get to see our kids!" She exclaimed happily and grabbed his hand before they both went through the dark opening.
"Mr and Mrs Lee."
A loud voice suddenly called out to them, stopping them from taking another step. They turned around and saw Cheol walking towards them.
"Sir, Madam, you both can't leave this house at the moment." He softly said.
"Why?" Jeno narrowed his eyes.
The old servant took a deep breath and looked at them sadly.
"Your children...they are here, inside the house." He said in a low tone.
"What do you mean?" Jeno and Karina asked in unison.
"That woman captured them and now they are inside the room, somewhere on the second floor. You have to save them because she's going to kill them after she drinks your daughter's blood. The blood of a virgin." He added, his lips quivered.
"N-no..." Karina uttered quietly, holding Jeno's arm tightly as her eyes started to glisten with tears.
Suddenly she thought about the girl she saw earlier that night.
"That girl...I saw a terrified girl inside a dim hall." She began, looking up at the old servant. Her eyes showed fear.
"Is she my daughter?" She quietly asked and the old servant nodded his head sadly.
Jeno's eyes widened. His face frozen in an expression of horror. Then he turned to see Karina, her eyes filled with tears, tears that overflowed onto her pale cheeks.
"Honey, you leave first. I'll go get them." He grabbed both of her arms then ran his hands to her face, gently brushing her tears.
"No! I'll go with you. I am their mother." Karina prostested, quickly shook her head.
"Mr. Lee, that evil woman cast a spell on this house. She cast a spell on me and made me her personal servant to do her evil bidding. Mrs. Lee will replace me to do her evil bidding as soon as she kill your children. You must get your children out of this house immediately before it's too late." The old servant said feverishly.
And before Jeno and Karina ran out of the room, the old servant grabbed Jeno by his sleeve in a swift motion.
"Mr. Lee, there's one thing I have to tell you and your family. That woman has also cast a spell on this long tunnel. This wall can only be opened one more time. Once this wall is closed, no one can enter this tunnel forever."
When Jisung finally regained his strength, he and his sister slowly walked out of the room. They crept along the narrow corridor and entered a dim hall when they heard strange footsteps. Minjeong squeezed his brother's arm tightly when she recognized that it was a sound of a cane clunking on the floor. The creepy old woman was coming to them.
Fear and panic rose up, choking her.
"We have to find our parents immediately!" She said, pulling her brother by his wrist.
They ran side by side down the hall but strangely the clunking sound grew louder and heavier as if they weren't running.
Then they heard a laugh behind them.
Jisung glanced back behind them but saw nothing.
Another laugh.
Another clunking sound.
The siblings ran even faster in blind panic.
They stopped when they found a door into another room. Jisung pulled oven the door; he saw a bright room cluttered with boxes and packing crates stacked all around the room. They walked inside then the door behind them slammed shut all of a sudden.
"Oh, not again!" He cried, running back towards the door.
Minjeong followed him and together they slammed and rammed the solid door with their bodies.
"Do you think that creepy old woman locked us up here?" She asked.
"There's no one else." Jisung replied quietly. They kept on ramming their bodies against the door until they heard indistinct voices calling their names.
"Did you hear that?" Jisung asked.
Yoona nodded and they pressed their ears against the door.
"Minjeong! Jisung!" Jeno and Karina shouted as they walked down the hall, always alert for any sign of the scary old woman.
The siblings looked at each other in wonder, blinking their eyes confusedly as a realization slowly crept across their minds. They let out a gasp upon hearing the voices getting closer.
"Mom and dad!" They exclaimed in unison before they began to slam the door again.
"Mom! Dad!"
Karina turned her head around upon hearing the sounds that came from the door that stood at the end of the hall.
"Minjeong! Jisung!" She called out from outside the door, turning the doorknob feverishly. Jeno came from behind her and knocked on the door heatedly.
"Minjeong! Jisung! You there?" He asked in a loud tone.
"Dad, someone locked us up here!" Came a boy's voice. That must be Jisung, Jeno thought.
"Mr. Lee, I have the key."
Jeno and Karina spun around and found Cheol hurriedly running towards them.
He quickly slid the key into the lock and turned it. The door opened with a creak and the image of two teenagers standing in the doorway greeted them. Seohyun almost burts out crying at the sight of her now teen children. It had been more than thirteen years since the last time she saw them. Her daughter had grown up to be very pretty and his son had grown up to be a handsome and tall boy.
Minjeong and Jisung threw a look at each other before they looked back at their young parents, feeling nervous for they hadn't seen them since forever. But slowly Minjeong took a step towards her mother and wrapped her in a hug. Jisung followed her and enveloped his father with his arms.
However this moment had to end as the old servant pulled Jeno by his wrist, giving him the look that telling him to leave this place immediately. He nodded and broke the hug gently, giving his children a fatherly smile before saying.
"We must leave this place. We don't have much time."
They ran through the hall and entered another long corridor before they finally reached the room with empty bookshelves inside. They ran breathlessly inside the room and Jeno led his family to the back of the wall where they could see a dark opening of what seemed like an entrance into a tunnel.
Just as they about to enter the tunnel, an eerie clunking noise of the old woman's cane could be heard stepping into the room. They fearfully whirled around and found the scary old woman standing in the middle of the room just beside the dilapilated king-sized bed. Just a few seconds later another scary old woman joined her and stood beside her. Her terrifying red eyes made Karina gripped Jeno tightly by his arm.
"You shouldn't have left the door open." The scary old woman said in her dominant, daunting voice.
Minjeong and Jisung shivered in fear, taking a step backward.
Karina watched the old woman slowly reaching towards them, each step pronounced by the hard tapping of her cane hitting the floor. She pulled out a knife from inside her dress as she cracked a grin, her eyes fixed on a terrified Minjeong was holding her brother frightfully. She knew what was that old woman going to do to her daughter. If they went through that tunnel, that old woman would follow her into the tunnel and try to hurt her children.
Through the absolute fear, Karina swiftly pushed Jeno and her children inside the dark entrance of the tunnel.
"Karina!" Jeno watched in horror as his wife pressed the top shelf and the wall began to spin again. He saw Karina smiled sadly at him before the wall completely spun away and concealed him with his children from his wife who was now at the other side of the wall. It happened so fast and Jeno couldn't do anything to stop it.
"No...honey...why did you do that?" Jeno dropped to his knees and pressed his palms against the wall as a terrible pain clutched his heart. He couldn't bear to lose her again, he couldn't bear the thought of not seeing her again. Soon he felt two pairs of arms wrapped him from either side of his body. His children embraced him, he heard them sobbed hardly and he felt their tears against his shoulders.
"You fool! You let your husband and your children to just go like that! Leaving you here all alone." The old woman screeched, angrily throwing her cane to the floor.
Karina stood still, looking at the old woman with hatred.
"You can never touch them!"
"You are fool! Your husband will find someone else and your children will have a new mother. They will live happily while you're trapped here forever!" The old woman replied angrily.
"Just so you know I only need your daughter's blood then I'll let you and your family to leave this house." She added, earning a soft chuckle from Karina.
"You will kill them and make me your personal servant." She replied bitterly.
The old woman shook her head and stepped forward towards her.
"I have always wanted to kill them. To kill you. But I surprised myself that I actually don't want to even lay a hand and you. I'm not going to kill you Yoo Karina nor I'm going to make you my personal servant." The old woman said in a surprisingly soft tone that made Karina tilt her head in confusion. She wasn't the sick old woman whom she first met years ago.
"I have forgiven your grandmother." She declared in another soft tone and Karina realized something strange about her. She didn't look so scary anymore. Her expression was soft and sorrow spread across her face. What happened?
"You remind me of my daughter. Pretty and kind." She continued on and slowly she stepped away from the now confused Karina.
"Wait. Do you mean everything you just said?" She asked, quickly ran to her and blocked her way.
The old woman cracked a slight smile and softly touched Karina's cheek as she nodded her head. Then before she left, she flashed her a sad smile.
"Yoo Karina, we can never leave this house."
A few weeks later.
Karina stood by her window, one hand holding the curtains aside, staring blankly at the moonless night sky. Her mind was overwhelmed with the thoughts of her husband and her children and slowly tears escaping her eyes again.
"Mrs. Lee."
The old servant's voice came with the sound of her door creaking open. Karina spun around as she mopped her tears up with her shirt sleeve. She knew that he came to call her for dinner and quietly she followed him out of her room without a single word.
Stepping inside the dining room, the old woman in her usual black dress welcomed her with a strange smile.
She sat down in front of the old woman in the candlelight dining room, coldly stared down at her plate as the old servant placed the soup on the table.
"Yoo Karina." The old woman called out and Karina slowly looked up from her food, looking at her expressionless. But before the old woman could say anything, the door swung open and a shadowy figure stepped into the dining room doorway. It was the frightening old woman, dressed in a swirling white gown down to her ankles. She stood blocking the doorway, her red eyes flaring at Karina.
Karina looked away from her, feeling terrified.
"Yoo Karina." She called her name, quietly, coldly. It was the first time Karina heard her saying a word and she didn't like it.
"Look at me when I talk to you!" She shrilled, slightly jolting Karina from her seat. She finally lifted up her head and met the old woman's scary red eyes.
" We are having dinner. You could talk to her later!" The old woman in the black dress snapped as she hit the table with her palm.
"I can talk to her as I pleased!" The old woman with red eyes replied, glaring at the old woman who was sitting in front of Karina.
The two scary old women started to have a heated argument and Karina wished she was somewhere else at the moment. She quietly continued to eat her dinner while the old women before her threw cuss words at each other.
After a few minutes, they finally stopped and the old woman with scary red eyes sat down beside the old woman in the black dress before throwing Karina a very disturbing grin. They didn't say anything for a long while until Karina lifted up her head once more and glanced at the two old women.
"I have a question." She began and the two old women shot her a look.
"If we can't even leave this house then where did you get all these kind of foods?" She asked curiously and the two old women cracked into a laughter as if she was just asking something funny.
"That is something you will never know the answer." The old woman in the black dress answered with a grin.
The days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. Karina and the two old women lived a somewhat comfortable life inside the old house. In the mornings they would gather in the dining room; when the sun high in the sky they would sit in the living room and the two old women started talking about their painful past while Karina listened with interest and when the night approached they would gather in the dining room again for dinner though the old woman with red eyes would just sit silently, watching the other two eating their foods. Often, Karina witnessed some people stepped inside the house and the two old women would scare the hell out of them until they ran out of the house. She thought they would kill them but she was wrong; they didn't even touch them and she wondered why.
Though the two old women had become like a family to her but when she was alone in her room, she would cry her eyes out, thinking about her husband and her children whom she would never see ever again.
"Yoo Karina."
Karina stirred in her bed and rubbed her eyes upon hearing the old woman called her name. She slowly sat upright and saw the two figures of the old women standing in front of her bed. A glance at her clock let her know it was a few minutes past midnight.
"Come with us." One of the old women said as they started to walk towards the door.
Karina threw on a robe before following them out of her room. They looked strange, not even saying a single word as they strolled down a carpeted hallway and suddenly they stopped in front of a closed door. The old woman with red eyes slowly pushed the door open, revealing a dark room. She then gestured Karina to enter the room which made her frown in confusion. The old woman in black dress gently pushed Karina inside the room when she didn't move an inch.
"Hey!" She cried out.
Once she was inside, for the very first time she saw the two old women gave her a smile that she found weird. Not a scary smile but a smile from the deepest part of their heart.
"See you again, Karina." She heard them saying before they shut the door closed, leaving her in a complete darkness.
"Hey! This isn't funny!" She shouted, hitting the door with all her might and strength.
"Are we doing the right thing? You will lose all your ability to do evil thing." The old woman with red eyes said to the old woman beside her.
In a quietest tone, the old woman in black dress said.
"She deserves to be happy. And we can come visit her when we miss her."
She raised one hand and placed her palm against the door as she closed her eyes together.
The old woman beside her watched her as she cast a spell on the door and eventually collapsed to the floor.
In the darkness, Karina could feel soft fingers brushed over her as she walked forward, lingering for a moment. She struggled to free herself from it as it kept brushing over her. She choked out and let out a shriek as she spun away. Through panic she frantically ran around the dark room as her hands thrashed wildly. Tugging and tearing hysterically with both hands, she then realized she was walking into a thick blanket of cobwebs. She stood still for a moment, tearing the threads from her face and body.
She groaned and continued to walk forward in the blackness, groping around in the dark to find something to hold onto.
Her footsteps echoed through the dark room as she stepped farther. This seemed like a long passageway and she wondered if she ever found an end of this passageway.
"That two old women!" She murmured angrily.
After like an hour of walking through the dark passageway, she grew tired. She had sweat running down her forehead.
"I'm so kicking their legs when I get back!" She murmured again, wiping her sweat.
Another step. She bumped into something hard.
"Oughh!" She cried in pain, rubbing her forehead.
She could not clearly see what she had bumped into in the darkness but when she started to run her hands against it, she realized it was a door. Finally she found an end of this passageway. When she found the doorknob, she quickly turned it and pulled the door open. In front of her was another dark room.
She stepped inside.
She had gone only a few feet when she tripped over something, sending her body flying. And the next thing she knew, she was lying on her stomach, on top of something hard and it created a noise.
"Argh." She could hear a male groaned in pain and the next moment, the room turned bright.
The light was so blinding that she quickly shut her eyes. That was when she heard a very familiar voice called her name.
"Karina?"
The voice seemed so close as if the person was right in front of her face.
"Karina?" The voice repeated and she could hear a heavy breathing of the owner of the voice.
She slowly opened her eyes. There she saw a pair of beautiful eyes of her husband. He was blinking his eyes in bewilderment.
Then a sudden awareness hit her like the weight of a thousand bricks. She was lying above the body of her husband on the bed. She quickly jumped to her feet and looked around the room; in front of the bed was a closet. She was coming from the closet.
She ran to the closet and examined it but she only found a normal closet without a secret door to a passageway.
She blew out a sigh and her mind went to the two old women, remembering the last words they said to her and the smile they gave to her.
"Thank you..." she whispered.
"Honey...is this a dream?" Jeno's voice brought her back to the present. She whirled around and found him standing before her, confusion spreading across his handsome features.
Karina smiled and let out a joyful giggle before throwing her arms around him.
"No, you're not dreaming." She said, resting her head on his shoulder.
This is a beautiful dream, she heard him say.
"Jeno, I told you. You're not dreaming." She said with a soft giggle.
As they stood in each other's embrace, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of their breaths and their heartbeats until she heard him sob. Pulling away from the hug, she saw the tears that flowing down his cheeks.
"I don't want to wake up from this dream." Jeno said quietly. She could see the sadness in his eyes.
"You're not dreaming." She said, taking his hands and placed them on her face.
"Can you feel it? This is real." She said and slowly leaned in to kiss him on the lips.
Just several seconds later Jeno broke the kiss and blinked his eyes a few times as he touched his lips. Then he let his jaw dropped upon realizing that this moment was real. He wasn't dreaming.
He took a few steps back, trying to grasp everything that had happened and accidentally his body brushed against a glass bottle water on the nightstand. The bottle fell with a loud crashing sound.
"Honey! You're really here!" Jeno let out a huge smile, a smile that hadn't appeared on his face for a long while. He approached her again and pulled his wife into an embrace.
"Dad! What happened? We heard..." Jisung dashed from the door but quickly shut his mouth when he saw his mother was standing in the room, happily hugging his father.
"What happened?" Minjeong appeared a moment later and stood frozen upon witnessing the scene that was taking place inside the room.
"Mom..." she quietly said.
Karina gently pulled away from the embrace and saw her two children standing near the doorway, clad in their pajamas, staring at her in surprise.
She burst into tears as she ran to hug them.
One year later.
"Minjeong! Jisung." Karina called out.
"Hurry up! We're gonna be late." She said, glancing at the clock.
Jeno appeared from behind her and pecked her cheek.
"We still have 30 minutes. " He said, putting on his coat.
"This is my father's birthday. I don't wanna be late." Karina replied as she shot him a glare.
Jeno giggled and threw his gaze to the stairwell where his children were running down the stairs. They were laughing and giggling.
"Mom! Let's go!" Minjeong said, linking her arm with her mother's. Jisung followed them to the front door.
Jeno stood there for a while, staring at a huge family portrait that was hanging on the wall with a smile.
"Dad! Hurry up!" His son called out from outside, causing Jeno to shift his gaze to the front door.
"I'm coming!" He exclaimed before walking out through the door and closed it.
The huge family portrait was the new portrait of the family. Jeno and Karina were sitting side by side and their teen children, Minjeong and Jisung were standing behind them with a smile all over their faces. Karina was smiling happily as she held her new born baby in her arms and Jeno had his arm wrapped her shoulders as he smiled at the camera.
Meanwhile.
"Hey! What are we doing here? Oh Gosh look at that house! It looks more terrifying than the angry face of my mom." A girl said, following her friend as she sauntered into the front yard of an old house.
"I don't even know why we ended up being here. Our car just stop right in front of this spooky house." Her friend quickly answered.
"We should leave. This place is creeping me out." She said, feeling the hairy-rising feeling as they walked closer to the old house.
Suddenly the front door was opened by itself and the two backed away in a fast move. Soon, an old woman in black dress appeared from the door with a ceepy smile across that scary face.
"How may I help you?" She said with a grin that was more frightening than watching the scariest horror movie that they had ever seen.
The girls didn't reply.
They slowly took a step back and looked at each other frightfully before letting out a loud scream and swiftly ran to their car.
The old woman sighed and glanced at the old woman who was standing behind her; her horrific, red eyes were glowing.
"I guess it's just you and me again in this house." She said to her.
The End
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