Was It Real?
In the heavy rain, I stood at the back door of Thomas Villas, shivering as I was completely soaked. My eyes were filled with fear as I faced the door, unsure whether I should enter or not. I wanted to go inside, but something held me back.
Thomas Villas was standing out in the pouring rain, like an unwelcome memory that could not be erased. The elements battered against the ancient walls, as if nature had been trying to destroy it for many years, but the structure continued to exist.
There was a broken iron gate that groaned at the slightest touch from the wind. On top of the gate there was a rusted plate bearing the name “Thomas Villas.”
Past the gate, the overgrown garden was neglected. It looked like a strange force had made the grass grow unevenly because tall plants were drooping in a bizarre manner. Around the lawn area, there were broken stone structures that resembled distorted faces.
The house was quiet and dark. None of the windows shone light in the night; in fact, there was no sign of any living things being inside. All the windows seemed to stare at whoever was watching.
I knocked softly.
“Is anyone home? Please let me in,” I said.
Silence.
I knocked again, harder this time.
“Hello…?”
The door lock was already open. I slightly pushed the door and peeked inside, I saw no one there . I hesitated to go inside but then I gathered all my courage and stepped in.
Inside, everything was disturbingly silent...but not the silence that feels normal.It was the kind of silence that pressed against my ears, as if the house itself was holding its breath.
The moment my foot crossed the threshold, the temperature seemed to drop even further. My soaked clothes clung to my skin, but now I felt a different kind of chill—not from the rain, but from the place itself.
I slowly stepped forward.
"Helllooooo!?..."
The wooden floor creaked beneath me.
I froze.
For a few seconds, I didn’t move at all. I waited, listening, expecting something—anything—a voice, footsteps, a door slamming. But nothing came.
Only the faint sound of rain outside.
I turned my head slightly, looking back at the open door behind me. The rain was falling heavily, the wind pushing it sideways like sharp needles. For a moment, I considered leaving. Something inside me screamed that I shouldn’t be here.
But then I remembered the storm outside.
There was nowhere else to go.
I exhaled slowly and moved deeper in the house.
"Mr.Thomas? Where are you?"
I wondered why noone answered .
"Mr.Thomas....."
No response.
Only silence.
In the building, everything immediately became different.
It was chilly, humid, and it smelled of old wood and rainwater and something unfamiliar. It was as if something was not right and the whole building was being kept from the world.
Ahead of me there was an endless hallway whose end vanished in total blackness. On the walls there was old and flaking wallpaper hanging freely as if the house was shedding off some layers of skin.
Overhead there was a faint yellow light, which was uncontrollably flickering, each time when it did, the shadow in the hallway became more real.
Also hanging on the walls there were portraits of old people, who had twisted heads and were dusty. However, it seemed to me that their eyes stared at me all the time.
I swallowed hard.
“Hello?” I called again, my voice quieter this time.
Then I noticed something.
Footprints.
Wet footprints.
They were faint, but clearly visible on the wooden floor. They didn't come from outside. They were already inside the house...leading deeper into it.
My heart began to beat faster.
Someone was here. But who?
I followed the footprints slowly, each step careful, hesitant. The hallway stretched longer than it should have, like the house didn’t follow normal rules of space. The deeper I went, the darker it became, until the flickering light behind me felt like a distant memory.
Then I heard it.
A faint voice.
Static.
Like an old radio.
My eyes searched the hallway.
The sound was coming from somewhere ahead.
And I walked up more slowly, until I came to a partially opened living room door.
The static was growing louder.
I pushed open the door slowly.
The room that opened before me was bigger than I thought. There was antique furniture scattered throughout, each piece wrapped in white fabric. At one end of the room there was an ancient radio placed atop a small wooden table.
It was playing.
There were no wires visible and no power source could be found. It was still emitting sound.
Static… broken words… phrases without meaning.
I took a step closer.
There were footsteps leading right up to this room and ending by the radio.
My breathing became erratic.
“Is… anyone there?” I whispered.
Then I heard a clear voice.
"You shouldn't have come here..."
My entire body went cold.
I stepped back immediately.
The radio was still playing, but now it repeated the same phrase again and again, like a broken record stuck in time.
“You shouldn’t have come here… you shouldn’t have come here…”
I turned toward the door.
"Runnnnnnnnn..........Don't look backkkkkk!"
I ran as fast as I could towards the door. But it was already closed.
It was closed.
Not slowly.
Not gently.
It was shut.
Completely shut.
My chest tightened.
I rushed toward it and grabbed the handle.
Locked.
“No… no, no, no,” I muttered under my breath, pulling harder.
It didn’t move.
Inside my heart, I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn’t move.
Behind me, the radio stopped.
Complete silence filled the room again.
And that silence was worse.
Because now I knew something was inside with me.
Slowly, I turned around.
The room looked the same… but it didn’t feel the same anymore. The shadows seemed darker, heavier, like they were gathering in one place.
Then I saw it.
The footprints.
They weren’t just on the floor anymore.
They were closer.
Fresh.
Right in front of me.
As if someone had just stepped there… seconds ago.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears.
“Who’s there?” I said, my voice shaking now.
No answer.
But I felt it.
The presence.
Something was standing in the room with me.
Then, very softly, behind me—
A floorboard creaked.
I spun around instantly.
Nothing.
But the air felt different now. Heavier. Warmer. Like someone was breathing too close.
I backed away slowly until I hit the wall.
My hand touched something cold.
A switch.
Without thinking, I pressed it.
The light flickered violently for a second… then died completely.
Right then, I saw the blood…lots of it. As soon as my eyes spotted it, my heart raced up into my throat. Every muscle in my body went ice cold, as if my heart had suddenly stopped beating.
There was blood everywhere.
Then, all at once, the lights started to flicker…then went black.
At that precise instant, I heard a whispering voice, so faint it sounded almost ghostly, like it was floating around in the darkness itself:
"You should get away…"
My mind struggled to process what was happening.
Then I noticed something on the wall.
Words.
Written in faded ink.
Small, messy handwriting.
“DON’T TRUST THE HOUSE.”
My stomach dropped.
Before I could react, the radio suddenly burst to life again—but this time, the voice wasn’t calm.
It was urgent.
“GET OUT.”
The lights flickered back on for a split second.
And in that split second, I saw it.
A shadow.
Standing right behind me.
I turned—
Yet, nothing seemed to be there. At that moment, I wondered whether my brain had betrayed me. My breathing became irregular, while my eyes darted around the room to convince myself that I wasn’t hallucinating.
The shadow vanished, or perhaps it never existed. However, the sensation… the presence… it still lingered in the room alongside me. Silence resumed, thicker than before. Suddenly, the door behind me opened by itself, inch-by-inch, not due to wind or any malfunction, but because somebody else was opening it on the other side.
Before I could even think about reacting, my feet took steps backward, slamming into the wall once more. The radio emitted static noise again; however, no voices came out of it. There was only static breathing… sluggish… nearby… as if it were inside my head. I plugged my ears in an attempt to block out the noise, but it no longer emanated from the radio—it came from everywhere.
I heard the faint voice again:
“Run…”
“This place isn’t safe for you… escape and find somewhere to hide.”
I noticed that the portraits on the wall looked different, their dead-looking eyes now sharp, as if they could now see clearly. One of the portraits seemed to be tilted, as if it had moved since my arrival here. The footprints seemed to circle round and round me, instead of walking towards me, like there was someone pacing slowly around me, examining me.
I gulped down nervously but then heard that whisper again, just behind my ear, saying:
"It is real."
My body froze in total fear as my heart started pounding wildly; turning around, I saw that thing—no, there was nothing there before but the thing was here now, standing only a few feet away from me, moving in an unusual manner as if the house couldn't hold it all. Its gaze seemed to be fixed directly on me, and the voice came from all directions, saying:
"You came to Thomas Villas… now you belong to it."
Hearing that, I turned to run, but suddenly everything became blurred… everything in front of my eyes began to sway, as if the entire room was shifting out of place.
In the middle of that haze, I saw a figure—a person with blue eyes—staring at me intensely, without blinking, as if he recognized me or had known me before. The depth and sharpness of that gaze only increased my fear, and then suddenly darkness took over my vision… as if someone had stolen all the light away.
"Was it real? or my imagination......".
