Chapter 7
The contractor who had supposedly built the haunted mansion at 3 Shirleybut Lane once claimed it had five stories. But no one believed him.
In fact, people weren’t even sure if he had truly been involved in the construction at all. And more importantly—
That mansion was clearly a three-story building.
Five stories? Utter nonsense.
Because of the thick fog, it was usually impossible to confirm. But on rare occasions, when the mist lifted, people could catch a clear glimpse of the haunted house at 3 Shirleybut Lane.
And every time, it was the same: a three-story mansion. The only details that stood out were the vivid blue owl statue and the pitch-black serpent statue perched upon the roof. Whenever the fog parted, people carefully counted the floors again.
Always three.
But now, something was happening—
“…My word. What on earth is that?”
“Up until yesterday, wasn’t that just three stories?”
“Am I losing my mind?”
Something utterly bizarre had unfolded.
The haunted house at 3 Shirleybut Lane—
“Not three… wait. That’s….”
Yes.
People had simply been mistaken all this time.
The haunted house was…
“…Five stories? Dear heavens. So the contractor was right all along?”
“That poor man must have been so wrongly accused.”
A black roof.
And beneath it, five neat rows of turquoise stained-glass windows. Not three—five.
Once, those windows must have gleamed with radiant color. Now they were dull, clouded, washed of their light.
CRASH!!!
Before the villagers could even take in the sight, every last pane of stained glass shattered at once.
The design itself wasn’t particularly remarkable, stretching in a column from the first to the fifth floor. But what truly horrified them was—
“O Lord above…”
It had unmistakably been a stained-glass icon depicting God Himself.
One housewife collapsed to her knees, tears streaming down her face. The others, though they stayed standing, wore blank expressions of shock. Finally, one man regained enough composure to stammer:
“S-Shouldn’t we… go tell the Duke’s family right away?”
He, too, was paralyzed by fear, but he sensed that standing idle would only invite greater disaster. Somehow, he forced himself to speak. And the others, trembling, nodded in agreement.
“At least it’s market day… Thank heavens. Imagine if only one of us had seen this alone.”
Indeed, it was almost a mercy that the open-air market had brought many witnesses together. Otherwise, buried deep in the woods as it was, no single villager would have stumbled upon the mansion—or, worse, one lone soul would have.
“You fool, how can you joke at a time like this!”
They raised their voices, cracking nervous jokes in hopes of dulling their terror. But their faces remained taut with dread. Instinct whispered to them all the same truth:
“If we look away from it now… we’ll die.”
The villagers carefully, carefully began retreating, preparing to deliver the news to the Duke’s household.
Meanwhile, inside the mansion—
I blinked, feeling nothing but boredom.
After all, there were no humans left here anymore. Even if I met something new, it would just be another ghost. And while the ghosts inside the rooms had been terrifying, the ones outside at least seemed to follow some unspoken rules—they didn’t just lunge at me recklessly.
So I wasn’t nearly as scared anymore.
Suppressing a yawn, I glanced around. The scenery was as bleak as ever: every stained-glass window smashed to bits, deepening the mansion’s gloom; the crimson carpet underfoot too vivid, as though I were walking on a road of blood. But with nothing happening for a while, even the dread had dulled into monotony.
“Who would’ve thought a coward like me would clear a haunted house and then get bored.”
I chuckled to myself. Look at me, strolling calmly despite everything. How gentlemanly.
“All right. Enough of this. I don’t see any reason to keep walking here, Charlie, Mary.”
[It’s Mary. Then what about outside the mansion?]
“…Outside. That’d be nice. But…”
Can we even leave?
The moment I said it, the air turned cold.
Oh no. I hadn’t meant to trample their pride or anything—just, you know, in horror stories and games, stepping outside always equals death. I hurried to soften my tone.
“Of course. If it’s not too much for you.”
Or so I meant to say.
[…Huh? We can’t get out, Ellie.]
[What… what is happening?]
Then they dropped the bombshell.
Excuse me?
Can’t get out? Ghosts can’t leave? Are you kidding me?!
All at once, my boredom evaporated, replaced by a cold stiffness crawling up my neck. For them to spell it out like this meant… up until now, they had been able to move freely. Something had just changed.
So now—
We were trapped.
Even the faint comfort I’d found in their presence, knowing they meant me no harm, evaporated. They’d just flipped the table on me.
And from their chatter, I also realized something else: they had been wrong about the mansion’s floors. Not three. It really was five. Fantastic. Why couldn’t I get this kind of lucky guess on an exam?
But what scared me most wasn’t the ghosts.
It was the possibility that whatever had trapped us… wasn’t a ghost at all.
Charlie and Bloody Mary weren’t just any spirits. They had fought and clawed their way to claim the “chatbox” that allowed them to talk to me directly. That meant they were powerful.
If even they were trapped—
“Guess we’re sealed in, huh.”
I tried to play it off, pretending I’d expected this.
“Well, we’re on the third floor. We could go up or down. What do you two prefer?”
They’d said earlier that the last human—aside from me—was on the third floor. “Far away,” they’d called him, probably just meaning physical distance. I recalled their exact words:
<Of course. Charlie here. The mansion’s master is close to Ellie, but the remaining sacrifice is far from her.>
<It’s Mary. The master is hiding, so unless Ellie focuses, she won’t notice him. The sacrifice is on the third floor.>
But wait.
They had called him a sacrifice.
Which meant…
“Could the reason even the ghosts can’t leave now… be because I, unintentionally, offered him up as a sacrifice?”
No, no way. That couldn’t be. Could it?
But my brain wouldn’t stop. What other reason could there be for suddenly locking down the whole place—even the ghosts?
This was bad. Very, very bad.
I tried to keep calm, but the silence from the two of them grew eerie. Normally, they’d be chattering nonstop.
[We can’t go up or down either, Ellie. This is Charlie.]
My heart lurched.
[It’s Mary… It feels safer thanks to you, Ellie, but still—we can’t move up or down.]
A cold drop sank into my chest.
[Why is the mansion doing this? Mary’s scared…]
You’re a ghost. Why are you scared?!
[Ellie… it’s too scary. Too scary too scary too scary… The aura, it’s stronger now.]
Something icy clung to my right arm. Heavy, too, like the weight of a whole person hanging on.
“All right, fine. But get off my arm, Mary.”
[H-How did you know Mary was holding on?]
Because you’re not exactly subtle, that’s why! I swallowed the retort, not wanting to provoke her in this state. Instead, I turned to the others.
“I think the aura grew stronger because I offered someone up as a sacrifice. Am I right?”
[Charlie here. You mean the sacrifice?]
“Yes. That man—”
I froze.
Man?
Wait… how did I know it was a man? I didn’t even know how he died, let alone his gender.
The black snake doll in my arms seemed to be smiling.
“…Was it a man?”
[What?]
“The one who died. Was he male?”
Charlie and Mary fell silent for a moment. Then:
[Mary remembers him as a human male.]
[Charlie also recalls the sacrifice being a man.]
The snake doll, which had done nothing until just before the mansion sealed, now seemed to be grinning wider, as if to say, thanks to you.
I, who had awoken in this mansion in the body of “Ellie,” a supposed sacrifice…
I, who had started speaking as if I already knew things I shouldn’t…
It was all because of this doll.
“…How long do you plan to keep pretending you’re asleep?”
I dropped the plush serpent onto the floor. Not thrown—just gently set down. What if it retaliated, after all?
And then—
[But Ellie, since this mansion was built, the master has never once awakened—]
“Since when?”
The doll’s mouth moved.
“From the beginning.”
Of course, it was a bluff. My lips were trembling so badly I could only just tug one corner into a smirk. Luckily, I’d already set up a “flag” earlier with that nonsense about going outside. Pretending I’d known the truth all along didn’t look too suspicious.
But it wasn’t just the doll that took the bait.
[Ellie… you knew the snake doll had awakened all along…]
No, I didn’t!!
[As expected. Ellie is amazing.]
No, you lunatics…
