"Warning: This episode contains traumatizing scenes. If you're sensitive to graphic or disturbing content, you may want to skip this chapter."
The cabin loomed in the distance, its silhouette distorted by the mist that clung to the ground like a shroud. Anna could barely keep up with Mark as he led her and Lucas further into the darkness. The air grew colder the deeper they ventured, carrying with it a sense of wrongness, an unease that gnawed at the edges of their minds.
Lucas, ever the skeptic, tried to joke. "This place is just an old, rundown shack. It can't be that bad, right?"
Mark's smile grew wider, too wide. His eyes gleamed unnaturally in the dim light, his movements almost too fluid. "You'll find out soon enough," he whispered.
Anna felt the hairs on her neck rise as Mark's voice dropped lower, his tone becoming something otherworldly. She wanted to turn back, but it was too late.
They entered a dark room deep inside the cabin, and the door slammed shut behind them with an unnatural force. Anna flinched, her heart racing. Lucas started to reach for the door, but Mark was already standing in front of it, blocking their only escape.
"No one leaves," Mark said, his voice no longer human, but something that made the air thick with dread.
Suddenly, Mark's body twisted and contorted in a sickening, inhuman way. His skin stretched, cracking like brittle wood, as his face melted into something monstrous. His eyes were hollow, black pits, and his mouth stretched wide in a grotesque, predatory grin. The human form of Mark was gone, replaced by something ancient and evil.
Anna screamed, but the sound was swallowed by the cabin's oppressive silence. Lucas backed away in terror. "What the hell are you?!"
Mark's laugh echoed in the room, deep, unsettling, and hollow. It reverberated through the walls like a nightmare coming to life. He stepped toward Lucas with a terrifying, jerky motion, the ground beneath them shifting, as if the cabin itself was alive, reacting to his presence.
"No one leaves..." Mark repeated, his voice now distorted, the words echoing in the corners of the room.
Before Anna could scream again, Mark lunged at Lucas with unnatural speed, his hands reaching out like claws. Lucas barely had time to react before Mark's fingers dug into his chest, pulling him closer, crushing the life out of him. It wasn't a quick death—there was no knife, no weapon. Mark's grip was like iron, twisting Lucas's body, squeezing the life out of him with the force of something unnatural.
Anna stood frozen, horrified, unable to move as Mark continued to laugh, the sound growing more disturbing with each passing second. Lucas' eyes widened in terror, his hands futilely grasping at Mark's. But there was no escape. The life drained from him as he went limp in Mark's grip.
When it was over, Mark let Lucas fall to the floor with a sickening thud. He wiped his hands on his clothes, his grin never fading.
Anna's mind was spinning, the world around her twisting into something unreal. She lunged for the door, banging her fists against it desperately, screaming for help.
"Someone, please! Help!" she cried, her voice raw with panic.
But there was no response. No sound. The silence was unbearable, suffocating. It felt like the entire world had been swallowed by the cabin.
In a daze, Anna pulled back from the door, her breathing erratic. As she turned to face the room, she noticed something strange. The body of Lucas, his lifeless form had vanished. The blood. The marks where Mark had been. It was all gone, as though it had never happened. The room was empty, silent. It was as if time had reset itself.
A whisper, soft and distant, echoed around her. "Run. Run. Run."
Her body responded before her mind could catch up. She bolted in the direction that felt the least wrong, her feet pounding against the floorboards. But the ground beneath her feet began to twist, shifting like a sinking ship. The walls stretched, the shadows flickering in and out of sight. It was as though the cabin itself was playing with her, pulling her in every direction, leading her toward something worse.
The laughter followed her, echoing in her ears, mocking her every step. It was everywhere and nowhere at once, filling the cabin with its cruel, relentless sound. It was like the very walls were closing in, pushing her forward into some unknown horror.
Then, the floor beneath her began to spin, the room warping around her as though it were a living thing. The walls tilted, the ceiling became the floor, and Anna could feel herself being pulled into something dark and endless. She screamed, but her voice was lost in the sound of the spinning world.
Everything around her was falling apart.
And then, with one final scream, she was gone, pulled into the blackness, swallowed by the cabin.
Meanwhile, outside, Mia stood at the edge of the forest, watching the cabin. She had seen them enter, Lucas, Anna, and Mark but she knew, deep in her bones, that they wouldn't be coming back. The cabin had claimed them. It always did.
She turned away, her face cold. She had been drawn here for a reason, but the truth was clear now: The cabin was not just a place. It was something far darker, something that had no intention of letting anyone leave