On a fog-laden October night, Lucas returned to his house after a long, exhausting day. The air was thick with the smell of damp leaves, and an unusual chill seeped through his jacket. As he turned the corner, he noticed something strange. Through his living room windows, light spilled into the front yard, dancing shadows creeping along with it. The house, which he had left dark and silent, now pulsed with a dim glow and faint murmurs of laughter.
Confused, he fumbled for his keys, unlocking the door cautiously. Inside, the house looked… different. The walls were adorned with eerie decorations he didn’t own—faded cobwebs, black candles, and strange symbols etched into the walls. The laughter grew louder, but there was something off about it, something hollow and echoing as if coming from deep within the walls.
As he wandered further, he glimpsed people—figures, really—dressed in vintage clothes that looked like they were from the early 1900s. None of them seemed to notice him. They laughed, danced, and whispered, but their eyes… their eyes were glassy and vacant, staring past him as if he were the one who didn’t belong.
Suddenly, a cold, bony hand grabbed his shoulder. He spun around, but no one was there. Heart pounding, he stumbled into his kitchen, only to see a massive, dusty mirror he’d never seen before, standing against the far wall. In its reflection, he saw his house, yet it wasn’t his house. The wallpaper was torn and yellowed, the floors cracked, and beyond the doorway, he could see a grand hall filled with even more shadowy figures, all whispering his name.
He backed away, but the sound grew louder, and a single figure stepped forward. A woman, pale and skeletal, her hollow eyes fixed on him with a twisted smile.
“Welcome home, Lucas,” she whispered, stretching out her hand.
With a shudder, he dashed to the door, wrenching it open and plunging outside. But the yard wasn’t his yard anymore. He stood in an overgrown, misty graveyard, the house looming behind him like a forgotten relic. His phone buzzed—a text notification. “See you soon,” it read, from an unknown number. And as he looked up, the house’s front door creaked open, inviting him back inside.
He turned and ran, but even as he fled, he knew that somehow, no matter where he went, he would never truly leave that haunting, hollow celebration behind.
Lucas sprinted into the foggy night, heart racing, his only thought to get as far from his house—and that cursed “party”—as possible. He ran until he reached the edge of the neighborhood, where he finally stopped to catch his breath. But something felt wrong. The streetlights flickered, and the once-familiar surroundings seemed distorted, warped as though he were seeing them through cracked glass.
He turned, expecting to find comfort in the houses of his neighbors. But as he looked around, he realized, with a chill of horror, that every house looked exactly like his own. Every lawn had the same overgrown grass, every window flickered with the same dim, ghostly lights, and every doorway stood open, revealing glimpses of shadowy figures inside.
Panicking, he fumbled for his phone. He tried calling friends, the police—anyone who could help. But all he heard on the other end of each line was that same echoing laughter, hollow and haunting. The laughter grew louder and louder until it seemed to seep from the phone itself.
A text buzzed onto his screen: “You can’t leave. Welcome to the party.”
Realizing he was trapped, Lucas felt his vision blur as an overwhelming sense of dread consumed him. He turned back toward his house—the real house, or so he hoped—only to find himself standing in front of it once more, just as he had been moments ago. The door creaked open, and a whisper drifted through the night.
“Welcome home, Lucas. The party’s only just begun.”
With nowhere else to go, he stepped inside, the door closing behind him with a final, ominous click. And in the eerie, flickering light, Lucas joined the endless dance, his laughter soon blending with the others, echoing through the walls for the next unfortunate soul who would unknowingly join the party.
And from that night forward, no one ever saw Lucas again.