The Devil's Spawn

ACT III: EVIL CHOOSES NO ONE

After a few weeks of waiting, with their days filled with nothing but boring school work and hell-worthy exams in terms of difficulty as well as piles of tiresome projects, it was finally time for the exploration that Prism and Amber had agreed on together with the rest of the squad.

Prism sent a message to the group chat that she created a few months back for them to mess around in, reminding each and everyone of the time and place of their most anticipated meet-up.

Prism: Let's meet up at nine in the morning in front of the academy, you all better not be late of we will leave you behind

The message instantly received a series of replies, with Kou being the first to respond — as usual, Prism thinks with an amused giggle — with so much enthusiasm and a flood of the heart emoticon, so much so that Yue almost kicked him out of the group chat for shamelessly flirting with his little sister. It was a surprise the tall brunette had not knocked in her room yet, asking to kick the said ginger-haired male out of the chatroom.

Amber urged everyone to bring a camera of their own as well as a pen and paper, eager to capture as many as they can but Hori believes they would not capture much. Though, the blonde girl's statement did not stop Amber from assigning roles to everyone, with her and Prism being the head investigators — or so the brunette claimed.

Hori: You bring the camera, @Hiro (:

Hiro: Why do I feel like that's a threat to my life?

Hori: It's literally just a smile, how is that considered a threat >:].

Hori: Besides, if I do threaten you, I would do it face to face. You are literally just sitting inside your room next to mine (:

Hiro: You do it like this :) so it will not be seen as a threat.

Hori: You're just dramatic, like Nana (:

Nana: Excuse me?

Ignoring the female twin's remark, Leon and Nana commenced an argument about bringing wine per the vocalist's request, but with Yue backing the redhead, wine was banned from the trip. Despite Onyx's backup, Nana still lost and thus, dramatically bid farewell to the chat. Princess, on the other hand, only responded to Prism's message and logged off, not even giving a proper greeting to anyone other than Prism. Sky was nowhere but Princess promised to tell her once they were done with their student council duties. Rose remained quiet but the dark-haired girl could see her reading each message.

As the chat buzzed in excitement, King didn't have the heart to tell his friends he did not share the same sentiment. Sighing, the ravenette could only listen in annoyance as his phone went off, vibrating nonstop as his friends proceeded to blabber about the upcoming trip, going off into different tangents that didn't even align with the topic at hand.

But to show Prism he still cared, even if it is just for a little bit, King did his own research about the place nicknamed the Devil's mansion. Hoping it will give everyone an idea, he sent a link related to the mansion's history. Unfortunately for King, the action elicited teasing remarks from his friends. Even Nana who bid farewell previously magically came back online.

Sora: Oh? King doing research? You are not even a part of the occult club.

Nana: He doesn't even show this much enthusiasm during our band practices :'(

Onyx: You really just went back online to tease the poor boy.

Nana: I am going to take every chance I get :p

Hori: You're down bad for my girl, Prism.

Kou: Love rival? Grrr

King: Shut up, Am I the only decent human being with a brain here?

King could not help but roll his eyes at the chaos that was their group chat. Their onslaught of teasing remarks still flooded the chat, and fortunately for him, Yue didn't go for his head — much to Kou's protest, saying the older brother is showing favoritism. King could only hope that amidst their fervor, they remember they are not going on a vacation.

If it weren't for Prism, he wouldn't have bothered.

Clicking on the link he sent on their group chat, King reread the website's contents for the second time as the unsettling feeling in his gut continued to persist no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, even choosing to think optimistically.

The Devil's mansion was once owned by a wealthy businessman who sidelined as a religious leader of a cult. The late Hellstine family: he, his wife, and his two children lived in the said mansion. Thirteen unfortunate deaths, each brutally performed, occurred inside the said mansion with victims that included the said family who owned it.

After years of investigation and with still no other leads to take them further and closer to a conclusion, the police decided to finally end everything and close the case. Since then, none has ever reopened investigations despite the family of the victims' cries for justice.

And ever since the case became a world-known tragedy, passersby claim to have witnessed the run-down mansion's lights still on during the night despite it lacking electricity. People who live in close vicinity claim to hear the screams of what they believe are from the unfortunate victims of the tragedy several times at night. Silhouettes are seen standing behind glassless windows, scaring passersby and neighbors alike, and thus, people find living near the Devil's mansion unbearable. It resulted in the area near it becoming abandoned as people leave in search of a better home.

King grimaced at the leaked photos of the victims, something that he thinks should have a graphic warning. Although they were blurred, it was not enough to hide the bloodbath and the severed body parts. King could tell a head was severed from its body, with the said body hanging like a pig on a hook. The police meticulously took pictures of the victims just as they found them. He could not tell who was who, there weren't pictures of the said family who owned the house but there is undoubtedly a young child among the thirteen victims.

It was disturbing how even a child became a victim of brutal tragedy. Just goes to show that evil chooses no one.

Ghosts and curses were ridiculous — is what King would like to say, but given his experiences as a child, the boy could only hope that the said claims are only mere gossip meant to scare off people because mortals like to make things complicated.