Astravore

Corpse

As she cautiously strayed further and further from the designated route, the air in the house grew cooler and more humid. Maddie's heart was pounding, and she muttered softly to herself.

- Don't be such a coward!

- What are you doing here anyway? - A voice came from behind her, and Maddie spun around, gasped, and struck out in the direction of the voice. Connor held his slightly bleeding nose with teary eyes, Justin looked at Maddie wide eyed, while Ally searched anxiously for a handkerchief in her bag. Once she found it, she handed it to her boyfriend and shouted at her friend.

- What's wrong with you Maddie?! He wasn't even scaring you or anything! - Ally pouted and Maddie tried to calm down but felt a bit down for hurting Connor and by Ally's reaction.

- What are you guys doing here? - she asked instead of apologizing.

- Justin noticed that you disappeared so we came back to search for you. - Connor said while he pressed the bridge of his nose and held the tissue on it to stop the bleeding.

- Why didn't you make a noise instead of silently following me?! - Maddie asked and Ally frowned at her.

- Repeat after me Maddie, I am Sorry. - Maddie blushed abit and looked at Connor.

- I'm sorry Connor. - he chuckled.

- No worries Madds! So what are we doing here? - he asked and the three looked at Maddie waiting for an explanation. She felt uncomfortable because she couldn't find a logical answer why she came down this corridor. After a few minutes of silence she took a deep breath and hung her head down while she admitted the truth.

- I know it sounds stupid and illogical... But I felt like there was something at the end of this corridor. - her friends shared a rather stunned glance and Justin nodded.

- Let's find it out then who or what wanted you there. - Maddie shook her head.

- No need, it was a stupid idea anyways. - Ally walked to Maddie grabbed her shoulders and turned her around.

- You rarely listen to your gut! I'm dying to find out what's there! - she sais and Connor looked a bit concerned.

- Maybe that's not the best idea. Therr must be a reason why they didn't extend the haunted house to this direction. - Maddie looked at her angelic best friend nodding towards the corridor, while her boyfriend dressed as the devil was their voice of reason and she burst out laughing. The corridors echoed her happy laughter. Justin as soon as he realized the comical scene joined her. Ally and Connor looked at each other for a second confused until realizing the situation and joined their teared up friends. Once everyone stopped laughing and their nerves calmed down as well, another bone chilling breeze reminded them about the corridor and that something that was still waiting for them at the end. Justin shrugged and said.

- We already came this far, let's find out what's there. - he reached for his backpack and pulled a flashlight out of it.

- Why the hell do you have that with you? - Connor asked and Justin looked at the flashlight confused.

- No clue dude... Seemed logical to bring one. - Maddie giggled and took a next step down the corridor. Justin lighted up the way till they arrived to a circular room. Maddie remembered this room from the outside; it was located on the west side of the house. It had ornate mosaic glass windows, half of it had a tiled roof, and over the centuries, ivy had grown over the walls both inside and out. Moonlight streamed into thorough the huge windows, painting eye-catching patterns on the moss-covered floor with the colored glass. All the furniture had been removed from the room, and in the center, where the moonlight was strongest, stood a cold, sturdy stone coffin. The stone was immaculately white, with no moss or discoloration anywhere, as if it had been whitewashed that very day. The bottom of the coffin was covered with carved roses, separated from, yet connected to nature. Maddie was simply enchanted by the sight.

She went closer to look at the coffin, and her friends followed her cautiously. No one said a word. They didn't think it was appropriate. However, when they reached the coffin, they gasped together. The lid of the cold stone coffin was made of glass, and inside lay not a skeleton or a slowly decaying corpse, nor even a mummified body, but a beautiful young woman of flesh and blood. She was dressed in black, her long, wavy black hair cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall. Her skin was as white as the coffin in which she lay. She slept her eternal sleep on a red velvet pillow. Maddie saw that the glass had yellowed over the years on the coffin, but even so, the overall picture was breathtaking. The dead woman's lips were red, and there was not a wrinkle or blemish on her face. She must have been in her mid-twenties when death took her. There was no name on the coffin, just a small, barely noticeable message: "I will never forget you... S.T."

Ally was the first to speak up.

- This is really creepy... Are you sure it's dead?

- I think it's a trick, definitely part of the haunted house. - said Connor, while Justin leaned closer and examined the coffin.

- I don't see any fingerprints anywhere, which means it wasn't put here recently. - he said, poking the glass. Maddie looked around and had to agree with Justin. There were only their footprints on the moss as well.

- We should go...- whispered Ally.

- Let's just take a selfie! - said Connor. No one was enthusiastic about the idea, but Connor kept begging the group until they decided it would be easier to just go along with it. They all stopped in front of the coffin and, once they had the photo, quickly returned to the designated route. Unfortunately, the haunted house didn't provide much of an adrenaline rush after they had explored it, so they all went home earlier than planned. When Maddie got home, she checked her phone and saw a message from Connor in the group chat.

"It was a great night, guys!" - and attached the selfie below. Ally complained about how bad the lighting was, and Connor reassured her how beautiful she was even in the poor light. Justin drew everyone's attention to the mosaic glass. Maddie's eyes, however, immediately fixed on the coffin. What she saw there, or rather didn't see, froze the blood in her veins to such an extent that she threw her phone away with a scream and crawled further away from it on the bed.

Her brother walked into her room with a sullen expression on his face.

- Maddie... It's half past two in the morning. Could you please be a little quieter? - he asked, but when he saw the terrified look on his sister's face, he immediately rushed to her side.

- Maddie, what's wrong? - She looked up at her brother, Sebastian, a recent architecture graduate. Everyone admired his natural talent, and various construction companies were already competing for him. So did the girls of his age. Sebby was not only intelligent and talented, but also incredibly handsome. He had short dark brown hair, bright, almost glowing green eyes, flawless features, and a deep voice.

- Something's not right. - Maddie said as Sebby sat down next to her on the bed and put his arm around her shoulder. Maddie reached for her phone with trembling hands and asked.

- What do you see in the picture?- Sebastian took the phone and looked closely at the picture.

- You and your friends. Do you still like Justin? - he asked, but Maddie wasn't interested in that right now. Seeing the look on her face, Sebastian laughed.

- What am I supposed to see? - he asked, then the phone beeped and the pop-up message answered the question.

# Listen... Am I the only one who can't see the dead body in the picture? - CONNOR🏈