A Living Mansion

A Living Mansion

Despite the eerie atmosphere, a guy named Beldin stood alone and fearlessly in the middle of a desolate place. His brown eyes fixed on the abandoned mansion that loomed before him. His face showed no sign of reluctance or nervousness even though he was standing right in front of the mansion that others claimed to be haunted and cursed.

Rumor has it that every single person who entered the mysterious mansion suffers from a mental illness and nobody knew what exactly happened inside, as the people who once entered the place only uttered nonsensical words. Their families brought them to psychiatrists, hoping for their relatives to recover from whatever trauma or stressful events they had experienced. But no matter what the psychiatrists do or how long they treated them, it was all in vain. Years passed, but none of the patients had recovered from their mental illness caused by the cursed mansion. Some perished on their madness, leaving their loved ones in grief and despair.

Because of the rumor, nobody dared to enter the mysterious mansion again, afraid that they too would suffer the same fate as the previous intruders of the building. But Beldin wants to change that tonight. He believes that the rumor is nothing but a made-up story by the mansion's caretaker or by the owner to prevent people from trespassing.

He has many reasons to doubt the rumor. First of all, he has never met any of the people who have entered the place before and witnessed the paranormal phenomena. He had only heard stories of how they developed a mental illness after their visit, unable to cope with the horrors they saw. Secondly, he had already sneaked in to many abandoned and claimed to be haunted house before, and yet he was still here, alive and breathing. And lastly, he thinks that there is a very valuable item hidden inside the mansion, and that the person in charge of the building had made up the rumor to deter any potential thieves.

He had been watching the mansion for quite some time now and had not seen anything strange or scary happening outside. After a whole week of observing, he has finally come to a decision that he is going to rob the place. He should not be afraid of a mere rumor, especially when he needs money so badly. He needs it more than anyone else, so much that he will go to the extent of robbing someone else's property just to get some cash or anything valuable. He was reluctant at first, but as days passed by, he felt more confident that the rumor was indeed false.

His left hand clutched a gun, ready to use once he felt the need to release the bullet that could kill a person in one shot. Beldin has never fired his gun before, not even once, but he always brings the pistol with him every time he robs a building. He had been in many life-threatening situations before, such as almost getting caught or killed by the police cops. But he could not do it, he could not bring himself to pull the trigger. Why did he buy the gun in the first place if he was not going to use it, especially when his life was at risk? Beldin also did not know. Perhaps, he just did not have the will to kill someone. He hoped that circumstances would not give him a reason to use his weapon, at least not tonight.

The door creaked as he entered the eery building. There was not a single piece of furniture inside, giving Beldin the impression that it had been abandoned by its owner long ago. Normally, he would have left the place immediately when he saw nothing worth stealing at first sight, but this time, he stayed. He did not want to leave just yet. The mansion was huge, there was a high chance that he could find something valuable in other part of the mansion.

Leaving the door ajar, he ventured deeper into the building. It was too big, too dark and too quiet that it is starting to make him feel uneasy. He checked every door and room he passed by, even the kitchen area, hoping to find something worth stealing. But all he found were dusty rooms with nothing but cobwebs and rats that had inhabited the place.

A wave of disappointment and frustration washed over Beldin after opening the very last room, which was the storage room, only to see the same empty space. He had wasted his time and energy for something as deserted as this place. The amount of frustration that started to build-up within Beldin was immeasurable. The one week of observing the abandoned mansion, it was all for nothing. He felt like smashing something or screaming out loud, but he knew he had to get out of there fast before someone noticed him as dawn was about to come up.

But just as he was about to head back to the main entrance, he heard a voice. "Hello, Beldin."

He froze. The voice was soft and sweet, like a child's but it also sounded sinister and mocking. He turned around and saw a little girl standing a few steps ahead. She had long black hair and pale skin. She wore a white dress stained with crimson liquid. Beldin felt a chill run down his spine when a creepy smile formed in her pallid lips, showing her sharp teeth that were oozing out some blood.

"Wh-who are you?" He asked, pointing his gun.

"I'm the mansion," the girl said. Her eyes have nothing but an endless darkness that seems to lure Beldin in.

"The mansion?"

"Yes, the mansion. The one you came to rob."

Beldin just stared at her, afraid and doesn't have any idea on what to do in this kind of situation. He never expected a person to be inside the deserted mansion, much less a scary-looking girl. There was something eery and bone-chilling about her that Beldin couldn't quite fathom. Was it her eyes or her aura? He didn't know. He didn't understand what it meant by being the house.

"I want to play with you." The girl finally broke the silence.

"Play with me? What kind of game?"

"A game of dark past."

"...Dark past?"

"Yes, dark past; you see, I feast on tragic memories. I exist because of the dark past of those who ventures inside me."

Beldin ignored the 7-year-old-looking girl's words, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any sign of a prank. He hoped that everything was all a joke set up by someone else, but he couldn't see any camera or device anywhere. A sweat formed on his forehead as he finally realized the situation he was currently in. The rumors of people losing their mind, they were all true and he had made a huge mistake. The mansion he dared to rob was actually haunted, and he is its next victim .

"Your dark past, it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

"Just what the h*ll are you talking about?" He could feel a sweat slowly cascading down his face. The little girl grinned wickedly as she noticed the obvious sign of fear in Beldin's trembling hands. Her smile widened so much that it tore her skin apart.

"Your dark past. Have you already forgotten about it? If you did then let me show it to you."

Beldin tried to say something but no words or sound came out of his mouth. He felt a jolt of pain in his head, making him drop his gun and clutch his temples. Everything around him started becoming darker and darker until everything went pitch black.

◇◇◇◇◇

Beldin found himself in a room with no way out. It was a small, windowless, and doorless space, with nothing but a giant flat screen on the wall. He felt like he was in a prison cell because of how cramped and suffocating the place is. He tried punching the wall to see if he could break out of the room but it was useless. What he got wasn't a way out but instead an agonizing pain, making him curse loudly.

Before Beldin could even think of another crazy plan to get out of the room, he suddenly heard a sound coming from the flat screen. It turned on and started playing a video.

To his surprise, a younger version of him in a high school uniform was being shown on the huge screen. Was this what the little girl earlier meant by showing him his dark past? For a moment, Beldin was amazed by how the little girl was able do this but he then soon scoffed. The scene on the screen is nothing of a dark past but just a fragment of his memories during his high school's days. He wondered what part of it was the dark past.

Beldin watched his teenager self walked in a dark alley, meeting a two familiar faces. It was at that moment that his body completely went still, his blood went cold. He recognized them as the members of the gang he joined back when he was still in his rebellious phase. They looked tough and dangerous, with tattoos, piercings, and leather jackets. The two who were classmates of him, encouraged him to join the group. The video being displayed, it was the day he joined the gang.

Not this please...

He remembered what happened next. He remembered the initiation test that they gave him. He remembered the violence, the pain, and the blood. He remembered the moment that he became one of them.

Their gang had won countless of fight against other gangs. For the young Beldin, it was a thrilling experience in his life and he felt superior because of how undefeated and strong their group was. But for the present Beldin, all he could see was horror.

He had tried to hide his real self from his parents, but just like any other secrets, it was eventually exposed. His family had found out about his involvement in a gang, and they were worried for him. They warned him about the dangers of being associated with such people, but the young Beldin was too rebellious to listen. He thought he knew better than them, and he did whatever he wanted.

The video kept playing, showing the scenes that he wished he could forget. The other group that they had clashed with before was not a normal gang. Two of its members were actual killers, and Beldin happened to face one of them head-on. He was lucky that day to have his so-called friends with him, who were able to help him and fend off the killer. But his luck would soon run out.

Before the present Beldin could even see what was about to happen next, he instinctively closed his eyes. But it was no use. The horror, the memories came flooding back to him so vividly. It felt like everything had just happened yesterday, because of how clear the images were in his mind.

For the second time, he saw it. The blood, the very own blood of his family. He watched helplessly as the killer shot his father in front of him. The killer then stumbled backwards, as Beldin's mother had thrown a knife at him, hitting him in the shoulder. The gun slipped from his hand and fell to the floor, giving the young Beldin a chance to save his family, a chance to make everything right. But he couldn't do it. He was too scared, too shocked and too weak at that moment. He eventually tried to pull the trigger of the gun, but it was all too late. He was shot first by the killer's accomplice.

Beldin didn't know why the killer had come to his house and started murdering him and his family. Was it for revenge? Or just simply for the thrill and satisfaction, like how Beldin felt whenever their gang would clash against one another? He had no idea what their real motives were, but he knew that what they did was unforgivable.

Beldin didn't die that day. In fact, he had miraculously survived the gunshot wound, but his parents didn't. They were gone forever, because of his actions. The consequences of his choices had made Beldin lose everything he had.

Beldin felt a liquid cascade down his face once again. But this time, it wasn't sweat, but tears that he had been holding back for so long, for so many years. He missed them, the happy family he had before he joined the gang. He wondered if things would have been different if he had not been rebellious, if he had listened to his parents and stayed away from trouble. Maybe he would still have them with him, maybe he could still repay them for all the things they did for him. But Beldin knew it was impossible, it was already too late. And there was nothing he could do about it but cry in sadness and in pain as if the dark past of his were a knife stabbing his heart.

Beldin cried and sobbed for what felt like forever until he heard a familiar voice speak to which he immediately recognized as the little girl's voice, the one who had been tormenting him since he entered the cursed mansion.

"Did you see them, Beldin? Did you see your family that died because of you? Did you see the consequences of your actions? Did you finally remember the dark past you've tried so hard to forget?"

He glanced around, looking for that girl but she was nowhere to be found as if it was speaking directly in his mind. It was only then did Beldin notice that his surroundings had shifted back to the haunted mansion he was in before.

"Now that you finally remember your dark past, shall we play the game?"

A giggle of a crazy girl echoed across the hallway, sending shiver down Beldin's spine. He ignored it and ran to the main entrance, desperate to escape from this hell. He could not handle it anymore, the scary little girl and the dark past of his. He wanted to get away from them, to never see them again and forget them. He would lose his mind if he stayed there any longer so he had to leave before he does.

When Beldin finally reached the main entrance, his hope for escaping hell came crashing down as he bounced right back inside the haunted mansion as if there was an invisible wall preventing him from getting out. But what surprised Beldin the most was not the fact that there was an invisible wall blocking him but the fact that there was a familiar figure running in the same direction Beldin was planning to head if only he hadn't been stopped by the little girl's doings. The clothes and size of its body, it was the same as his.

"You can't escape, Beldin. You can't escape from me. You can't escape from your dark past." The little girl's voice taunted him as he watched his real body run away from the haunted mansion. Although it was slow, Beldin could feel himself getting dizzy as the figure got farther and farther away until it was completely out of sight, which resulted to Beldin losing his consciousness.

◇◇◇◇◇

"Beldin, wake up! C'mon, it's your birthday, you shouldn't be sleeping all day!"

The cheerful, hoarse voice of a man pierced through Beldin's ears, jolting him awake from his peaceful slumber. Beldin groaned and rubbed his bleary eyes, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness of the room. He blinked a few times before he realized something strange about his surroundings. He was lying on a cozy bed in a familiar bedroom, decorated with posters of his favorite superheroes and bands. He saw a birthday cake on the nightstand, with candles spelling out his name.

But what shocked him the most was the sight of his parents in front of him. The same parents who he had seen die twice in horrific encounter with the killers. The same parents who he had mourned and missed for years.

"M-mom? Da-dad?" He stammered, unable to believe his eyes.

"What's wrong, honey? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Beldin felt a surge of emotions in his chest. He wanted to hug them, to tell them how much he loved them, to ask them how they were alive. But he also felt a pang of fear and suspicion. He knew this was too good to be true, which made him realize that everything around him was nothing but an illusion created by the haunted mansion. He realized that this was just another trick of the house. Another way to break him down and make him suffer. Another way to keep him from escaping.

This was his hell. But quite frankly, Beldin find this hell much more better and more alive than the real world because in this hell, he is not alone anymore. In this illusion, his family is alive as if the incident with the killers didn't happen in the first place.

"Nothing, mom... I'm just happy to have you, mom and dad." He lied, forcing a smile on his face.

His parents were skeptical and suspicious about their son's respond. Beldin was never the type to say something sweet to them but they decided not to question their son further. They urged him to make a wish and blow out the candles, which he obediently did as he was told.

If this is really just an illusion, then I hope it never end... He thought, closing his eyes before blowing the candle.

After that, Beldin was able to enjoy his everyday life in the world of illusion. It was the best thing that happened in his life, it was as if the so-called cursed mansion was actually a blessing in disguise. But little did Beldin know, the more time he spend inside the living mansion and the more he lose the idea of everything around him being a mere projection of his desires, the more his body outside the real world was dying. The living mansion was slowly tearing his mind apart and draining his life force, feeding on his emotions and memories.

Beldin was trapped in a fantasy of his own desires, and he didn't even know it. He was living in a false paradise, while his real life was falling apart. He was slowly dying, and he didn't even feel it. He was a prisoner of the living mansion, and he didn't even see it.

Meanwhile, outside the living mansion, Beldin's body was wandering mindlessly around the bustling city. He had no awareness of his surroundings, no sense of direction, no purpose. He was like a zombie, a shell of his former self. Hours turned into days and days turned into weeks, his body kept going on with no one to help him. No one recognized him, except for the cops who had been tracking him for months. They wanted to arrest him for his crimes, but they couldn't do so as he's no longer in his right mind and he needed to be put in a mental hospital instead.

"I'm sorry to break it to you, Beldin, but the game is over. You lose the game." Was the last thing the living mansion said when Beldin's real body finally died. The world of illusion then scattered like a glass, destroying the world he assumed to be a blessing in disguise including himself.