I felt the piercing pain on the back of my head as my eyes fluttered open. The darkness surrounding my vision started to vanish giving the view of a dimly lit empty room.

"Does your head hurt a lot?" A familiar voice spoke.

I turned to my left to be met with Jiya's face. I could pinpoint the bruises and scratches on her face and neck. I noticed the others sprawled on the floor nearby.

Alisha was the only one who had her eyes open, staring at the roof. I wondered what she must be thinking right now? Getting trapped in a haunted house after a heart wrecking break up must be too much for her to process.

"How long was I out?" I asked rubbing the back of my head with my palms.

"A few hours maybe, I don't know exactly. He took away all sorts of devices we had, including my watch." She replied.

"He?" I asked, confused about who was she referring to.

Then I remembered how I lost my consciousness in the first place.

"You mean that boy who hit me?" I asked, to which she nodded in affirmation.

"I don't understand this. Why would he betray us? I remember we brought him out of her influence. Then what made him do this?"

My head hurt so much that I didn't want to reason his actions. So I waited for Jiya's answer.

"He's always been under her influence. He is some kind of evil creature who is in favour of her. He refers to her as Mistress. After incapacitating you and the boys, he attacked others. When he came after me in the end, I purposely hit my head on the iron bars, carefully enough to make it appear as an accident and pretended to be unconscious. He carried the boys and you in on his arms and ordered someone to carry the others. Then he dumped us all in here and ordered the other man to collect whatever devices we had."

She stopped for a minute before starting again, "I sent an SOS signal from Tia's Digital Watch while he was busy collecting items from others. Though I was unable to see the second man's face as he wore a black cloak, I heard them both calling the ghost their Mistress and that she would be delighted by the number of humans he'd captured for her." She started sobbing silently.

"You said he was Anika's brother? Didn't Anika know?" The words slipped out of my tongue.

"I am getting there. That wasn't Ritvik. After he got us inside this room, his facial features changed. The creature only pretended to be Anika's brother so he could lure us all in. The truth is, Ritvik was captured way before any of us reached him. Somehow the creature knew that we were about to escape with our friends and hence replaced Ritvik. That's why it took us the most time to wake him up from the trance. Because the creature pretended to be Ritvik. He was only acting to be in the trance so we would follow him this far."

Her declaration made sense. I turned around to see Ritvik's unconscious body lying on the ground at the far opposite corner from where all the others were bunched up, including me.

"We can't wait for people to respond to your SOS signal. We gotta try getting out of here on our own. Let's bring them all back to their senses." I said and stood up.

I could feel the soreness in my body, especially on the backside because of my fall from the gate.

Jiya followed me with a decisive look. Guess she decided to side with me instead of listening to her defeated inner voice to sit idle.

As everyone came back to their senses, Jiya filled them on on everything that she had gathered.

"Why didn't they kill us right away like they do in the horror movies?" Sonia spoke after a long time.

"I don't know. But I have a feeling they know what the ghost does to all her captives. They talked like they have been working with her quite sometime. Oh and the fake Ritvik ordered the other one to start some sort of preparation." Jiya replied.

"So what now? We can't just wait for them to come and get us to be killed." Ritvik spoke.

At least I'll never forget his name again after the fake Ritvik incident.

"No, we can't. We gotta escape. I memorized the way out while they carried us here. To be honest, keeping my breathing and heart rate as calm as an unconscious person wasn't as easy as they show in crime thrillers." Jiya replied.

Tia patted her shoulders as a reinforcement for her smartness that's gonna save our lives. All the people in this room were proud of her. I noticed the respect that all their eyes held for my friend's intelligence and bravery.

"What are we waiting for then, Christmas? Let's move." Anika started on ahead only to be pulled back by her boyfriend.

"Calm down babe. We gotta stick together and take one step at a time." He hugged her on his side.

I noticed the look of longing in his eyes for Anika as well as the fear of losing her. The same look was plastered on Sonia and her boyfriend's features as they stood close to each other, hand in hand. No doubt these two were serious about each other. Though I can't say the same for Anika. She seemed really pissed at her boyfriend.

"He's right. Hold each other's hands, make a circle like the previous one and walk out as quietly as possible, keeping our breathing and heart beat as calm as possible. We shouldn't risk them figuring out what we are up to." Tia instructed everyone.

We nodded and made a circle formation, holding each other's hands tightly. I stood in between Jiya and Alisha.

"Um, guys, sorry to interrupt the enthusiastic moment but how are we supposed to unlock the main door of the mansion? Or the door of this particular room for that matter?" Sonia voiced her concern.

Alisha left my grip and went for the door. She bent down on her knees and stared at the door knob lock for a while.

We were all confused as to what she was up to. I looked towards Tia to asked her if she had any idea, but she seemed as clueless as any of us.

My questions were answered when she took out a hairpin from her hairs and started picking up the lock.

Moments later, she gestured for us to have a look at her job.

"Boys, wanna try opening it up?" Alisha spoke joining us back on her place in the circle formation.

Ritvik went ahead. As he turned the knob, the door clicked open. He smiled at Alisha, appreciating her help.

He came back and stood between Alisha and Tia. To my back stood Anika with her boyfriend and then Sonia with her boyfriend situated between Jiya and Sonia.

"Next time I am grounded, I'll call you to unlock my room." Ritvik spoke to Alisha flashing a boyish grin.

"Bro, for that we have to reach home first. Let's go." Anika said and we marched forward like a superhero team going into battle.

"The coast is clear. Come on." Jiya confirmed.

She took the lead as we followed. I noticed her sweating palms. She was super scared. I could tell she was under a lot of pressure as she kept an eye around for the way out. She was worried to make a mistake by taking a wrong step that could endanger our lives.

I rubbed her upper palm with my thumb to soothe her nerves, which apparently worked. Though her silent muttering never stopped.

I suppressed my urge to ask her what she has been whispering for so long even though she was the one who instructed us to tie our tongues.

As soon as we turned around the corridor leading to the living room, we heard footsteps arriving closer towards our direction.

"Don't be scared. Stay relaxed." Jiya warned us.

But the nearing thud of footsteps made it hard for us to follow her command. That's when we were pulled inside an open door.

"We can wait here until he's gone." Tia murmured silently.

The room was pitch dark coated with pin drop silence. I concluded that all of us were experts in breath control and calming exercises as I couldn't hear a single breathing sound in the room. Not to mention how effective that proved to be in our escapade.

The footsteps became faint and gradually died down signalling that our designated executioner has gone far away from us.

We went out together and were successful in crossing the length of the living room to reach the main exit door.

"You seem in hurry, children." A cold voice came from behind.

I turned a little to look at the stairs to find the source of the dreadfully scary voice. For some unknown reason, a wave or realisation and an unknown vengeance hit me.

At the top of the staircase, stood a slim, tall figure covered in a black cloak. I couldn't see much of her features except for her 2 inches long black nails and somewhat pale white fingers. There was a faint hint of white beneath the cut of her black cloak. As I concentrated, I was able to see a pair of white teeth and black lips, stretched in a sly smile.

Her presence graced the dusty wooden floors, magnifying the whitish beige painted interior of the Mansion.

She emitted a dark, negative energy that terrified everyone, including me.