Flick!
A bright light suddenly burst into the room, dim yet sharp as it tore through the darkness.
"——!"
I flinched the moment the light came on, and my heart nearly leaped out of my chest.
But as if that wasn't creepy enough, a tune began to play from the TV.
"Trallalalal~"
"Little star, little moon~"
"Shining bright, come back soon~"
A nursery rhyme?
It was one that I didn't hear before, and for a moment, I froze in place.
But not for long.
Creeaaaak!
A creaking sound followed right after, and I immediately grew startled.
'The old lady!'
I glanced around in panic, ready to make a move for the door, only to realize I was trapped, wedged in by piles of garbage. One wrong step, and the noise would give me away.
'Shit, what do I do...?'
I looked around me, looking for some sort of hiding spot.
Creak. Creaaak!
The footsteps drew closer, each one pounding in time with my racing heart. Panic rose as I scanned the room frantically, looking for something, anything.
'Surely there is something. Maybe...'
My eyes eventually landed on the filthy sofa next to me. Gritting my teeth and stifling a gag, I dropped low and crawled beneath it, barely daring to breathe.
The stench beneath became even more pronounced, and even though I was still trying my best to breathe through my mouth, some of the smell managed to enter my nose, almost making me gag.
There were socks and all sorts of boxes littered across the wooden floor.
'I really want to puke...'
And it wasn't even because I was scared.
The sight around me was just sickening. But at the same time, as I quietly pushed some stuff away, I noticed something on the wooden floor around me.
A strange marking.
Staring at it, I couldn't quite make out the color of the marking. Even without my glasses, it was hard to tell given how dark it was. But it looked red. A thin line, winding forward across the floor, like something had been dragged.
It looked to stretch further, but all of the trash covered the particular marking.
I wanted to see what it was, but I unfortunately didn't have the luxury for that as the steps drew even closer, finally loud enough for me to hear, and indicating to me that the old lady had finally arrived on the first floor.
"Drift with clouds, soft and slo~"
"Where the sleepy flowers grow~"
In the background, the nursery rhyme continued to play.
The noise was soft, yet within the silence, it felt suffocating.
Creaaak—
A bare foot appeared before my eyes not long after, as I suddenly held my breath.
'She's here!'
I held my breath, trying my best not to make any noise.
"Strange..."
The old woman's voice whispered in the air, cutting through the nursery rhyme that played in the background.
"...Why did the television turn on?"
Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!
I could feel my very own heart drumming so loudly that I was almost afraid the old lady could hear it. However, I was quickly able to calm it down not long after.
'She's just a regular old lady. There is no need to be scared. If she finds me, I can just force my way out. I might get in trouble with the police the day after, but I can just figure something out if that happens.'
I was prepping my mind with all sorts of thoughts and ideas in order to calm myself down.
Eventually...
Flick!
The TV switched off, and silence settled over the room.
It was a strangely heavy silence that made me swallow silently.
But most importantly...
A dim light lingered even after the TV switched off, hovering from left to right.
"Hmm."
The old woman's voice echoed after as the light continued to hover from right to left.
"...This feels different from before."
"—!"
My hair rose on end the moment I heard her words.
She could tell?!
But how?
I had been very careful with my actions. Even though I was looking for clues and hints, I still put everything back the moment I was done with a certain area. Realistically speaking, everything should've looked the same as before.
"Ah, yes..."
A thin hand reached for the floor, pulling a certain item. It looked like a used box?
"This wasn't here before."
What?
"And this over here. It was also not here before. How strange...."
The old lady continued to point things out, throwing me off with each item she listed. How in the world did she know?
How could someone living like this have this type of memory?
'No, maybe it's because they have this type of memory that they can live like this.'
Whatever the case was, it was creeping me out as I covered my mouth while waiting for her to leave.
'Please just leave. Please just leave. Please just leave.'
Thankfully, my wishes were soon granted as the old lady tossed the items back onto the floor and mumbled, "I... must be getting old."
Creaaak!
The floor creaked once more as she began to move away.
But even as I heard her leave, I didn't move a single inch from the spot I was in. Not even when I heard her reach the stairs and go up.
Not even several minutes had passed.
I remained glued to the floor with my eyes closed, allowing for the silence to embrace me.
But that was until I remembered something and pulled out the photograph from before, and took a look at it.
'I wasn't convinced before, but now that I am looking at it, I am certain that she has a connection with the Twisted Man.'
The clothes the man in the photo was wearing were identical to those of the Twisted Man.
I could see it clearly.
'...There's no doubt in my mind that this is relevant to the Twisted Man. But who is this man? Is he her husband, like I suspect? And this is her, right?'
I really want to get out of the spot and ask her. However, I was more afraid of scaring her to the point of her getting a heart attack than anything else.
Still, this was a lead.
All I had to do after this was follow up on the lead and figure out more about her husband.
Analyzing the picture in my hand for a little bit longer, I looked out.
'I think it's safe for me to leave.'
I had heard the woman move up to the second floor, and I had waited long enough to make sure there was nobody else in the room.
Carefully pushing some stuff out, I made my way out of the sofa while trying my best not to gag.
Stretching my back, I was just about to leave when...
Flick!
"Trallalalal~"
"Little star, little moon~"
"Shining bright, come back soon~"
The television turned on, lighting up the surroundings once more as I hastily raised my head in the direction of the TV, my entire body freezing in place as an elderly woman stood right behind it, her sunken eyes staring right at me as she held onto a portable lamp.
"...As expected. There really was someone."