A Scream in the Midnight

Chapter One: The Dark Beginning

The night was pitch black in the village of Glenora, where the villagers gathered around a fire flickering in front of the scattered stone cottages. The cold was biting, the sky heavy with clouds, and the wind howled as if trying to rip the souls from their bodies. Glenora was an ancient, isolated village, surrounded by legends and tales about an abandoned mansion on a high hill, a place no one dared to approach after sunset. It was said that this mansion once belonged to the Finebrook family, known for their wealth and power in past centuries, but their end was rumored to be both catastrophic and bloody.

Elias, a young man in his twenties, worked as a woodcutter in the village. He possessed a brave heart, yet on a cold night like this, he shuddered at the mere thought of the dark mansion. As the villagers exchanged stories about the spirits that roamed the estate, he felt something strange creeping inside him. He wasn't sure if it was fear or an insatiable curiosity to uncover the truth.

Elias returned to his cabin at midnight, the darkness so dense that he could barely see the path ahead. As he reached his door, he noticed a carefully folded note pinned to the wooden entrance. The paper was yellowed, its ink appearing both ancient and eerie. Elias was not used to receiving messages at this hour, so he hesitated before opening it. But his curiosity soon won over his fear, and with trembling hands, he unfolded the paper.

:The Message

"Do not leave your cabin tonight, or you will hear a scream from the depths of hell that will haunt you forever. Something lurks in the darkness, waiting for you. Stay inside, or you will share the fate of those who came before you."

The handwriting was strange and unsettling, as if written in haste or by a trembling hand. Elias had no idea who had sent the letter or where it had come from, but one thing was certain—his heart was filled with dread. At that moment, a distant echoing scream pierced the silence of the night, a sound filled with terror and unimaginable pain.

Elias froze in place, his feet seemingly rooted to the ground. He tried to remember the warning written in the letter. Slowly, he moved toward the window, peering outside. In the distance, near the hill where the abandoned mansion stood, he saw shifting shadows—figures that moved closer and then faded away, whispering in hushed, ghostly tones.

As dawn broke, the village awoke to what felt like the remnants of a nightmare. The villagers, including Elias, gathered in the town square to discuss the scream they had all heard. Fear was etched on their faces, and no one dared to speak of what they had seen or heard. An elderly man approached Elias, his gaze filled with an unsettling knowledge. In a hushed voice, he said,

"We have all been warned, but some secrets cannot remain buried forever. The midnight scream is only the beginning, and these letters... they are reminders of what happened in the past. Anyone who opens them finds themselves on a path from which there is no return."

Chapter Two: The Curse of the Abandoned Mansion

In the following days, the mysterious letters continued to appear at Elias’s door, each containing ominous warnings or cryptic hints about the fate of those who dared to approach the mansion. Fear and curiosity waged war in his heart. The letters felt like a puzzle begging to be solved—but at a terrible cost.

Realizing that the only way to understand the messages was to seek out Andras the Wise, the village elder who had lived there for decades, Elias visited him one dark evening. The old man revealed the dark history of the Finebrook family, a lineage shrouded in secrecy and misfortune.

"It is said," Andras recounted, "that every member of the family met a gruesome fate due to an act of vengeance so terrible that it doomed their souls to unrest. Their spirits have never left the mansion—they wander its halls, seeking retribution."

He told Elias of a cursed winter night when evil forces seemed to engulf the estate, as if the walls themselves sought revenge against its inhabitants. The villagers had heard the screams of children trying to escape, the desperate cries of women falling into unseen traps, and then—silence. Their bodies were never found, swallowed by the depths of the mansion’s basement. The tragedy had been triggered by a merciless enemy, someone powerful enough to exact a punishment so severe that it left behind a stain on time itself.

Determined to break the curse, Elias decided to confront the mansion's dark history. He gathered three of his closest friends—Liam, Karen, and Thomas—and convinced them to join him. Despite their apprehension, they agreed.

The next night, the four ventured to the mansion. Inside, the air was damp and cold, the scent of decay and forgotten memories thick in the air. Shadows moved around them, and faint whispers echoed the words inscribed in the letters.

Chapter Three: Unveiling the Horrifying Truth

Inside the mansion, Elias and his companions uncovered old, crumbling documents and journals filled with terrifying accounts from the Finebrook family. One diary belonged to a young girl named Elena, who had lived in the mansion. She wrote about the eerie voices she heard within the walls, as if someone—or something—was secretly dwelling among them.

Further along in her diary, she mentioned a figure called The Keeper, a guardian of the estate who supposedly performed dark rituals to protect the mansion from unseen threats.

While searching through the dust-covered rooms, the group discovered a locked chest. When Thomas forced it open, they found a collection of ancient jewelry and letters scrawled in what looked like dried blood. Among them was a note written in an archaic language:

"You will pay the price, just as we did. There is no salvation for wandering souls."

The moment Thomas read the note aloud, the candlelight flickered violently, and the room transformed before their eyes. Distorted visions played out—scenes of the family being hunted and slaughtered, their agonized cries reverberating through the mansion’s halls.

They realized then—they were not alone. Something, or someone, was watching them. The Keeper was still there, his presence lingering like a shadow, guarding his domain.

Chapter Four: The Curse Awakens

Determined to end the torment, Elias and his friends attempted a ritual they found in one of the ancient texts, believing it would release the trapped spirits. They carefully arranged the required artifacts on a stone table in the mansion’s grand hall, lighting candles as instructed.

But as they began, the ground trembled, the walls groaned, and the shadows stirred. Instead of lifting the curse, they had made it stronger. The bodies that had long disappeared began to reappear, their ghostly forms awakened by the incantation.

Karen's voice trembled as she whispered, "We made a terrible mistake… the ritual wasn’t meant to free the spirits—it was meant to summon them."

The air filled with unearthly shrieks, laughter, and weeping. The group fled through the labyrinthine corridors, but the mansion seemed determined to trap them inside forever.

Chapter Five: The Final Scream

As midnight approached, Elias and his friends were exhausted and terrified. He realized that the only way to end the curse was through a personal sacrifice. The mansion demanded an offering.

Finding himself alone in an abandoned chamber, Elias gathered his courage and began reciting an ancient incantation while following the ritual’s final steps. He took an old stone dagger and sliced his palm over the altar. The moment his blood touched the surface, the voices stilled, and the spirits seemed to listen.

"I offer the price… be free," he murmured.

A deafening silence followed. One by one, the spirits dissolved, their torment ending at last. His friends reappeared, freed from the mansion’s grip, staring at him with a mixture of gratitude and horror. They knew he had given up something vital to save them.

Days passed, and the mansion fell silent once more. But one night, a new letter appeared on Elias’s door, its words chilling:

"The curse returns to those who dare open the mansion again."