The House That Breathed

Rain poured down in sheets as Maya and her brother Rehan searched for shelter along the deserted road. Their car had broken down miles back, and the storm was relentless. When they spotted the old house at the edge of the woods, they didn’t hesitate.

The wooden gate creaked open on its own.
The windows were dark, but the door was already ajar, as if the house had been expecting them.

Inside, the air was damp and heavy. The floorboards groaned under their steps, and the smell of mildew clung to their clothes.

But then Maya froze.
The walls were moving.

Not like shadows, not like tricks of the storm—but moving. The wallpaper stretched and tightened, as if the house itself were… breathing.

“Did you see that?” Maya whispered.

Rehan laughed nervously, “It’s just the wind.”

But the wind didn’t make the walls rise and fall like lungs. The wind didn’t make doors slam shut on their own. And it certainly didn’t whisper their names in the dark.

The deeper they went, the more alive the house became. Stairs pulsed beneath their feet like veins. The hallways shifted, growing longer, trapping them in a maze. Portraits on the walls seemed to turn their heads, eyes following every move.

And then came the sound.

A low, guttural exhale.
Like something enormous sleeping just beyond the walls.

Rehan grabbed Maya’s hand. “We need to get out—now.”

But the front door was gone.
In its place was another hallway, darker than the rest, stretching into an impossible black.

Whispers slithered around them, too many voices to count. The walls throbbed, the ceiling dripped with something warm. Maya touched her arm and found not water, but blood.

The house groaned—loud this time, as though it was waking up.

From the floorboards, a face pressed against the wood. Then another. And another. Dozens of faces screaming silently from beneath the surface, trapped inside the house. Their mouths moved, desperate, but no sound came.

Maya and Rehan backed away, but the walls curved inward, sealing them in. The air grew hotter, suffocating, as if the house were inhaling.

Rehan shouted, slamming his fists against the door that appeared behind them. For a split second, it cracked open, showing the storm outside.

Maya shoved him through.
But before she could follow, the house exhaled.

The door slammed shut.

Rehan stumbled into the rain, calling her name over and over. But when he turned back—
The house was gone.

Only an empty field remained, silent under the storm.

And somewhere, deep inside the ground, Maya screamed.

The house had taken its breath.