"Hey, feeling better now?" Zuv asked.
"Thank you so much. Yeah… I'm better," Fred said in a hoarse voice, lying back with tears in his eyes.
"We can talk later — you should rest," Allan said.
"It's important that you know," Fred insisted. The air in the room grew heavy again — the darkness creeping back in.
"Alright. Tell us what happened," Zuv said, sitting in a chair. Allan closed the door for privacy.
"I was investigating the knife — trying to write an article about it. The deeper I dug, the more truths I uncovered. I always believed the two cases weren't what they seemed. The stories varied, and the lack of evidence or connection made me drop it years ago. But when you came looking for me, I started again," Fred said.
"Brother, you need rest," Grayson reminded him gently. "Everything's fine now."
"Stop, Grayson. They need to know," Fred said firmly, raising his voice.
"Alright, drink some water," Grayson said, handing him a cup. Fred took a few sips and continued.
"I contacted some of the victims' families. One of the sisters got back to me — wanted to share information. Her name's Jaice. She's the younger sister of Rey, who was friends with Lilly — the survivor. And there was that couple, Josh and Mary, and Dan. Every one of them had a reason to be there that night. The truth was buried under rugs of silence."
"Did she know what happened?" Allan asked.
"No. She said her sister never spoke about it after visiting the house. All she knew was that her sister had been researching the hauntings. She wasn't close enough to any of them to break curfew and walk to a creepy house like that. But when I cross-checked the information, I found her name listed as the writer of the article about the house — and the address matched a different location. The photo was right, but the address led elsewhere. I thought it was a mistake, but the article was uploaded the day after she was cursed," Fred said.
"We went to that house too — thinking it was the right one. I even looked for you there twice. If only I hadn't been fooled by that article," Grayson said, shaking his head.
"It wasn't a mistake — it was a clue she left behind. I went there first before visiting the real haunted house. The first two days, I found nothing except that it was Lilly's home. But digging deeper, I found inconsistencies in the story she wrote. After realizing something was off, I searched again — harder this time — and found a hidden compartment in the office. Inside was a notebook lying in plain sight… a journal belonging to Lilly's father, and Rey's diary."
"Have you figured everything out? How did you get locked in?" Zuv asked.
"I was looking for something in the attic when the wind blew the door shut. I panicked. I didn't have the strength to open it, and I'd already smashed my flashlight. Luckily, I had some snacks and water, or I might've been dead by now," Fred said, glancing at the bag beside the door.
"That's some scare you gave us," Zuv said with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood — but Fred stayed quiet.
"What's in the book?" Allan asked.
"I've found three books so far," Fred said slowly. "The most recent one was Rey's. She was just curious about the haunted house. Back then, the town was full of mystery — even more than now — despite the lack of information or connectivity. She was simply curious, and eventually found the master of the house's journal. She kept it hidden for safekeeping.
"Rey had visited that house many times before the night she was cursed. As she learned more about how the knife worked, none of it made sense to her — the lies hidden by the town, and the ones told to the town.
"The knife's power, according to the journal, can only be nullified if it's melted in sacred fire. The writings also made one thing clear — the knife doesn't act on its own will. It needs a master. It always seeks the strongest energy nearby to become its wielder.
"That might have happened to your friend, Nora. It's like she was drawn to both the place and the object. The knife always returns to the spot where it was last summoned after a kill.
"The master of the house once possessed it — not as its owner, but as its keeper. He came to Uxur, the new town, after seeing the knife in his dreams. He managed to track it down but failed to recognize its true owner — the one behind the murders. Before he could reveal the truth, he died, and his name was tarnished," Fred said, his energy waning.
"Although she knew they were wrongfully accused, Rey couldn't rest until she found the real culprit. She was still investigating when she saw Mary and Josh arguing over something trivial. Dan joined them soon after. Mary had gotten upset over one of Josh's jokes, and Josh tried to talk things out somewhere private, away from his strict parents. Dan had stepped out for a smoke. Then Lilly arrived — she said she missed her old house.
"Mary dared Josh to go inside the haunted house as punishment, and Dan followed, curious. Rey saw no harm — she had been inside before and kept it secret — so she joined them. That's when they first found the knife.
"It had never been there before, not in all the times Rey had searched. They got creeped out and left soon after, planning to return again someday.
"But then the nightmares began. The curse had already taken hold.
"Josh was the first body. His death was tragic and shocking. Mary became the initial suspect — people thought she had gone back to the house and used the knife to kill him. Rey believed that at first, until Dan tried to kill himself in class.
"Most people dismissed it as grief and drug use, but Rey saw the pattern — the incidents matched the curse written in the journal. She told Dan to stay awake, but he didn't listen.
"More deaths followed, one by one. The police investigated, but no one saw the truth except Rey.
"She snuck out one night to recheck the place, hoping she'd missed something. That's when she saw Lilly going in and out — between her old house and the haunted house. She searched frantically for hours before returning home.
"Rey realized it made sense — Lilly would search the haunted house. But what unsettled her was that Lilly was also searching her own home, tearing things apart. When Rey checked it later, everything was scattered — and a letter lay on the floor, written in a child's handwriting.
"It was from one of the youngest children who had lived in the haunted house. It said their father had completed his mission — he'd found the knife and hidden it in a safe. They were leaving the next morning to get rid of it.
"Rey didn't fully understand the letter, but the next day, she confronted Lilly in front of everyone, asking if she knew the people from that house. Lilly denied it at first, then broke down, saying she had gone there to find comfort — to talk to her best friend.
"Everyone sympathized with her, believing she was traumatized. But Rey and Mary weren't convinced. Lilly's story didn't add up. Her behavior felt acted.
"Together, Rey and Mary decided to find the truth — to break the curse when it came for them. Rey already had the answer from the journal. She knew exactly where to go. But for some reason they are dead, clearly they did not get rid of it. In her journal she wrote the time and place they both would meet and Mary was in on the plan. Rey kept distance from Lilly but my guess is Lilly found out about it. Or they simply missed their chance. There's nothing written after that, and the book itself looked like it wasn't touched. She must have found the spot and untouched dairy of Lilly's father and thought of it as a good hiding spot. " Fred spoke.
"Why were you in the attic?" Allan asked.
"Lilly's father mentioned that, He was one of the artifacts dealer for rich people, He mentioned in his log that knife was first in his possession but was lost and then found. Lilly father was never called to be its master or tried to harm him anyway. He sold it to a good price for the master of the haunted house. And was also looking for a another harmful device requested to search by the same person. Lilly's father understood why it was important for these artifacts to not fall into wrong people's hand, and he was also getting paid well. So the search for a black magical crystal which was used to kill sacrifice to make the forest spirit stronger. Which takes over 100s of people to loose their life force and one to lose soul and give body to the spirit. It's worse than the knife. And his logs shows he gave it to the owner of the haunted house right before sunset while they were set to leave early in the morning to get rid of both cursed items. Lilly's father kept searching for them in the house but no trace of knife or the crystal. Someone might have both the artifacts and that someone could be Lilly who has easy access to both the house and the lies she fed the whole town." Fred started sweating.
"Is this the forest spirit?" Grayson showed a drawing in the book.
Allan's face turned pale. He walked closer and turned to other pages.
"Zuv this is what we saw in the forest that day and in my nightmare." Allan spoke with utter shock.