Waking up at 5 a.m., the three girls were ready to go to Cindy's house and headed for the bus stop on foot. They were waiting for the Number 45 bus, which was supposed to take them to the train station for Kind George Street. The three girls were excited and scared at the same time. After the experience of their last case, where humans themselves became their enemies, the girls were afraid to go to a stranger's place like this. But then the bus arrived, and the three girls got on and sat down. They were half-asleep because they weren't accustomed to waking up this early, but if they wanted to reach Cindy's house on time, they had to take the 5 a.m. bus to reach the railway station and catch the train to Kind George Station.
After sitting on the bus, the three girls fell asleep.
On the other side, the situation for the Johnson family, Olivia and Walter, had worsened. When they had returned home from the motel earlier, they were shocked to see that their house had been completely wrecked when they left. But when they returned home tonight, they found their house perfectly clean, with all things in their place. However, as soon as they entered the house, all the doors and windows suddenly locked themselves, and the house lights abruptly went out.
As complete darkness enveloped the house, Walter's family suddenly heard the sound of someone scraping their fingernails on the wall. When Walter found the torch kept in the house and shone the light in the direction of the sound, he saw that same spirit scratching the wall with its fingernails and coming toward them. But in the very next moment, the spirit suddenly vanished.
Walter wanted to keep his family safe, and for that, it was necessary to restart the power supply. But the problem was that the main switch was in the basement, where the spirit already was, and going down to the basement meant willingly throwing himself into the mouth of death.
"What are you thinking? We have to go down to the basement somehow and turn on the main switch. Maybe the house fuse has blown," Olivia said to Walter.
"Alright, Olivia, I'm going down. You look after the children. Anyway, staying in the dark isn't safe right now, and we can't go outside because that spirit has locked all the windows and doors," Walter said, handing another torch to Olivia as he walked toward the basement door.
But at that moment, the same spirit's growling sound came from the basement, as if warning Walter that if he came down, he would never go up alive again. Hearing the terrifying sound coming from the basement, Olivia and the children were also very frightened, and the children began to insist that Walter not go down. Olivia also forbade Walter from going down, but in the next moment, that spirit possessed Walter's body, and Walter, picking up a knife from the kitchen, ran after his family to kill them.
Olivia tried hard to stop Walter, and Cindy was with her; Alex was crying loudly, seeing his father like this. But at that moment, Walter was trying to kill his family using both his own strength and the spirit's. Just then, Olivia picked up a nearby flower pot and hit Walter on the head, causing blood to flow from Walter's head, making him stand still for a moment. Then the spirit spoke to Olivia from Walter's body:
"You can try as much as you want, but I will kill your family and have sexual relations with you and ruin your pussy so badly that you will regret being alive. But if you listen to me and have sex with me, I will spare the life of either your husband or your children. You just have to choose whether you want your husband alive or your children."
Hearing the spirit's words, Olivia began to weep. She stood confused. One moment she looked at her wedding picture, and the next moment, at her children's faces. She couldn't understand what to do. Just then, the spirit spoke again:
"What's taking you so long to think, Olivia? Anyway, before marriage, you must have had sex with countless men and quenched your pussy's thirst. I know married women like you very well, who pretend to love their husbands greatly in front of them, but satisfy their lust by having sex with other men behind their backs. So why are you putting on this show of being so virtuous?"
Hearing the spirit's filthy words, Olivia couldn't control her anger anymore. She grabbed the knife lying nearby and, in a burst of rage, plunged it into Walter's chest. In that moment, her fury had taken over her so completely that she forgot the truth — the person she was stabbing wasn't the spirit… it was her own husband.
The moment Olivia stabbed Walter, the spirit instantly left his body, and Walter collapsed to the floor, soaked in blood. Seeing her husband's condition, Olivia froze in terror. She lifted Walter's head into her lap and began apologizing to him while trembling uncontrollably. The children too, after witnessing their father dying before their eyes, burst into painful, heart-shattering cries. The atmosphere inside the house had become unbearably heavy and tragic.
With his final breaths, Walter managed to say only one thing to Olivia — that no matter what happened, she must protect their children until their last breath.
The moment Walter died, the spirit unlocked every window and door in the house, and the lights returned to normal. As soon as she heard the door click open, Olivia picked up her children and rushed outside, sitting on the porch as she waited desperately for morning to arrive.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the three girls had reached the railway station and were buying their tickets at the platform.
"What happened, Lily? What's that on your face?" Stephanie asked, noticing the mask Lily was wearing.
"Oh please, we're going out so early in the morning. There'll be so much traffic, and with that, so much pollution. It's necessary to take precautions, right?" Lily replied, making a face at Stephanie.
Then the three girls boarded the train and settled into their seats as it began to move. They still had five hours to go before reaching Cindy's house.
"Claire, what are you doing on your phone? Go to sleep quietly. We still have a long time before we reach Cindy's place," Stephanie said, seeing Claire scrolling through her mobile.
"I'm trying to learn the history of Cindy's house before we get there," Claire replied, her eyes fixed on the screen.
Lily had already fallen asleep in her seat, but Stephanie couldn't. Claire, too, wanted to fully prepare herself before reaching Cindy, so that the spirit wouldn't be able to overpower them. Watching Claire deeply focused on her research, Stephanie moved closer and sat beside her.
"So, Detective Claire," she said with a teasing smile, "tell me what all you've discovered about that house so far."
Claire took a breath and began explaining. "The house was built in 1970. It was constructed by Richard Gunway, who was a landlord and owned a large amount of land back then. But Richard was a hot-tempered man. He used to mistreat his workers, made them work far too hard, and never paid them their full wages. Richard also had a daughter named Diana. She was very beautiful and had returned home from studying in England in 1985.
"But Diana fell in love with one of the labourers working on her father's land — a man named Nicolson, who was living illegally in America. One day, Richard caught Diana and Nicolson being intimate inside the house. Furious, Richard shot Nicolson dead right on the spot. After that, Diana grew to despise her father. A few years later, in 1990, Richard's body was found hanging in his bedroom. Some people believed he committed suicide due to his fractured relationship with his daughter. Others claimed that Nicolson's spirit haunted him after death, driving him to take his own life.
"After Richard's death, all his property went to Diana. She tried to manage it well, but she wasn't as skilled in business as her father. Within just four years, she lost 80% of her estate, and in the end, only this house and a single field remained. There's no information available anywhere about what happened after that."
After finishing the entire story, Claire let out a long, heavy sigh.
"You really did some impressive research. According to your theory, we only know the story up until 1994, but the current year is 2025. That means for the past 31 years, we have no idea what happened in that house," Stephanie said, widening her eyes.
"Yes. And in these 31 years, our country has developed a lot. We have no clue what changes that house might've gone through during this time, nor do we have any idea whose spirit actually haunts it. Because if it's the spirit of a man, it could possibly be Richard's—after all, he committed suicide, and spirits who die by their own hand often wander around the place where they lived. Or it could even be Nicolson's spirit, since Richard murdered him. Maybe Nicolson first made Richard kill himself as revenge for his own death… and now he's taking the lives of anyone who tries to live in that house," Claire explained, sharing her opinion.
"As far as I think, it's probably Nicolson's spirit. Because he died right when he was intimate with Diana. His desire to have sex was left unfulfilled, and now he rapes and kills the women living in that house," Stephanie added, giving her own viewpoint.
"Anything is possible. Until we reach Cindy's house, all we can do is make assumptions. The truth will only be revealed once we go inside that house. But if we go to the local library in that town and search the records, maybe we'll find out what happened in those missing 31 years," Claire suggested.
Hearing Claire's idea, Stephanie smiled and said, "Yes, that works. But once we reach the station, we'll go straight to Cindy's house first. I don't want anything unfortunate to happen to the Johnson family before we get there."
"Can you two not sleep for a while? Look at me, I'm dying of sleepiness. Either you both sleep too, or at least let me sleep," Lily mumbled from under her blanket without opening her eyes.
Hearing Lily's complaint, Stephanie and Claire laughed and began enjoying the sights passing by outside the window.
"Claire, what were you talking to Tom about? Something regarding your dad and George Peterson?" Stephanie suddenly asked.
"No, it wasn't anything important," Claire replied hesitantly.
"There was something, Claire. I heard it with my own ears, but because of all the noise I couldn't hear clearly what you were telling Tom. If you don't want to tell me, it's fine, but Lily and I are your best friends, and I don't think best friends should keep secrets from each other," Stephanie said as she moved back to her seat.
Seeing Stephanie walk away like that, Claire realized her hesitation had hurt her. So she went to Stephanie and told her everything about George—how she thought that since George had also worked in the Pennsylvania Police Department, maybe he knew something about her father. But George had no idea about anything.
"Don't worry, Claire. One day you will definitely succeed in uncovering the truth behind your father's death," Stephanie said, encouraging her.
"I hope so…" Claire replied softly, finally calming down.
Around noon, at about 12 p.m., the train carrying the three girls arrived in Kind George Town. To their surprise, even though America had advanced so much, this town still looked like it was stuck somewhere in the 80s or 90s.
"Guys, where have we come? It feels like we didn't just travel by train—we traveled through time and landed in the past," Lily said, looking around in disbelief.
"You're right, Lily. I don't understand… when the whole of America is so developed, why is this place still so backward?" Claire said, scanning the surroundings as well.
"I don't think we're going to find any taxi or Uber here. Stephanie, can you turn on the GPS and check how far Cindy's house is?" Lily asked, noticing that Stephanie was standing silently, as if trying to feel something. She didn't respond at all and continued to stand motionless.
"Stephanie, are you okay?" Claire asked, suddenly anxious.
"What happened to her all of a sudden? She was perfectly fine on the train," Lily said as she pulled out a water bottle from her bag.
Lily sprinkled some water on Stephanie's face, and only then did Stephanie snap back to awareness.
"You didn't look unconscious. What were you lost in so suddenly?" Claire asked, confused.
"I wasn't unconscious… I was just trying to feel the vibe of this place. And when I tried to sense this area through the spirit world, I felt absolutely nothing—then a dark shadow threw me out of my own thoughts." Stephanie said, showing the scratches on her hand to her two friends.
"So what exactly did you feel?" Lily asked curiously.
"Nothing at all. As soon as that dark shadow entered the spirit world, all the other spirits scattered as if they were terrified of it," Stephanie explained, slinging her bag over her shoulder.
"So are you okay now? Because if you're fine, then check the GPS and tell us how far Cindy's house is—Claire's and my phones are both dead," Lily said.
When Stephanie checked, her internet wasn't working properly either, because the area had very low network coverage. So she took out a paper map from her bag, looked for the route, and finally said, "We'll have to go about fifteen kilometers west from here."
After that, the three girls struggled for quite a while before they finally found a taxi driver. They gave him Cindy's address and asked him to take them there. But the moment the taxi driver read the address, he refused to go.
"Why? Don't you want to drive your taxi and earn money? Why won't you go to this address?" Stephnie asked the taxi driver angrily.
"Madam, I do want to drive the taxi and earn money, but not at the cost of my life. And I'm telling you, you and your friends should return to wherever you came from. The address you're asking me to go to—it's the most haunted house in this area. Anyone who goes there never comes back alive," the driver said fearfully, refusing to drive to Cindy's house.
"Look, the fare to go there is fifty-eight dollars, but I'll give you a hundred. Please take us there. A family in that house is waiting for our help. And if a hundred dollars isn't enough, I'll give you one fifty," Claire pleaded.
Hearing the offer of one hundred and fifty dollars, the driver finally agreed to take the three girls near Cindy's house, but he said he would not go close to the house itself. He would drop them in the lane opposite the house and immediately leave.
The three girls agreed to his condition, and after about twenty minutes of driving, the taxi driver stopped at the beginning of Cindy's lane and said, "Madam, I can't go any farther. You'll have to walk from here."
Hearing this, the girls got out of the taxi, paid the driver, picked up their luggage, and started walking toward Cindy's house. As soon as they entered the lane of that beautiful-looking locality, where Cindy's old house stood in front of them, the three girls were stunned to see several police cars parked outside and Olivia herself in police custody.
But just then, Claire's eyes shifted upward—to the window on the top floor of the house, where a dark shadowy figure stood, watching the police take Olivia away.