The ball led Rudy back to the hallway. However, it had changed. The rooms were located on different sides, and even the color of the walls had changed.

  Earlier, the walls were empty with spider webs and dust all around, but now, everything was cleaned, and there was no sign of dirt. There were even paintings on the walls.

  'Weird things are happening in this house, so I am not really surprised by this, but damn, this house looks a lot neat now. It no longer feels creepy; instead, it is very welcoming now.'

  "So even the state of the house can change thoughts. I don't feel scared anymore, but that might be a cause of the adrenaline rush I am having right now. Once its effect ends, I know I won't be able to walk."

  Rudy let out a deep sigh and walked through the hallway. He was curious about the paintings, so he looked at them, but they were blurred out.

  The ball traveled through the hallway and entered a room that looked like a kitchen, but as he had expected, it was empty.

  Rudy gulped down after seeing the faucet because he was thirsty.

  'I walked for more than half-hour, and I have no idea how much time I spent in this house.' Rudy thought as he walked closer to the tap. 'I know this will be empty as the house is abandoned, but what's wrong with trying?'

  Rudy slowly turned the tap, but the water didn't come out.

  SIGH!

  "What was I expecting…" he muttered in disappointment.

  HUSH!

  With a sharp hushing sound, water started dripping from the faucet.

  "……!"

  At first, red liquid poured down, and Rudy almost mistook it for blood, but he soon realized it was just rusted water. After a few seconds, the water got clear, and it looked clean.

  However, Rudy wasn't sure about drinking it.

  'I have no idea for how long the water has been there, and I don't think it's wise to drink water from a random faucet, especially in a creepy house, although it's no longer creepy.'

  Rudy decided not to drink the water and proceeded to explore the house to look for an exit to leave the house.

  Rudy turned around, only to see the ball wasn't there anymore.

  "……"

  He immediately rushed out of the kitchen and searched all over to look for the ball. He even entered the closed rooms and the places he had never been before.

  'Where did it go?!'

  "Where did it come from in the first place?" Rudy wondered. "Only if my phone had a battery could I call Eric to get me out of here. Although I doubt there would be any cell network in this house."

  "A classic cliche of a horror movie…" he muttered with a sigh.

  Suddenly, Rudy's ears twitched as he heard a familiar sound. It was the house of the ball rolling.

  He immediately glanced around in all the corners and open ways, but the sound was coming from somewhere else.

  "It sounds a little muffled as though it's… upstairs…" Rudy looked up at the ceiling, but the ball wasn't there either.

  'When I looked at this house from the outside, it looked big enough to be a 3BHK house. I even saw someone peeking from behind the curtain, and then the sudden gust of the wind… wait…'

  Rudy's eyes widened as a sudden thought crossed his mind.

  "I think my eyes met with whoever it was, and their eyes were… red. That's when I lost control over my body. However, I have been in this house for at least 2 hours, and I haven't seen stairs yet."

  But Rudy was sure that the house had another story above him, and the rolling sound of the ball was coming from there.

  "Since everything in this house is tricky, there has to be a way to go upstairs. I just need to find a way to do that…" Rudy spent nearly an hour searching the whole house, trying to find a clue and lead, but to no avail.

  "Come on… will I be stuck in this house forever?" Rudy asked with a loud groan.

  Frustrated and annoyed, Rudy looked at the ceiling and yelled, "Listen! I don't know if anyone is up there! But if you are doing all this, I want you to stop, please!"

  "I didn't enter this house on purpose, so please, show me how to leave, and I swear I will never come back again! I will also not tell anyone about this!"

  The rolling sound of the ball suddenly got faster, as though it had started spinning at a fast speed.

  "I am not lying! I am a good person, and I know I don't have anything to prove that! But I have to go home! I have a mother, and she will get worried if I don't go home in time! I would have called her, but my phone is out of battery! So please, let me leave!"

  Rudy had no idea what he was doing, but it wasn't as though he had any other option but to call the house. If he got lucky, the house might let him leave.

  Rudy waited for a few seconds for something to happen that would give him a sign that could provide him with hope.

  A few more seconds later, the sound of the ball rolling eventually stopped.

  "Did it work…?"

  Suddenly, the photo frames from the walls of the hallway started shaking, and one of them fell down.

  "……" Rudy assumed it was a way or a clue to leave the house, so he approached the frame.

  He slowly picked up the frame and turned it around as the broken glasses fell to the ground.

  Now that there was no glass in the frame, the photo wasn't blurred anymore, but it was still covered with dust.

  He slowly took out the photo from the frame and brushed his fingers as it slowly revealed the contents of the photo.

  "……!"

  He saw something that made him lose consciousness, and the next time he opened his eyes, he found himself outside the house.

  However, he realized that his backpack was no longer with him. It was still in the house.