The rain hammered against the windshield like desperate fingers tapping for entry. Daniel tightened his grip on the steering wheel, squinting through the downpour. The GPS had lost signal miles back, and the winding forest road seemed endless.
"Just a little further", he told himself. "The house should be right up ahead".
His realtor had assured him the property was a steal—an old Victorian manor tucked away in the woods, fully furnished, with a history that only added to its charm. "A bit isolated, but perfect for a writer like you,"she had said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
Finally, the headlights caught the silhouette of the house—tall, gabled, and cloaked in shadows. The wooden sign at the driveway read: "WELCOME"—except someone had scratched out the second "L," leaving it to read "WECOME" in jagged, angry strokes.
Daniel parked and stepped out into the storm, his boots sinking into the muddy earth. The front door was slightly ajar.
"That's odd".
He hadn't arrived before the movers, had he?
"Hello?" he called, pushing the door open. The hinges groaned like a wounded animal.
The foyer was dim, lit only by the flickering remnants of a dying fire in the hearth. The air smelled of damp wood and something else—something metallic.
Then he saw it.
On the grand staircase, written in thick, dark strokes across the wallpaper, was a message:
"WELCOME HOME, DANIEL."
His blood turned to ice.
He hadn't told anyone he was coming tonight.
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Then another.
And then—
A slow, wet drip… drip… drip…
Daniel looked down. A single drop of crimson splattered onto his shoe.
He slowly tilted his head up.
Above him, dangling from the chandelier like a grotesque ornament, was a body. Its throat had been slit ear to ear, the blood pooling beneath it in a glistening black puddle. The face was frozen in a silent scream—but the worst part was the familiarity.
It was him.
His own lifeless eyes stared back.
A whisper brushed against his ear, so close he could feel the breath:
"You're home now."
And then the door slammed shut behind him.
That was the last thing he heard.