The Human Heart: More Frightening Than a Ghost

ith you right now. You understand, right? Rest assured, I

, privileged aura of the young man i

my boyfriend of two years-and felt like I was in a

he explained, "People are saying your parents committed suicide out of guilt.

eiress-my family ruined, my parents dead, my heart conditio

, I sank into the so

e the bankruptcy, the fatal car crash that took my parents, and now even Joshua had dista

ther made. I still couldn't believe they would take their own lives. My

sudden. "Hello, delivery!"

was thin, like a letter. Strange. I hadn't ordered a

ide was a sleek black envelope, embossed with gold lettering,

tation, a slip of paper

in thick red marker were the words, "Want t

ley face was dr

ke something or someone was deliberately covering up the truth. I never believed they would kill themse

tation-I

ddress at exactly noon. It led me to a long-a

deserted. No one lived nearby. I asked passersby if they knew an

time of day, a cold draft slithered up my back l

out my phone, and looked at my last message

no r

. I pushed open the heavy ir

door slammed shut behind me with a deafe

wore an ill-fitting white shirt and black dress pants. Tall and slim, his long eyelashes c

catching the sunlight a

rried a smile that didn't reach his eyes. His features were sharp and clean, a

t clearly weren't his, yet his gent

d, handed me a card for room 2

When I looked up to ask him something, he

them, I had no choice but to keep going. No matter how stran

doors were open, but the interior was pitch black, rusted like the jaws of some

sn't fancy, but at least it was clean. The room was d

rbell rang again. I pressed my ear to the door-silence. I opened it. Dinn

uld have done it the moment I walk

out a shower, but horror movies had conditioned me to fear bathrooms

buried myself under the covers and slowly drifted o

shirtless man with a chiseled physique sat sul

le my clothes

s expressionless face, he

ick of his tongue and kicked the man with one

n in a red dress drawled as she walked over. "He

morrow's the real show. Rest up.