THE HOUSE WITH 100 ROOMS
Chapter 15 — The Woman in the Chair
Nara was still standing in front of the bed in room 14.
The breathing beneath the bed had stopped.
She didn't dare check.
Dimas's storybook still lay on the floor.
Nara picked it up with trembling hands, then walked out of the room.
The door numbered 14 closed slowly.
Click.
Nara took a deep breath.
"I'll come back tomorrow," she murmured, staring at the door.
She didn't want to stay on the second floor too long.
Nara went down the stairs toward the living room.
The house felt utterly silent.
The sun was beginning to sink behind the trees.
Orange light streamed through the windows, stretching the shadows of the old furniture across the floor.
Nara headed to the kitchen to make a warm drink.
But just as she picked up a glass...
Srrrkkk...
The sound of something sliding came from the dining room.
Nara stopped.
She slowly turned around.
The dining room was only a few yards from where she stood.
"Who's there?" she asked, setting down the glass.
There was no answer.
Then the sound came again.
Srrrkkk...
Like someone pulling out a chair.
Nara turned on her phone's flashlight.
She walked toward the dining room.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
As soon as she reached the doorway, Nara stopped.
An old woman was sitting in one of the chairs.
Her back was facing Nara.
The woman's hair hung almost to the floor.
She wore simple, dark-colored clothes.
Nara assumed the woman was one of the villagers.
Maybe someone who had come to inspect the house.
"Ma'am?" Nara called from the doorway.
The woman didn't answer.
Nara furrowed her brow.
"Excuse me, who are you?" she asked, taking a step closer.
There was no reaction.
The woman simply sat there in silence.
Nara studied her hair.
It was wet.
Several strands clung to the back of her clothes.
Nara swallowed.
"Do you need help?" she asked, raising her phone a little higher.
The woman finally moved.
Very slowly.
The chair turned.
Creak...
Nara took a step back.
The woman's face couldn't be seen clearly.
It wasn't because her hair covered her face.
Something like a black shadow covered her entire face.
Only the vague shapes of her nose and chin were visible.
The back of Nara's neck went cold.
The woman stared at her.
Or at least, Nara felt like she was being watched.
Then the woman's lips moved.
"You're late."
Her voice was low and slow.
Nara gripped her phone tightly.
"Late for what?" she asked, holding her breath.
The woman didn't answer.
Nara worked up the courage to step closer.
"Who are you?" she asked, tilting her head.
The woman raised her hand.
Her finger pointed to the empty chair on the other side of the table.
"I once waited for children who never came home."
Nara looked at the chair she was pointing to.
The chair was empty.
But there was a water stain on its surface.
As if someone had just sat there while soaking wet.
"Whose children?" Nara asked, looking back at the woman.
The woman said nothing.
Nara remembered all the photographs she'd found in the house.
Dimas.
Mira.
The other children.
The names carved into the walls.
"Mira?" Nara asked softly, moving closer.
The woman stood up at once.
Her chair scraped violently.
THUD!
Nara jumped.
The woman was standing right in front of her.
But in the blink of an eye...
her body vanished.
Nara froze.
The chair in front of her was empty.
There was no woman.
No sound of footsteps.
No open door.
Nothing at all.
Nara looked around.
"Ma'am?"
Her voice trembled.
She walked around the table.
Empty.
Then her gaze fell on the chair where the woman had been sitting.
Several long strands of hair lay across the backrest.
Wet.
Nara moved closer without touching them.
Water slowly dripped from the ends of the hair.
Drip.
Drip.
Nara stepped back.
"Grandma..."
Only then did she realize something.
The woman hadn't been Grandma Sari.
Grandma Sari had never had hair that long.
And the clothes the woman had been wearing weren't the clothes her grandmother usually wore, either.
Nara turned to leave.
But something on the table made her stop.
A plate.
An old white plate.
There was no food on it.
No spoon.
Only some writing in red liquid across the center.
Nara slowly moved closer.
Her eyes widened.
The writing was perfectly clear.
FOR NARA.
Nara held her breath.
"What do you want from me?" she asked, staring at the plate.
There was no answer.
Then the sound of a child laughing came from the second floor.
Nara immediately turned around.
The laughter changed into a whisper.
"Nara..."
"Nara..."
"Nara..."
She looked back at the plate on the table.
The words FOR NARA slowly changed.
The red letters moved like wet ink.
A new word appeared beneath them.
EAT.