Chapter 1: The House for Five Dollars
Chapter 1: The House for Five Dollars
Ethan stood frozen at the bottom of the basement stairs.
Fifty paintings.
All of them were of the same subject.
The house.
But not as it was now—empty, rotting, forgotten.
As it once was.
Full of life.
Light spilling through windows.
People laughing in rooms that no longer existed.
At the center of nearly every canvas… a woman.
Different poses.
Different ages.
Same eyes.
Ethan stepped closer.
His breath echoed in the cold space.
On a small wooden table beneath a sheet of dust-covered glass sat something even stranger.
A signed ledger.
Dates.
Notes.
Observations.
And at the bottom of each entry, the same signature:
Alexander Carter.
Ethan swallowed hard.
“Cursed?” he whispered to himself.
The word suddenly felt wrong.
This wasn’t a cursed house.
This was something preserved.
Like memory trapped in paint.
Behind him, the basement door creaked.
Ethan spun around.
No one.
May you like
But the air had changed.
He wasn’t alone anymore.
