Round 4 Transcript

The lamp in her hands feels heavy and reassuring, brass cold against her palms. Someone's been here tonight—I can feel it, like dust settling wrong after being disturbed. That back door is too still, too quiet. She steps into the narrow hallway, her eyes scanning every shadow, her ears straining past the rain. Come out then, you bastard. I'm not afraid of ghosts in my own house.

The house is dark and quiet except for rain hitting glass everywhere—the sound masks movement, useful. I move through the sitting room low and fast, clearing the immediate space behind the chair and to the left of the fireplace. The brass lamp on the side table has a heavy base—good weapon if needed, but the iron poker leans there too, closer reach. No one in this room yet. The narrow hallway ahead leads to the kitchen with more options and lines of sight. I check the front door: locked, bolted, no obvious entry points there. The back door through the kitchen would be my exit route if needed, but right now I need to know where she is. The stairs are up—she might be hiding or waiting above, which means I need to clear them fast before she has an advantage of high ground and cover. But first the kitchen: more space, more options for weapons or escape routes if this goes bad. I step into the hallway, back to the wall, and move toward the kitchen with my gun drawn and ready. The rain outside is heavy now, sheets of it hitting the windows—good cover for sound, but the light is almost gone which makes lines of sight harder. I keep my breathing low and even, moving systematically toward the open doorway ahead where the kitchen lights are off but the window over the sink shows the tree line outside like a solid black wall. This house is too quiet for being empty. She's here somewhere, and she knows I'm coming.