Round 5 Transcript

I descend the stairs carefully, poker held ready, my footsteps nearly silent on the worn wood. The creaking sound from below grows clearer—a deliberate rhythm now, methodical. Someone is moving through the lower level with purpose. The flash of a beam from below, brief, sharp—some kind of light source down there. I pause at the bottom, back pressed to the wall near the stairwell entrance. The kitchen is to my right, the basement door ajar maybe ten feet ahead on the left. I can smell it now—the gunpowder mixed with mold. A man's footsteps, heavy, approaching from the basement. My heart pounds, but I force a calm I don't feel into my voice. 'Who's there?' I call out.

The front sitting room was dark and still when she entered. The air smelled like dust and something else, something wrong—like a fire that had gone out too long ago. She moved through the space with purpose, her footsteps barely audible on the hardwood floor. The brass lamp cast a weak circle of light that didn't reach the corners properly. She knew the layout from outside already: kitchen to the left, stairs up at the back, basement down. She checked behind the chair first, a quick sweeping motion with her free hand while her other kept the gun ready. Nobody there. The heavy drapes were next—pulled tight against the rain-slicked windows—but when she tugged them back, they didn't move right. Too heavy. Something was behind them. She didn't hesitate. She pulled them open hard, expecting resistance, and the movement revealed not a hiding person but a wall mirror, angled to catch the lamp light. Her own reflection stared back at her—the dark clothes blending with the shadows, the gun a clear silhouette against the weak illumination. She held her ground for just a moment longer, watching the glass for any sign of movement behind her. The house remained silent except for the rain. She let the drapes fall back into place and turned toward the kitchen. The floor creaked again—definitely from below now—and she felt her jaw tighten. Someone was in the basement.