The Hollow Eyes (part 2)

Two months had passed since Maya evaporated, and the town had in essence continued on. Nobody really considered discussing her vanishing resoundingly, yet murmurs followed her memory like a shadow. The Empty House remained as it generally had, calm and threatening, its windows actually gazing vacantly at the town like the eyes of a visually impaired, old hunter.

Jake, Maya’s more youthful sibling, showed up in the area one fresh fall evening. He hadn’t heard from her in weeks, and his calls and messages had gone unanswered. The police had been pointless, guaranteeing there were no leads, no indications of treachery. Yet, Jake realized something was off-base. Maya had forever been in contact, in any event, when life got going.

When he set foot in the town, he felt the substantialness in the air — the manner in which individuals took a gander at him, their countenances set apart with quiet alerts. At the point when he got some information about his sister, he got a similar reaction like clockwork: a speedy shake of the head and a look toward *that house*.

Jake remained before The Empty House presently, feeling the heaviness of the accounts pushing down on him. The air here felt off-base, thick and smothering, as it didn’t have a place with the world outside. The sun was setting, creating long shaded areas that curved unnaturally across the way paving the way to the house.

Not set in stone, he walked forward.

The front entryway squeaked open all alone, similarly as it had for Maya. Jake delayed the slightest bit, however his craving to find his sister abrogated his apprehension. He ventured inside, his strides reverberating in the old, stale smelling air. The house was similarly as the residents had depicted — old, rotted, and shockingly quiet.

“Maya?” Jake called out, his voice gulped by the harsh quiet.

He moved further into the house, feeling the temperature decrease the farther he went. His breath clouded in the virus air as he turned a corner, confronting similar restricted flight of stairs his sister had seen. A weak squeaking sound came from a higher place, similar to strides pacing gradually, cautiously. An influx of queasiness turned over him as he gazed upward.

At the highest point of the steps, a figure stood — tall, thin, with empty eyes gazing down at him. In any case, it wasn’t the animal that chilled him profoundly.

It was Maya.

Her face was pale, her highlights skinny, her eyes unfilled and dormant.

She peered down at Jake with no acknowledgment, as though she were a more odd wearing his sister’s face. Her mouth opened, and a rough murmur got away from her lips.

**”You shouldn’t have come… “** Jake’s heart beat, mistrust holding him.

“Maya?” he called out, his voice thick with distress. In any case, she didn’t answer.

She simply ventured in reverse into the shadows of the higher up passage and vanished.

Jake’s legs continued all alone, pulling him up the flight of stairs notwithstanding every nature shouting for him to turn around. The walls appeared to shut in as he climbed, the air colder with each step. When he arrived at the top, his breath was coming in battered wheezes, his skin prickling with dread. He followed the restricted hall where Maya had evaporated.

The lobby extended inconceivably lengthy, the gleaming shadows pulling pranks on his eyes. The farther he went, the more distorted his environmental elements became. The backdrop curved, the flooring sections moaned as though something underneath them was alive. Entryways that had whenever been closed were presently marginally unlatched, murmuring commitments of detestations holding up inside.

Toward the finish of the foyer, a solitary entryway stood open.

Jake ventured inside, finding a room immaculate by time. It was perfect, beautified with blurred botanical draperies and a broke mirror holding tight the wall.

Be that as it may, what overwhelmed the room was the figure sitting in the corner — a tall, thin man with empty eyes. The figure smiled, an unusual grin that split his face unnaturally wide.

**”She is our own now,”** the man murmured, his voice an assortment of voices — male, female, youthful, old, all mixing together into a nauseating ensemble. Jake froze, his brain staggering.

He looked around, and there in the shadows, Maya stood, unmoving. Her eyes were totally void, like the spirit that once filled them had been sucked out.

“What is it that you need?” Jake requested, his voice shaking.

The man’s smile extended. “It isn’t what I need, yet what they need. This house, it takes care of. It takes the living and abandons only the empty. Your sister is gone, as you will be.”Jake made a stride back, his breath enlivening. “I’m not leaving without her.”

The sort let out a scratching snicker, ascending from the seat. “You can’t leave. You’ve previously been guaranteed. They know you now, similarly as they probably were aware her.” His voice became hazier, loaded up with malevolence.

“Look in the mirror, Jake. See what you have become.”

Despite his desire to the contrary, Jake’s eyes were attracted to the broke mirror. What he saw sent a shock of fear through his spine. It wasn’t his appearance gazing back at him. It was a man with empty eyes.

ake staggered in reverse, his heart roaring in his chest. The walls of the room appeared to beat, the shadows becoming further, thicker. Maya’s voice dug out from a deficit him, a low, broken murmur. **”You ought to have remained away…

“Before he could turn, the entryway forcefully closed, catching him inside.

He raced to the entryway, beating against it, however the wood clung tightly. The room surrounded him, the man with the empty eyes remaining over him presently, smiling. The last thing Jake felt was the chilly, crawling obscurity saturating his body, emptying him out from within. After two days, another report for someone who has gone missing was recorded.

The residents looked at The Empty House with anxiety, yet nobody wandered close to it. Periodically, a few guaranteed they saw two figures in the higher up window — both with empty, gazing eyes.

The house had asserted another.