All Chapters of After I Quit the Haunted House Show: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

I stood at the door with both arms stretched wide, blocking Joyce Gordon from leaving. Inside the room, Sammy Shaffer clung timidly to her, peeking out from behind her arm."Please, Joyce," he pleaded pitifully. "I'm scared to sleep alone at night.""Dante, why the hell are you stopping me?" Joyce demanded, looking at me with open disgust. "Don't tell me you want to sleep with me instead? That's never going to happen."Hearing that outrageous accusation for the second time, I finally understood what had happened. I'd been sent back in time to the exact moment before everything went horribly wrong.Shaffer Mansion wasn't the kind of place an ordinary person could walk into and expect to walk back out of alive.The moment I'd learned my childhood friends were coming here to film a reality show, I'd refused to sit back and watch them walk straight into danger. I'd pulled every string I could, used every connection I had, and managed to get myself onto the show.The three girls had a

Chapter 2

"What gift? I don't remember you giving me anything."Joyce blinked in confusion.Judging by the blank expression on her face, she wasn't lying. But when we had first arrived, I had given each of them a charm to ward off evil spirits.During the day, as long as they stayed close to me, my natural ward was strong enough to keep most of the entities inside the mansion at bay. At night, when we were separated, the charms would protect them in my place.I'd even made each one to suit its owner's personality. Joyce's was a rose-shaped quartz pendant. And now she didn't even remember it existed."Check your things," I urged her. "It's a rose-shaped quartz pendant."Joyce furrowed her brow. "I don't know what you're talking about. But I'll give it to you when I find it."I stood my ground. "Find it first. Then you can leave."That charm wasn't an ordinary piece of jewelry. I'd made it using my own blood, binding it to myself so that any supernatural attack aimed at the wearer would be

Chapter 3

No kidding!I'd gone after Sammy only because I was trying to protect them.From the moment we'd arrived at Shaffer Mansion, Sammy had tried to come over and introduce himself. I'd immediately stepped in front of the others and told him to stay away.Looking back, I probably had gone too far. I'd been so focused on keeping them safe that I'd completely forgotten how my actions looked from the outside.To everyone else, Sammy was nothing more than an orphan living here alone, thrilled to have a group of visitors around.So, naturally, they thought I was an arrogant jerk picking on a kid.They couldn't see what I could.Thin gray threads were wrapped around Sammy's body, twisting around him like invisible stitches that bound him to the darkness lurking inside the mansion.I'd thrown away the doll he'd given Flavia because I could see the malevolent presence attached to it. It was one of the demon's traps, meant to establish a connection with whoever accepted it.I'd shoved Sammy

Chapter 4

It turned out that when Joyce had received my gift, she hadn't even bothered to look at it.She'd simply stuffed it into the pocket of whatever she was wearing. And today, by pure coincidence, she was wearing the same outfit.After my apology, Joyce and Mamie gave me a stern warning before taking Sammy and leaving. Flavia, however, wasn't quite as forgiving.She glanced toward my camera, which had been turned off the night before and hadn't been switched back on. Then, without warning, she drove her foot into me and sent me crashing to the floor."They may not hit you," she said coldly, "but I don't have that problem. If you ever bully Sammy again, you'd better think carefully about how you want to die."I'd already gone an entire night without sleep, and that kick nearly shattered what little strength I had left. I hit the floor hard enough to knock the air from my lungs, then coughed up a mouthful of blood.Joyce and Mamie might not have been willing to hit me themselves, but t

Chapter 5

Joyce's hair was streaked with grey, her skin sagging. She looked as if she had aged several decades overnight.Everyone immediately crowded around her, asking what had happened, when a figure suddenly came stumbling into the room.No one paid her much attention at first, and she somehow managed to trip thirteen times over the short distance it took to reach them."Joyce, what happened to you?"The moment she spoke, a sound like a strangled duck rasped from her throat, leaving her frozen on the spot. It was Mamie, the famous pop star whose voice was usually heavenly.How could she suddenly produce such a hideous rasp?Joyce and Mamie exchanged a horrified look before both of them let out a shriek.As an acclaimed actress, Joyce had always been known for her cool, elegant image, but she couldn't maintain it now.No one could calmly accept waking up one morning to discover they'd aged several decades overnight, least of all an actress whose entire career depended on her appearanc

Chapter 6

"Wait," someone suddenly said. "What if Dante was right? Look at them. Their condition is exactly what he warned us about."Everyone exchanged uneasy glances. I had indeed warned them not to sleep beside Sammy because doing so would shorten their lives.And now, Joyce looked like she had lost decades. Then, there was Mamie's ruined voice and Flavia's sudden weight gain."Could he have been right all along?" someone whispered."No way," Joyce argued immediately. "I don't believe in ghosts, and even if they do exist, Sammy isn't one of them.""I know what's going on!" Mamie chimed in. "Dante just left, and everything he warned us about started happening. What does that tell you? He must have done something to us. Maybe he poisoned our food!""Dante Downey!" Flavia's jaw tightened. "I swear I'll never forgive him for this.""Whatever happened, we need to get to a hospital first," Joyce reasoned. "That's the priority."The moment poisoning was brought into the equation, the atmosph

Chapter 7

The expert checked on them and said there was no sign that they'd been cursed.Unconvinced, Joyce and Mamie called in every powerful practitioner they could find, while the director used her own connections to search for help as well.But none of them could do anything.A few outright frauds took their money and disappeared, while everyone else couldn't find a problem or simply had no idea what was happening."Could it really be that only Dante can save us?"They were still struggling to figure out what to do when a post about them suddenly shot to the top of the trending charts.[Joyce Gordon and Flavia Wilson Suspected of Having Mysterious Illness.]The comments exploded.[So, this is what a goddess looks like when she grows old.][That fat woman is Flavia Wilson? I can't even look at her.]...The public relations team scrambled to contain the damage, but the story had already spread too wide. Both girls' fan bases began hemorrhaging followers.At that point, Joyce and t

Chapter 8

Gerard turned to Mamie next."Have you been unusually unlucky lately? Falling all the time? Nothing seems to go right for you?"Mamie was still nursing her injured ankle.She quickly nodded."Yes. Everything's been going wrong lately. I've been ridiculously unlucky.""Then that's exactly what I thought. Your luck is almost drained. You need to be careful from now on. At this point, you could walk down the street and get killed by a flowerpot falling from a building.""What?"She had assumed she was the least affected of the three. She had no idea her life was hanging by a thread."Please, you have to save me!" she pleaded. "I don't want to die!""What about me?" Flavia scrambled forward. "Please, check on my condition."Gerard studied her carefully before shaking his head. "A demon has taken your appearance. Don't worry, though. It won't kill you."For an ordinary person, that might have been reassuring. For a celebrity whose entire career depended on her beauty, losing her

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