Chapter 4: Hibiscus House

Lars, Len and Seth were far enough along the beach that they could barely see anyone around, save from some swimmers looking for the more solitary water. The high sun was descending by at the time, stretching their shadows longer behind.

Eventually, Seth directed Lars and Len to a rock gate decorated with red hibiscus engravings. It led to a small brick path deep into the woods, pitted between hibiscus shrubs. It wasn't a long walk and a set of buildings was quick to emerge from all the greens.

The buildings were three separate compounds, with big terraces and tribal engravings all over its columns and some walls. There were no sounds of construction, only loud concert of little animals from the forest. It was a bit alarming for Lars as he gave Len a meaningful, suspicious glance.

"There's no one here," Lars said.

"Maybe the other workers are resting inside. It's still lunchtime, I think," Seth said.

A faint conversation whizzed through the hot air. It came from a different compound than the front one where Lars, Len and Seth were standing. The voices were hard to locate as it was echoing throughout the empty rooms and hallways.

Lars, Len and Seth didn't so much say anything and followed the voice. They arrived at the center yard between the two diagonal buildings. They could see the whole building from there, and Lars deduced that from the aerial view, the formation of these three buildings must be shaped like a big triangle.

"Come on, that must be my supervisor. I'll introduce you guys to get a head start."

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you. It'll be just me, actually," Lars said.

"What?" Len said.

"Len, come on. You're not exactly the type who would do or enjoy manual labor, right? It's alright, I got this."

Len opened his mouth to object but then shrugged. "Fair enough."

Lars, Len and Seth then went further into the buildings, excusing themselves in to the gloomy hallways where sun sparsely shined. There were cardboards, wood blocks and building materials stocked around the corner, and the smell of fresh paint was brewing in the damp rooms. Some furniture had already been installed but there were some that just left in pile or its boxes.

Lars kept a close eye on Len throughout the search of the voices. He was starting to feel unease of the atmosphere as he started to realize how loud their steps and breaths were. It was all too silent. At that point he couldn't even hear the sound of woodland animals outside. It reminded him of last night's silence in the alleyways, and the abrupt quietness when the mysterious singing stopped. Lars did not like this reminiscence at all.

"Let's just head back. There's no one here," Len said.

"Wait a second, I see a light. Look."

Seth pointed to a faint line of light that seemed to come from a door that that was slightly opened. Lars and Len inspected it together and found out that the room inside was well lit with neon lamp, but just as dusty and messy as any other rooms they came across. There were stacks of wood crates on the corners and the walls were mostly patches of plywood.

"We've been looking everywhere. Where are those people?" Lars said, exasperated.

"Yeah, it's been really quiet now. That's weird," Seth said.

Just then, Len gasped. Lars watched his brother's eyes widened as he also picked up what made Len react like that. They heard a familiarly horrific sound echoed in the darkness. There was no mistaking it. It was the very same scraping sounds from last night, the sound that trailed them when Lars and Len were running in horrors.

Seth was quiet because he noticed the sounds as well and was visibly alarmed. Lars' eyes were searching in the dark, looking for any sign where that sound might come from. He instinctively put Len closer to his back.

"What the - "

"Don't go," Seth whispered. "Wait here."

Lars and Len didn't think of anything else and immediately followed Seth's advice. When Seth peeked outside the door, Lars' heart was racing. He knew there were something off with these sounds, but he didn't think it would come for him and Len again.

Seth quietly stepped outside the room, looking around in the darkness.

"I think it's nothing. All goo - "

And just like that, Seth was already gone. Out of nowhere, yanked by his foot and dragged viciously somewhere. His scream and the chaotic sound of tumbling objects echoed and disappeared as he gone too far. Lars and Len just stood there, speechless.

"W - What the hell was that?"

Lars quickly clamped Len's mouth shut with his hand. He decided not to risk it and ever so slightly closed the door to hide in the room. Every time the wooden door rattled a little bit, Lars winced and hoping it was not loud enough to stir up attention.

The door was closed and Lars beckoned Len to hide behind the wooden crates on the corner. They waited together for the following sound. Lars pulled out his phone to call the police but there was no signal. He was about to curse until something stopped him.

The scraping sound came back. It was just as disturbing as the previous night; sharp, teasing and highly unnerving. Lars and Len waited in absolute still. The sound got clearer every passing second, and for Lars and Len, maintaining calm breaths was starting to be difficult.

Lars could almost visualize the sound in his head; a row of blades brushed together, their sharpness audible by scraping the floor. It was starting to get frustratingly scary for Lars and Len as the sound came up closer and closer, until it finally stopped. It stopped right outside the door, and the weight of such ominous silence was highly excruciating.

Then, there was a snarl. It was a noise one would automatically associate with wild animal, despite how unfamiliar it sounded. Len though, seemed to know something was about to happen as he gripped on Lars' sleeve. His eyes grew wide and he muttered something.

"It found us."