The corridor seemed just a slight bit darker than the last time Rose walked through it. That could be because of the fear of Christian being missing, but the much more reasonable explanation would be that it had gotten dark outside. The front yard which was visible through the corridor windows seemed much scarier in the dark. The tall trees and beautiful flowers in their expensive-looking pots cast long shadows, leading away from the house into the pure darkness of the garden.

But no need for dramatics. Rose knocked on the bathroom door, which was under the stairs at the other end of the corridor, just a few meters away from the main door to the building and next to the open doorway leading to the main living room. After Christian didn't respond for a full minute, she knocked again. And again. No response. The shadows outside the window now seemed a bit scarier than before and, just for a moment, one of them seemed to move from one side of the window to the other. It seemed much colder in the usually very well heated house and Rose shivered. What if something had actually happened to Christian? Sure, he was annoying sometimes and she liked to pretend to hate his guts, but he was a good friend and Lissa was very fond of him. Fuck, what if he was already dead? They shouldn't have let him leave alone, they-

"Gotcha!" Rose turned around in shock, looking right at a laughing Christian standing in the hallway behind her.

"Are you insane? Are you actually that stupid?" Rose screamed back at him, "I thought something happened to you!"

"Aww, so you actually care about me! I knew it was all just an act!"
"That's not the fucking point! We're about to be killed by some merciless psycho killer - which, need I remind you, YOU hired - and you do shit like this!"
"Relax Rose, it was just a prank. Since when are you so stuck up?"
"You're even more of an idiot than I thought", Rose said and turned away, going back toward the office to check on Lissa and to get away from this train wreck of a conversation. What the hell was Christian thinking? His pranks were always annoying but this particular one really got her. Probably because it could've been true. And what if it had been?

Back at the office, they attempted to unlock the door but found it slightly ajar. Rose was absolutely certain that she had closed it behind her, she had even told Lissa to lock it behind her. So why was it open now? She shot Christian a worried glance and then opened the door completely. The room was empty. There were no signs of anything happening in there, it was exactly as they had left it. With one exception: Lissa wasn't there.

/Authors Note

I'm extremely sorry for the long wait. I didn't plan to be gone for so long and I'll try my very best to not disappear on you guys like that again. I wasn't feeling well the past weeks (am still not quite alright again) and I just couldn't get myself to write. This story, while it does have some scary parts, is mostly lighthearted and humorous. I'd rather give it a bit more time and wait until I'm better again than ruin this tone and make it sadder than it's supposed to be. So I hope you'll forgive me if the wait for another chapter is slightly longer than usual. I publish the chapter as I write them and do not have any backups, so if I can't write, I can't post.

Thanks for reading, have a lovely day!

-F