Noticing that it has gotten quite dark since you first arrived at the mansion, you decide to turn around and just head back inside. You yawn and decide to find somewhere to spend the night. Hey, no one's home after all, right? You walk back along the path and up the staircase, coming to the glass side door that leads into the house. You pull it open and enter.
But, in your haste to get out of the dark, you fail to notice the light on, high up in the attic window, with a face in it, watching you enter the mansion again with narrowed eyes.
Back in the mansion, you walk down a hallway near where you entered and find that you've found the kitchen. It's a fairly large kitchen, with a huge fridge and freezer, a soapstone sink under a large ornate window, and a ten burner stove and griddle. You stomach growling, you decide to fry up some eggs. Rummaging around in the cabinets, you manage to find a frying pan in just three minutes. Not bothering to pick up after the mess you made, you add some butter to the pan and take some eggs from the fridge. Five minutes later, the kitchen is full of the wonderful aroma of scrambled eggs.
Throwing them onto a plate, you toss the pan into the sink, not noticing you cracked the soapstone. You grab a fork and are just about to chow down when you hear a loud crash echoing from somewhere deep inside the house. Dropping your fork in shock, the crash comes again. Getting up, you sprint out of the kitchen and down several corridors, looking for the source of the crash. You pull open door after door, but only find dark, quiet rooms. Finally, you come to the conclusion the crash came from far above you, maybe even the attic.
Turning back into the main hall, you run up the grand staircase and turn left to go up to the next story. Six stories later, you finally reach the top floor. You turn right right as your foot hits the floor, but something stops you dead in your tracks.
The pull-down ladder that leads to the attic has already been pulled down, and bright light is streaming from above.
You're not alone in the house.
Gulping, you grasp the side of the ladder and start climbing. Reaching the top, you find yourself in a dusty, overstuffed attic lit by a single yellow bulb. Pawing through the stacks of junk, you come across odds and ends, like old jewelry, newspaper clippings, broken furniture, and moldering books. But two things catch your eye. Two ornate stand mirrors have been knocked over, sending shards of glass scattering all over the attic floor. So that's where the crashing came from. But who's in the house with you?
You see a window seat to the left of you. You walk over to it and open the window. Breathing in the night air, you take in the sights. Your city shines below you with the glow of a million streetlights. You can see your house, your friend's houses, and even your work. You look right down into the backyard of the mansion and can see trails, twisting off into various direction, flower gardens, pools, walkways, orchards, everything the eye could see. You look down at the window seat you're sitting on and see a note written on moldering, yellowed paper. In scratchy letters, it reads:
You're not alone in here.
I'll find you. Let's make a game out of it. Who will find who first?
I guess the more important question is,
Who is the hunter,
And who is the prey?
Gulping, you toss the note out the window and watch it float away in the wind. What are you going to do now?