The Eldritch Files

Chapter 2: Chapter 1: The Headless Little Doll

He counted silently to himself, ignoring the chaos in the room.

Heavy footsteps began to echo from the hallway outside, the floorboards groaning as if unable to bear the weight.

A thick, putrid stench flooded Han Su’s nostrils. He tightened his grip on the sharp metal shard, his eyes narrowing with the focus of a grown man.

The footsteps stopped at the door. The red-lacquered wooden door was slowly pushed open, and a pasty-white monster squeezed through. It was so abnormally large that it nearly filled his entire field of view.

From its silhouette, it seemed to be a man. He stood a full two meters tall, his legs grotesquely swollen.

His face was out of sight, but the exposed skin of his neck was visible.

It was all a deathly, corpse-like white. More than that, it was bloated grotesquely, like a body that had been submerged in water for over ten days. The black trench coat and coarse work pants it wore were stretched to tatters, with a single antique Brass Key hanging from its belt.

Han Su suppressed the revulsion he felt every time he saw this monster, his gaze fixed on the tear in the back of its trench coat.

’Not yet.’

’I have to wait for it to take a few more steps, to get closer to the wardrobe.’

"Hhuhh... hhuuh..."

The pasty-skinned monster’s eyesight was poor. It was only after entering a few meters into the room that it finally noticed the spreading flames. It immediately grew agitated, heaving its heavy legs as it lumbered deeper into the burning room.

Amidst the billowing smoke, it didn’t even notice the children trembling before the glass cabinets.

Even the Puppet Dolls in the glass cabinets fell silent at the monster’s appearance, cowering inside and allowing the flames to rage unchecked.

It was as if this monster was more terrifying than the flames.

But at that very moment, Han Su charged out, clutching the metal shard.

Not yet ten years old, he kicked hard off the wall for momentum, his small, thin body launching toward the bloated monster like a little leopard.

Every step had been calculated—the timing, the posture, the point of impact.

He gripped the metal shard with both hands and plunged it viciously into the man’s back—right into the eye-shaped tear in the trench coat.

’This was right where its heart should be.’

SQUELCH!

The metal shard struck true, piercing the monster’s back. But the shard was too short, and with his child’s body, he lacked the strength to drive it deeper than six or seven centimeters.

The pale monster roared in pain and reared up. Its body was as bloated as a massive elephant, and its strength was just as immense. Han Su, still clinging to its back, was instantly flung away.

His back slammed against the wardrobe, and he felt as if his bones were about to shatter. Yet he bore the pain without a sound, letting his body slide down to the floor.

The next moment, the monster’s body crashed into the wardrobe.

The impact drove the protruding metal shard deeper into its body.

By sliding down, Han Su avoided being crushed between the monster and the wardrobe. He seized the opportunity, snatching the Brass Key from the pasty-skinned monster’s waist. He then ducked, scrambled out from between the monster’s legs, and bolted toward the door.

At the same time, he yelled, "Run!"

Inside the room, all the children jolted, scrambling to their feet like a pack of panicked mice and following close behind him.

But the girl with the ponytail was too close to the glass cabinet. Just as she tried to run, a plastic hand shot out from inside, grabbed her ponytail, and yanked her head back.

With their path clear, a horde of Puppet Dolls swarmed out of the cabinet behind her. In the blink of an eye, she was buried beneath their bodies.

Her terrified screams echoed through the flames, but no one dared to look back. They just kept running for the door.

But no one had expected it. The monster, which had a metal shard in its heart and whose movements had become sluggish, suddenly lurched to its feet. It furiously swung its two fat, swollen arms, grabbing blindly at its sides.

Pot Lid Head and Tuxedo were just rushing past when it grabbed them, slamming them violently to the side.

Pot Lid Head’s head slammed against a cabinet. His neck twisted at an unnatural angle, going limp like a stretched-out rubber band. His head bobbed up and down like a pellet drum.

Tuxedo was still in its five-fingered grip, its digits digging so deep into his flesh they snapped his bones. He coughed up a spray of blood and shattered fragments.

In contrast, Doll and Skinny, who had been slower than the other two, managed to run past the monster and dash for the door.

They were desperate to keep up with Han Su. As terrifying as the monster behind them was, the boy leading the way inspired his own kind of fear. They were terrified of being abandoned, of being left alone with the frenzied beast.

But Han Su, who was closest to the door and just about to escape, suddenly remembered something and shouted a warning.

"Stop! Stop!"

He screamed with all his might, but Skinny couldn’t stop himself, still rushing for the door.

Just then, with a heavy rush of air, a dust-covered piano flew over their heads and crashed down right by the doorway.

It landed right on Skinny, who had just reached the exit. The clever child, simply for being one step too fast, was smashed into a bloody pulp.

Han Su’s heart seized in his chest, but he gritted his teeth and leaped. He landed on top of the piano by the door, spun around, and grabbed Doll’s arm as she reached him. He hauled her up and over the piano with him, and together they plunged into the pitch-black hallway outside.