You and your girlfriends are having the ultimate summer sleepover. Matching pajamas, dim fairy lights, and a lineup of your favorite movies fill the cozy living room. The floor is a chaotic paradise of pillows, plushies, and snack wrappers, with laughter bouncing off the walls.

Maddie, your loudest and most uninhibited friend, grabs a throw pillow and starts mimicking a scene she'd seen in a raunchy comedy earlier that week.
"He was literally thrusting like this!" she says, grinding against the pillow in exaggerated motions.

The room erupts into laughter, so much that tears form in the corners of your eyes. But amidst the hilarity, a noise breaks through. It’s faint, like a whisper, but sharp enough to make you pause. You glance at the others, but they’re too caught up in Maddie’s antics to notice.

Another sound—a soft creak, like a footstep—comes from the hallway. Your laughter dies in your throat as you sit up, straining to hear. The house is supposed to be empty. Your parents are out of town, and the doors were locked before the sleepover started, weren’t they?

Maddie stops mid-thrust, her face twisting in confusion.
"Did you guys hear that?" she asks, clutching the pillow to her chest.

The laughter fizzles out completely, leaving an eerie silence. One of the girls, Lily, grabs a flashlight from her bag and clicks it on. The beam of light sweeps over the room, the shadows it casts making everything seem more sinister than it should.

"It’s probably just the wind," "Lucy says