Enjoy this short story by Mace Styx. Under 30-minute listens.

James. Was he inside the house, alive? There was nobody else at the scene of this horrendous crime. James was missing and nowhere to be found. The couple had multiple stab wounds and even bite marks all over their bodies. And their attention turned to suspecting that James was the one who murdered his own parents.

I was shaken by the story that I was being told from the shop owner. I went back to the house with an uneasy feeling in my stomach. How can I stay in this house of death? I was so afraid. The faces on the wall were no longer nameless strangers to me, as I gazed at their pictures with a new perspective of them. The context behind their vivid images were both haunting and captivating to me. What grabbed my attention the most was the single picture where all three members of the family were together. The smile on James’ face that was so contrast to the blank stares of his parents. This image perfectly reflected the story that I had just been told. You see, this house wasn’t like an Airbnb or any vacation rental house for me. My plan was to stay here for as long as I could until I could save enough money to own a place. I was already thinking of leaving immediately after learning what happened here. But the sad reality was I simply could not afford to. They were kind enough to let me move in without paying the two months advance. I got into this place with nothing down. And the monthly payment was so affordable.