Maddie Whitaker tugged her backpack tighter as she walked across High Point University’s quiet campus. Midnight had a way of making even familiar buildings look eerie, and the wind carried the faint echo of her own footsteps. She had stayed late in the design studio, perfecting a mood board for her small-apartment assignment, and all she wanted now was the soft lights and familiar chaos of the Phi Mu house.

But something felt off the moment she reached the front walkway.

The house’s grand door—usually firmly shut—was cracked open.

Her heart skipped. Maddie took a cautious step forward. “Hello?” she called softly. The only reply was the creak of the door swinging slightly in the wind.

She pushed it open further and stepped inside, the scent of lavender air freshener mingling with something… metallic. Her pulse raced. The common room was dark, the lights off except for the faint glow from a streetlamp outside. Shadows stretched across the floor in strange angles.

Then she saw her.

Lauren, one of the seniors, lay sprawled on the floor, her body unnaturally still. Maddie froze, the sketchbook in her hand dropping with a thud.

“Oh my God… Lauren!” Maddie’s voice shook. She knelt, but something inside her whispered to stay back. The stain spreading across Lauren’s sweater was too dark, too sudden. Maddie scrambled backward, bumping into the couch as panic rose in her chest.

Somewhere upstairs, a floorboard creaked. Maddie whipped her head toward the noise. It wasn’t the wind. Someone was here—someone inside the house.

She fumbled for her phone and dialed campus security, her hands trembling. As she whispered the situation into the phone, her eyes scanned the dimly lit common room, noting every shadow, every object out of place.

Whoever did this… they were still in the house.

And Maddie had a chilling thought: the person who killed Lauren had known exactly how to get inside without anyone noticing.

Someone in the house.

Someone she called a sister.