Mystery House Playthrough Part 3: This is What Really Happened

There was no longer any reason for me to stay at the mystery house.  I had plumbed its depths and dredged up nothing but stinking corpses and abandoned furniture, not to mention a dagger that nearly lodged itself in my back.  The house clearly hadn't been lived in for some time, and yet some jewel-hungry assassin was hunting down and killing people within its walls.  Whatever was going on, it was beyond my comprehension and none of my concern.

I spat on the floor of the algae-covered basement, a brash but futile display of disdain for whoever had fated this visit.  This was wrong, unnatural...

At that moment, a new feeling washed over me.  I had to do something.  Things had to be set right, not for the sake of the mysterious cadavers scattered about the house -- whose original existence in this world I was even beginning to question -- but for the sake of my grip on reality.  I needed balance, and the only way to achieve that was with the killer's blood.

Suddenly renewed, I examined the hole on the basement's left wall.  It was created very recently, probably by a large hammer and very probably by the person I was seeking.  I crawled through the hole and into a sewer.  Having already been in close contact with four dead bodies, the smell of sewage barely registered in my awareness, and I pushed on through the sewer tunnel and out into a dense forest.  If I thought the killer had any intention of escape, I'd have despaired just then, but I knew that escape was not in their plan.

Near the sewer entrance was a particularly tall tree with low-hanging branches, climbable and certain to offer a view of the upper floors of the house.  Scaling fences may not have been my thing, but trees I could handle. I climbed the tree as high as I could, and was for some reason unsurprised to find an observing platform laid out among its highest branches.

On the platform was a telescope, pointed at a fixed location in the top floor of the house.  It even had a laser mounted on its body to pinpoint the target.  Looking through the eyepiece, I saw what appeared to be a trap door in the attic ceiling.

"That must be where the killer was hiding," I said to myself.  I imagined the countless hours the killer must have spent on this platform, observing the house and its occupants, planning the slaughter that I was now witnessing.  Perhaps the only reason that I was still alive was that my presence was never planned for...

I returned to the house with a steadfast determination, and made my way up to the attic.  When I reached it, I found a large sledgehammer resting on the floor, no doubt the one that had been used to create the hole in the basement. It would be an awkward weapon to use on a trained killer, so I left it alone and continued on into the next room.  It was a storage area, featuring some old furniture and a locked chest.  Here I was finally able to make use of the key I had found under the floorboards of the dining room.

Jackpot.  It was time to end this thing.  I climbed up the ladder, entered the trap door, and came face-to-face with a scrawny teenage girl holding a dagger.  Without hesitation, I discharged the gun into her chest and kicked the dagger into the corner of the room.  My heart was racing as I bent down to inspect the body, looking for any sign of life.  There was none.

Suddenly, the disorientation I felt on first visiting the house returned.  My head swam as I grappled with conflicting memories.  How could a girl, barely old enough to drive a car, have strangled grown men and bashed large holes in concrete?  And why did she look so familiar?

There was a note lying on the floor next to her body that made reference to some jewels in the basement, but I threw it back on the floor with disgust.  Jewels were no use to me in this drama, not while that girl stared up at me from the floor, mockingly.  I jumped down from the trap door and charged down the stairs.  There was one part of the grounds left to visit and I felt sure it had the answers I was seeking.

I exited the house through the dining room and into the yard.  A gate stood in the corner of the yard, closed but not locked.  I opened it and stepped through.

It was a graveyard.  A man was in the corner, holding a shovel and standing next to six empty graves.

"Last chance," he said, gesturing coldly to one of the graves.  Then, all became clear.  I drew the dagger from my belt and stabbed him through the neck.  As he fell like a ragdoll into the open grave, visions of the last 24 hours flooded back to me like daydreams.  I saw myself staring through the telescope at a house full of living people, people that I tempted here with the promise of jewels.  I saw myself hiding a key beneath the floorboards of the dining room, an insurance policy in case of complications.  Finally, I saw the girl surprising me and pushing me out of the attic window just as I was about to finish my work. 

The girl had killed me, but only temporarily.  Now my work was done.  I returned to the attic and placed her in a sitting position on one side of my window.  There was much work to do before the next gathering, and she had proven herself a worthy spectator.