《Ghost Survivors Club》 1. Happy Deathday! Wiping the surface of the mirror a man took a good look at his reflection. Dark circles, hollowed cheeks stained with dried tears. "God, you are a mess." Jason tried to smile but couldn''t bring himself to do it. 13th August, born on the month some called the cursed month. On a date with the numbers which was considered unlucky by everyone. Jason didn''t believe in superstitions but despite all odds his life would always unravel in the worst possible way on his birthday. Day before his long-distance girlfriend called to dump him not for another guy but for wanting freedom. The day of his birthday he got a call from his part-time job telling him he was fired for not showing up once. If I was a game character my luck would be in the negative. While contemplating his bad luck Jason heard the doorbell ring bringing him back to reality. Shaking his head he went to open the door. Creaking came from the door as it opened but Jason didn''t see any visitor waiting. Scratching his head Jason took a step outside only to be greeted by a cold empty corridor. The building doesn''t have any kids who would pull dumb pranks so late in the evening. Just when he was about to close the door, he noticed there was something on the floor. A white envelope with his name on it. Without thinking he picked it up. It was a wonder who would write him a letter when they could have just sent a text. Jason opened the envelope and a key fell out, followed by a letter. Looking at the unexpected ''surprise'' his confusion only grew. Why did I get a shiver just now? Curiosity made a man jittery. Grabbing the letter he started to read. "Congratulations, lucky player! You have been officially chosen for the game of inheritance left by the keeper! All you have to do is complete a 7-day stay and you stand to win a 2BHK flat all to your name with no hidden costs or taxes involved. You can reach the room of challenge at Varosha complex before midnight today." Flipping the letter around Jason laughed, "These lazy scammers are trying to revive some old school scam or something? There''s not even a solid address or a number." Regardless of his disbelief, his gaze still fell on the fallen key. Then he took a glance at the shitty condition of his third rate rental and a sigh left his mouth. It wouldn''t hurt to take a look, right? The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Few hours later Jason was on the mattress gogling the vague location. To his surprise he got a hit. His phone screen showed a very basic blogspot site named ''The Complex Of Misfortune'' Jason found the whole thing amusing yet as he read, the slight smile on his face turned to a frown. Varosha complex, overshadowed by tall buildings, always in perpetual darkness. The eyeball on cake? The entrance of the building faces a graveyard across the road. Most priests have labeled the place as beyond cursed. A picture showed an old newspaper clipping detailing the murders of a few graverobbers. And the culprit was never found! Similarly the building itself wasn''t free of having a darker history either. Having more than a few suicides and murder cases. Thankfully, all those culprits were in custody. Coming to recent news, the building had big lavish rooms with unbelievably low rent yet no brave tenant had been able to stay for more than a few days. Lucky few people who have stayed there reported having gone through some supernatural experiences. Others have straight up landed into asylums. By that point Jason had sweat running down his forehead. If all this information was true then it was more likely he got this letter from a serial killer than a scammer. "Jesus Christ, I haven''t even hurt a fly in my life why the fuck am I being targeted by a maniac." Jason stood up ready to head to the police station. With the letter and key in hand, Jason left the rental. As soon as he left the gate Jason saw a vacant cab near the building gates. In a hurry he entered the cab with his head buried in his phone. "Drop me at the police station, thanks." The cab moved. After a while of reading up the blog in his seat, Jason finally lifted his head up to look out the window. Huh, weird. Looking out the window Jason had his brows tense. The night was young yet there wasn''t much traffic which was weird given the city roads were always busy this time. Even weirder he knew the city well enough to find his way around from anywhere. So imagine his surprise when he couldn''t tell what road he was on. "Uh, brother this isn''t the route to the station, is it?" Jason voiced his concern but got no reply. Just had to run into a silent type today, "Boss. If you don''t know the way then you can drop me off here." Again, the driver gave no reply but unlike before the vehicle sped up. Jason felt his scalp go numb, Just what was up with this guy? Feeling that there was something seriously wrong. Jason grabbed the driver''s shoulder and was surprised when he felt a chill run up from his palm to his shoulder. What the hell is going on? When he saw the cab speeding up again he gritted his teeth and shook the driver hard. "Brother slow the fuck down. You trying to k¡­" He heard a thud as the driver''s head rolled down to the side and hit the passenger seat. With wide eyes Jason''s gaze went from the cleanly severed neck to the half-rotten, fully-dead face staring at him from the passenger seat. Gray pupils glared straight at his soul, the decayed flesh around the jaw moved, "Welcome to Varosha complex." Before Jason could even make sense of what he had just heard the cab went hurling straight towards some walls. And in his last moments all he thought was, Fuck this birthday Crash 2. Enter Varosha! After the crash the hood of the cab had embedded itself in the cemented walls. Small wisps of black smoke rose out from the crushed front of the vehicle. "Mother fu¡­" Jason cursed as he kept kicking the stuck door. Somehow he had survived the crash with a bleeding forehead and some bruises. He thanked his lucky stars for having the mind to put the seat belts on before the crash. Seeing that the door showed no signs of opening he stopped trying to kick it open. Looking around he realised that the headless driver was nowhere to be seen. No fucking way the driver was a ghost. Common sense dictated yet the evidence lay in front of him. People don''t just blink out of existence after all. With the doors jammed and windows cracked even if the driver was real, somehow survived the crash, how would the scary bastard just disappear with no trace. Cold sweat slid down Jason''s back. He could not argue against the evidence, he was driven into a car crash by a bonafide ghost. With heavy breaths and shaking hands he took out his phone and called the emergency number. The call connected after a few rings and the words came gushing out. "He¡­ Hello! You''ve got to help me! I got into a acc¡­ car accident. I am near a building. The driver¡­ fuck the driver was a god damned ghost. Send help please!" "Where are you?" A sweet female voice entered Jason''s ear, calming him somewhat. "I¡­ uh, fuck where am I?" He spoke as he tried to watch his surroundings through the cracked windows. And he saw the gates leading to an eerie building. Surely enough, on the right pillar of the gate was a rusted placard titled, ''Varosha'' Suddenly everything clicked and strength started leaving Jason''s body in waves, "I¡­ I am at Varosha Complex." Soon as he said those words, the previously sweet female voice turned into deranged laughter. Startled Jason unwittingly dropped the phone. Hell, what the hell was that. I''ll just call someone else for help. Picking the phone back up, he noticed that it had no range. Night just gets better and better. Out of ideas, Jason stared blankly at the scene outside the window. He did not know when but far from him the road became blindingly foggy. A suffocating feeling spread in the air. As the fog neared, so did the tension. Dark silhouettes of strange shapes surfaced in the dense fog ever so often. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Bracing himself Jason began breaking the windows. He had no interest in uncovering the secrets within the fog. After a few desperate kicks the glass finally burst open. But he did not jump out, remembering a random internet tip he took his t-shirt off and got to cleaning the window edges. The window''s edges still had some shards sticking out but the fog kept marching towards him. Strapped for time Jason mumbled fuck it and crawled out the window. Despite all the clearing Jason suffered a few cuts on his way out. Yet he couldn''t be bothered to take a look. He heard voices coming from the fog so with his heart in his throat he rushed into the Varosha complex. With his clothes in tatters, mind in shambles he walked along the pathway to the building entrance. No lights in sight yet the moonlight gave the place just enough for Jason to be able to see. In the misty, blue lighting the oppressive aura permeated itself in every corner, he subconsciously took careful, quiet steps. Varosha complex had this deafening silence, that made one feel paranoid. Jason examined the key in his pocket. 413, the room number was embossed in it. Taking a deep breath, he entered the complex. Jason took a peek inside the empty guard station on the entrance. The table was flipped, the floor littered with various sheets of paper. If you squinted enough you could see a gray picture of people with ''Dead'' written at their bottom. "Jason, Jaaasooon. Come help me." Jason shivered when he heard silence break. He turned to look in the voice''s direction in complete shock. Fog had completely enveloped the road yet for some reason it didn''t spread an inch inside the closed building gates. Jason''s eyes caught onto a female silhouette standing outside the gates. Just when his gaze fell on it, it shrieked at him, "Jason! Jason! I''m hurt! Help me!" Jason stood frozen in place. That''s mom''s voice, it''s mimicking mom''s voice! Dried leaves made a crunching sound as he backed into the building. He had watched enough horror movies to know that his mom couldn''t have possibly teleported to his location. She lived two cities away damn it. The shrieking silhouette also kept reminding him of those deep sea angler fish, ringing every alarm bells in his mind. Scared, he ran up the stairs without looking back. Meanwhile, the silhouette that kept calling his name shuddered. A darker 10 feet silhouette had appeared out of nowhere to tower behind it. Jason heard a pain-filled scream way louder than previous ones. The fact it sounded like his mom gave the man pause. Fuck, why do I go through this shit. Gritting his teeth he kept ascending the floors. Shortly after he found himself staring down the door of room number 413. Inserting the key he turned his wrist, ready to run in case something was waiting for him. The door opened with no problems and he laid his sights on an empty hall. Jason thought about his plan again, Okay let''s stay in this room till the sun comes up and run straight home. Fuck vehicles he was going to walk everywhere from now on. Jason gulped as he took a step inside and his phone went off. Scared by the unexpected noise, he slammed the door shut behind him. Breathing heavy, his back on the closed door, he took out his ringing phone. An unknown number showed up on the phone''s screen. Jason saw that his phone still had zero bars on the network. Accepting the call he put the phone over his ears. "Welcome! Lucky player, welcome to Varosha Complex." A middle-aged voice cheered before continuing, "You have 7 days of stay to go, once completed you may make your way to the graveyard across the road to claim your inheritance reward!" Jason let out a breath and spoke as calmly as he could, "Let me go home, I don''t want to do this.