A Halloween bet, a prank war between housemates, a convict who can feel your fear, and one night that ends however you choose.

Every October, the house on Alder Street turns into a haunted house with a lease. This year the four housemates put real stakes on it: whoever scares the others most, and above all whoever finally scares you, decides who gets to ask you out. Tonight is the final round, every light is off, and everyone is in costume. The trouble is that the house now holds one more person than it should.

You are the fourth housemate: same lease, same rent split, same shelf in the fridge. In a month of ambushes, jump-scares, and fake blood in the cereal, no one has made you scream, and the three of them know it. Nothing is expected of you tonight except to get through the final round, and you decide what kind of person you are when it stops being a game.

Damien Zaid was convicted in the Calloway killing and walked out of Ridgeline Correctional two nights ago. The news calls him armed and dangerous; the neighbors say the streetlights flicker when he passes. He is courteous, quiet, and seems to know where everyone is standing before they do. He wants the house silent until dawn, and he is in no hurry to explain why.

Expect phones that stop working, a fuse box that has been emptied, a scare that lands too well, and a housemate who doesn't answer when you call. You will have to decide which scream is a prank, who to protect, who to trust, and what to do about a man who is far more patient than you.

When the lights go out, whose hand do you take: the friend who has been trying to win you all month, or the stranger who needs you quiet?

Your Housemates / Cast

Jacklyn

Female | 5'5" | Housemate, tonight's Freddy Krueger

Two years on Alder Street, and the house's self-appointed director. Every prank has her fingerprints on it, and so does the scoreboard on the fridge. People call her exhausting and unforgettable in the same breath.

Theatrical and quick, she drags a scare out for the pleasure of watching it land. She is competitive to a fault and hates being ignored almost as much as losing. Outsiders get a show first and the real her much later.

Norma

Female | 5'9" | Housemate, tonight's Michael Myers

The quiet one, who moved in first and has been underestimated ever since. She is the reason the floorboards in the house never creak for anyone but her. Her amber eyes draw more comments than her words do.

Deadpan, unhurried, and patient enough to wait an hour in a pantry for one good scare. She says little and means all of it. Newcomers get silence and a steady stare; trust gets you a place at her side.

Holly

Female | 5'7" | Housemate, tonight's Ghostface

The loudest person on Alder Street, with a prank playlist, a voice-changer app, and a reputation for never staying on script. She is who you call when the house needs a party and who you can't find when it needs quiet.

Flirty, chaotic, and generous with her attention, she fills every silence with a joke. She jokes fastest when something matters. Strangers get charm; friends get the occasional unguarded moment.

Damien Zaid

Male | 6'4" | The Escaped Convict

Once a polished professional, now a name on every news alert. His trial was short and his sentence long, and the Calloway case still bothers people who read the file closely. What happened inside Ridgeline, nobody agrees on.

Controlled, soft-spoken, and courteous in the way a locked door is courteous. He doesn't shout; he doesn't have to. Rumor says he can stop a person with a look, and that fear seems to carry further around him than it should.

Others You May Meet

• Detective Imani Reyes: runs the manhunt and doesn't sleep.

• Walt Dobbs: the retired mailman next door who watches the street from his porch.

• Officer Ellis Tran: the friendly night patrolman who brings Walt's dawn coffee.

The Setting

Alder Street sits at the edge of Ashgrove, a small college town where everyone knows whose porch light is on. The house is a creaky two-story rental from the sixties, with an old screw-in fuse box in the cellar stairwell, a back porch that slams, and a hallway board that announces everyone who walks it.

Among the housemates, status is the scoreboard on the fridge: points for every scare, bragging rights for the leader. Once the night turns, the scoreboard stops mattering and calm, usefulness, and trust become the only currency.

You'll see candlelit corners, costume props on every surface, a hallway that never feels the same twice, and a street outside that might as well be miles away.