A dark caption.

Miranda Reitman, twenty-five, walked into the old mansion convinced she'd win the bet. It was simple, really. This place was an old mansion, and had been vacant for at least the last several weeks upon the death of the mansion's owner. She was just to spend the night in there. Yeah, technically it was trespassing (and probably a few other things) but what would be the harm? At worst, she'd use a bit of water and electricity, and if they really wanted her to pay that, she'd do it.

No, the biggest concern for her was actually doing it. The place didn't seem too bad, it wasn't like it had been abandoned for years, and it wasn't some isolated place, hell, it was in the middle of their town. Plus, their town had a low crime rate, so she wasn't worried about finding herself in a bad situation in that regard.

However, she knew, that wasn't why there was a serious wager on her staying in this. It was the reputation of this place. He had been strange, a scientist who seemed to have gone crazy. Legends abound of his strange experiments and the victims of them. About a strangely buff, tall woman appearing around town, the same build and height as a man who had gone missing. About a young couple who walked into the hospital, their heads stitched onto each other's bodies, still very much alive, terrified beyond all reckoning.

She shook her head at those stories. Literally no one she had ever met had seen a thing, it was always a game of telephone, five people before them saw it and blah blah blah.

She was in there a couple of hours and she went down to the basement to explore a bit. She figured why not, let's see if any of the stories are true. That's where all those horror start, right?

She walked down, her chunky heels loud on the wooden steps, and she had to laugh. The first room was just a normal game room type thing, nothing unusual. See saw there were more room and she walked down a small hallway, opening a door. Seeing it was completely dark in there, she felt around for a light, finally taking her phone out to find one. She couldn't see enough of the room, but it seemed larger than the game room. Finally, she found a light switch and flicked it on, and as she did, the door instantly shut.

If anyone had been outside, they would have heard a scream along with all sorts of mechanical noises, all sorts of devices making plenty of noise. Her screams were loud and long and only got worse as the sounds of the machines grew.

All of a sudden, her screams stopped and a faint thud was heard over the din of the machines. No more screaming was heard, just the devices and machines and soon those faded as if they had finished their work.

The door opened and a black chunky-heeled boot stepped out of the room, and Cyrus walked slowly down the hallway and into another room, a small study he kept down here.

He could not believe someone would be so foolish as to do that. Did she not know about his reputation? Did she not hear the stories? Well, he thought, that was literally the last mistake she'd ever make. As for him, he was now young enough again to make plenty more though less costly mistakes!