The Final Countdown

A man spends New Year’s Eve in an abandoned house.

Jacob Young chose the abandoned house because no one else would. On New Year’s Eve, while the town gathered beneath fireworks and countdowns, he crossed the sagging porch with a single candle trembling in his hand. The front door yawned open, exhaling the smell of rot and old rain, as if the house had been holding its breath for decades.

Inside, the dark pressed close, swallowing the beam of his flashlight almost instantly. Wallpaper peeled like dead skin. The floor groaned beneath each step, whispering warnings he pretended not to hear. Jacob told himself he was only here to prove something, that the house was just wood and nails, not the stories people told in hushed tones.

He set the candle on a cracked table in the parlor. Its flame cast long, distorted shadows that twitched along the walls, bending into shapes that looked almost human. Somewhere above him, something shifted. A footstep. Or maybe the settling of old bones.

As midnight approached, Jacob felt watched and his flashlight stopped working. He laughed nervously, the sound swallowed by the house. His reflection stared back from a dusty mirror, eyes too bright, his mouth pulled into a crooked smile he hadn’t meant to make.

The candle flickered. The temperature dropped.

“Ten,” Jacob whispered, counting down with the distant town bells. “Nine…eight…”

With each number, the shadows drew closer. The walls seemed to breathe. On “one,” the candle went out.

In the sudden dark, Jacob felt a hand rest on his shoulder; cold, familiar. The mirror shattered on its own, and in the fragments he saw dozens of faces grinning back at him, all wearing his smile.

When the town celebrated the new year, no one noticed the abandoned house finally lit up, every window glowing softly, as if welcoming someone home.

Word Count: 300
Written for: "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 
Prompt: Write a story that includes the words: dark, smile, candle