The house on Willow Street had been abandoned for twenty years.
At least, that’s what the neighbors claimed.
But today, its porch was decorated with dusty balloons.
A rusted “Happy Birthday” banner swung lazily in the wind.
And the faint sound of children singing echoed through its hollow halls.
A group of four kids stood just outside the door, holding a folded invitation they found in their mailboxes the day before.
No return address. Just a message scrawled in childish handwriting:
“You’re invited to pin the tail on the donkey. One blindfold per player. No peeking. No lying. No cheating.”
– G.M.
Most kids would have tossed it.
But Kayla, the birthday girl with no friends, didn’t.
She was the first to put on the blindfold.
She was the first to walk inside.
And she was the first to scream.
Maya rubbed her eyes, staring at the same phrase scratched across the inside of a party hat Tenchi had placed on their evidence table.
"What you don’t see... sees you."
Tenchi stood nearby, flipping through old Sanctuary logs.
“This is the third cursed object we’ve found tied to old party themes,” he muttered. “Someone’s recreating birthdays.”
Maya paced. “You think it’s the Game Master’s birthday?”
“Maybe.”
“Then we missed it. And now he’s mad.”
An alert appeared on Tenchi’s screen.
A resonance spike on Willow Street.
A name flagged in red: Kayla Min — currently missing inside an active Layer.
Maya grabbed her jacket.
“Looks like we’re going to a party.”
Part II – The Blindfold and the Liar
The Forgotten Layer always felt like a dream built on someone else’s fear.
This time, it was worse.
When Tenchi and Maya crossed through the veil, the world didn’t warp violently—it shifted with a slow, mocking elegance. The crumbling house became a perfectly decorated birthday party, frozen in time.
Pink streamers floated gently from the ceiling. Balloons hovered just off the ground, never popping. A cake sat untouched on the table, covered in waxy, melting candles—each one flickering backwards, as if time refused to blow them out.
And on the wall… a paper donkey.
Headless.
Waiting.
Each chair had a name tag. Most of them were blank.
Except for two.
MAYA
TENCHI
“I hate when he does that,” Maya muttered, pulling her charm from her wrist and lighting a soft flame between her fingers.
Tenchi stepped beside the table and examined the blindfolds.
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Five of them.
Old. Fabric worn thin. One had fingernail scratches on the inside.
“They’re part of the anchor,” he said. “We have to wear them.”
Maya narrowed her eyes. “Seriously?”
Tenchi didn’t answer. He was already tying his.
She groaned. “Ugh. Fine. But if I see a donkey with too many legs, I’m out.”
The moment Maya put it on, the party began.
The silence broke.
Children laughed somewhere nearby.
A phonograph spun in the corner, playing a warped version of “Happy Birthday to You.” Slowed. Distorted.
And the shadows moved.
Not walked. Not crawled.
They moved like they were dancing.
Inside the blindfold, Maya saw flashes.
Not dreams—memories.
-
Her sixth birthday. Alone.
-
Her ninth. The orphanage on fire.
-
Her twelfth. A girl she couldn't save whispering, “You lied to me.”
She flinched. “Tenchi… this thing’s showing me my—”
“I know,” his voice replied sharply. “It’s testing us.”
A disembodied voice echoed through the party room:
“PIN THE TAIL.
LIE, AND YOU LOSE A FINGER.
SEE, AND YOU LOSE YOUR EYES.
WIN… AND YOU GET YOUR WISH.”
Maya’s fingers clenched.
“Oh, I’m so done with birthday games.”
A shadow stepped out from behind the cake.
It was wearing a party hat.
And a blindfold.
And no face.
It held a tail in one hand…And a bloody knife in the other.
“It’s your turn,” it whispered
Part III – The Birthday Wish
Maya’s hands were trembling.
Not from fear. Not entirely.
From the cold realization that whatever was wearing her memory—her sixth birthday, the fire, her guilt—wasn’t done with her yet.
“It’s your turn,” the blindfolded figure repeated, stepping forward.
“Pin the tail… or lose a piece of yourself.”
It handed her the tail.
And the knife.
Her heart raced. Her charm flared in her palm, threatening to ignite—but she didn’t move. Not yet.
“Tenchi?” she called out.
No answer.
Only whispers.
Tenchi moved through the hallway—except it wasn’t a hallway anymore. It was a mirror maze, filled with fractured versions of himself.
In each reflection, he saw Maya dying.
Stabbed. Burned. Laughing. Crying.
The mirrors whispered:
“You’ll fail her too.”
“Just like Hiroshi.”
“Just like the others.”
He clenched his fist and shattered one with his elbow.
“Nice try,” he muttered. “I don’t break from glass.”
Then he saw it.
A child’s drawing, taped to the back of one cracked mirror:
Five kids around a donkey.
Only one had a face scribbled out. Only one had red eyes drawn in crayon.
Tenchi narrowed his eyes.
"Anchor found."
Maya stood at the wall, tail in one hand, knife in the other, blindfold still on.
The paper donkey in front of her shifted—its body writhing, trying to move away. She couldn’t see it. But she could feel it.
A voice hissed in her ear: “If you guess wrong… you get the lie carved out of you.”
She gritted her teeth.
“You want the truth?”
She dropped the knife.
“I never wanted to be saved.”
Then she stabbed the tail into the center of the donkey’s chest.
Tenchi struck the anchor drawing with his blade. A pulse erupted through the mirrors.
The party room shuddered. The balloons popped—one by one—screaming with each burst.
The blindfolds dropped to the floor.
The faceless entity staggered back, convulsing violently.
“NO MORE WISHES.
NO MORE LIES.
NO—”
It exploded into shreds of party streamers, all soaked in red ink.
The candles went out.
The cake melted.
The party ended.
And from somewhere deep in the collapsed layer, a new voice echoed:
"Well played."
Tenchi froze.
So did Maya.
Because that voice didn’t belong to a cursed entity.
It belonged to someone watching them.
Someone smiling.
FIELD REPORT — ENTRY #03
? Game: Pin the Tail on the Donkey
? Entity: The Birthday Liar
? Anchor: Drawing Behind Mirror
? Survivors: 3
? Status: Game Terminated
? Notes:
-
First confirmed voice trace of the Game Master.
-
Blindfold revealed suppressed memories.
-
Maya may be emotionally compromised.
Maya’s Note: “He knows what I’m hiding. He made me say it. That… wasn’t part of the game.”
Tenchi’s Note: “The next game is personal. The trail leads to Game 5: ‘Red Rover.’ He’s forcing me to remember Hiroshi.”
Epilogue – After the Party Ends
The Forgotten Layer faded slowly this time. No cracks. No violent tremors. Just… a soft hum, like the music box had finally wound down.
Maya stood in the center of the ruined party room, eyes scanning the fading decor. The walls peeled back to their real state—rotted wood, torn wallpaper, and balloon scraps scattered like confetti at a funeral.
That’s when she saw her.
Kayla.
Curled up in the corner, next to the old phonograph, dressed in her birthday clothes, her blindfold resting beside her like an old pet.
She was alive.
Tenchi knelt beside the girl, gently lifting her up. She stirred slightly, her forehead warm, breathing steady. A faint smile tugged at her lips—peaceful, like she was dreaming something simple.
“Is she whole?” Maya asked softly.
Tenchi didn’t answer right away.
He reached out and picked up a paper tail from the floor. The one Kayla had dropped. It now had a heart drawn on it in red crayon.
“She will be,” he said.
Later, at the safehouse, Kayla slept soundly under the crystal dome—protected and watched.
She didn’t remember much. Not the donkey. Not the blindfold.
But just before she drifted off again, she whispered something Maya wouldn’t forget.
“I didn’t want to lie…
I just didn’t want to be alone.”
Maya swallowed hard.
Because the worst part was—
She understood.