Our protagonist, Lisa Evans, had recently been promoted as a lead local reporter for The Washington Post in Washington, DC. Prior to this, Lisa was a relentless field reporter, known for her nose for news and uncanny ability to uncover hidden stories. Her niece, Natalie, was a teenager studying at a local high school in Prince George’s County and loved sharing ghost stories and urban legends with her aunt.

One day, Natalie told Lisa about an infamous haunted house near the county health department. A fellow student had recently dared to enter the house and vanished without a trace. Intrigued, Lisa started digging into the history of the house and was taken aback by the gruesome tragedy that occurred there in the 1960s. The house once belonged to a woman named Clara Montgomery, who lived alone and was often regarded as a recluse. A series of mysterious disappearances were linked to her house, culminating in Clara’s own sudden disappearance, and the house had been abandoned since then.

Lisa’s editor, an old DC veteran, recalled his grandfather’s eerie tales about Clara and the supposedly haunted house, further intensifying Lisa’s curiosity.

Lisa, along with her cameraman, decided to visit the house. The house seemed ordinary from the inside, filled with outdated furniture, dust-covered chandeliers, and old portraits still hanging on the walls. One particular portrait of Clara, depicting her as a middle-aged woman with deeply expressive eyes, struck Lisa as haunting. Despite the eerie atmosphere, Lisa couldn’t find anything extraordinary to report and they wrapped up the coverage.

The very next night, while walking home, Lisa spotted a woman across the street. The woman bore a striking resemblance to Clara from the portrait. Over the next few days, Lisa kept seeing this woman everywhere – in the supermarket, at a diner, and even at her gym. Her colleagues dismissed her experiences as paranoia but Lisa was sure there was something unusual going on.

Determined to get to the bottom of this, Lisa dove deeper into Clara’s life and found out that Clara was rumored to be a witch, with locals often blaming her for mysterious illnesses and unexplained events. With the mounting unease and the unsettling sightings, Lisa felt compelled to revisit the house.

As she reentered the house, the atmosphere felt palpably different. The portraits were gone, replaced with chilling whispers that echoed through the walls. Searching the house, she found a hidden door leading to a secluded room, where she came face to face with the woman from her sightings – Clara herself.

Clara revealed that she was indeed a witch who had discovered a way to eternal life but at the cost of consuming a soul. She admitted that the recent disappearances were her doing and confessed that Lisa was her next target.

Confronted with the reality of Clara’s true nature and her intentions, Lisa’s heart pounded in her chest as she took in the dire situation. She was not only a reporter but a target, caught in a deadly game of survival with a centuries-old witch.

Clara, amused by Lisa’s courage, granted her a moment’s respite. “You have ten minutes to run and hide, dear. After that, the hunt begins,” she warned, her voice icy and echoing through the cold walls of the house.

With a rush of adrenaline, Lisa bolted out of the room, her mind racing as she recalled every scrap of knowledge she’d ever come across about witches and their weaknesses. She remembered reading about the power of iron against dark magic and desperately searched the old house for something – anything – made of iron.

In the dust-covered basement, she found an old, iron fireplace poker. Gripping it tightly, she felt a flicker of hope. She hid in the shadows, her heart pounding as she waited for Clara to find her.

The cat-and-mouse game seemed to stretch on for hours, Lisa avoiding Clara’s hunting spells and traps using her quick thinking and the poker’s protective qualities. Clara, gradually becoming more frustrated and aggressive, finally cornered Lisa in the grand old library of the house. Books flew off the shelves as Clara conjured a whirlwind, causing chaos and debris to swirl around them.

But Lisa, fueled by sheer survival instinct, pushed through the storm of books and debris. She lunged at Clara, striking her with the iron poker. Clara screeched, the sound reverberating through the library as her form began to disintegrate.

With a final burst of energy, Lisa thrust the poker straight through Clara’s form. The witch screamed, her figure bursting into a cloud of dark smoke. The whirlwind suddenly halted, books falling to the floor and dust settling.

Exhausted, Lisa stumbled out of the collapsing house. As she looked back, the house crumbled in on itself, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble. Clara was defeated, and Lisa not only survived but triumphed in the face of supernatural adversity.