THE LAKE HOUSE LIES


Here’s the full compiled version of my psychological horror mystery—complete with title page, suspense, dark secrets, and a final, haunting cliffhanger.


THE LAKE HOUSE LIES

by Riley Sager (kind of)


Title Page

THE LAKE HOUSE LIES
A Psychological Horror Thriller
Written by: SARTHAK RAWAT
Inspired by the chilling style of Riley Sager
Cover Design: AI Imagery

Warning: This book contains unreliable narrators, locked-room horror, haunting family secrets, and a twist you will not see coming. 


Prologue: The Fall
Did Caroline fall?

That was the question everyone asked. And it was the question Ellie kept asking herself. Because the answer, wrapped in a blanket of lies and half-truths, never seemed to make sense.

They said it was an accident.

Caroline's body was found on the jagged rocks beneath the balcony. Her body twisted, broken—an image so horrific, so unnatural, that no one could bring themselves to ask more questions.

But when Ellie returned to the lake house after six months at Briarcliff Psychiatric Facility, something didn’t feel right. Something in the house, something in the air, whispered that the story she’d been told—that it had been an accident—was not the whole truth.

And then there was Caroline’s voice. It had been gone, but now, it was there again, echoing in Ellie’s head like a haunting reminder:

“You don’t remember, do you, Ellie?”


Chapter One: Discharged
Ellie stood outside the gates of Briarcliff Psychiatric Facility, clutching her coat tight around her. A paper cup filled with pills in her hand, the doctor's signature stamped on a piece of paper—she was "stable." Whatever that meant.

Six months. That’s how long it had been since the incident. The night her sister Caroline had fallen from the balcony of their family’s lake house. The night Ellie’s memory had slipped through her fingers like water.

“I don’t remember,” Ellie whispered, as she climbed into the car and drove toward Coldwater Lake. But the whisper wasn’t comforting. It was a weight on her chest.

The house was waiting. It always had been.


Chapter Two: Traces
The lake house stood in the same place, but something about it felt wrong. Empty, yet full. The smell of stale air mingled with dust. Dishes sat forgotten in the sink, a half-full cup of tea still sitting by the window.

But it was the journal Ellie found beneath the floorboards that shook her. Caroline’s handwriting filled the pages—desperate, frantic words:

“You can’t trust the nurses.”

“Someone is watching me.”

“He wears your face sometimes, Ellie.”

And Ellie’s heart dropped as she read the final entry:

“She had to go. She knew too much.”

It was Caroline’s voice, but it sounded like a confession.


Chapter Three: Dr. Vale’s Warning
Dr. Vale’s call came just as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows through the house.

“Ellie, I need to know if you’ve been taking your meds,” he asked, his voice clipped, professional. But the way he said it, like he was looking for something more—something Ellie wasn’t saying—made her heart skip a beat.

“Yes,” Ellie replied. But the truth was, she hadn’t taken them for days. It wasn’t that she didn’t need them. It was that the voice in her head—Caroline’s voice—was louder than ever.

The mirror in the hallway had whispered to her that morning: “You killed her. You buried her. You forgot.”

And when Ellie’s mind tried to block it out, she heard that whisper again, louder this time. “You know you did.


Chapter Four: The File
The sheriff’s office was quiet, almost too quiet, when Ellie slipped in after hours. The lights hummed overhead, the kind of soft buzz that made everything feel distant.

Her fingers brushed over the filing cabinet until she found it—Caroline’s case file. She hesitated, but then pulled it open. Inside, there were no pictures of Caroline’s body. No record of what had really happened, only a bloodstain on the page.

And then there was a note—written in Ellie’s own handwriting.

“She had to go. She knew too much.”

Ellie froze, a cold chill crawling up her spine. She stared at the note, her hands trembling. This wasn’t a mistake. She had written it. Had she? But she couldn’t remember.


Chapter Five: The Other Patient
In the dusty boathouse, the VHS tape sat waiting.

“Patient 63 — Eleanor Mercer — Confession.”

Ellie inserted the tape into the player, her breath tight in her chest as she watched the grainy video flicker to life.

It was her. Her face, her eyes—empty, vacant, smiling in a way she hadn’t in months.

“I remember now,” the video Ellie said, her voice cold and flat. “She didn’t fall. I pushed her.”

Ellie stumbled back from the screen, heart hammering in her chest. “No,” she whispered. “No, I didn’t.”

But the screen continued, showing her smiling. The version of her that had confessed—nosaid—something else:

“She’s not dead. Not yet. He’s keeping her for me.”

And just like that, Ellie’s world twisted in on itself. Maybe this was true. Maybe it had happened. But if it had, then who was she really?


Chapter Six: The Girl in the Walls
The room behind the mirror was hollow, just like the ones at Briarcliff. Ellie peeled back the wallpaper with trembling hands, the edges of the plaster crumbling beneath her fingers. Inside, there was a small nest of blankets, a knife, and a journal—Caroline’s journal.

The last entry read:

“He took her face. Put it on someone else. I saw him dragging her. I thought it was me. But it wasn’t.”

The voice came from the vent above her, chilling and soft.

“Don’t trust them. Don’t trust me.”

Ellie stood still, unable to breathe. She didn’t know what to trust anymore. She was starting to believe the things she was hearing. And worse, she wasn’t sure if that was the worst thing.


Chapter Seven: Caroline
The basement door creaked open on its own. The smell of mildew and decay hung heavy in the air.

And there she was. Caroline. Alive, but not alive. Her skin was too pale, too thin. Her eyes, wild and full of fear, locked onto Ellie’s.

“You shouldn’t have come back,” Caroline whispered.

Ellie’s voice was steady, almost comforting as she walked closer. “I never left you. I’m here. I’ll fix this.”

Caroline shrank back, shaking her head. “You let Sadie die.”

Ellie smiled then. It was a calm, too-sweet smile.

“I remember now.”

Caroline trembled. “No, you don’t. You—”

But Ellie silenced her, pressing a finger to her lips. “I remember.”


Chapter Eight: A Room Without Time
The room was padded, silent except for the sound of Caroline’s sobs in the corner. Ellie stood, watching her, her face unreadable.

“You always forget,” Ellie whispered, moving toward her sister. “But I don’t.”

She stroked Caroline’s hair gently, her smile widening. “You broke me. So I fixed us.”


Epilogue: The Door
Later that night, the fire crackled softly, its warmth a fleeting comfort in the cold silence of the house. Somewhere, deep in the house, a door creaked open.

A soft footstep echoed through the hallway.

And in the basement, the padded room was empty.

And somewhere in the house, in the shadows, the sheriff’s voice echoed in Ellie’s mind.

“Did you do it, Ellie? Did you really do it?”

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