Homeless At 22, He Found An Abandoned $20 Farm Deep In The Pines – Then Everything Changed
Chapter 2
The next morning, Ethan woke to sunlight coming through a cracked window.
For several seconds, he forgot where he was.
Then he remembered.
The farm.
His farm.
He almost smiled.
Then he stood up and discovered that the floor beneath his mattress was freezing.
He spent the next hour exploring the house.
There was no electricity.
No running water.
The kitchen was covered in dust.
Several rooms had holes in the walls.
But the structure itself was stronger than it looked.
Ethan had no construction experience beyond helping his uncle repair houses when he was younger.
Still, he knew how to work.
And he knew how to survive.
He found an old wood stove.
It took nearly an hour to get it working.
Then he discovered a hand pump behind the barn.
The water tasted metallic, but it was water.
That afternoon, Ethan walked into Pine Hollow.
The town consisted of a diner, a hardware store, a grocery market, a post office, and a gas station.
Everyone knew everyone.
And everyone seemed to know Martha.
At the diner, an older waitress stared at him.
“You bought the farm?”
Ethan nodded.
She laughed.
“You poor thing.”
“That’s encouraging.”
“You’ll figure it out.”
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me.”
She placed a bowl of soup in front of him.
“It’s on the house.”
Ethan looked up.
“I didn’t order this.”
“You look like you need it.”
He hesitated.
“Thank you.”
The waitress smiled.
“I’m Rose.”
“Ethan.”
“I know.”
He smiled.
Apparently, Pine Hollow was the kind of place where secrets didn’t survive long.
Rose lowered her voice.
“Don’t dig around the old barn.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“You’ll find things you’re better off not knowing.”
“That sounds exactly like something that makes me want to dig.”
Rose laughed.
“I figured.”
He returned to the farm before sunset.
The old barn stood at the edge of the property.
Its roof had partially collapsed.
The doors were swollen shut.
Ethan wasn’t planning to investigate.
Until he noticed the same three-line symbol carved into one of the beams.
J.C.
He stepped closer.
The wood beneath the carving sounded hollow.
Ethan knocked.
Hollow.
He grabbed a crowbar from the toolbox he had found in the farmhouse.
After ten minutes, he removed a damaged wooden panel.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside was a rusted metal box.
Ethan opened it.
There were old photographs.
Maps.
A handwritten journal.
And an envelope addressed simply:
TO THE PERSON WHO BUYS THIS FARM.
Ethan opened it.
The letter was dated thirty-eight years earlier.
The handwriting was careful.
“If you are reading this, Martha finally sold the land.”
Ethan’s heart beat faster.
“There is more beneath this farm than anyone knows.”
He read the next line.
“Do not trust anyone who tells you the property is worthless.”
Ethan looked toward the dark windows of the farmhouse.
The farm was supposed to be abandoned.
Worthless.
Sold for twenty dollars.
Yet someone had hidden a warning inside the barn.
He continued reading.
“The forest protects what the town forgot.”
Below that was a map.
One location was circled deep inside the pine forest.
Ethan stared at it.
Then he looked outside.
For the first time, he wondered whether the farm hadn’t been abandoned at all.
Maybe it had been hidden.
