THE VILLAGE THAT NEVER LET ANYONE LEAVE
Chapter 12
Maya wanted to call the police.
Ethan stopped her.
“We don’t know who sent it.”
“That’s exactly why we should.”
Then the apartment lights went out.
Someone knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Ethan froze.
Maya whispered:
“Don’t open it.”
The knocking stopped.
Silence.
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Nothing.
Only breathing.
Then a woman’s voice.
“Ethan?”
He recognized it.
Nora.
“Nora?”
“Listen carefully.”
Her voice was shaking.
“Black Hollow wasn’t destroyed.”
Ethan stood.
“What happened?”
“The village moved.”
Maya stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Nora continued.
“The people weren’t the village.”
A pause.
“The mountain was.”
The call ended.
Ethan immediately called back.
Disconnected.
He opened the photograph again.
This time he noticed something in the background.
A house.
Their house.
But behind it stood the old church from Black Hollow.
Maya looked at the photograph.
“That’s impossible.”
Then she noticed something else.
A figure standing inside their bedroom window.
Someone watching them.
Ethan slowly turned.
The bedroom door was closed.
He walked toward it.
Maya grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
The door opened by itself.
The room was empty.
Except for one object.
A dusty wooden box.
Ethan recognized it immediately.
It had belonged to his father.
Inside was a handwritten diary.
The first sentence made his blood run cold.
If Ethan ever returns, the village will follow him home.
