THE VILLAGE THAT NEVER LET ANYONE LEAVE
Chapter 13
They read the diary until sunrise.
Ethan’s father had known everything.
Black Hollow wasn’t a location.
It was a phenomenon.
The village had existed in different places throughout American history.
Whenever people discovered it, they believed they had found an isolated community.
But Black Hollow moved.
It followed bloodlines.
It followed memories.
And it survived through people who had escaped.
Ethan was never meant to escape permanently.
His father had spent his entire life trying to break the connection.
The final page contained only one sentence.
The only way to destroy Black Hollow is to remember everything.
Ethan stared at Maya.
“What does that mean?”
Then memories began returning.
His childhood.
His first night in America.
A woman singing.
A church bell.
A mountain.
A little girl.
A man carrying him through snow.
His father screaming.
And something else.
A memory he had never known existed.
He was standing inside Black Hollow as a child.
And someone was standing beside him.
His mother.
But his mother had died when Ethan was three.
Or so he believed.
She looked at him.
And whispered:
“Don’t trust your father.”
Ethan collapsed into the chair.
Maya held him.
Then the apartment door opened.
Their neighbor stood outside.
An elderly woman.
She looked at Ethan.
Her face went pale.
“You’re one of them.”
Ethan stood.
“One of who?”
She backed away.
“The people who came out.”
Behind her, several neighbors appeared.
Every one of them stared at Ethan.
Then the elderly woman whispered:
“They’ve been waiting for you.”
The church bell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
12:17.
