THE VILLAGE THAT NEVER LET ANYONE LEAVE
Chapter 4
That afternoon, Maya discovered the photographs.
They were inside an abandoned house near the edge of town.
She had gone there because she saw a woman standing in the window.
When she knocked, nobody answered.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Except the photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Families.
Children.
Couples.
Travelers.
People standing beside cars.
People standing outside the motel.
People standing beside the church.
Maya walked deeper into the house.
Then she stopped.
One photograph showed a young couple standing beside an old station wagon.
The date written beneath it was 1989.
Another photograph.
Another.
Another.
Different people.
Different cars.
Same village.
Same house.
Maya’s heart began pounding.
Then she found a photograph dated 2021.
A young woman stood beside the church.
Maya recognized her.
It was Nora Hale.
The mysterious woman who had been watching them from across the street.
But Nora looked exactly the same.
Maya turned the photograph over.
Someone had written:
SHE TRIED TO LEAVE.
A sound came from upstairs.
Maya froze.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Coming down the stairs.
She grabbed the nearest object she could find.
A wooden chair.
“Nora?”
No answer.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a man’s voice whispered:
“You need to go.”
Maya backed toward the door.
A figure appeared.
Nora.
She looked terrified.
“Who are you?”
Nora looked at the photographs.
Then at Maya.
“Someone who has been waiting for you.”
“Why?”
Nora’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because your boyfriend doesn’t belong here.”
