Chapter 14: The Road to Shadows

The way back home was one Alex had tried to avoid for years, but now it was inevitable. The map on the journal seared itself into their mind as they made their way through the empty streets. The city seemed alien—the silence unnatural, the shadows alive with whispers Alex couldn't make out.

Each step closer brought memories bubbling to the surface—fragmented flashes of a childhood Alex had long buried. The old swing set in the backyard, the creak of the front porch, the sound of laughter that had long since turned to echoes.

But each memory came with an undercurrent of dread.

Around the corner, Alex came in front of a narrow alley. The journal's weak luminescence grew stronger, as if it was drawing Alex to the darkness. He paused, feeling a crushing weight of the moment. "What's waiting for me there?" he whispered to himself, clutching the journal.

The alley spread out, a corridor of darkness, twisting and warping the more Alex moved forward. Shadows loomed larger, shapes forming that resembled things too monstrous to be real. Still, Alex continued forward, breath quickening with every step.

At the end of the alley, a faint outline of a house emerged. The map in the journal began to flicker as if warning Alex of what lay ahead.

The house stood in eerie isolation, its windows shattered, its frame battered by time. Despite its ruinous state, Alex knew it was waiting for them, holding the secrets they had desperately tried to forget.

The wind is screaming through the empty streets. Alex reaches the front door when a shiver runs down their spine as the hand runs to the doorknob. The journal's glow fades utterly, leaving Alex in the dark, alone with the truth that awaits inside.