"This doll..."
Hutson picked up the ragged toy, brushing off the thick layer of dust that had settled over it.
It was just a normal fabric doll—not a cursed effigy, nor an enchanted artifact.
Simply… a forgotten remnant of a lost past.
He stared at it for a long moment, thinking back over everything he had seen.
The blacksmith's family, the phantom town, the horrors lurking in the night.
Something terrible had happened here.
Something that left these souls trapped, unable to find peace.
With a quiet sigh, Hutson gently placed the doll back where he had found it.
Now that he looked around in the daylight, the details of the room were more apparent.
This had been a child's bedroom.
The faded colors of the wallpaper, the small wooden furniture, the torn curtains fluttering in the wind—all signs of the little girl who once lived here.