Chapter 13: The Hollow One's Claim

The car sped through the night, the empty road stretching ahead like an abyss. The headlights barely cut through the suffocating darkness.

Evelyn's breath came in shallow gasps. The mark on her shoulder burned.

Miriam drove with both hands clenched tight on the wheel, knuckles white. Nathaniel, beside her, kept his eyes locked on the rearview mirror.

Evelyn didn't dare turn around again.

Because she knew what she had seen.

A shadow. A presence.

And it had smiled.

A whisper curled around her thoughts, cold and insidious.

"You are mine now."

Evelyn shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. No. No, I'm not.

But the whisper laughed.

It knew she was lying.

The First Sign

Nathaniel broke the silence first. "That man… back at the gas station…" He shook his head. "He had the same mark as Evelyn."

Miriam's grip on the wheel tightened. "I saw it."

"He said it was a trade," Evelyn whispered. "A balance."

Miriam's eyes flicked toward her. "Do you feel any different?"

Evelyn swallowed hard. She wanted to say no.

But her skin felt wrong.

Too tight. Too foreign.

Like she was wearing something that didn't quite fit.

And worse

Something inside her was shifting.

Evelyn exhaled shakily. "I… I don't know."

Nathaniel's jaw tensed. "If that thing is inside you, we need to figure out how to get it out."

Miriam nodded. "Before it takes you completely."

Evelyn's pulse spiked. Before it takes me completely.

A chilling thought settled in her mind.

Had the man at the gas station been too late?

Had the Hollow One already won?

The Mirror Knows

They drove for miles, the eerie silence pressing in. The whispering had stopped but Evelyn could still feel it.

Like a breath against the back of her neck.

Miriam finally pulled into a rundown motel on the outskirts of the next town. It looked barely functional but it was far from Black Hollow.

And right now, that was enough.

As soon as they entered the dimly lit room, Evelyn made a mistake.

She looked in the mirror.

And the reflection did not move with her.

She froze.

Her reflection stood still, head tilted, mouth slightly parted watching.

Then it spoke.

"Evelyn."

Evelyn stumbled back, her breath catching in her throat.

Nathaniel and Miriam turned sharply. "What?"

Evelyn pointed a shaking finger. "The mirror. I—I didn't say anything. But it did."

Nathaniel's expression darkened. "Get away from it."

Miriam grabbed the lamp from the nightstand and, without hesitation, smashed the mirror.

Glass shattered across the floor.

The moment it broke Evelyn gasped.

Because something shifted inside her.

A sharp pain. Like something pulling, twisting.

Then

A shadow slithered from the broken shards.

For a second, it had shape.

A dark, hollowed-out version of her own face.

Then it was gone.

The room fell into silence.

Evelyn trembled. The mark on her shoulder still burned.

It hadn't left.

Not yet.

But she had a feeling the Hollow One wasn't just playing with her.

It was waiting for something.

Waiting for the right moment to take her completely.

And when that moment came…

Would she still be Evelyn?

Or just another Echo in the Dark?

The forgotten ones

The shattered glass lay scattered across the motel floor, reflecting fragments of Evelyn's wide, terrified eyes. The room had gone eerily silent. Too silent.

Nathaniel stepped in front of her, eyes darting to the mirror frame. "Did it leave?"

Evelyn pressed a trembling hand against her chest, trying to steady her breath. "I… I don't know."

But she could feel it.

It hadn't gone far.

It was still inside her.

Miriam tightened her grip on the broken lamp. "If breaking the mirror didn't work, what the hell do we do now?"

Evelyn didn't answer. She was staring at the glass shards.

Because something was wrong.

The reflections weren't normal.

In the pieces of broken glass, faces stared back at her.

Not hers.

Not Miriam's or Nathaniel's.

Strangers.

Hollow-eyed, mouths slightly open, their lips forming soundless pleas.

Evelyn felt her stomach drop. "Oh my God."

Nathaniel crouched beside her, following her gaze. "What"

Then he saw them too.

Miriam cursed under her breath. "They're trapped."

Evelyn's pulse pounded. "The Hollow One doesn't just take." Her voice barely came out. "It keeps."

A Voice from the Glass

One of the reflections moved.

A woman mid-thirties, wild, tangled hair her eyes locked onto Evelyn's.

And she spoke.

No sound came, but the words etched across the glass like scratches on a windowpane.

"We were you once."

Evelyn reeled back. "No. No, no, no."

Miriam grabbed her arm. "Evelyn, don't"

But it was too late.

The motel lights flickered.

A cold grip curled around Evelyn's wrist.

And suddenly

She wasn't in the room anymore.

The Hollow Place

Evelyn stood in darkness.

A deep, swallowing void.

The air was heavy, thick, pressing against her lungs like she was drowning. The world around her shifted whispers curling through the emptiness, voices overlapping in a dreadful, chaotic symphony.

"Help us."

"It takes. It takes. It takes."

"There is no way out."

Shadows moved, half-formed figures flickering in and out of existence. The Forgotten Ones.

People the Hollow One had claimed.

They were trapped.

And if Evelyn wasn't careful she'd be next.

Then

The shadows parted.

And it stood there.

The Hollow One.

A tall, stretched-out mockery of a human form. No eyes, no mouth just a void where a face should be. And yet… she knew it was smiling.

It lifted a hand.

And Evelyn's body locked up.

"Trade complete."

Pain ripped through her.

She couldn't breathe

Couldn't move

Couldn't even scream

And then

The Motel Room

Evelyn gasped awake.

She was back.

Flat on the motel floor, staring up at the ceiling.

Miriam and Nathaniel hovered over her, panicked.

"You just collapsed," Miriam said, voice tight. "What happened?"

Evelyn sat up slowly.

She could still feel it.

The Hollow One had marked her.

And now she knew what it wanted.

It wasn't just taking people.

It was replacing them.

And Evelyn was next.