PROLOGUE
"I don't know why everyone abandoned this place."
Elias stretched his arms, taking in the quiet village. Empty houses, untouched fields, a fresh well—everything they needed, waiting for them.
"Maybe they were just fools," Lillian muttered, arms crossed. "Or maybe they knew something we don't."
Maren shot her a look. "Don't start. We've been here weeks, and nothing's happened." She smiled at their children, who were playing near the old houses. "We finally have a home, Lillian."
Lillian sighed. "Yeah. Let's just hope it stays that way."
That night, Maren woke to whispers.
Faint. Slithering through the walls.
She turned to Elias. He was still asleep.
Then she heard it again—soft, distant. A voice calling their son's name.
She shot up. "Elias—do you hear that?"
He groaned. "Hear what?"
The voices. But when she listened again, the house was silent.
Maybe it was just the wind.
The next day,her youngest child came up to her.
"Mama, I saw someone last night."
Maren nearly dropped the bowl she was washing. "What do you mean?"
Her daughter, Anna, kicked at the dirt. "By the trees. A man. He was… tall. But I couldn't see his face."
"Sweetheart, no one lives here but us."
"Then why did he call my name?"
Maren's heart skipped a beat.
She forced a smile. "It was just a dream, love."
But when she glanced at Lillian, her sister's face said it all. She had heard something too.She walked up to Elias.
"Elias, something is wrong."
He was sharpening a blade by the fire, his jaw tight. "You're letting the isolation get to you."
Maren grabbed his arm. "The garden's rotting, Elias. The well water's bitter. And the children…" She lowered her voice. "They keep talking to someone."
Lillian spoke up. "We should leave."
Elias shook his head. "We have nowhere to go. We'll be fine."
They weren't.The next morning, their oldest was gone.
No footprints. No sound in the night.
They searched everywhere. Then, at dusk, Anna screamed.
Her older brother was outside not answering the family's call to him.
He was standing in the center of the village, staring at them. His eyes were hollow. His mouth open in a silent scream.
Maren ran to him, shaking his shoulders. "Baby? Can you hear me?"
His body collapsed in her hands.
There was nothing inside. No bones. No blood. Just an empty shell.
Elias staggered back. "God… What is this?"
No one answered.
"We have to go. Now."
Lillian was already packing. Anna clung to her mother, too afraid to speak.
"Elias!" Maren screamed.
Her husband just stood in the doorway, staring out at the night.
"They took him," he whispered.
"Who?"
"Our son."
He turned, and for the first time, Maren saw pure terror in his eyes.
"They're coming back for more."
That night, Anna walked out the door on her own.
"Baby, no!" Maren chased after her, but the girl didn't even flinch. She stepped into the dark, smiling at something they couldn't see.
Then she was gone.
Gone.
Elias broke. He raged, screamed into the night, swearing to fight whatever was doing this.
Then, just before dawn, Maren found him standing in the road.
His shadow moved differently—too slow, stretching the wrong way.
"Elias?"
He didn't turn.
She touched his shoulder.His body collapsed into dust.
Lillian gagged, staggering back. "Oh my God—what is happening?"
The shadows around them shifted, twisting like they were alive.
Maren took her sister's hand. "We're leaving."
But no matter which road they took, they always ended up back at the village.
They ran until their legs gave out. Until Lillian started whispering to herself, clawing at her skin.
"They're in my head," she sobbed.
That night, Maren woke up alone.Lillian's footprints led into the dark.
She never came back.
Maren was the last.
Sitting in the dirt, she listened to the voices tell her the truth.
The village was never abandoned.
It was waiting.
And now, it was awake.
The shadows moved closer.
The last thing she heard was her children's voices, calling her name.