CHAPTER 1: The Whispers in the Dark

"I swear, you detectives love digging up dead things."

Aaron Graves ignored the bartender's remark, focusing on the whiskey in his glass. The bar was dimly lit, half-empty, the kind of place where people forgot things on purpose.

"This isn't about dead things," he muttered.

"No?" The bartender leaned in, amused. "Then what's got a big-shot detective like you chasing ghost stories?"

Aaron exhaled, rubbing his temples. How did he even explain it?

A week ago, he would've said the Holloway case was just another cold case—another family lost to tragedy, not superstition. But then the reports started piling up. People seeing things. Hearing whispers. Another disappearance, almost identical to the Holloways.

And then… there was the survivor.

A girl, barely conscious, found wandering the woods near the Holloway site, muttering about shadows and something watching her. She died in the hospital before she could say more.

Aaron wasn't a believer. But something about this case felt wrong.

His phone buzzed. Sarah Holt.

He picked up. "Tell me you have something."

"I have something," she said. "And you're not gonna like it."

"Try me."

"The girl we found?" Sarah hesitated. "She wasn't alone."

Aaron straightened. "What do you mean?"

"Security footage caught her running out of the woods. But before that?"

A long pause.

"There was someone behind her, Aaron."

Aaron's grip tightened on the glass. "Who?"

Sarah's voice dropped. "I don't know. The footage cut out before we could see. Like something—"

Static crackled through the phone.

"Sarah?"

Silence.

Then, through the receiver, a faint whisper.

"...they see you now."The call dropped.

Aaron's blood went cold.

Something was very, very wrong.

Aaron stared at his phone screen. Call Failed.

His stomach twisted. Sarah wasn't the type to joke around, and that whisper at the end… it hadn't been her voice.

Shoving the phone into his pocket, he tossed some cash on the counter and grabbed his jacket.

"Leaving already?" the bartender called after him.

Aaron didn't answer.

The drive back to the precinct was a blur of city lights and radio static. The moment he stepped into the station, he made a beeline for Sarah's desk.

She wasn't there.

"Holt?" he called out, scanning the room.

No answer.

"Hey, you seen Holt?" he asked a passing officer.

"She left an hour ago," the guy shrugged. "Said she had something urgent to check out."

Aaron's jaw tightened. Damn it, Sarah.

He rushed to his desk, pulled up her GPS location, and his stomach dropped.

She was headed straight for the Holloway village.

The Road to Nowhere

Sarah's car sat abandoned on the side of the highway, hazard lights blinking in the dark.

Aaron pulled up behind it, gripping the wheel.

The road ahead was empty—just a stretch of cracked asphalt leading into the fog-covered forest. No signs of struggle. No sign of Sarah.

He stepped out, scanning the tree line. Nothing but silence.

That's when he noticed her phone lying in the dirt.

He picked it up, and the screen lit up with a single unsent message.

"Aaron. I think something is out here."

A shiver ran down his spine.

Then, from the darkness ahead, came a whisper.

"Aaron..."

His breath hitched.It sounded like Sarah.

But something was wrong with the voice. Too hollow. Too distant.

And it was coming from the trees.

Aaron's fingers hovered over his phone. Call Sarah back. Call for backup. Get the hell out of here.

His instincts screamed the last one. But Sarah was out there—alone.

He dialed dispatch. The phone barely rang before static crackled in his ear.

"Nghh—Graves?" The voice cut in and out.

"Yeah, I need a unit at—"

More static. Then a sharp screech, like nails on metal.

"Repeat that, Graves—"

The line went dead.

Aaron checked his phone. No signal.

He swore under his breath. That wasn't normal. The highway wasn't remote enough for a blackout, and Sarah had full bars when he picked up her phone.

Something wasn't right.

A branch snapped in the trees ahead.

Aaron's pulse kicked up. His hand hovered over his holster.

"Sarah?" he called.

No answer.

He took a slow step forward, listening. The woods were too quiet. No wind. No crickets. Just… nothing.

Then—

A whisper.

"Aaron..."

His stomach turned to ice.

The voice came from the trees. But it wasn't Sarah.

It was too hollow. Too distant. Like someone trying to remember how to sound human.

And it was getting closer.

Aaron backed toward his car. Instinct over duty. He could come back with backup.

Then he heard it.

"Help me."Sarah's voice.

Deep in the trees.

Everything in him screamed trap.But if there was even a chance she was alive…

Aaron drew his gun, took a breath, and stepped into the woods.The forest swallowed him whole.

Aaron moved carefully, his gun steady in his grip. His breath came slow, controlled, but his pulse was a drum in his ears. Sarah was close.

The dirt path crunched under his boots as he scanned the ground. Then—

Something small, half-buried in the leaves.

He crouched and picked it up.

Sarah's badge.

A fresh wave of dread settled in his gut. She would never leave this behind.

A few feet away, something else. Her flashlight, still on.

The beam pointed deeper into the woods.

Like a trail.

Aaron followed.

The deeper he went, the thicker the air became—heavy, wrong. Like the forest was pressing in, listening.

Then he saw her.

Sarah stood ahead, completely still.She was facing something in the distance;her back to him.If he remembers vividly ,a little more trip up ahead is the restricted village.

"Sarah?"

No reaction.

Aaron took a cautious step closer.

"Holt?"

Still nothing.

She wasn't even twitching.

He swallowed hard, scanning the trees. No sign of anyone else. What the hell was she looking at?

He moved closer. Close enough to see her shoulders rising and falling. She was breathing, but… it was shallow. Unnatural.

"Sarah."

No response.His gut twisted.

He reached out—

And tapped her shoulder.

Sarah gasped sharply and stumbled back, eyes wide and unfocused, as if waking from a nightmare.

"Aaron?" Her voice was hoarse. Confused.

Aaron steadied her. "Yeah, it's me. What the hell are you doing out here?"

Her breath hitched. She looked past him.

"We have to go."

Aaron frowned. "What were you looking at?"

Sarah shook her head violently.

"Aaron… we have to go now."

A chill crawled down his spine.

Because for the first time in their years of working together, he saw something in her eyes he had never seen before.

Terror.