Evelyn Carter, a tenacious urban explorer in her late twenties with a camera slung around her neck, peers out the car window, her heart pounding with anticipation.
Marcus Lee, her best friend and skeptic, checks the time on his phone, the signal flickering between nothing and a single bar.
"Remind me again why we couldn't just go to the lake like normal people?"
"Because Black Hollow is a mystery waiting to be solved," she replies, her voice trembling with excitement.
Evelyn steps gingerly over broken glass, her breath visible in the chill air. The silence is oppressive, broken only by the crunch of gravel beneath their boots.
"Look at these claw marks on the door. They're too high for an animal," she whispers, snapping a photo.
"Maybe someone wanted to keep people out," Marcus mutters, shivering.
Evelyn kneels, inspecting the footprints, while Marcus scans the darkened rafters above.
"Evelyn... someone's been here recently,"
"Or something," she murmurs, eyeing a tattered hymn book open to a page scribbled with strange runes.
The whispers grow louder, words twisting in a language neither can understand. Marcus grips Evelyn's arm, his knuckles white.
"We need to leave. Now,"
"Wait, listen—it's coming from beneath the altar," Evelyn says, her curiosity overpowering her fear.
Evelyn leads, her resolve hardening as the corridor tightens. Shadows dance along the rough stone walls, and something skitters just out of sight.
"This is insane, Evelyn. What if we can't get back out?"
"We have to see what's down here," she insists, her voice barely audible.
A cold, spectral hand emerges from the well, clawing toward them as the ground vibrates with rage. Marcus screams, stumbling backward, while Evelyn snaps frantic photos, her hands trembling.
"Stay back! Don't let it touch you!" Evelyn shouts, her voice echoing off the stone.
Marcus drags Evelyn toward the car, the engine sputtering before finally roaring to life. As they speed away, the village disappears behind a wall of mist, but the whispers linger, haunting their thoughts.
"Promise me we'll never come back,"
"Some mysteries should stay buried," Evelyn replies, her voice hollow, as the headlights cut through the endless night.
