Danny pov:
Welcome to Hollow's End.
People here like to call it home. Me? I call it hell.
I've lived here my whole life, and all this place ever gave me was grief. Every road, every corner, every face-it's all tied to something I lost. My friends? Gone a long time ago. The kind of gone that still keeps me up at night.
So I stay away. I don't go into town unless I have to, and even then, I keep my head low. I live north of Hollow's End, in a house most people would swear is haunted. Maybe it is. The roof sags, the floor groans, and the windows rattle when the wind comes screaming down from the hills. It's a place nobody else would want. That's exactly why I chose it.
Daily life? It's nothing special. Wake up when the sun slices through the busted shutters. Fix whatever the wind tore apart overnight. Patch the leaks. Feed the fire. Eat what little I catch or trade for in town. Then I keep my hands busy-sharpening knives, fixing old traps, marking new trails on maps I've drawn over and over until the paper looks like it might tear in two.
It isn't about survival. Not really. It's about preparation. Waiting for the day I have enough courage-or enough desperation-to finish what started years ago. To face the thing that stole my friends.
But I never do. Not fully. Not yet.
When night falls, I light one candle and sit by the window. I keep the flame low, just enough so the shadows don't creep too close. I stare out at the trees and listen. The woods have a voice, if you know how to hear it. Some nights it whispers, some nights it moans. And some nights... it goes dead silent. Those are the worst.
Because silence means it's near.
That night-the night everything changed again-started like the others. Quiet. Too quiet. I was sketching lines on a map, trying to guess where it would strike next, when I heard it. Not the beast, but something else. Something softer. Footsteps.
Light. Uneven. Careless.
My stomach dropped. Whoever it was, they didn't belong out here. Not after dark.
At first I thought maybe it was a trap-maybe the thing was smart enough to lure me out with a sound like that. But then I saw him. A boy. Skinny, dark hair messy from running. He looked no older than sixteen, seventeen maybe. And stupid enough to be out in Hollow's End after dark.
Sam.
He stumbled through the underbrush like he didn't even know the rules, like he'd never been told. I wanted to stay put, let the night teach him the lesson it taught me long ago. But then I saw the way the trees shifted behind him. The way the silence pressed down like a heavy hand.
It was there. Watching.
And before I knew it, I was moving.
"Kid!" I hissed, louder than I should have. He froze, his wide eyes darting around until they locked on me. I motioned sharply, trying to keep him quiet. "This way. Now."
"Shhh," I hissed, my hand clamped tight on the kid's arm. His chest heaved, ready to let out a scream. "Stay quiet. The thing will hear you."
His eyes went wide, and I felt him stiffen. Good. At least he was smart enough to shut up.
I dragged him through the brush, weaving between trees I knew better than the back of my hand. Every few steps I glanced over my shoulder. The woods were still. Too still.
"What are you doing out here this late?" I whispered harshly. "Haven't you learned the rules?"
Sam-though I didn't know his name yet-looked at me, breathless and stubborn. "I was gonna ask you the same thing."
The nerve on this kid. Wrong place, wrong time, and he's got a mouth.
I didn't answer. Just pulled him harder, keeping low. My whole body felt tight, coiled, like at any second the trees would break open and the night would swallow us both.
When we finally cleared the treeline and the lights of Hollow's End came into view, I didn't slow down. His parents were outside, shouting his name, flashlights cutting through the dark. The second they saw him, they ran.
"Sam where have you been!" his mother cried, grabbing him and pulling him close. His father's face was pale, eyes darting over the woods like he expected something to come crawling out after us.
They looked at me next. I could see the thanks in their faces, but also the fear. Nobody wanted to look too long at the man who lived outside of town. The one who broke the rules.
I didn't stay for their questions. Didn't stay for their gratitude. I just turned, shoved my hands in my pockets, and walked back into the dark. Back where I belonged.
They tried to offer me to stay but i denied I didn't want to stay in this town for very long I had to get back home.
The next day, I figured that was it. The kid learned his lesson. I'd never see him again. But I was wrong.
Because Sam showed up.
He caught me outside the old house, arms crossed like he had a right to be there. "You didn't answer me last night," he said. "Why were you out there? Why do you live out here alone?"
I glared at him, hoping my silence would be enough. But the boy didn't move. Didn't flinch. He just kept asking.
"Is it true? About the monster ? Do you know it? Have you seen it?"
I clenched my jaw. "Go home, kid and don't speak about him again."
But he didn't. He kept on, like he had to know, like the questions were eating him alive. And for the first time in a long time, I felt something snap.
"You want answers?" I growled. "Fine. You want to know why I live like this? Why I hate this town? Why I don't talk to anyone? Then listen. Because nobody else ever has."
And that's when I told him.
I told him about the night I was his age. About the dare. The camping trip. The silence that fell heavier than death. How one by one, my friends vanished into the dark while I just stood there, frozen, useless.
How I ran.
How I left them behind.
How I never saw them again.
And how, when I tried to tell someone, I couldn't. The rules wouldn't let me. Nobody would listen. Nobody wanted to hear.
So I stayed quiet. And I've been quiet ever since.
You want to know the truth? Fine.
Hollow's End wasn't always like this. It wasn't always a graveyard with houses. When I was a kid, it was... normal. Kids rode their bikes down Main Street, people left their doors unlocked, the air felt lighter somehow. People laughed. Smiled. Believed tomorrow would be better.
Back then, I didn't know what fear was. Not the kind that rots in your bones.
The first time I saw it-the monster-was when everything changed.
I was thirteen. My friends were the only family that mattered to me. We were inseparable: Tyler, Mark, James, and me. We used to think we owned the town, sneaking into places we weren't supposed to, daring each other to do stupid things. Boys being boys, too dumb to understand what shadows really meant.
It started as a joke. A dare.
"Bet you can't make it through a night in the woods," Tyler grinned, kicking dirt at my shoes.
"Sure I can," I shot back. "What, you scared?"
Mark laughed. "We'll all go. No big deal."
James puffed his chest. "Yeah. We're not kids anymore."
We thought we were brave. Thought the rules were just stories parents told to keep us in line.
So we packed up cheap flashlights, a couple blankets, and some junk food, and we headed out past the creek. Past the line nobody crossed. I remember the way the trees grew closer together the deeper we went, like they didn't want us there. But we laughed it off. We were invincible.
The fire we built crackled bright. We told stories, played cards, dared each other to wander off into the dark just for a laugh. I remember the smell of smoke, the sound of my friends' voices, the warmth of belonging.
But then, somewhere past midnight, the woods went quiet.
No crickets. No owls. Just silence so thick it pressed against your ears. We froze, our laughter dying in our throats. I felt it first-this weight, like the air had turned heavy. My flashlight flickered even though the batteries were fresh.
And then I saw it.
Eyes. Not human. Glowing faint in the dark, watching us from the tree line. Too tall. Too still. My stomach twisted. My mouth went dry.
"Danny..." Tyler whispered, his voice shaking. "What is that?"
I wanted to answer. I wanted to move. But I couldn't. My legs locked, my chest crushed in on itself.
Mark stood, trying to be brave. "It's nothing. Just-just an animal."
But it wasn't.
The shadow stretched taller, wider, until the trees bent like they wanted to get away from it. Then, without a sound, James was gone. One second he was beside me, the next there was only empty space where he'd stood.
Tyler screamed. Mark shouted his name. But I... I didn't move. My heart hammered so hard I thought it would explode. My friends ran, darting into the woods in opposite directions, flashlights jerking wildly.
"Don't!" I finally choked out, but it was too late.
The thing didn't chase. It didn't have to. It was everywhere. Every flicker of shadow, every corner of the trees. I heard screams, cut short. I heard footsteps pounding, then silence. One by one, their voices vanished into the night.
And me? I ran.
I don't even remember deciding to. My body just took over. My legs carried me out of there, crashing through the brush, my lungs burning. I didn't look back. Couldn't. Because if I did, I knew it would take me too.
By the time I stumbled into Hollow's End, the sun was breaking. I collapsed on my porch, mud on my face, cuts on my arms. My parents asked what happened. The police asked too. But when I opened my mouth-nothing came out.
Not a word.
It was like the rules had wrapped around my throat. Never speak about the beast. And I couldn't. I tried. God, I tried. But the words died every time.
The cops didn't look long. Nobody did. My friends were just... gone. Like they never existed.
And me? I was left with the guilt. The shame. The silence.
Every day since, I've carried it. Every night, I hear them screaming. And I hate this town for letting it happen. I hate myself more for running.
That's who I am, kid. That's why I live the way I do. Why I don't talk. Why I can't leave.
Because once you've seen it, once you've felt it, there's no escaping Hollow's End.
Danny's POV (Flashback - Continued)
Sam didn't speak for a long time after I told him about that night. His eyes were locked on me, like he was searching for something between the cracks in my words. Finally, he whispered the question I'd been waiting for.
"What happened after that?"
I leaned back, dragging a hand down my face. The answer wasn't simple, but he deserved to hear it.
"After that... everything changed."
The rules-the ones you grew up knowing-didn't exist before my friends disappeared. People whispered about strange things in the woods, sure, but nobody took it seriously. It wasn't until after that night, when four boys went out and only one came back, that Hollow's End finally got scared enough to start living by them.
Never go out late.
Never be alone.
Never speak of the beast.
Those rules weren't written down anywhere, but they spread fast. They were in the way the parents locked their doors before sunset, the way shopkeepers closed early, the way neighbors looked at the ground instead of each other once night fell. It became the town's law-unspoken, but iron.
And me? I was at the center of it.
Everyone knew I was there that night. Everyone knew I came back when the others didn't. They looked at me like I was poison. Like I was guilty of something worse than running. They thought I was hiding the truth-and I was. But not for the reasons they imagined.
You don't understand what it's like, having words die in your throat. Trying to scream the truth and choking on silence. I wanted to tell them. God, I wanted to. But the rules... they weren't just warnings. They were chains. Invisible, but unbreakable.
So I kept my mouth shut, and the town kept its distance. I became the boy who wouldn't speak. The coward. The liar. The one who abandoned his friends.
And the worst part? They weren't wrong.
As I got older, the whispers grew louder. People didn't say it to my face, but I heard them. They said I cursed the town. That I brought the monster's wrath on us. That if I had spoken, maybe their kids would still be alive.
Because the disappearances didn't stop with my friends.
More kids tried the same dare. Kids always think they're braver than they are. They heard the stories from their parents, laughed at them, and thought it was just an excuse to keep them out of trouble. So they went into the woods. Some made it back, pale and shaken, swearing they'd never go again. Others... didn't.
Every time someone vanished, the legend grew. Hollow's End became known for it. Outsiders thought it was just small-town superstition. But the people who lived here? We knew better.
We learned to keep our heads down. To follow the rules. To pretend everything was fine, even when we were all waiting for the next scream in the night.
I tried staying. Tried pretending I was just another piece of the machine, grinding forward with the rest of them. But I couldn't. Not with the way they looked at me. Not with the weight of what I carried.
So when I was old enough, I left. Not far-I couldn't escape Hollow's End completely. Nobody really does. But I left the town behind, moved into the abandoned house up north where nobody would bother me. Where I could keep my distance.
Because truth is, the people here never forgave me. And maybe I never forgave myself.
That's what happened, Sam. That's what came after. The rules. The fear. The hate. And me-alone, living with ghosts that never shut up.
Sam's pov:
He turned his gaze away, the conversation already over in his mind. To him, it was impossible. To me... it was a seed planted, a question that wouldn't leave me alone.
That night, as I lay awake, his words echoed in my head. Yeah. I wish.
And that's when I knew-I wasn't done with Danny. Not yet....