Blackwood was a town that woke slowly in the mornings. The sunlight lay outside, but not in the streets. A thick gray fog Covered the town like a blanket. Even the birds were silent.
Ethan Carter woke up suddenly in the old Carter house.
For a few seconds, he lay and stared at the ceiling, trying to clear his mind.
Then he remembered the night before.
The knocking at the window.
And the whisper.
"Ethan… come to the well…"
He sat up and rubbed his face.
"It was just a dream," he murmured.
But deep down inside, he wondered.
Ethan got out of bed and went downstairs. The wooden steps creaked loudly under his feet. Dust covered the furniture, and the air was musty with age.
He went into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker.
Outside, the wind began to blow.
The windows rattled softly.
Ethan went over to the window and looked out.
The street was completely still.
Completely still.
A young woman with long brown hair stood on the other side of the road.
She was looking directly at his house.
Ethan knew at once who she was.
Olivia Brooks.
They had grown up together in Blackwood before Ethan left two years ago.
When Olivia saw him at the window, she looked surprised. Then she came slowly across the street toward the house.
A moment later —
Knock. Knock.
Ethan opened the door.
"Olivia?"
She smiled but her eyes were worried.
"Ethan… it's really you," she said.
"Yeah," Ethan said. "I got here last night."
They went in.
Olivia looked all over the house.
"Nothing's changed," she said softly.
"Except everything seems different."
Ethan nodded.
They sat down at the kitchen table.
For a while, they talked about old memories—school, friends, and some of the people in town.
But Olivia kept looking nervously at the window.
"What's up?" Ethan finally asked.
Olivia hesitated.
Then she leaned closer.
"Ethan, did you hear anything strange last night?" she asked softly.
Ethan gave a start.
"What do you mean?"
Olivia swallowed hard.
"Last night… it started to grow really windy."
"And then I heard something in it."
"What listen?"
Olivia's voice dropped to a whisper.
"It spoke."
Ethan gaped at her.
"What did it say?"
Olivia glanced at the window again before replying.
"Said… come to the forest."
Neither one spoke again for a moment.
Then abruptly—
BANG!
The window slammed open.
Cold wind rushed violently into the room, fanning the curtains.
Olivia sprang out of her chair.
"What was that?!"
The wind roared through the room.
And then…
In the wind…
They both heard it.
A voice.
Softly.
Coldly.
Almost living.
"Blackwood Forest…"
Olivia went pale.
"That you just now… you heard that, right?" she asked.
Ethan walked slowly to the window.
He peered outside to where the forest lay in the distance.
Thicker mist wafted about there.
And for just a moment…
There seemed to be something standing near the line of trees.
A tall, dark silhouette.
Looking at the house.
Ethan squinted.
Then the silhouette vanished. Into the mist.
He backed off slowly.
Olivia's voice shook.
"Ethan, I think there is something wrong with this town."
He nodded.
And suddenly he remembered something his mother had told him many years ago.
Her words came alive again in his memory.
"Don't go near the Blackwood Forest well."
Yet now it felt as if the forest itself was calling him.
Pulling on him to come this way.
Somewhere deep within those darkened trees…
Something had been woken up.
Something that was old.
Something which had been in sleep for a very long time.
And now…
They heard that.
Ethan and Olivia, however, were not aware of the worst of all.
It was at that precise instant...
That, far, far inside Blackwood Forest,
The old well suddenly broke open.
And something within it...
Began to stir.