The town where memories last forever：Chapter 2

Part Two: Things They Don't Talk About

The next morning, in the golden autumn sun, Hollow Creek looked almost cheerful—almost.

Alison sipped bitter coffee from a broken cup in the town's only restaurant, Maggie's. The place was filled with a greasy smell and a vague metallic taste that she couldn't place. A few locals were huddled in a booth, talking in low voices, but when she glanced over, their voices stopped abruptly.

She spotted the waitress—a girl no more than twenty—spying nervously at her.

Alison decided to try her luck.

As the girl refilled her cup, she asked casually, "You know Daniel Reed, right?"

The girl froze, spilling her coffee all over the table.

"I... I don't know anything," she stammered, her eyes darting around the room. "Maybe you should talk to Reverend Wallace. He knows... a lot of things."

Before Alison could ask more, the girl retreated behind the counter, refusing to meet her eyes again.

Reverend Wallace. Noticed.

Alison paid for her coffee and walked down Main Street, her boots crunching on the gravel. Empty Creek seemed abandoned—no laughter, no music, not even the hum of voices. Just the croaking of crows in the distance and the occasional creak of a swaying sign.

The church wasn't hard to find. It sat at the end of the street, a squat gray building with a slightly drooping steeple. The door was unlocked.

Inside, rows of empty pews sat under stained-glass windows, covered in dust and let in only a thin sliver of light. The air was thick with a musty smell. In the distance, a man in a dark suit stood by the altar, polishing a brass cross. The cross looked too new for such a dilapidated place.

As Alison approached, he turned and gave a forced smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"You must be a reporter," he said, his tone calm but cautious.

"Alison Grant," she introduced herself. "I was hoping you could tell me about Daniel Reed."

Reverend Wallace carefully put the cross down. "There are things," he said, "that you'd better not move, Miss Grant."

She crossed her arms. "I'm not here to disturb, I'm here to understand."

For a moment, she thought he would throw her out. But then, perhaps seeing the stubbornness on her face, he sighed heavily.

"There are old wounds in Hollow Creek," he said, "wounds that never fully healed. Daniel...he went looking for places he shouldn't have been. He snooped into places that were best forgotten."

"Like what?" Alison pressed.

Reverend Wallace hesitated, his eyes flickering up at the cracked stained glass above.

“There’s a cabin,” he whispered at last. “Deep in the woods, past the bend. Abandoned long ago…after the fire. People say it’s cursed. Daniel was seen walking in that direction a few days before he disappeared.”

“On fire?”

The minister simply shook his head.

“You won’t find kindness in those woods, Miss Grant. Only pity.”

That night, despite the minister’s warnings, Alison took a flashlight, a notebook, and a cheap disposable camera she’d found at a gas station. She followed the dirt road out of town, through dry fields and jagged trees, toward the bend, as the sun got lower and lower.

The forest quickly engulfed her. The deeper she went, the thicker the trees grew, blocking out the last glimmers of daylight.

The beam of her flashlight flickered through the brush.

Finally, as darkness truly fell, she saw it—the cabin.

It was more of a ruin than a building, half-collapsed and blackened by old fires. Ivy tangled the remnants of the wall. Broken glass crunched beneath her boots as she approached the front door, which had fallen off its hinges.

The air inside the house was heavy and cold, filled with the smell of ash and damp decay.

She swept the beam around - collapsed beams, charred furniture, and something... carved into the far wall. She walked closer, her heart beating faster.

The words were carved deep into the charred wood:

"It never left."

A sudden noise drew her attention to the door.

A figure stood there, watching her, silent, waiting.

Before Alison could react, the flashlight flickered and went out.

Darkness swallowed everything.