You Fear, You Die!

The Whispering Town

The town of Wrelmere was a place you wouldn't find on any map.

It sat between two old hills that were falling apart, and it was always covered in thick fog. The people there talked in quiet voices, avoided looking at each other, and locked their doors before the sun went down. Very few people came to visit, and even fewer stayed for long.

Lancy Elen wasn’t someone from outside.

She was born in Wrelmere and grew up with her grandmother after her parents disappeared one cold October night. Now, at twenty-eight, she came back—not because she missed it, but because she had to. Her grandmother had passed away, and she left her the old house on Wraithmoor Lane.

The house was strange, with floors that twisted and windows that seemed to look back at you.

Lancy didn’t believe in ghosts, but she believed in memories, and the house was full of them. Her childhood was full of warnings: don’t go into the woods after dark, don’t talk about the Hollow Man, and most of all, don’t let fear take hold.

Her grandmother used to say, “You fear, you die,” her eyes wide with something more than just old stories.

Lancy had always thought it was just old tales. That changed on the first night she came back.

The Hollow Man

It started with a sound—a slow, scraping noise across the floor. Lancy woke up in bed, her heart pounding. The house was empty. She checked every room. Still, the sound came again, getting closer.

She got up and walked down the hallway with a flashlight in her hand. The light flickered like it didn’t want to work. At the end of the hall, the attic door was slightly open. She hadn’t opened it. Inside, the air was thick with dust, like it had been waiting a long time.

There were old trunks, broken chairs, and a mirror covered with a sheet that had moth holes. She pulled the sheet off. The mirror didn’t show her face. Instead, it showed a tall, faceless figure standing behind her. She turned around—nothing was there. But the fear was real. It tightened around her throat and made her legs shake. She ran out of the attic, slammed the door, and didn’t sleep that night.

The next day, she went to the town library. The librarian, Mr. Allac was one of the few people who remembered her. “You’ve seen him, haven’t you?” he asked without looking up.

“Seen who?” she asked.

“The Hollow Man.”

Lancy hesitated. “I saw something. In the mirror.” Allac nodded. “He’s not a ghost. He feeds on fear. The more you feel it, the stronger he gets. That’s why we say it—‘You fear, you die.’ It’s not just a warning. It’s a rule.” Lancy laughed nervously. “You can’t be serious.”

Allac leaned in closer. “Your parents feared him. That’s why they disappeared.”

The Rule

Lancy tried to explain it away. She thought it was because she wasn’t sleeping enough, or because of stress and sadness. But the strange things kept happening. Shadows that moved without anyone touching them. Voices coming from the walls. Her reflection blinking when she didn't look at it. She found her grandmother’s journal in the attic. The pages were full of messy writing:

“He comes when you tremble. He waits in the cracks. You must not fear. You must not feed him.” “I saw him in the mirror. He wore my face.”

“Lancy must never know.

If she fears, she dies.”

The writing got more wild, ending with one last line:

“He is inside the house now.”

Lancy felt a cold fear go through her. She tried to leave Wrelmere, but her car wouldn’t start. The roads were blocked by fallen trees. Her phone had no signal. She was stuck. And the Hollow Man was getting stronger.

The Experiments

She decided to use what she knew. She had studied psychology in college, and had a special interest in how fear works. She began keeping track of her symptoms: seeing things that weren’t there, feeling paranoid, her heart beating fast. She tried exposing herself to fear—sitting in the attic for hours, forcing herself to stay calm. It helped, for a while.

But the Hollow Man learned from her. He started appearing in her dreams, whispering her name in a voice that sounded like her father’s. He showed her visions of her parents, screaming in the woods, dragged into the fog.

Lancy’s strength started to break. She screamed. And the mirror broke.

The Others

She wasn’t alone. Mr. Allac introduced her to a secret group—The Still Ones. People from the town who had learned to stop feeling fear completely. They spoke very slowly, moved very carefully, and never reacted to anything.

“They’ve survived,” Allac said. “But they’re hollow. Like him.” Lancy joined their activities: sitting in ice water, blocking out all senses, meditating. She learned to slow her heartbeat and stop thinking. But she began to lose parts of herself. Her memories faded. Her laughter stopped.

One night, she looked in the mirror and saw herself—without any expression, her eyes empty. She had become one of them. But the Hollow Man was still there.

The Truth

Lancy realized something important: fear wasn’t the problem. It was the answer. The Hollow Man wasn’t just eating fear—he was made from it. He came from all the fear that people had kept hidden, denied, and ignored for generations. Wrelmere had created him by not dealing with pain and suffering.

She went back to the attic, heart racing. She lit candles, opened the mirror, and said out loud:

“I am afraid. I am terrified. But I will not run.”

The Hollow Man came, even taller than before, with a face that was just empty space.

Lancy stood firm. He attacked. She didn’t move. And he turned into smoke.

The Aftermath

The fog disappeared. The roads were clear. The town began to change. People started smiling again. Children played in the streets. The Still Ones cried for the first time in years.

Lancy stayed. She turned the house into a place where people who were scared could come—people who had trauma, anxiety, or were haunted by things they couldn’t explain. She taught them not to hide from fear, but to face it.

Because she had learned the truth:

You fear, you die.

But if you face it—

You live.

SUMMARY/ANALYIS -

Lancy Elen comes back to her creepy old town of Wrelmere after getting her grandmother's house. But she finds out something really scary: fear can actually kill you. She's being chased by a ghost-like creature called the Hollow Man, and she has to face her biggest fears to stay alive. This thriller is about dealing with past pain, holding things in, and the dangers of not speaking up. *You Fear, You Die* is a scary story about bravery against the dark, great for people who love spooky stories with real emotions.