Whispers of Hollow Creek

Chapter 1: The Dare

It was the last week before summer ended. School loomed on the horizon like a punishment, but for five best friends, one final adventure still called their names.

“Guys, we’re doing it tonight,” said Riley, standing in front of the rusted “No Trespassing” sign at the entrance to Hollow Creek Manor

Behind her stood Ethan, Zoe, Malik, and Jenna — childhood friends who’d grown up hearing ghost stories about the house at the edge of town. Hollow Creek was once a grand estate in the 1800s, but after a string of mysterious deaths, it was abandoned, left to rot. Locals said it was cursed. Haunted. Alive.

“You sure about this?” Zoe asked, arms folded. “People say you hear things in there.”

Riley smirked. “That’s the point. We film it, post it — instant legend status.”

Ethan, the skeptic, laughed. “Ghosts aren’t real. It’s just creaky wood and rats.”

Malik pulled out his camera. “Then let’s prove it.”

The gate groaned as they pushed it open. Overgrown weeds clawed at their legs as they stepped into the property. The house loomed ahead — a gothic nightmare with shattered windows and a door barely holding on its hinges.

The sun dipped below the trees.

And the whispering began.

Chapter 2: Inside the House

The door creaked open as they stepped into the grand hall. Moonlight filtered through cracks in the roof. Dust danced in the air. A chandelier swayed gently above.

“Smells like death,” Jenna muttered.

They fanned out, exploring with flashlights and phones.

The walls were covered in faded paintings — twisted portraits of men and women with hollow eyes. A staircase led to the upper floor, and a narrow hallway split off to the right.

“This place is massive,” Ethan said.

Malik’s camera caught movement.

“Wait— did you see that?” he asked.

They turned. Nothing.

“Play it back,” Riley said.

He rewound the footage. In the corner of the frame, a shadow passed across the wall.

“There’s someone here,” Jenna whispered.

“No one lives here,” Zoe snapped. “It’s just an old house.”

But they all felt it — the pressure in the air. The chill down their spines. The feeling of being watched.

Chapter 3: The Locked Room

They ventured upstairs, the steps groaning beneath their weight.

At the end of the hallway was a locked door. Unlike the others, this one was intact. New. Polished.

Riley tried the knob. “Locked.”

“Why would one door be clean in a place like this?” Ethan asked.

Jenna bent down, examining the floor. “Look.”

Scratches — deep ones — marred the floorboards as if something had been clawing from the inside.

“I don’t like this,” she said.

Suddenly, they heard a scream.

From the ground floor.

They ran back down — and found the front door open wide.

Outside stood a girl.

Pale. In a white dress. Her eyes black pits.

“Help me,” she whispered.

Then vanished.

Chapter 4: Trapped

They bolted to the door.

It slammed shut before they reached it.

Riley twisted the knob. Locked.

“We’re stuck,” she gasped.

“Okay, okay, don’t panic,” Ethan said. “We’ll find another way.”

They split up — Malik and Jenna to the basement, Riley and Ethan to the attic, and Zoe stayed near the front, phone in hand, calling 911.

No signal.

Just static.

The lights flickered — even though there was no power.

And the house began to hum.

Chapter 5: The Basement

Malik and Jenna found the stairs behind a torn curtain. The air grew colder as they descended.

The basement smelled of rot and mold.

Chains hung from the ceiling. Old furniture was stacked like barricades. A child’s doll lay face-down on the floor, eyes missing.

“What the hell is this place?” Jenna whispered.

Malik scanned the room with his camera — and caught a face in the corner.

A man.

Gray-skinned. Grinning. His mouth stitched shut.

Then gone.

Jenna screamed.

Chapter 6: The Attic

Riley and Ethan climbed the narrow attic stairs.

It was filled with trunks and broken toys. In one corner stood a rocking chair — slowly moving on its own.

“I don’t like this,” Riley muttered.

They opened a chest — and found dozens of bones.

Small. Like children’s.

Ethan turned to Riley.

But she was staring at something behind him.

He turned.

A woman stood in the corner — pale, weeping blood, pointing at them.

Chapter 7: The Whispers

Downstairs, Zoe heard them first.

Whispers. Everywhere.

Coming from the walls.

“Don’t leave…”

“Join us…”

She turned in circles, heart racing. Her phone screen turned on — a text appeared.

FROM: UNKNOWN

DON’T TRUST HER.

Then her flashlight flickered — and she saw Riley.

Standing at the base of the stairs.

Only… it wasn’t Riley.

The smile was wrong. The eyes empty.

Zoe backed away.

Too late.

Chapter 8: The Room Unlocks

The group regrouped, shaken. Zoe was missing.

Suddenly — click — the locked door upstairs creaked open on its own.

A voice rang out.

“Come inside.”

They climbed slowly, drawn by a force none of them could resist.

Inside the room was a nursery. Dust-covered toys. A mobile spinning above a rotting crib.

In the crib: a bundle of cloth.

Malik leaned in.

The bundle opened its eyes.

And screamed.

Chapter 9: The Truth

The door slammed shut.

They were trapped inside.

The walls peeled, revealing bloodstained wallpaper.

Paintings screamed.

Voices flooded the room.

They saw flashes — visions:

Children tied to beds.

A man with a needle.

A mother crying as shadows dragged her child away.

“This house… it was an orphanage,” Jenna whispered. “They… experimented on the kids.”

The spirits were the lost children — and they were angry.

Chapter 10: Possession

Zoe returned.

But something was wrong.

Her eyes were black.

Her voice, not her own.

“They want you to stay.”

She lunged.

Malik tackled her.

The ghost screamed through her mouth — a high-pitched wail that shook the floor.

Riley shouted, “Get the doll!”

Ethan grabbed the stuffed toy from the crib and threw it into the fireplace.

It burst into flames.

Zoe collapsed.

The room cracked.

Chapter 11: The Escape

Doors flew open. The house roared like an animal in pain.

The group sprinted downstairs, furniture flying around them.

They made it to the front door.

Jenna yanked it open.

The air outside was blinding — light pouring in.

They stepped through.

And the house fell silent.

Epilogue: One Year Later

The group never spoke of what they saw.

Zoe moved away.

Malik deleted the footage.

Riley kept a photo from that night — five teens smiling before the nightmare.

But one morning, she woke to find a new photo on her phone.

Them — standing inside the house.

Behind them, five shadows.

And the words:

YOU NEVER LEFT.