Time 3.30

The walk back to the house was shrouded in silence, the weight of the drone’s unsettling discovery pressing down on the group like a dark cloud. Ava could still see Samera’s crumpled blue dress in her mind’s eye, the bright fabric stark against the ominous shadow of the forest. No one had said much since they decided to return to the house, their minds too clouded with questions that had no answers.

When they reached the house, Ava pushed open the heavy wooden door, the hinges creaking as if they hadn’t been used in years. The house felt colder than before, and a strange, unsettling quiet filled the space. Dionna glanced nervously around the room, hugging her arms to her chest.

“Should we… keep looking?” Zaire asked, though his voice was laced with uncertainty.

“We need to regroup,” Ignatius said firmly, though his expression was dark. “We’re no good to her if we’re scattered.”

Ava nodded, though her thoughts were spinning. She didn’t want to stay in the house, but the weight of everything that had happened—Samera’s disappearance, the eerie forest, the strange man with the truck—made it hard to think clearly. As they all shuffled deeper into the house, she felt something else tugging at her senses, a faint light flickering in the corner of her eye.

“What’s that?” Rai’s voice broke the silence as he pointed toward the narrow staircase leading to the basement.

Ava’s eyes followed his gesture. At the foot of the stairs, a soft, pulsing glow was seeping out from beneath a door they hadn’t noticed before. It was faint, barely there, but enough to catch their attention. Zaire frowned, stepping toward it cautiously.

“Was that there before?” Dionna asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“I don’t think so,” Ava murmured, already feeling a shiver run down her spine.

Rai stepped forward, his brow furrowed. “Wait a second,” he said, turning to the group. “We’ve seen this before… remember that old trunk in the attic? The one that had all those strange maps and books?”

Ava’s eyes widened in recognition, her heart skipping a beat. “You’re right… that trunk. It’s like the one we found earlier.”

Zaire exchanged glances with the others, his expression growing more cautious. “Then why would there be another one down here? What’s going on with this house?”

Without waiting for a response, Ignatius strode toward the glowing door, his expression hard. He grabbed the handle and pulled it open. The glow grew brighter, casting long shadows across the walls as they all peered inside.

There, sitting in the middle of the dimly lit basement, was another old trunk. It looked ancient, its metal edges rusted and worn, and dust coated its surface as if it had been untouched for years. The eerie light seemed to come from within, glowing through the cracks of the lid, pulsating faintly like a heartbeat.

“Who leaves something like this in a place like this?” Zaire muttered, his voice filled with unease.

Ava felt her heart begin to race. Something about the trunk didn’t feel right, but at the same time, it drew her in. She stepped closer, the light casting an odd glow on her face as she reached for the lid.

“Ava, wait,” Dionna’s voice wavered, but Ava’s curiosity had already taken hold.

She lifted the lid slowly, the hinges groaning as if they hadn’t been used in decades. Inside, a strange assortment of items greeted her: old, yellowed maps, thick leather-bound books with crumbling pages, and artifacts that looked like they belonged in a museum. The air around the trunk seemed colder, the glow intensifying as she leaned closer to inspect the contents.

“These maps…” Rai said, reaching for one. “They show the beach. But not just the beach, they show something else—like hidden trails or caves. Places we haven’t seen.”

Ava’s breath caught in her throat as she looked at the markings on the maps. Some were circled in red ink, with strange symbols drawn next to them. They weren’t in any language she recognized, but they reminded her of the bizarre patterns she’d seen etched into the trees near the beach.

“There’s something wrong with this place,” Dionna whispered, backing away from the trunk. “We shouldn’t be here.”

Ava picked up one of the books, its cover thick with dust. The pages inside were filled with writing, but the letters were strange, curling in ways that hurt her eyes to look at. She flipped through quickly, her hands trembling, until she stopped on an illustration. It was a crude drawing of something—a figure standing near the cliffs, surrounded by twisted, unnatural animals. The image sent a jolt of recognition through her.

“This… this is what I saw,” Ava whispered, her voice shaky. “In the forest. There were animals, just like this…”

Zaire leaned over her shoulder, his brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“When I went into the forest earlier,” Ava explained, her voice low, “I saw a man… and these animals. They didn’t look natural. And now this…”

Dionna’s face turned pale as she backed farther away. “I don’t like this. We need to leave.”

Ava wasn’t listening anymore. Her eyes were drawn to the bottom of the trunk, where a small, weathered journal lay. It was tucked beneath the maps and books, almost hidden. She pulled it out, the brittle pages crackling in her hands as she opened it.

The writing was old, and faded with time, but the name in the last entry made her blood run cold. Samera. It was written, in a hurried hand, with a date that matched the day she’d disappeared.

“How…” Ava’s voice broke. “How is this possible?”

Zaire grabbed the journal from her, his eyes widening as he read the entry. “This can’t be right. It’s impossible. She only disappeared today…”

Ignatius stared at the glowing light inside the trunk, his jaw clenched. “We’re missing something. This isn’t just some old junk. This is connected to what’s happening.”

Rai’s hand trembled as he held the map. “This light… these symbols… I think they’re a warning.”

Ava’s pulse raced as the pieces began to fall into place. The strange occurrences, the warnings, the unsettling atmosphere around the beach—it was all leading to something. And now, Samera’s name was written in a journal that was older than any of them could explain.

The eerie glow from the trunk pulsed once more, casting long shadows on the walls as the group stood in silence, their fear mounting with every second.

“We need to get out of here,” Dionna repeated, her voice trembling. “We need to leave before something else happens.”

But Ava couldn’t tear her eyes away from the trunk. Something was drawing them closer to the truth, and she knew that leaving now would mean walking away from the answers they needed.

“We can’t leave yet,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “We’re already too deep into this.”