「 𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨 」

Dark Entity's Tale

The only sound was the rasp of her breath and the rustling of leaves underfoot. Time seemed to stretch, dragging each moment into an eternity as she felt the abyss of night encircle her.

The forest had always unnerved her, its dark heart thrumming with the promise of the unknown. She took another shaky step, every rustle around her amplifying her anxiety, each snap of a twig echoing ominously.

“Ayana!” James had called just moments earlier, but now the forest swallowed his voice whole. “Stay close!”

The air grew colder, and an airless weight bore down upon her. She clutched her phone tight, willing it to light, to guide her away from the oppressive shadows. She tried to focus, but darkness seeped into her thoughts, blurring the edges of rationality.

Where was he? Was he hurt?

And then she saw it—a flicker of movement, a shadow darting between the gnarled trees. Heart racing, she felt an instinctive jolt as her mind flared with possibilities—was it her father? Or something else?

“Dad?” Ayana called again, determination lacing her voice as she stepped toward the shadow, pulling her phone from her pocket. The beam of light cut through the black, illuminating the twisted landscape around her. The eerie glow revealed twisted roots and scraggly weeds, each stride deepening her dread.

Suddenly, a voice broke through the stillness. Hollow and chilling, it floated through the air, surrounding her like mist. “The dark holds many secrets, little one…” It echoed through her head, yet she couldn’t pinpoint its source.

She dropped her phone; its light extinguished under a thick layer of earth.

“No!” she cried, scrambling to find it, but the shadows swooped in, and her heart raced in panic. Shadows rolled and shifted, forming into twisted shapes in her mind’s eye—creatures born of her deepest fears.

“Daddy?!” she barked into the void, desperation clawing at her throat. “We have to find a way out of here!”

The disembodied voice laughed softly, a sound that sent chills skittering down her spine. “Can you trust the dark?” it asked, low and inviting. “The thin veil between light and shadow hides what you seek.”

Ayana instinctively pulled away, shaking the Vicente-like embrace that gripped her frame. “Shut up! I just need to find my dad!”

A bone-chilling silence followed, only to be interrupted by the rasp of someone—or something—moving nearby. With a surge of instinct, Ayana turned and ran, blindly pushing deeper into the heart of the forest. Her breaths came faster now, the air thick with despair. She stumbled and fell, her heart racing as she gasped for air.

Then she saw it again—the figure. This time closer. It was standing at the edge of the trees, the silhouette sharper now. A face began to emerge, pale and hollow, a smile that felt less like humour and more like a harbinger of impending doom.

“What do you want?” she screamed, voice cracking, echoing back in mockery.

“Your father,” it responded, words oozing with disdain. “He caused it all, didn’t he?”

“No!” she cried.

“Leave him alone!” A surge of anger fueled her voice.

The figure laughed again, a cruel sound that seemed to wrap itself around them. “Every heart bears a secret, and his is heavy with guilt.”

“Guilt?” she echoed, but in the back of her mind, shadows began to unfurl, memories she had buried deep, fears nurtured under the surface.

“Do you not remember? The day of the accident that changed everything?” The figure stepped forward, allowing her to see the grotesque features more clearly—eyes like wet stones, a mouth stretched into an eternal grin.

“I—” she struggled, her heart plummeting. “No—I don’t know what you mean!”

“You will,” it promised, gliding closer, a whisper in her ear. “Feel the warmth of his secrets. Feel the bones of your past.”

In the back of her mind, shadows unfurled, memories buried deep and fears nurtured under the surface clawing to be released.

A figure emerged from the fading light, stepping silently from a nearby thicket. As it glided closer, she discerned its grotesque features—eyes like wet stones, reflecting the last vestiges of daylight, and a mouth stretched into an eternal grin.

“Do you not remember?” it taunted softly, its voice a silken whisper that wrapped around her like strands of webbing. “The day of the accident that changed everything?”

Ayana's heart raced as she took an involuntary step back. “I—no—I don’t know what you mean!” The panic in her voice reverberated through the trees, sending a flock of birds spiralling into the evening sky. Her knees weakened as dread seeped into the ground beneath her.

The entity laughed, a sound that dripped with dark amusement, its form flickering like a flame caught in a draft.

“You will,” it promised, gliding closer, a whisper in her ear, the rancid breath chilling her to the bone. “Feel the warmth of his secrets. Feel the bones of your past.”

Ayana shook her head, clasping her hands together as if to contain the swirling chaos inside her. She tried to retreat, to run back to the familiar pain of her father’s gentle reminders, but her feet remained rooted to the forest floor.

“Your mother,” the figure continued, “do you remember the stories he told? How she left you?”

Her breath hitched. “My dad said she didn’t want us anymore…”

“Oh, but that’s just the surface,” the figure crooned, inching closer until the distance between them seemed to dissolve. “What did she say before she left? Do you remember the day? It was the same day he became a hollow man—an echo of the truth you were too young to hear.”

Fingers clenched tightly around her heart, Ayana felt herself being pulled into the vortex of memories. Images flashed before her eyes—fragments of a shattered past. Her mother’s tear-streaked face as she stood at the door, suitcase in hand; her father’s cold eyes masked by a façade of sorrow.

“No! I don’t want to hear it!” she shouted, drowning in her turmoil, but the entity was undeterred. It stepped even closer, blending into the shadows, wrapping around her like a dark cloak.

“But there’s more to discover, sweet Ayana,” it rasped, “the truths withheld like secrets buried beneath the soil. Your mother did not choose to leave—she was forced to protect you from the darkness of his soul. She threatened to tell the family… do you remember?”

A trickle of cold sweat slid down her back. The memories surfaced, rising like ghosts from their graves. Shadows of her mother’s fear, her desperate voice muffled beneath her father’s anger filled her mind.

The days that followed lingered at the edges of her consciousness, memories pushed away, like brambles snagging her heart.

“She wanted to take you with her—you were her light,” the entity urged on, as if feeding off her anguish.

“But your father, he had other plans. His addiction loomed larger than life itself. Can you see him clearly now?”

Her heart thudded against her ribcage, each pulse echoing the dread she had tried to bury. How she had fallen for his lies, indulging in the safety of falsehoods—all to avoid the reality that loomed like a mountain over her childhood.

“You believed him, didn’t you?” the figure cooed, its jagged smile growing wider. “He crafted a story woven with deception while he buried the truth. Oh, the bones of your past are mighty!”

“No! Stop!” she cried, clutching her head as if willing the truth to remain buried. “You’re lying. My mother chose to leave!”

“Did she? Or did she simply become your father’s commodity?”