Shivers 2

The Midnight Run

In the tranquil village of Hollowbrook, nestled beneath the shadow of ancient oaks, lived a woman named Eleanor. One cool evening, a whisper of curiosity beckoned her into the depths of the dense woodland. With the sinking sun casting long shadows, she embarked on a solitary jog through fields drenched in twilight.As Eleanor's footsteps crunched thefallen leaves, a sensation of unease slithered through her veins. The silence was profound, disturbed only by the rustling of unseen creatures. The wind whispered secrets she dared not comprehend, carrying with it a chill that bore the weight of forgotten stories.

Amidst the gnarled trees, Eleanor began to feel as if she were not alone. A pale figure, clothed in tattered white, emerged from the obscurity. Its eyes, vacant as moonlight, locked onto her, the ethereal gown billowing as it approached, uncanny in its swiftness.

Fear gripped Eleanor, each heartbeat a drumbeat in her chest as she quickened her pace. But no matter how she pushed herself, the ghostly figure matched her stride for stride, an inexorable specter that defied the laws of the living.

Breathless and on the edge of despair, Eleanor fled her wooded prison and rushed home, slamming the door behind her. Yet, the veil between worlds seemed to thin, for as night descended, the air grew frigid and heavy with spectral dread. She was not alone in her own abode.

Terror-stricken, Eleanor lay in her bed, shrouded in darkness. Moonlight cast an eerie glow on the room, revealing the pale figure standing by her bedside. Its hollow eyes bore into her very soul, the very essence of death itself. The weight of inevitability pressed down upon her, a nightmare from which she could not escape.

With a guttural scream, the ghost lunged, its spectral form descending upon Eleanor, suffocating her in the cold embrace of oblivion.

****

The sun's feeble light struggled to pierce the morning mist that clung to Hollowbrook as Eleanor's boyfriend, Daniel, arrived at her door. Alarm fluttered in his chest at the eerie stillness that greeted him. "Eleanor?" he called, his voice a hesitant echo in the silence.

As he moved deeper into the house, dread clawed at his gut, a malevolent presence seeping into his very bones. The bedroom door creaked open, revealing a scene that would haunt his every waking moment.

In the dim light, Daniel saw Eleanor's remains, her lifeless form cruelly dismembered and confined within a trunk that seemed to pulsate with malevolence. A blood-curdling scream escaped him, and he stumbled back, his mind rejecting the unthinkable horror before him.

The village of Hollowbrook would forever bear the weight of that ghastly day, a place where the boundary between the living and the dead had been forever shattered. The woods whispered of a tragic tale, of a woman pursued by a relentless specter, a tale of terror that would echo through the ages, a chilling reminder that the shadows that lurk beyond our reality are as old as time itself.