Whispers in the Dark

Prologue

Pikeswood Forest - 50 Years Ago.

The forest lay shrouded in darkness, its ancient trees looming like silent sentinels guarding secrets buried beneath their gnarled roots. Moonlight filtered through the thick canopy, casting eerie shadows that danced across the forest floor. In the stillness of the night, whispers seemed to echo among the trees, carrying with them a sense of foreboding.

Amidst the dense foliage, a figure darted through the shadows, her breath ragged and labored. Her heart pounded in her chest; each beat a thunderous echo in the silent wilderness. Fear gripped her like icy tendrils, urging her to flee, to escape the unseen horrors that pursued her relentlessly.

The woman, her face contorted with terror, stumbled over gnarled roots, and tangled undergrowth, her footfalls muffled by the thick layer of fallen leaves. Branches clawed at her clothing, tearing at the fabric as if desperate to ensnare her in their grasp.

Ahead, looming like a specter in the moonlight, stood the forsaken mansion - a relic of a bygone era, its windows shattered, its walls cloaked in ivy and decay. To the desperate woman, it offered the faintest glimmer of hope - a fleeting sanctuary in the heart of the haunted forest.

With a final burst of adrenaline-fueled determination, she raced toward the mansion, her footsteps echoing hollowly against the cold stone steps. But as she reached for the rusted handle of the door, a chill ran down her spine - a premonition of the horrors that awaited within.

Before she could turn back, before she could escape the clutches of the forest's malevolent embrace, shadowy figures emerged from the darkness, their forms shifting and undulating like wraiths in the night. With a guttural cry of despair, the woman realized the truth - she was not alone in the forest, and the darkness that lurked within its depths hungered for her soul.

Her scream pierced the stillness of the night, a haunting lament that echoed through the trees - a harbinger of the curse that had plagued the town of Pikeswood for generations to come. And as the shadows closed in around her, swallowing her cries and her very essence, the forest whispered its dark secrets to the night, sealing her fate.