Ethan had the proof now. His suspicions were no longer just paranoia. The events at the park, the shadowy figures in the fog, the voice that had whispered his name-it all confirmed what he had feared for weeks: something unnatural was happening in Nautical Heights. The Congregation was manipulating more than just the rules, they were controlling the environment itself, using the fog as a tool to disorient and keep the residents under their watchful gaze.
As he sat at his kitchen table, the morning sunlight streaming through the blinds, Ethan's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. The crumpled note on the table was a stark reminder that someone, perhaps several people, were involved in keeping him in line. He had to act normal, pretend he wasn't piecing everything together, but the knowledge weighed heavily on him. Now that he'd seen the fog being generated by the sprinklers and had heard the distorted voice in the mist, there was no turning back.
He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. The fog, the clubhouse, the park-they were all connected. The thick fog that clung to the ground at night wasn't just some natural occurrence. It was deliberate. It was being manufactured by the Congregation, using the sprinklers to keep it heavy and close to the ground in specific areas. And the figures he had seen on the cameras? They weren't figments of his imagination, nor were they random occurrences. They were the shadows moving within the fog-people, or maybe something else, lurking in the mist, just out of sight.
Ethan leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. The shadowy figures he had glimpsed on the security monitors over the past few weeks-the ones that always seemed to move just outside the range of the cameras-were real. They were using the fog to conceal their movements, to avoid detection. But he had seen them. And now he knew where they gathered.
The clubhouse.
That place had always seemed strange to him, even before he started noticing the odd behavior of the residents. It was where the Congregation held their meetings, where the HOA's power seemed to originate. And now he had seen firsthand how the fog was thickest around it, obscuring whatever was happening inside.
The thought made his skin crawl. He had seen movement inside the building last night-a shadowy figure walking past the windows, distorted by the fog but unmistakably there. Whoever they were, they were part of the Congregation. And they knew he was getting closer to the truth.
The voice... the voice that had called his name, distorted and eerie, echoed in his mind. It was familiar. He knew that much. But who could it have been? Gregory? Sarah? Someone else in the community? The distortion had masked their identity, but the tone felt too personal, too deliberate. It was as if they were trying to warn him, but at the same time, keep him in line.
Ethan stood up, pacing the small apartment. He couldn't let this go. Now that he had proof-now that he had seen the sprinklers generating the fog, seen the shadowy figures in the mist, and heard the voices-he had to figure out what the Congregation was really up to. But how could he move forward without drawing more attention to himself?
He stopped by the window, looking out at the street below. The fog had mostly lifted in the daylight, but the heaviness still lingered in the air. The neighborhood looked peaceful, quiet, but Ethan knew better now. This place was a trap, and the Congregation was pulling all the strings.
He needed to get back to the guardhouse, where he could look over the past recordings from the security cameras. If those figures had been moving in the fog last night, they'd been doing it for weeks-maybe even months. He had to find a pattern, something that could explain when and where they moved. The shadows weren't random. They had a purpose, and he was going to find out what it was.
By the time Ethan reached the guardhouse later that afternoon, his heart was pounding with a mixture of fear and anticipation. The weight of everything he'd seen hung over him, but he couldn't afford to hesitate. He had to keep acting normal, just like the note had instructed. That was the only way he could keep digging deeper without alerting the Congregation.
YOU ARE READING
Watcher in the Dark
Horror**"The Watcher in the Dark"** *by FG. Capote* Ethan Bishop thought his new job as a night security guard in the affluent, gated community of Nautical Heights would be easy-a quiet post watching over wealthy homes. But as the nights wear on, strang...
