The Hollow Whisper

Chapter 7: Into the Void

Sarah's scream died in her throat the moment the darkness touched her. It wasn't just an absence of light—it was a void, a cold, merciless nothingness that swallowed her whole. For a moment, she felt as if her body had dissolved into the shadows, her senses dulled by the overwhelming blackness. She was weightless, floating in the abyss.

Then came the cold. A bone-deep, biting cold that wrapped around her, freezing her blood, her breath, her very thoughts. She gasped for air, but the void offered nothing. The world she had known—the ancient house, the creatures, even the door she had unlocked—had vanished. There was no floor beneath her feet, no air to breathe, no sense of up or down.

Just the void.

Panic surged through her, and she reached out blindly, searching for anything solid, anything to anchor herself. But her hands found only emptiness. The nothingness was endless, stretching beyond what her mind could comprehend.

And then the voices returned.

Sarah...

They were different this time. No longer the whispers of the creatures or the sinister chant from the house. These voices were colder, more distant—like the echo of a thought. They slithered into her mind, wrapping around her consciousness, each word a jolt of icy terror.

You brought this upon yourself...

Sarah's body trembled, but there was nothing to cling to. She was suspended in the endless void, helpless and alone. Tears pricked her eyes, but they froze before they could fall. Her mind raced, grasping for any way out, any way back to the house—even to the horrors she had escaped.

But there was nothing. She was truly alone.

For what felt like hours—days—Sarah drifted in the void. The darkness around her shifted occasionally, like a living thing, but it never took shape. It merely loomed, pressing down on her soul, suffocating her with its oppressive weight. The cold gnawed at her bones, but she couldn't die here, couldn't escape the agony. It was endless.

And then she heard it—a sound. A faint, rhythmic tapping that seemed impossibly distant, like a heartbeat buried beneath layers of shadow.

Thump. Thump.

Sarah's mind seized on the sound. She focused on it, clung to it, willing it to grow louder, to pull her out of the void. But the sound remained faint, barely audible over the roar of silence. Still, it was something. The only thing that existed besides the void.

The tapping grew sharper, closer, and with it came something else—light. Not the warm, comforting glow of sunlight, but a sickly, pale luminescence that cut through the shadows like a jagged wound. It flickered in and out of her vision, as if struggling to stay alive in this place.

As the light grew, the void seemed to retreat, shrinking back into the corners of her mind. Sarah's body began to solidify again, her limbs heavy, aching from the cold. She could feel her breath return, shaky and uneven, but it was there.

The light continued to flicker, and for the first time, Sarah saw something within the void.

Shapes. Faint and indistinct at first, but growing clearer with each pulse of the sickly light. They floated around her, hovering just at the edges of her vision, like twisted, incomplete memories. She tried to focus on them, but they shifted whenever she looked too closely, as if they were not meant to be seen.

The tapping grew louder, now a steady rhythm that reverberated through the void.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

And then, from the shadows, a figure emerged.

It was tall, impossibly thin, its body wrapped in the same darkness that had swallowed Sarah. But unlike the shapeless void, this thing had form. Its limbs were long and spindly, its face hidden behind a veil of shifting shadows. But its eyes—those glowing red eyes—were unmistakable. It was the thing from the door.

Sarah's breath caught in her throat as the figure glided toward her, its movements slow and deliberate. She tried to back away, but her body wouldn't respond. The cold held her in place, paralyzing her as the figure drew closer.

The tapping grew louder, deafening, as the figure reached out with one long, shadowy arm.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The figure's hand touched her chest, and Sarah felt a surge of cold so intense it knocked the breath from her lungs. The void trembled, the darkness around her swirling violently, as if reacting to the figure's presence. The light flickered wildly, and for a moment, Sarah saw something beyond the void—an image, brief and fragmented, but unmistakable.

The house.

It was there, just beyond the darkness, but it was twisted, decayed. The walls were crumbling, the windows shattered. The air was thick with the smell of rot and mildew, and the whispers that had once filled the house were now silent. It was as though the house itself had been consumed by the same void that had swallowed Sarah.

But it was still there. And so was the door.

The figure's grip tightened, and the image faded, swallowed once more by the darkness. Sarah's chest burned with the cold, her heartbeat slowing under the figure's touch. She could feel it draining her, pulling her deeper into the void.

And then, for the first time, the figure spoke.

Its voice was soft, almost a whisper, but it echoed through the void, filling every corner of her mind.

"You opened the door."

Sarah tried to speak, but her voice was gone. The cold was too much, the weight of the void too heavy. She could only stare into the figure's glowing eyes, her mind teetering on the edge of collapse.

"You freed me. Now, you will take my place."

The figure's words sent a jolt of terror through her, but she couldn't move, couldn't resist. The void was swallowing her again, pulling her deeper into its icy depths.

"Your soul will linger here, in the dark. And I... will walk in the light."

The figure leaned closer, its breath cold against her skin.

"You will know the true meaning of emptiness."

With those final words, the figure released her, and Sarah's body fell into the abyss. The last flicker of light died, and the void closed in around her, smothering her completely.

Sarah's final thought, as the darkness consumed her, was of the house.

It had never wanted to trap her.

It had wanted to replace her.

End of Chapter 7