Whispers of the Lost

Chapter 4 : Into the Unknown

I didn't sleep that night.

After the glowing message revealed itself—"Find her before it's too late"—I sat in my room, my heart pounding like it was trying to escape my chest. Cody was curled at my feet, his soft snores the only sound in the room. The rest of the house was silent, but somehow the quiet felt suffocating. It pressed in on me, thick with unspoken truths and questions no one wanted to answer.

Who was Emma? Why had my parents kept her from me?

The glowing symbols and cryptic messages had turned my world upside down, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was lurking just beneath the surface of my family's history. Something dark. Something they didn't want me to find.

I glanced at the letter again, the words burning in my brain. "Find her before it's too late." That one sentence felt like an alarm bell in my head, blaring louder with each passing second.

I leaned back in my chair, running my fingers through my hair, trying to make sense of everything. But no matter how hard I thought, the pieces didn't fit. A hidden sister. An ancient-looking library that shouldn't even exist. And a warning that I couldn't ignore.

The clock on my nightstand read 3:02 a.m., but sleep was the last thing on my mind. Adrenaline buzzed through my veins, pushing me toward action. I stood up, pacing the small space of my room. My gaze drifted to my bag, where the old book and letter were stuffed. Every instinct in me screamed that the answers were out there, not here. Back in that strange library, deep in the woods.

I grabbed my hoodie and slung my bag over my shoulder. I moved quietly down the stairs, careful to avoid the creaky steps I'd memorized. Grandma was asleep in her room, but I wasn't ready to ask her any more questions. Not after how quickly she'd dismissed my concerns earlier.

Once outside, the cold air bit into my skin, but I welcomed it. The bite of the wind felt real, grounding me in the midst of everything that felt impossible. Cody padded out beside me, wagging his tail as he always did when he sensed an adventure coming. I clipped on his leash, and we set off toward the woods.

The streets were deserted at this hour. The only sounds were the soft rustle of the leaves and the occasional gust of wind. The moon hung low, casting long shadows on the ground, and my breath fogged in the cold night air. I moved quickly, my flashlight bouncing in my hand, my thoughts swirling as I retraced our steps to the hidden library.

I knew I was getting closer when the trees began to grow thicker, the path darker. The towering oaks seemed to loom over me, their branches clawing at the sky. It was like the forest itself had secrets to keep, hiding them beneath the rustling leaves and moonlit shadows.

And then, just like before, the library appeared.

It didn't blend with the woods at all—solid stone walls covered in creeping ivy, as if it had been pulled straight from another time and dropped here, in the middle of nowhere. But there it stood, as real as the wind biting at my face.

I swallowed hard, my stomach knotting with nerves. This time, I wasn't just a curious bystander. I was a part of whatever mystery lay hidden inside those walls.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the heavy door.

The inside was just as I remembered—dimly lit, towering shelves of dusty old books, and that eerie stillness that seemed to hum with its own life. The air was thick with the scent of ancient paper, like the past was soaked into the very walls.

Cody sniffed the ground, his tail wagging cautiously, as if even he felt the strange energy in this place. I walked toward the table where I had left the open book and spread out the letter beside it again. The same symbols stared back at me, mocking me with their mystery. I reached into my bag and pulled out the flashlight, shining it on the page in the hopes that I'd find another hidden message like last time.