Marcus stood still in front of the mirror, his eyes scanning every inch of its surface, searching for something that could explain what he had just seen in the recording. The air in the room seemed to grow denser, as if something were pressing on him from all sides. There was no figure behind him now, nothing beyond his own reflection and the faint glow of the flashlight in his hand. Yet the feeling of being watched persisted, unsettling, as if the walls themselves hid invisible eyes.
Taking a step back, Marcus took a deep breath and decided to leave the house. There was something strange about that place, something he couldn't quite understand, but he knew staying there only exposed him to a danger he had yet to identify. He left the room with firm steps, retracing the path he had taken, every creak of the floor and walls echoing in his ears like warnings. As he crossed the front door, the cold air outside enveloped him, offering a momentary respite from the oppressive atmosphere he had left behind.
The morning sun barely managed to pierce through the fog, giving the town a ghostly appearance. Marcus paused for a moment on the porch of the house, watching the blurred outlines of the trees surrounding the hill. The fog seemed to come alive, moving like a shroud that spread and contracted, hiding the shapes of the forest. He lit another cigarette, inhaling the smoke as he tried to put his thoughts in order. The camera, the figure in front of the mirror, the shriek that had echoed through the room; all those pieces were parts of a puzzle he had yet to solve.
Returning to his car, Marcus checked his notebook once more. There was something about all of this that he couldn't shake: every clue he found seemed to be wrapped in a thicker layer of mystery than the last. But one thing was clear: Woodberry was no ordinary place. Something dark and ancient lurked in its shadows, something that had managed to trap Anna and Evan, and was now trying to do the same to him.
He got into the car and started the engine, driving away from the house on the hill. His next destination was Woodberry National Park, an area that, according to some rumors, had been the site of strange events in the past. He had read comments on some online forums about people disappearing there, and although those rumors might just be local stories meant to scare outsiders, Marcus wasn't willing to ignore them. The road to the park was narrow and winding, lined with trees whose branches seemed to form a roof over the road, creating a gloom that allowed no daylight through.
As he drove, Marcus noticed the fog thickening again, covering the landscape around him until it became a succession of blurred shadows. The road seemed endless, as if it stretched toward a place outside of time and space, a place where the rules of the real world no longer applied. The wind blew hard, making the branches creak and sway, casting shadows that seemed to move with a life of their own. Marcus kept his eyes fixed on the road, trying to ignore the feeling that something was watching him from the woods.
Upon arriving at the national park, Marcus parked the car next to an abandoned information booth. The windows of the booth were broken, and the door hung from one of its hinges, swaying slowly in the wind. Marcus got out of the car, slamming the door shut and looking around. There was no one else there; the place was completely deserted, and the silence was absolute, broken only by the distant murmur of the wind and the occasional creak of branches.
With his flashlight in hand and his revolver secured under his coat, Marcus began to make his way into the park. The trees rose tall around him, their trunks covered in moss and their bare branches reaching toward the gray sky. The fog swirled among the trees, forming figures that seemed to dance in the wind, figures that disappeared as soon as Marcus tried to focus on them with his flashlight. The path he followed was covered in dry leaves and fallen branches, and every step he took echoed like a whisper, as if the forest itself were listening.
As he advanced, Marcus came to a clearing in the middle of the park. In the center of the clearing stood an old stone structure, a well covered in vines and moss. Something about that place made him stop; the air seemed colder there, and the feeling of being watched intensified, becoming almost unbearable. Marcus approached the well cautiously, the flashlight trembling slightly in his hand. As he looked down, he saw that the interior of the well was dark, so deep that the flashlight's beam couldn't reach the bottom.
Suddenly, a sound made him turn around, his heart pounding. It was a whisper, a murmur that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Marcus pointed the flashlight toward the trees, but there was nothing there, just the fog and the shadows moving among the trunks. The whisper stopped as abruptly as it had started, leaving an even deeper silence in its wake. Marcus took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He knew he had to stay alert, that any distraction could be dangerous in a place like this.
He decided to move away from the well and continue exploring the park. There was something in that place that was connected to the disappearances, something he needed to discover if he wanted to find Anna and Evan. As he ventured deeper into the woods, Marcus couldn't help but feel that each step brought him closer to the truth, but also to a danger he might not be able to escape. The shadows seemed to close in around him, and the whisper, though faint, continued to echo in the wind, as if the forest were trying to communicate a message he had yet to understand.
The path to the truth was filled with obstacles, and Marcus knew he was only just beginning to unravel the dark secrets of Woodberry. As the fog thickened once more, covering the path ahead, Marcus prepared for whatever the forest had in store for him. The search for answers had only just begun.
YOU ARE READING
The silence in the mist
Misteri / ThrillerPrivate detective Marcus Black ventures into the gloomy and mysterious town of Woodberry, a place shrouded in mist and full of dark secrets. Hired to investigate the disappearance of Anna and her partner, filmmaker Evan Woods, Marcus must face a hos...