Lily Wren clutched the steering wheel as her car wound along the twisting, fog-covered roads leading into Graywood, a small town with an eerie quietness draped over it. It had been a long journey--not just in miles but also in memories she'd tried to leave behind. More than a decade had passed since she'd last visited her grandmother, ever since the family rift. Her grandmother's death was shocking enough, but this house was a shock in much sharper contrast. It was located at the extreme border of the town, sprawled and ancient, hiding behind thick woods.
As she walked down the gravel path, the house loomed before her like an old stone sentinel, dark ivy clinging to its walls and windows like lifeless eyes staring into the forest. She felt a strange feeling, one she couldn't quite name. Nostalgia, yes, but something darker lurked beneath it—a sense that this place had been waiting for her.
She pushed the door open and stepped into a house that smelled so moldy it seemed alive. The rooms were all so dim and shadowed it was as if the house itself was holding its breath. A flickering light in the hallway had drawn her attention; above her head, the bulb hung sputtering and threw ominous shadows across the walls. The condition of every room seemed fresh and untouched, preserved just as if her grandmother only went out for a small walk and would return within an hour.
She found in her grandmother's study walls covered in the remains of faded wallpaper with strange symbols. She had never known her grandmother to have been interested in anything remotely mystical, but the symbols seemed arcane, carved and painted over decades with layer upon layer. She shivered as she followed the trace of one symbol with her fingers.
That night she lay awake in bed, straining to hear the uncanny creaks and groans of the old house settling. She didn't feel alone—that she was sure of. And something else was here besides herself, something that kept moving just out of her vision. Then she heard its voice—a soft, sweet, almost tender whisper with her name.
"Lily…"
She sat up, pounding heart, staring into the dark. There was no one there, yet the voice lingers, and now fades to silence. She had told herself it was only the wind, just her imagination playing tricks on her. But deep inside, she knew this was just the beginning.