Victor's heart stopped. His breath caught in his throat, and for a moment, the world around him seemed to fall away. All he could hear was the pounding of his own heart, echoing in his ears.
"What do you mean, missing?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
"I don't know, Victor. He was supposed to be home an hour ago. His phone's going straight to voicemail. We've called his friends, but no one's heard from him. I'm... I'm scared."
Victor's hands trembled as he gripped the phone. This was impossible. Nathan had never gone missing before. He was a typical teenager—moody, sure, but he always came home when he was supposed to. Always.
"Where are you?" he asked urgently, his mind racing.
"At home. I'm trying to stay calm, but I can't…" Karen's voice cracked, the fear in her words making Victor's stomach twist.
"I'll be there in five minutes," he said, not waiting for a response before ending the call. His mind was already moving faster than his body could keep up with. Nathan. Gone. Missing. Just like that woman from the news. The same strange, unsettling feeling washed over him, and Victor realized, with chilling clarity, that this wasn't a coincidence.
Without another thought, he grabbed his keys, ran out of the door, and jumped into the car. His mind raced as the drive home seemed to stretch out endlessly before him, each second dragging as if time itself was mocking his urgency.
When he arrived, Karen was standing in the doorway, her face pale, her eyes wide with fear. She looked at him desperately, as if he had the answers. But Victor didn't have any answers. He wasn't sure he even had a plan.
"He's gone, Victor," Karen said, her voice trembling as she stepped back from the door, allowing him to enter. "I don't understand. Where could he have gone? He didn't even leave a note."
Victor's chest tightened as he glanced around the living room. It looked just as it always did—cluttered with the remnants of daily life. Nathan's sneakers by the door, his backpack tossed haphazardly on the couch, his video game console left on in the corner. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Except that Nathan wasn't there.
Victor's mind flashed back to the woman in the park, to the strange figure in the woods, and the chilling feeling that had taken root in his chest. He couldn't shake the sense that these disappearances—Nathan's included—weren't random. Something more sinister was at play, something he couldn't explain, but something that was pulling him deeper into its grasp.
"Nathan's been gone for hours," Karen said, her voice breaking. "I... I don't know what to do."
Victor's eyes narrowed as he thought back to his own experience in the park. The feeling of being watched, the figure that had appeared and vanished. It was too much to ignore. The disappearances. The missing people. Nathan. There was a pattern here—he just had to figure it out.
"We need to go to the park," Victor said suddenly, his voice firm. Karen looked at him, confusion clouding her face.
"The park?" she asked. "What do you mean?"
"The park where that woman went missing. I think there's something there. Something we're missing."
Karen stared at him for a moment, as if she were trying to decide whether or not to argue. But there was something in Victor's eyes—something desperate—that made her nod.
"Okay," she said, her voice small. "Let's go."
---
The park was eerily quiet when they arrived. The streetlights cast long shadows across the path, and the air felt thick, almost suffocating. As Victor and Karen walked deeper into the park, their footsteps muffled by the grass, Victor's heart raced. He wasn't sure what they were looking for, but he felt the presence of something—something watching them.
They walked toward the same wooded trail where Victor had been days before, the place that had unsettled him, the place where the figure had appeared. But this time, something was different. There was no eerie feeling of being watched. There was no unsettling whisper in the wind.
Instead, there was silence.
Victor's mind raced. He couldn't explain it, but he felt as though they were walking into something they shouldn't. Every step felt heavier than the last, as if they were walking toward a truth that they weren't prepared to face.
And then, just as they reached the entrance to the trail, Karen stopped. She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she pointed.
Victor followed her gaze. His blood ran cold.
There, on the ground, just ahead of them, was Nathan's backpack. It was abandoned, half open, its contents scattered across the ground. A few of his things—his phone, a water bottle, a notebook—were tossed aside as if someone had carelessly discarded them.
But there was no sign of Nathan.
Victor's breath caught in his throat as his mind raced to make sense of it. He stepped forward, his heart pounding, and knelt beside the backpack. His hands trembled as he picked up Nathan's phone, checking the screen. There were no messages, no missed calls—just an empty, unanswered phone.
"This doesn't make sense," Karen whispered, her voice shaking with fear. "Why would he leave his backpack here?"
Victor stood up slowly, scanning the surrounding area. The silence was deafening, and for a moment, he thought he could hear something—footsteps, faint and distant. He turned toward the woods.
"Stay here," he told Karen, his voice low and steady. "I'm going to check further down the trail."
Karen looked at him, fear evident in her eyes, but she nodded. "Be careful, Victor."
Victor didn't respond. He simply turned and started walking down the path, the crunch of leaves beneath his feet the only sound breaking the silence. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, all pointing to one terrifying conclusion: whatever had happened to the woman in the park… whatever had been lurking in the woods that night… had now taken his son.
As he walked further into the darkness, a sense of dread settled over him. The trees seemed to close in, the air growing colder with each step.
And then, just ahead of him, he saw it.
A figure.
Standing in the shadows.
Victor's breath hitched as the figure stepped forward, revealing a face. A face that made his stomach turn.
It was Nathan.
But there was something wrong.
Nathan's eyes were vacant, hollow, as if he had been drained of all emotion. His posture was stiff, unnatural, and as he stepped closer, a sickening smile twisted across his face.
Victor froze.
And then, in a voice that wasn't his son's, Nathan spoke.
"You shouldn't have come here, Father."
The words sent a chill down Victor's spine, and before he could react, the figure of Nathan disappeared into the darkness.
Victor's legs felt like they were made of lead, and his heart thundered in his chest. Something had happened to his son. Something terrible.
And whatever had taken him… was now coming for him.