Ethan Carter hadn't thought about Raven's Hollow in years. It was a ghost town in his memory, a place he'd left behind without looking back. But the letter changed everything.
It arrived in an unmarked envelope, slipped under the door of his cramped New York apartment. No return address. No sender. Just a single line scrawled in neat, deliberate handwriting:
"You forgot about her, but she never forgot about you."
Beneath the words lay an old photograph, but something about it made Ethan's breath hitch. It was a picture of Lena Graves, his childhood best friend—the girl who vanished ten years ago. The girl who was presumed dead. But the photo wasn't old. The lighting, the background—it looked recent. As if Lena were still alive.
Ethan's hands tightened around the paper, his heart pounding. He had spent years burying his past, drowning himself in the chaos of big-city journalism. He wasn't the naive kid who had once searched the woods for his missing friend. He had seen enough corruption, enough twisted truths, to know better. People disappeared all the time. And usually, they stayed gone.
But this… this was something else.
He flipped the photo over. Another message was scrawled in the same deliberate handwriting:
"Come home, Ethan. The truth is waiting."
A chill crept down his spine. He had sworn never to return to Raven's Hollow, but if Lena was alive—if she had been out there all these years—he owed it to her to find out the truth.
Ethan set the letter down on his cluttered kitchen table, staring at it as though it might change if he looked at it long enough. His mind raced through the possibilities. Was this some kind of sick joke? A cruel prank from someone who knew about his past? He had cut ties with the town, severed all connections to that part of his life. Only his mother remained, living in the same creaky old house on Maple Street, but they hardly spoke.
Reaching for his whiskey glass, he took a slow sip, the burn grounding him. His investigative instincts kicked in. The handwriting was precise, careful—not rushed or erratic. Whoever wrote this wanted him to take it seriously. And the photo…
He leaned in closer, scanning every detail. Lena's face was partially obscured by shadows, but there was no mistaking those piercing green eyes, the slight curve of her lips. The background was blurred, but it wasn't unfamiliar. A streetlamp casting a dim glow. A narrow, cracked sidewalk. The eerie sense of familiarity gnawed at him, like an itch he couldn't scratch. Was it… Raven's Hollow?
He swore under his breath, running a hand through his dark, unkempt hair. He should throw the letter away. Forget about it. Pretend it never arrived.
But he couldn't.
Instead, he grabbed his laptop and typed in Raven's Hollow Gazette. The local newspaper had been his first job, a stepping stone before moving on to bigger things. The site loaded sluggishly, the outdated interface unchanged since the last time he had checked it—years ago. He skimmed the headlines, half-expecting to see something about Lena, but there was nothing. Just the usual small-town news: a local bake sale, a missing cat, the mayor's latest re-election bid.
He exhaled sharply. If someone wanted him back, they weren't making it easy. No public outcry. No whispers of Lena's return. Just a single letter and an unspoken dare.
He checked the clock. 2:47 AM. His flight options were limited, but it didn't matter. He wasn't going to sleep tonight.
An hour later, he had a one-way ticket booked and a duffel bag packed. His fingers hovered over his phone as he debated calling his mother. She deserved to know he was coming back—though he doubted she'd be thrilled. Finally, he shoved the phone in his pocket. He would deal with that later.
Stepping into the cold night air, he hailed a cab, feeling the weight of the letter still in his coat pocket. The ghosts of Raven's Hollow were calling him back.
And this time, he couldn't ignore them.