WHERE THE SHADOWS SLEEP

that night suddenly my friend came running to my room saying that”my mom is missing”.i was confused because how can her mom be lost in her own hometown.we spend the whole night searching her mother.i asked her what really has happend but all she said was”i should have said her to stop that at first”.and after hearing that i was soo fucking confused.at morning i said her to complain to police but she said that “it will be our biggest mistake” i said that “wht the hell is going on will you please tell me.my thoughts are fucked up bro”.

For my higher studies I shifted to Blackwood Hills, a place I had never even heard of before my parents told me that I would be moving there. It was a small town surrounded by huge hills and thick forests. The place was beautiful, but there was something about it that I couldn’t explain. Maybe it was because I didn’t know anyone there, or maybe it was because the entire town felt strangely quiet, especially after sunset. The streets would become almost empty, the fog would slowly cover the roads, and the old houses standing between the trees somehow looked completely different at night. At first, I hated living there because everything felt unfamiliar. I missed my old home, my old friends and basically everything that I had left behind.

A few weeks after shifting there, I joined college. The first few days were honestly terrible because I barely knew anyone and I was too awkward to just randomly start talking to people. Then one day, I accidentally entered the wrong classroom and sat there for almost fifteen minutes before a girl walked up to me and asked, “Are you new here?” I said yes. She looked at me for a few seconds and then said, “Then you should probably know that you’re sitting in the wrong class.” I looked around the classroom, then at the board, and finally realized that I had actually entered the wrong room. I was so embarrassed that I immediately started packing my things, but she started laughing and told me not to worry about it. That girl was Emily.

That was honestly the stupidest way possible for a friendship to start, but somehow we became really close. We started sitting together in class, sharing notes, complaining about teachers and talking about completely random things. Emily was funny, smart and sometimes so weird that I genuinely wondered what was going on inside her brain. But there was one thing about her that always confused me. She never talked about her family.

At first, I didn’t think much about it because obviously not everyone likes talking about their parents. But after becoming friends with her, I started noticing that whenever someone mentioned her family, she immediately changed the topic. One afternoon, we were sitting outside after class when I casually asked her where she lived. She just said, “Not far from here.” I asked her where exactly, and after staying quiet for a few seconds, she told me that she lived on Blackwood Road. I immediately knew which house she was talking about because there was this huge, old house near the edge of the forest that almost everyone in the town knew about.

I looked at her and asked, “Wait, you live in that house?” She nodded like it was completely normal. I asked her if she lived alone, and she said, “No, my parents live there too.” I got confused because in all the time I had known her, she had never once mentioned them. So I jokingly asked, “Then why do you act like they don’t exist?” She looked at me for a few seconds, and for the first time, I noticed her expression change. She looked uncomfortable. Then she simply said, “My dad travels a lot.” I asked, “And your mom?” She looked away and quietly said, “She’s complicated.”

I laughed because I thought she was joking and asked her what the hell “complicated” even meant. But she didn’t laugh. She just looked at me and said, “You’ll understand someday.” I thought she was just trying to sound mysterious, so I didn’t ask her anything else. Looking back now, I really wish I had.

A few days later, I had missed one of the most important classes because I wasn’t feeling well, and Emily had all the notes. She told me that I could come to her house and take pictures of them. I didn’t think much about it because, obviously, why would I? She was my friend, and I had no idea that her house would later become the place I was most terrified of.

When I reached Blackwood Road, it was already getting dark. The house looked even bigger from up close. It had huge windows, old wooden doors and a long balcony on the upper floor. There were several rooms because I could see doors everywhere through the corridor upstairs. The strange thing was that almost all the curtains were closed, even though it was still evening. I rang the bell, and after a few seconds, Emily opened the door.

She smiled and told me to come inside, but the moment I entered the house, I felt something strange. It was colder inside than outside. Not normal cold, like the weather was cold. It felt like the entire house had no warmth in it. I asked Emily where her parents were. She said that her dad was out somewhere. Then I asked about her mom.

For some reason, Emily immediately looked at me and said, “She’s upstairs.”

I asked, “Oh, should I say hi?”

She immediately replied, “No.”

The way she said it made me stop. I asked her why, but she just told me that her mother didn’t like meeting people. I thought that was a little weird, but I didn’t care much. We went upstairs to her room and started looking at the notes.

While Emily was searching for something in her bag, I noticed a piece of paper lying beside her desk. There were strange symbols drawn all over it. They didn’t look like anything I had ever seen before. I picked it up and asked her what it was. The moment she saw it in my hand, she immediately took it from me and folded it.

I laughed and said, “Bro, what is this? Some secret code or something?”

She didn’t laugh.

She put the paper inside a drawer and said, “Don’t touch things you don’t understand.”

I looked at her and said, “Okay, calm down. I was just asking.”

For a few seconds, neither of us said anything. Then she suddenly smiled and started talking about something completely different, as if nothing had happened. I remember thinking that it was weird, but I forgot about it soon after.

That night, I went home.

The next few days were completely normal.

Until that night.

I was sleeping peacefully when someone suddenly started banging on my door. At first, I thought I was dreaming, but then I heard my name. I woke up and saw Emily standing near the door. She looked completely different from how she normally did. Her hair was messy, her face was pale, and she looked like she had been running for a long time.

I immediately sat up and asked, “Emily? What the hell happened?”

She looked at me and said, “My mom is gone.”

And that was where everything started.

After that, we spent the entire night searching for her mother. At first, I was completely confused because I couldn’t understand how someone could just disappear from their own hometown. We searched near her house, the nearby streets and places where Emily thought her mother might have gone. But there was nothing. No clue. No sign that she had even been there.

I kept asking Emily what had actually happened. I asked her if her mother had gone somewhere, if she had fought with someone, if she had received any strange call or message, but Emily refused to answer properly. The only thing she kept saying was, “I should have told her to stop that at first.”

Every single time she said that, I became more confused.

Finally, when morning came, I told her that we should go to the police. But the moment I said that, she looked at me like I had just suggested the worst idea possible.

She said, “It will be our biggest mistake.”

I stared at her and said, “What the hell is going on? Will you please tell me? My thoughts are fucked up, bro.”

Emily stayed quiet for a long time. Then she looked towards the road and said, “My mother wasn’t supposed to disappear.”

I asked her what that even meant.

She looked at me and whispered, “I think someone took her.”

That was when I started realizing that this wasn’t just a normal missing-person case.

I asked her, “Who took her?”

She didn’t answer.

I asked again, but this time she just said, “I don’t know.”

Then she looked directly at me and said something that made me completely freeze.

“But I think they know about you.”

I literally laughed because I thought she was joking. I asked her why the hell would some random person who kidnapped her mother know anything about me. I had only known Emily for a few weeks. I had nothing to do with her family.

But Emily didn’t laugh.

Three days passed after her mother disappeared. We continued searching, and somehow a few other people also got involved in helping us. By then, I was constantly thinking about what Emily had told me. I couldn’t understand why she thought I was connected to this.

Then one evening, my phone rang.

We were standing outside Emily’s house. The place was strangely quiet, and the moment my phone started ringing, everyone suddenly looked at me.

I looked at the screen.

There was no name.

No number.

Just an incoming call.

I asked, “Who the hell is calling?”

Nobody answered me.

Emily looked terrified. One of the seniors who had been helping us suddenly walked towards me and said, “Give me the phone.”

I asked him why.

He didn’t answer.

He just held out his hand and said, “Give it to me.”

I hesitated for a few seconds but finally handed him my phone. Everyone was staring at him. He slowly answered the call and placed the phone near his ear.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence.

Then suddenly, a strange tune started playing from the phone.

It wasn’t a normal ringtone or music. It was slow, unfamiliar and somehow creepy enough to make everyone standing there go completely silent.

Then the call suddenly ended.

Before I could even ask what had happened, my phone screen changed

Something opened by itself. At first, I thought it was Google, but I wasn’t even sure anymore. Letters suddenly started appearing on the screen as if someone was typing them from somewhere else.

The problem was that I couldn’t understand the language.

I looked at the senior and asked, “What is that? What is it saying?”

He stared at the screen for a few seconds.

Then his expression completely changed.

I immediately asked him again, “What does it say?”

He slowly looked at me.

“It says... I will kill you.”

I felt my entire body freeze.

For a few seconds, I couldn’t even understand what he had just said.

I asked, “Who wrote that?”

Nobody answered.

Then Emily suddenly whispered, “My mom.”

I immediately looked at her.

“What?”

She stared at the screen.

Then she slowly shook her head.

“No.”

I asked her what she meant.

Her face had turned completely pale.

She whispered, “That’s not my mother.”

I asked her, “Then who the hell is sending this?”

But before she could answer, another message appeared on the screen.

I DON’T WANT EMILY.

I WANT YOU.

That was the moment when I actually got scared.

Because until then, I thought Emily’s mother was the one in danger.

But now I realized that somehow, I had become part of whatever the hell was happening.

That night, Emily finally told me part of the truth about her mother.

Her mother was not an ordinary person.

For years, she had been investigating something connected to Blackwood Hills. According to Emily, there were old stories about the forest surrounding the town. Stories about people who had lived there long before the town even existed. People believed that there was something hidden deep inside the forest, something that nobody was supposed to find.

Emily’s mother had spent years trying to discover what was real and what was just a story.

And eventually, she found something.

She found an old place hidden beneath the forest.

A place with a door.

And behind that door, there was a room covered with the same symbols I had seen on the paper in Emily’s bedroom.

I asked Emily why her mother had never told the police or anyone else about it.

Emily looked at me and said, “Because she didn’t find it by accident.”

I asked her what she meant.

She told me that her mother had been searching for it.

For years.

And when she finally found it, she realized that the symbols weren’t instructions.

They were warnings.

Her mother had tried to stop whatever was connected to that place.

But apparently, she had failed.

I asked Emily, “Then what took her?”

She looked at me for a long time before answering.

“I don’t know.”

Then she added, “And that’s the scariest part.”

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

I kept thinking about the message on my phone. I kept thinking about Emily’s mother, the symbols and the strange call. I kept telling myself that there had to be some logical explanation for everything.

But then my phone vibrated again.

There was another message.

YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME HERE.

I immediately called Emily.

She told me not to reply.

The next message came before I could even say anything.

THIS TIME, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.

The lights in my room suddenly went out.

I don’t know why, but I immediately ran outside.

And that’s when I realized something even stranger.

I was standing outside my own house.

For some reason, throughout all of this, I hadn’t even noticed where I was.

I started panicking and called my dad. I told him everything, about the message, Emily’s mother and the person threatening me through my phone. I was terrified. At that moment, I honestly didn’t care whether any of it sounded crazy or not.

I just kept saying, “Papa, I’m scared.”

My dad came towards me and asked me to calm down. I told him that I didn’t understand what was happening and that I didn’t want to be involved anymore.

He looked at me and said, “Come with me.”

For some reason, at that moment, I felt completely exhausted. I don’t even know why, but I was suddenly so sleepy that I could barely keep my eyes open. I just remember trusting my dad completely.

After that, everything became blurry.

I remember sitting close to him outside while he was talking to someone. I was exhausted and kept leaning against him because I was struggling to stay awake.

Then I heard something.

A strange sound.

I slowly opened my eyes.

There were two figures standing at a distance.

At first, I thought they were just people.

But something about them was wrong.

They moved strangely.

They were getting closer.

I immediately moved towards my dad and sat as close to him as possible. I was so scared that I couldn’t even explain what I was seeing properly. My eyes kept closing because I was extremely sleepy, but every time I opened them, those figures seemed closer.

I held onto my dad and tried to stay awake.

One of them came close enough for me to hear strange sounds coming from it.

I wanted to scream.

But I couldn’t.

I wanted to tell my dad that something was there.

But my voice wouldn’t come out.

I just closed my eyes and held onto him even tighter.

And in that moment, I realized something.

I wasn’t scared of Emily’s mother’s disappearance anymore.

I wasn’t even scared of the messages.

I was scared because I finally understood that whatever had taken Emily’s mother...

wasn’t done yet.

It had found me.

And I had absolutely no idea why.

The next morning, Emily called me and told me to come to her house immediately.

I didn’t want to go.

After everything that had happened, the last place I wanted to be was that huge old house near the forest.

But something inside me told me that I had to go.

When I reached there, Emily was standing outside with her father.

It was the first time I had ever properly seen him.

He looked exhausted, almost like he hadn’t slept in days.

The moment he saw me, his expression changed.

He didn’t look confused.

He didn’t look surprised.

He looked scared.He stared at me for a few seconds and quietly said, “You’re the girl.”

I asked him what he meant.

But instead of answering me, he looked at Emily.

“You brought her here?”

Emily nodded.

Her father closed his eyes.

Then he whispered, “Then it’s too late.”

I asked him, “What is too late?

He slowly looked at me.

“Your phone.”

I immediately took out my phone.

The screen was completely black.

Then suddenly, it turned on.

A message appeared.

YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME BACK.

Emily grabbed my hand.

“Don’t reply.”

I wasn’t even planning to.

Then another message appeared.

THIS TIME, WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.

Suddenly, every light in the house went out.

The entire place became silent.

Then we heard something move upstairs.

Emily’s father immediately whispered, “Don’t look.”

I don’t know why.

But obviously, I looked.

At the end of the corridor, there was a door.

It was slightly open.

Behind it, someone was standing.

I couldn’t see their face.

I could only see their silhouette.

Emily tightly held my hand and whispered, “That’s the room.” I asked her what room she was talking about. She stared at the figure and said, “The room where my mother disappeared.” The silhouette moved. One slow step toward us. Then another. Nobody could move. My heart was beating so loudly that I felt like everyone around me could hear it. Then, suddenly, I heard someone call my name.

“Elena.”,I froze.

The voice didn’t belong to Emily.

It didn’t belong to her father.

It came from the darkness.

And the worst part was that it sounded exactly like my own voice.

The figure took another step toward us, and suddenly, everything around me disappeared.

I woke up in my room.

For a few seconds, I couldn’t understand what had happened. My heart was racing, and I was breathing heavily. I looked around my room. Everything was normal. My bed, my table, my clothes lying on the chair. My phone was beside me. I slowly picked it up and checked it. There were no missed calls. No strange messages. Nothing. I sat there for a few seconds before laughing at myself. “It was just a nightmare,” I whispered.

Then my phone vibrated.

I looked at the screen.

There was one new message.

No number.No name.

Just three words.

WE FOUND YOU.