BLACK HOLLOW

The message arrived at 2:13 in the morning. Jonathan Ashcombe was still awake. That wasn’t unusual. Sleep had always been something he negotiated with rather than something he participated in. The glow of his laptop painted the apartment blue as he leaned back in his chair, one hand wrapped around a mug of coffee that had gone cold nearly two hours ago.

On his screen was a map. Not an ordinary map. A satellite image of somewhere in West Virginia. He zoomed in, then farther. A tiny cluster of buildings appeared between a mountain range and a stretch of forest so dense it looked almost black.

Jonathan frowned, “Come on.”

He dragged the map. The town disappeared. He zoomed back out, there it was, Black Hollow. He had been staring at the place for almost forty minutes. There was barely anything online. A Wikipedia page containing six paragraphs. A few government records, a handful of photographs from the early 2000s, one badly written travel blog from 2014, and then nothing.

No Instagram presence worth mentioning, no tourist videos, no TikTok accounts, no drone footage, no local businesses advertising themselves outside the town. In 2026, that was almost impossible. Jonathan leaned closer to the screen.

“What the hell are you?”

His phone buzzed. He glanced at it.

Instagram - Message Request

Jonathan almost ignored it. Then he saw the username.

@blackhollow_eyes

No profile picture, no followers, no following. He opened it. There was one message.

You want a mystery?

Jonathan’s eyebrows lifted. He typed.

Who is this?

The response appeared almost immediately.

Someone who knows you like mysteries.

Jonathan smiled despite himself. He looked at the clock, 2:14. That’s vague. Three dots appeared, disappeared then returned.

Black Hollow, West Virginia. Find out what they’re hiding.

Jonathan’s smile faded. A second message arrived.

If you think you’ve already heard every story about werewolves, you’re wrong.

He stared at the word. Werewolves. He laughed quietly, “Okay.”

A link appeared beneath the message. Jonathan clicked it. The page took several seconds to load. It wasn’t a normal website. There were no ad blocks, no branding, just scanned documents of old newspaper clippings, handwritten journals and photographs.

One document was dated 1891, another 1917, another 1948, then 1976. The descriptions were different, but the details repeated. Animal attacks, missing bodies, people found with their throats torn open, witnesses describing enormous wolves walking on two legs.

Jonathan’s amusement disappeared. He scrolled. One handwritten passage caught his attention.

The beast does not come from the forest, the beast comes from us.

Jonathan sat forward. Another message appeared.

You don’t believe in werewolves.

He looked toward the dark window, “You’re right.”

Then prove me wrong.

A bank notification appeared on his phone. Jonathan blinked.

Incoming transfer: $25,000.00

He nearly dropped the phone, “What?”

Another message arrived.

Consider it a sponsorship to cover travel expenses, accommodation, equipment and gear. You have seventy-two hours to accept. After that, the offer disappears.

Jonathan stared at the screen, then at the bank notification, then back at the message. A voice came from the hallway.

“Please tell me you aren’t considering whatever you’re considering.”

Jonathan turned. Leon Mercer stood in the doorway wearing gray sweatpants, an old college shirt, and the expression of a man who had been awake long enough to regret every decision he’d made since birth.

Jonathan grinned, “You’re awake.”

“I heard you say ‘twenty-five thousand dollars’ at two in the morning.”

“I didn’t say it out loud.”

“You absolutely did.”

Leon walked into the room and looked over Jonathan’s shoulder. His eyes moved across the screen, “Black Hollow?”

Jonathan nodded.

“Werewolves?”

Another nod.

Leon stared at him, “No.”

Jonathan turned in his chair, “I haven’t even explained it.”

“You don’t need to.”

“There’s twenty-five grand.”

“That makes it worse.”

Jonathan pointed toward the screen, “Look at this.”

Leon read the document. His expression changed slightly, “That’s creepy.”

“Exactly.”

“No. Not exactly. Creepy isn’t evidence.”

“Look at the dates.”

“I am looking at the dates.”

“Look. They are from different decades but with the same descriptions.”

“People have been telling wolf stories for thousands of years.”

“Not like this. This is huge man. I’m telling you.”

Leon folded his arms, “Jonathan.”

“Leon.”

“We have girlfriends.”

“I know.”

“We have normal lives.”

“Debatable.”

“And you want to drive into some isolated mountain town because a mystery account sent you a supernatural scavenger hunt and twenty-five thousand dollars?”

Jonathan smiled, “Now that you say it like that...”

Leon stared at him, “You’re going aren’t you?”

Jonathan didn’t answer.

Leon sighed, “You’re absolutely going.”

Jonathan’s smile widened, “Probably.”

“Jesus Christ.”

From the hallway came another voice, “You are not going anywhere.”

Jonathan’s smile disappeared. Nadia Hart appeared in the doorway. Her arms were crossed. She had clearly heard enough.

Jonathan slowly turned around, “Nadia baby...”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“I know exactly what you were going to say.” She stepped into the room, “You found something.”

Jonathan glanced at Leon. Leon immediately raised both hands, “Don’t look at me. I’m staying out of this.”

Nadia looked at the laptop, then the documents, then the bank notification. Her expression hardened, “Twenty-five thousand dollars?”

Jonathan nodded, “Someone wants me to investigate a town.”

“Someone anonymous?”

“Yes.”

“Who sent you material about werewolves?”

“Yes.”

“And gave you twenty-five thousand dollars?”

“Yes.”

“And you think this is a good idea.”

Jonathan hesitated, “...Potentially.”

Nadia laughed once. There was no humor in it, “You always do this.”

Jonathan’s expression softened, “Nadia...”

“No.” She shook her head, “Every time. You find something strange and suddenly nothing else matters. You disappear for days. You don’t answer your phone. You tell me it’s fine because you’ve done this before.”

“This is different.”

“That’s what you said in Ohio.”

“Ohio was fine.”

“You got chased through a cornfield by armed men.”

“They were trespassing.”

“You were trespassing.”

Jonathan opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

Leon quietly muttered, “She got you there.”

Nadia pointed at him, “Stay out of this.”

“Yep.”

She looked back at Jonathan, “I love that you’re curious. I love that you want to find things nobody else can. But sometimes I think you don’t know the difference between courage and stupidity.”

Jonathan stood, “I’m not asking you to understand.”

“That’s the problem.” Her voice cracked slightly, “I’m asking you to think about what happens to the people who love you when you decide you’re invincible.”

The room went quiet. Jonathan looked at her. For a second, all the excitement disappeared. He saw what was actually underneath her anger, fear. She wasn’t angry because he wanted to go. She was angry because she was afraid that one day he wouldn’t come back.

Nadia turned away, “I’m going to bed.” She walked out. The door shut.

Leon looked at Jonathan, “That went well.”

Jonathan rubbed his face, “I didn’t mean to upset her.”

“You never do.”

Jonathan glanced at him. Leon shrugged, “That’s why you’re an idiot.”

He turned and saw Mara with her arms folded at her chest, “You’re both idiots!”

“Babe...“he stammered.

“Don’t! I’ll check on her and you can thank me by trying to use a bit of your braincells.” She said and turned to her heels leaving Leon rubbing the back of his neck.

She found Nadia sitting on the front steps. The city was quiet. A cool breeze moved through the trees lining the street. Nadia was staring at her phone without actually looking at it. Mara sat beside her. Neither spoke for a moment.

Finally Mara said, “Werewolves?”

Nadia groaned, “Don’t.”

“I’m just saying, I’ve had worse reasons to leave town.”

Nadia looked at her, “You know what he’s like.”

“I do.”

“He gets this look.”

“What look?”

“That look.”

Mara smiled, “The detective face?”

“The obsession face.”

“Ah.”

“The ‘I haven’t slept in thirty hours and I’m going to break into a government facility because there’s a weird file’ face.”

Mara laughed, “That’s definitely his face.”

Nadia leaned back, “He always does this.”

Mara’s smile faded, “Yeah.”

“He finds some mystery and decides it’s more important than everything else.”

“Maybe this one is different.”

“How?”

“Because this time...” Mara looked toward the apartment, “...we go with them.”

Nadia stared at her, “What?”

“You heard me.”

“You want to go to some creepy mountain town where anonymous strangers are sending Jonathan documents about werewolves?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds bad.”

“It is bad.”

“Maybe.”

Mara shrugged.

“But if Jonathan is going anyway, what’s the better option?”

Nadia didn’t answer. Mara nudged her shoulder, “We should go and ensure they keep their heads above the water.”

“You’re serious?”

“Completely.”

“We keep him from doing anything stupid.”

“Impossible.”

“We can try.”

Nadia finally smiled. Mara smiled back, “And if we find a werewolf?”

Nadia thought about it, “Then you can distract it.”

Mara laughed, “Absolutely not.”

Twenty minutes later, Nadia walked back into the apartment. Jonathan was still at his laptop. Leon was beside him, already looking at rental cars. Jonathan looked up.

“Nadia...”

“We’re coming.”

He blinked, “What?”

“You heard me... To Black Hollow.”

Leon slowly turned around. Mara walked in behind her. Nadia pointed at Jonathan, “But I have conditions.”

Jonathan sat up straighter, “Anything.”

“No disappearing.”

“Agreed.”

“No investigating alone.”

“Agreed.”

“No running toward gunshots.”

Jonathan hesitated. Nadia narrowed her eyes, “Jonathan.”

“Agreed.”

“No dangerous stunts.”

“Of course.”

“And if I tell you we’re leaving, we’re leaving.”

Jonathan smiled, “Anything my queen wants.”

Nadia tried not to smile and failed miserably. Jonathan stood and kissed her. Leon immediately threw both hands into the air, “WHOOO! LET’S GO, BABY!”

Mara burst out laughing. Nadia pulled away from Jonathan, “You’re both idiots.”

Leon grinned, “Yeah.”

Jonathan looked back at the laptop. The message was still open. The link still waited.

BLACK HOLLOW.

For the first time that night, Jonathan felt something beneath the excitement. Not fear, something colder. The feeling that someone, somewhere, was watching. His cursor hovered over the message. Then another notification appeared from the anonymous account.

Bring everyone. The wolves are hungry.

Jonathan stared at the screen. He didn’t tell Mara. He didn’t tell Leon. And he certainly didn’t tell Nadia. He simply closed the laptop.

“Road trip,” he said.

None of them noticed the tiny security camera across the street. Its red light blinked once, then twice. And somewhere deep in the mountains of Black Hollow, a wolf lifted its head and cocked its ears.