Chapter 1- The Missing Boy
The call came in just after four o’clock. Alex Grayson had been sitting at his desk when the phone rang. Outside, rain tapped against the station windows, and the sky had turned the colour of old metal.
“Police station,” Alex answered.
A woman was crying on the other end. “My son is missing. He’s only eight. Please, you have to find him.”
Alex straightened in his chair. “What’s his name?”
“Archie Collins. We were walking near Black Weald Forest, and I only looked away for a moment. When I turned back, he was gone.”
Alex grabbed his coat. Black Weald Forest was a place people in the town avoided. It stretched for miles beyond the old road, with trees so thick that daylight barely reached the ground. Some people claimed it had no end. Others said it was simply easy to get lost.
Alex had never believed the stories.
He called his partner, Miller, who was already preparing the patrol car. “An eight-year-old boy’s missing near Black Weald,” Alex explained.
Miller’s expression changed. “Black Weald? Are you sure?”
“Why?”
Miller hesitated. “Nothing. Let’s just find the kid.”
They drove through the rain until the road narrowed and the trees rose around them. Near the entrance, a small red backpack lay in the mud. Alex picked it up and checked inside. There was a half-eaten chocolate bar, a small toy car and a drawing of a tree with enormous roots.
Beneath the drawing, in uneven handwriting, were four words.
WHERE THE ROOTS END.
Alex stared at the paper. He was about to show Miller when his radio crackled.
A child’s voice whispered through the static. “Help me.”
Alex pressed the button. “Archie? Can you hear me?”
The voice fell silent for a moment.
Then it said something that made Alex freeze.
“Alex, don’t let it find me.”
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