The first time Ethan Graves heard the house breathe…

He was three miles away from it.

He was driving through a forest at midnight when his car suddenly stopped.

The engine died.

The headlights went black.

The forest became completely silent.

Ethan sat behind the steering wheel.

He waited.

Nothing happened.

He tried the engine again.

Nothing.

“Come on.”

He turned the key.

The engine made a weak clicking sound.

Then silence.

Ethan looked through the windshield.

Fog covered the road.

Thick.

White.

Unnatural.

He reached for his phone.

No signal.

“Of course.”

He stepped out of the car.

The cold air hit his face.

Ethan looked around.

The trees stood on both sides of the road like dark soldiers.

No birds.

No insects.

No wind.

Nothing.

Then…

He heard it.

Hhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhh…

Ethan froze.

A slow breath.

Deep.

Heavy.

Coming from somewhere inside the forest.

He turned around.

“Hello?”

No answer.

Then again.

Hhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhh…

Ethan’s heart began beating faster.

He looked toward the trees.

Something moved between them.

A shadow.

Ethan stepped backward.

“Who’s there?”

The shadow disappeared.

Ethan stood completely still.

Then his phone rang.

He nearly dropped it.

The screen showed:

UNKNOWN CALLER

Ethan hesitated.

Then answered.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Who is this?”

A man’s voice whispered:

“Don’t go to the house.”

Ethan frowned.

“What house?”

The voice became quieter.

“The house you’re looking for.”

Ethan froze.

He hadn’t told anyone about the house.

Not even the police.

The voice continued.

“Turn around.”

Ethan looked behind him.

Nothing.

“Who are you?”

“Turn around.”

“Why?”

The voice whispered:

“Because it’s already behind you.”

The call ended.

Ethan slowly turned.

And saw it.

A house.

Standing between the trees.

He had never seen it before.

It was enormous.

Three floors.

Black windows.

Broken walls.

A roof covered with dead vines.

But there was something wrong.

The house was too close.

Ethan had been standing on an empty road.

There had been nothing there.

Now…

The house was only twenty feet away.

Ethan stared.

A single window on the third floor slowly opened.

CREEEEAK.

Ethan stepped backward.

A figure stood behind the window.

A man.

Completely still.

Watching him.

Ethan whispered:

“Who are you?”

The figure raised one hand.

And pointed toward the house.

Then the lights inside the house turned on.

One by one.

CLICK.

CLICK.

CLICK.

Ethan’s phone rang again.

He looked down.

The same unknown number.

He answered.

This time…

The voice wasn’t a man’s.

It was a child’s.

“Come inside.”

Ethan dropped the phone.

The house door opened.

Slowly.

CREEEEAK.

A darkness waited inside.

Ethan should have run.

Instead…

He walked toward it.

---

Two hours later…

Mara Voss arrived at the same forest road.

She found Ethan’s car abandoned.

The driver’s door was open.

The phone was lying on the ground.

Mara picked it up.

“Ethan?”

No answer.

She looked toward the trees.

The fog had become thicker.

Then she saw the house.

Blackthorn Manor.

Mara’s face changed.

“No.”

She had seen photographs of it.

Old photographs.

Blackthorn Manor had been abandoned for seventy-two years.

But the photographs showed something impossible.

The house had no third floor.

Mara slowly looked up.

There it was.

Three floors.

A third-floor window.

And a man standing behind it.

Mara stepped backward.

The figure disappeared.

Mara reached for her radio.

“Caleb?”

Static.

“Caleb, can you hear me?”

Nothing.

Then…

A voice answered.

Not through the radio.

Behind her.

“You’re too late.”

Mara turned.

Caleb Rook stood in the fog.

He was holding a flashlight.

His face was pale.

Mara stared.

“Where have you been?”

Caleb didn’t answer.

“Caleb?”

He looked at the house.

“Ethan went inside.”

Mara nodded.

“I know.”

Caleb shook his head.

“No.”

“What?”

“You don’t understand.”

He stepped closer.

“No one goes inside Blackthorn Manor.”

Mara frowned.

“Why?”

Caleb looked at the house.

“Because the house doesn’t let everyone leave.”

Mara stared.

“How many people disappeared?”

Caleb didn’t answer.

“Caleb.”

“Forty-seven.”

Mara’s face went pale.

“Forty-seven people?”

Caleb nodded.

“Over seventy years.”

“How?”

Caleb whispered:

“The house chooses them.”

A deep sound came from the forest.

Hhhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhh…

Mara looked around.

“What was that?”

Caleb grabbed her arm.

“Don’t move.”

The sound came again.

Hhhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhh…

Mara stared at him.

“Is that the house?”

Caleb nodded.

“Yes.”

Mara looked toward Blackthorn Manor.

The windows were dark.

Then…

The house breathed again.

The walls moved.

Very slightly.

Like a giant chest rising.

Mara whispered:

“That’s impossible.”

Caleb looked at her.

“That’s what everyone says.”

The front door opened.

A voice came from inside.

“Ethan?”

Mara froze.

It was Ethan’s voice.

“Help me.”

Mara stepped forward.

Caleb grabbed her.

“No.”

“Ethan is inside.”

“That’s not Ethan.”

Mara stared.

“How do you know?”

Caleb’s face became terrified.

“Because Ethan doesn’t know your name.”

Mara froze.

The voice came again.

“Mara.”

Caleb pulled her backward.

“RUN!”

They ran.

Behind them…

The house door slammed shut.

BANG!

---

Three hours later…

Mara sat inside an old farmhouse with Caleb.

Father Elias Crowe was sitting across from them.

He was nearly eighty years old.

His hands were shaking.

But his eyes were sharp.

Mara placed Ethan’s phone on the table.

“We need to go back.”

Father Elias shook his head.

“No.”

“Ethan is alive.”

“Maybe.”

Mara stared.

“What does that mean?”

Father Elias looked at the phone.

“Blackthorn Manor doesn’t kill people immediately.”

Caleb looked down.

“Father…”

Elias continued.

“It keeps them.”

“Why?”

“To feed.”

Mara frowned.

“Feed on what?”

Elias looked at her.

“Fear.”

The room became silent.

Mara shook her head.

“That’s ridiculous.”

Father Elias smiled sadly.

“I used to think so too.”

He stood.

He walked toward a locked cabinet.

From inside…

He removed an old book.

The cover was black.

No title.

No name.

Just a symbol.

A circle.

With an eye in the center.

Mara stared.

“What is that?”

“The symbol of the Hollow.”

Caleb looked terrified.

“Father, don’t.”

Elias opened the book.

Inside were hundreds of handwritten pages.

Names.

Dates.

Photographs.

Descriptions.

Mara began reading.

THOMAS VALE — ENTERED 1951 — NEVER RETURNED.

ELIZABETH MOORE — ENTERED 1958 — HEARD BREATHING.

JONATHAN CROSS — ENTERED 1964 — FOUND WITHOUT MEMORY.

Mara turned the page.

More names.

Dozens.

Then she saw one.

ETHAN GRAVES.

Mara froze.

“What?”

Father Elias closed the book.

Mara stared.

“His name is already here.”

Elias nodded.

“Yes.”

“When was this written?”

“Seventy years ago.”

Mara’s heart stopped.

“That’s impossible.”

Elias looked at her.

“His name was written before he was born.”

Mara stood.

“No.”

Caleb whispered:

“That’s why I told you not to come.”

Mara looked at both men.

“What is this place?”

Father Elias answered:

“A prison.”

“For what?”

He looked toward the window.

Outside…

The fog had returned.

“The thing beneath the house.”

Mara whispered:

“What thing?”

Elias lowered his voice.

“The Hollow.”

Suddenly…

Someone knocked on the farmhouse door.

KNOCK.

Everyone froze.

Another knock.

KNOCK.

Mara looked at Caleb.

“Who is that?”

Caleb shook his head.

“No one.”

The knocking continued.

KNOCK.

KNOCK.

KNOCK.

Father Elias walked toward the door.

Mara grabbed his arm.

“Don’t open it.”

Elias looked at her.

“I won’t.”

Then…

A voice came from outside.

“Ethan?”

Mara froze.

It was Ethan.

“Ethan!”

She ran toward the door.

Caleb grabbed her.

“No!”

The voice came again.

“Mara…”

She stopped.

The voice changed.

It was no longer Ethan.

It was a child.

“Please open the door.”

Mara stepped backward.

Father Elias whispered:

“Don’t answer.”

The child began crying.

“Please.”

Mara covered her ears.

The crying became louder.

Then…

A man’s voice.

Then a woman’s.

Then dozens.

All speaking together.

“OPEN THE DOOR.”

The entire farmhouse shook.

Father Elias began praying.

Caleb grabbed a shotgun.

Mara stood frozen.

The voices screamed:

“OPEN THE DOOR!”

BOOOOOOM!

The door exploded inward.

Everyone screamed.

Fog flooded the farmhouse.

A shadow stood outside.

Tall.

Thin.

Impossible.

It had no face.

Only a mouth.

A giant black mouth.

It smiled.

Mara couldn’t move.

The creature stepped inside.

Father Elias shouted:

“RUN!”

Everyone ran.

The creature followed.

But it didn’t walk.

It floated.

Its long fingers dragged across the walls.

Mara reached the back door.

She opened it.

The creature screamed.

The sound shattered every window.

Mara fell to the ground.

Then…

Everything went silent.

The creature was gone.

Caleb looked around.

“Where is Father Elias?”

Mara turned.

The old priest was standing in the hallway.

But something was wrong.

His eyes were completely black.

Mara stepped backward.

“Father?”

He smiled.

Then he spoke.

But it wasn’t his voice.

“He’s waiting.”

Mara whispered:

“Who?”

Father Elias pointed toward the forest.

“The house.”

The lights went out.

When they came back…

Father Elias was gone.

---

Morning arrived.

Mara and Caleb stood outside Blackthorn Manor.

Neither spoke.

The house looked different.

The third floor was gone.

The windows were broken.

The front door was locked.

Caleb stared.

“Maybe it’s over.”

Mara shook her head.

“No.”

“Why?”

She held up Ethan’s phone.

The screen was still on.

A new message had appeared.

COME BACK.

Mara stared.

Another message appeared.

HE IS ALIVE.

Then another.

BUT HE IS NOT ALONE.

Caleb stepped backward.

Mara looked at the house.

A fourth message appeared.

BRING THE PRIEST.

Mara whispered:

“Father Elias is inside.”

Caleb looked terrified.

“Then we’re not going in.”

Mara stared at him.

“We have to.”

“No.”

“Ethan is alive.”

“Maybe.”

“Father Elias is alive.”

“Maybe.”

Mara stepped forward.

“And whatever is inside that house…”

She looked at the black windows.

“…knows our names.”

Caleb was silent.

The front door slowly opened.

Inside…

A long dark hallway waited.

At the end of it…

Someone was standing.

Father Elias.

He raised his hand.

And pointed toward the darkness behind him.

Then…

The house breathed.

Hhhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhh…

Mara stepped inside.

Caleb followed.

The door slammed shut behind them.

BANG!

And deep beneath the house…

Something opened its eyes.

TO BE CONTINUED…