HAUNTING VOWS
855 Words
**The Haunting Vows**
**Book One: The Wailing Woods of Salem**
**Written by L.A. Ravensdale**
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### **Prologue: The Last Execution**
Salem, 1692
Annabel Dane stood at the gallows, the rope scratching her throat. She clutched a bone pendant carved with ancient symbols, its power humming beneath her fingertips. The crowd below reeked of fear and hatred, their eyes gleaming with self-righteous fury.
As the preacher read from his Bible, Annabel spoke, her voice cutting through the silence. "You vow yourselves to falsehoods, to bloodshed, to fear. And for that, you are bound."
The platform dropped.
The moment the rope snapped her neck, the sky tore open. A shriek erupted—a sound not of this world. The crowd collapsed, blood gushing from their noses and ears. When the wind settled, Annabel’s body was gone. Only the pendant remained, buried beneath the hanging tree.
Waiting.
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### **Chapter One: The Dare**
Present Day
Lena Barrett stood at the edge of the Wailing Woods, her camera in hand. The forest was infamous—a cursed place where the dead still screamed. Perfect for a viral video.
Her friends, Marcus and Emily, hesitated. "This is the dumbest thing we’ve ever done," Marcus muttered.
Lena smirked. "No backing out now."
They stepped past the rusted warning sign. The air grew colder, the scent of damp earth and decay thickening. Lena led them to the old execution tree, its gnarled branches clawing at the sky.
As they set up camp, Lena felt it—something watching them. Not an animal. Not human. Something else.
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### **Chapter Two: The Bone Pendant**
The execution tree loomed in the clearing, its bark blackened, roots exposed like veins. Emily wandered off, scuffing her boot in the dirt. "Hey, guys?" she called, holding up a bone pendant she’d unearthed.
Lena’s stomach twisted. "Emily, put that down."
The pendant twitched in Emily’s hand, as if alive. She dropped it, and the dirt swallowed it whole. The air grew still, too quiet.
Lena’s palm burned. She turned her hand over—a pentagram had seared itself into her skin.
A whisper slithered through the trees. "You should not have come."
The firewood stack exploded. Something unseen screamed.
"Help me." A child’s voice echoed from the fog.
Emily stepped toward it—and vanished.
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### **Chapter Three: The Vanishing**
Lena plunged into the fog, calling for Emily. The air reeked of burnt hair and decay. Shadows moved between the trees—too tall, too thin, their eyes glowing.
Rotting hands erupted from the ground, grasping Lena’s ankles. She kicked free, but the shadows closed in.
In the distance, Emily laughed—a sound twisted and wrong.
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### **Chapter Four: The Awakening**
Lena stumbled through the fog, her palm burning where the pentagram scar pulsed. The whispers grew louder, slithering into her mind. "You cannot escape the vow."
She saw Emily—or something wearing her face. Its eyes were black voids, its mouth stretched too wide, revealing jagged teeth.
The ground trembled. Something ancient stirred beneath her feet. The fog screamed, twisting like a living thing.
Marcus’s voice cut through the chaos. "Lena, we have to go—NOW!"
But he was lost in the fog. Lena turned—and a figure emerged from the trees.
Not human.
Its limbs were too long, its skin gray and cracked. Its mouth opened unnaturally wide, rows of jagged teeth clicking together.
Lena ran.
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### **Chapter Five: The Shifting**
Lena’s fingers brushed the bone pendant again. The world shifted—the ground twisted, the air thickened. The pendant pulsed, cold and alive, as whispers filled her mind.
"We are the bound. We are the lost. You cannot escape the vow."
Shadows surrounded her, their glowing eyes fixed on her. The forest transformed, the trees bending toward her like living things.
A crack split the ground. Something rose—a tall, gray-skinned creature with black eyes and a jagged mouth.
"The vow binds you now," it hissed.
Lena screamed, but the forest swallowed her voice.
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### **Chapter Six: The Binding**
The creature loomed over Lena, its clawed fingers reaching for her. The pendant burned in her hand, the pentagram scar tearing through her skin.
Marcus appeared, running toward her. But the creature was faster. It struck, sending them both crashing to the ground.
Its mouth stretched wide, rows of teeth gleaming. "The vow binds you now," it growled.
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### **Chapter Seven: The Reckoning**
Lena clutched the pendant, its light illuminating the forest. The ground trembled as the spirits of the witches awakened, their vengeful souls hungry for release.
Marcus struggled beneath the creature, his body sinking into the earth. "Help him!" he pleaded.
Lena stepped forward, the pendant searing her skin. The witches’ whispers grew louder, their voices merging into a single, deafening chant.
"The vow binds you now."
Lena raised the pendant, its light piercing the fog. The creature shrieked, its form dissolving into shadows. But the forest was alive, the trees closing in, the ground pulling her deeper.
She had become part of the vow.
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**THE END
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