Episode 6: The Hunger Beneath the Well
315 Words
The village bell hadn’t rung in fifteen years.
Not since Garrick burned.
Not since the elders sealed the truth with fire and silence.
But now…
its sound echoed across the fields like a warning torn from another world.
Lina ran.
Out of the cellar.
Through the twisted garden.
Past the villagers who had begun to gather in confused silence.
She didn’t stop until she reached the well.
It stood in the center of the village —
forgotten, boarded, chained, and covered in iron symbols no one dared touch.
Until now.
⸻
The earth trembled.
The boards cracked.
The chains rattled.
And then, from deep below, something breathed.
A hot gust of wind rose from the well, carrying with it the stench of sulfur and rot—
and the soft sound of chewing.
Lina fell to her knees.
The voice returned, deeper now, layered with ancient hunger:
“They fed me your fear.”
“They sweetened it with betrayal.”
“Now, I will feed again.”
She tried to scream, but her voice was gone—
swallowed by the very thing that once called Garrick’s name in the dark.
⸻
Behind her, someone spoke:
“You shouldn’t have gone to the cellar.”
It was Elder Hanim.
Her face was ashen, her hands shaking around a small, rusted key.
“He made a deal, Lina. We all did. To protect the village. To keep the creature sleeping.”
“But you… you woke it.”
Lina stood, trembling.
“Then help me put it back to sleep.”
Elder Hanim shook her head slowly.
“You can’t put hunger back in the bottle once it’s tasted hope.”
And behind her, the villagers began to chant—
not in prayer,
but in remembrance.
“Garrick… forgive us.”
“Garrick… protect us.”
“Garrick… feed it again.”
⸻
And the well…
opened.
- Writer
