Chapter 1: The Stranger in Blackwood
204 Words
Rain swept through the narrow streets of Blackwood, turning the old town into a blur of silver and shadow.
Nina pulled her coat tighter as she hurried home from the library. The clock tower had already struck midnight, and in Blackwood, people didn't linger after dark. Too many stories. Too many disappearances.
As she passed the cemetery gates, she saw him.
A tall dark figure stood beneath the old dead oak tree, unmoving despite the rain. His coat hung like a shadow around him, and his pale face seemed almost luminous in the moonlight.
He looked at her.
Not in the casual way strangers did. It felt as though he had been waiting.
"You shouldn't be out alone," he said.
His voice was smooth, low, unsettling.
Nina stopped. " I could say the same thing to you."
For a moment, a faint smile touched his lips.
"My name is Devin."
Thunder rolled overhead. Before she could answer, a scream echoed from somewhere beyond the cemetery.
Devin's expression changed instantly. Sharp. Alert.
"Go home," he ordered.
Then he vanished into the darkness between the graves.
Vanished.
Nina stared after him, her heart hammering.
People didn't disappear like that.
Unless the stories about Blackwood were true.
- Writer
