WHISPERS IN THE HALLOW

Chapter 10 – May’s Possession

Chapter 10

Whispers in the Hollow

by Manilyn Nalaunan

Chapter 10 – May’s Possession

That night, the cabin was colder than ever.

The three of them sat near the dead fireplace, a single candle flickering weakly on the table. The shadows it cast seemed unnaturally deep, twisting across the walls like fingers searching for a way out. Every creak in the wood made Lara’s shoulders tighten. Every gust of wind that rattled the windowpanes carried the faint impression of a whisper.

May hadn’t spoken since they finished reading the journal. Not really. She muttered under her breath sometimes, her lips twitching with words that didn’t belong to her. At first, Lara thought it was nerves. But the longer she listened, the more certain she became that May was reciting something. A chant. The same phrase over and over.

“The Hollow is hungry.”

Lara shifted uneasily, hugging her knees to her chest. Claire, pale and trembling, leaned close and whispered, “She’s not okay. Lara… she’s not May anymore.”

Lara glanced at their friend. May’s hair fell over her face in tangled curtains, her hands limp in her lap. But it wasn’t the posture that chilled Lara — it was the stillness. May wasn’t shivering in fear like them, or restless with nerves. She was too calm, like someone who had already accepted their fate.

“May?” Lara whispered gently. “Hey. Look at me.”

Slowly, May lifted her head. Her eyes caught the candlelight, reflecting it in a way that made them look too dark, like pools with no bottom. A smile flickered at the corners of her lips, faint and wrong.

“Do you hear them?” she asked softly.

Claire whimpered. “Hear what?”

May tilted her head toward the walls, as though listening. “They’re all around us. They’ve been here the whole time. The family. The children. Ethan.” Her smile widened, showing too many teeth. “Jordan.”

Lara’s stomach turned to ice. “That’s not real. You didn’t hear Ethan. You’re just—”

But May cut her off with a laugh. A low, rasping sound that didn’t belong in her throat. “You think this place doesn’t keep them? The Hollow keeps everything. Every voice. Every soul. They belong to it now.”

The candle guttered violently, throwing the room into shifting darkness. For a heartbeat, Lara thought she saw shapes moving in the corners — long, twisted silhouettes reaching out.

Claire scrambled backward, pulling Lara’s sleeve. “She’s possessed. She’s—she’s not May anymore!”

“No,” Lara said sharply, though her voice shook. “She’s still in there. We can help her. We just—we have to.”

But even as she said it, May’s body began to move strangely, as if strings pulled her joints. She rose to her feet in a jerky motion, her arms hanging loose at her sides. Her head c****d at an unnatural angle, and she stepped toward them.

“The Hollow is hungry,” she whispered again, louder this time. The words seemed to echo through the room, not just from her mouth but from the walls themselves.

Claire sobbed, clutching Lara’s arm. “We have to get away from her!”

May took another step.

Her voice deepened, layered, as though a dozen others spoke through her at once. “It wants you. Both of you. It won’t stop until it’s fed.”

Lara’s mind raced. The journal. The cellar. The rituals. None of it had said what to do when the Hollow chose someone, only what it demanded. But she couldn’t lose May, not like they had lost Jordan and Ethan.

“May,” she said firmly, forcing her voice to steady. “You’re stronger than this. Fight it. Please.”

For a flicker, the real May seemed to surface. Her face contorted, her lips trembling. “L…Lara?”

Claire gasped. “She’s in there!”

But then May screamed. A piercing, guttural sound that rattled the windowpanes and made the candle snuff out entirely. The room plunged into darkness.

Lara’s hands fumbled for the flashlight, her breath ragged. When the beam cut through the dark, it landed on May crouched low, her fingers clawed into the floorboards. Her nails had split, bleeding where she scratched at the wood, carving into the same symbols that lined the cellar door.

“Stop!” Lara shouted.

But May didn’t stop. She carved and carved, whispering in time with her hands. “The Hollow is hungry. The Hollow is hungry.”

The symbols seemed to glow faintly, pulsing like veins alive under the boards.

Claire shrieked, pulling Lara back. “She’s opening it! She’s letting it in!”

Lara dropped the flashlight and lunged forward, grabbing May’s wrists. “Enough!” she cried. “You’re not going to feed it!”

May’s head snapped up. Her eyes were black now, bottomless voids that swallowed the light. Her lips peeled back in a snarl.

“It will eat you first.”

She lashed out with unnatural strength, shoving Lara backward so hard she crashed into the wall, the breath knocked from her lungs. Claire screamed again, trying to pull Lara up, but May was already stalking toward them.

The floor shook. A low moan rumbled from beneath, as if the very earth responded to May’s chant. The cellar door shuddered violently, its hinges rattling like chains. Dust sifted from the ceiling, and the whole cabin seemed to breathe in time with May’s voice.

Lara scrambled to her feet, dizzy but determined. She grabbed the journal from the table and hurled it at May. It struck her shoulder, and for a moment May faltered, clutching her head with both hands.

Her voice broke, pained, human again. “It hurts—”

“Fight it!” Lara begged. “You can fight it, May!”

But the moment was gone as quickly as it came. Her head snapped up again, her eyes black, her smile wide. She lunged.

Claire screamed as May tackled her to the floor, her fingers clawing at her throat. Lara threw herself forward, grabbing May by the shoulders, trying to tear her off. The three of them writhed on the dusty boards, the flashlight spinning uselessly and casting wild beams of light.

May’s strength was impossible. She held Claire down with one hand, her nails digging deep into skin. Her other hand twisted backward to claw at Lara, scratching across her arm until blood welled.

“The Hollow is hungry!” she shrieked, her voice layered with dozens of others, a chorus of the damned.

Lara’s mind raced. She couldn’t beat May. Not like this.

But maybe she didn’t have to.

She snatched the candle from the floor, its wick still faintly smoking. She jammed it hard against May’s forearm, whispering desperately: “You want fire? Take this.”

The wax burned against skin, and May shrieked — but not in pain. In fury. Her body convulsed, jerking back, and for a split second, the blackness drained from her eyes.

“Lara,” May gasped. Her real voice. “Don’t let it—”

Then her body went limp. She collapsed sideways, twitching, her breath ragged.

Claire crawled away, sobbing, clutching her bruised throat. “Is she—Is she gone?”

Lara knelt beside May, her hands trembling. Her friend’s chest rose and fell, shallow but steady. But her lips were still moving faintly, mouthing that same cursed phrase.

“The Hollow is hungry.”

And Lara realized with dread that May was not gone at all. She was still in there — but so was the Hollow.

It wasn’t letting go.

Not yet.