Whispers of the Forgotten Pines

The black door swung open without a sound. Not a creak. Not a groan. Just an eerie, unnatural silence.

Ethan felt his breath hitch as the darkness beyond stretched endlessly. No walls. No floor. Just a void of suffocating black.

Eleanor trembled beside him. "I… I don't think we should go in there."

Clara snorted. "No kidding."

But something was inside.

Ethan squinted into the abyss, shining his flashlight forward. The beam vanished into the darkness, swallowed whole. It was as if the light itself refused to exist in that space.

Then, a sound.

A faint click.

Like footsteps.

But not human. Not natural.

A skittering.

Something moving. Fast.

Eleanor clutched Ethan's arm. "Something's in there."

The sound grew louder. Closer. Too close.

Ethan's grip on the flashlight tightened. "We need to—"

Before he could finish, something rushed at them.

A shadow burst from the doorway, fast as lightning, blindingly white in the darkness.

Ethan stumbled backward, pulling Eleanor with him. Clara cursed, raising her fists. The thing barely missed them, its form shifting, twisting in impossible ways. It wasn't human.

It had no face. No eyes. Just a distorted blur of limbs and pale, pulsating skin.

And then—

It stopped.

Right at the edge of the doorway.

The creature hovered there, its form twitching violently. It didn't move past the threshold.

Almost like it couldn't.

Eleanor whimpered, her nails digging into Ethan's sleeve. "Why… why isn't it coming out?"

Clara took a cautious step forward. "Maybe it's stuck?"

Ethan wasn't sure. He could feel it—the thing wanted them. But something held it back.

The door.

Ethan turned to Clara. "We need to close it."

Clara nodded, already moving. Together, they pushed against the black surface, their hands tingling with cold as they forced it shut. The creature twitched violently, its form warping as if in agony.

The moment the door slammed shut—

The whispers returned.

This time, furious.

The walls shuddered. The tunnel trembled beneath their feet. The door was angry.

Ethan grabbed Eleanor's hand, pulling her away. "Run!"

The three of them sprinted down the tunnel as the air behind them rippled. The black door began to bend outward, as if something inside was pushing against reality itself.

The ground shook.

The air howled.

The tunnel was collapsing.

Ethan's legs burned as he ran, barely able to see ahead. The whispers turned into screams, raw and unnatural, like a thousand voices shrieking at once.

Then—

Light.

A faint glow ahead. The end of the tunnel.

Clara reached it first, throwing herself forward. Eleanor followed, half-limping, half-running. Ethan jumped, just as the tunnel behind them imploded.

Then—silence.

Ethan coughed, pushing himself up. They were back in the basement. The door was gone. No trace it ever existed.

Eleanor stared at the empty wall. "W-What… what was that?"

Ethan had no answer. But he knew one thing for sure.

That thing was still down there.

Waiting.

And next time…

It might not be trapped.