"Come on," the officer said. "Let's keep moving."
Ava nodded and led them farther up the trail.
Soon, they reached the clearing.
"This is it," James said. "This is where we camped."
Jenna nodded. "Just a little off the trail."
The clearing looked ordinary in the daylight. Too ordinary.
The campfire was nothing but cold ash now. The tents stood exactly where they'd left them. No overturned bags. No signs of a struggle.
The chief scanned the area slowly. "So where did she go?" he asked. "Your friend. Stacy."
Jenna was already moving, pointing toward the trees. "This way."
One of the officers followed, raising an eyebrow. "You thought it was a good idea to let her go out there alone?"
Jenna shook her head quickly. "No— I mean— she just said she needed the bathroom. I didn't think—"
"And you didn't think the legends around here mattered?" another officer cut in, a faint smirk in his voice.
"They're just myths," Ava said, a little too fast. "At least… I thought they were."
They reached the abandoned bathroom.
Jenna slowed, then stopped.
"Here," she said. "This is where—"
She froze.
Everyone did.
The ground where Stacy had been lying was empty.
No body.
No blood.
Nothing.
"What…?" Ava whispered. "No. She was right here."
Jenna shook her head, panic creeping into her voice. "She was. I swear she was."
"So where is she now?" the chief asked, his tone flat.
Charlie swallowed. "We heard a scream. A really bad one. Not like anything I've ever heard."
"High-pitched," Darren added quietly. "Wrong."
"A bear?" one of the officers suggested.
"No," Charlie said. "This wasn't an animal."
Darren took a breath. "We saw it. Whatever it was."
The officer sighed. "So you ran."
"Yes," Charlie said. "We ran."
"So let me get this straight," the officer said. "You left your friend's body in the woods because you heard a scream."
Silence.
Darren's heart sank.
Then he remembered.
The cave.
The skulls.
The bones.
"Wait," Darren said suddenly. "There's something else."
The officers turned toward him.
"The cave," he said. "We know where it is. There were human skulls inside. Multiple. You have to see it."
The chief studied his face for a long moment.
"Alright," he said at last. "Show us."
The cave entrance.
"This is it," Darren said.
Charlie nodded beside him. "There were— there were like five human skulls inside."
"Five?" one of the officers repeated, glancing at another.
The doubt was obvious now. No body. No blood. No proof.
Still, the chief didn't dismiss it.
He studied the cave for a long moment, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Alright," he said at last. "Everyone stay close. We move slow."
He drew his gun from its holster, the quiet click loud in the stillness.
"Flashlights on," he added. "And nobody goes ahead of me."
The police dog hesitated at the entrance.
Its paws stopped just short of the shadowed opening. The handler gave a gentle tug on the leash.
"Come on," he murmured.
The dog didn't move.
Instead, it let out a low whine — not aggressive, not frightened — uneasy.
The handler frowned. "That's strange."
The chief glanced back. "What is it?"
"It doesn't want to go in," the handler said. "At all."
A silence settled over them.
Darren felt that familiar tightening in his chest again.
"I told you," he said quietly. "This place isn't right."
The officer didn't respond. He stepped forward anyway, flashlight cutting into the cave's darkness.
"Let's take a look."
They moved inside.
The air changed immediately — cooler, heavier.
But there was no smell.
No rot. No blood. Nothing.
Just stone, damp and cold.
They reached the end of the shallow descent.
The chief raised his flashlight—
And froze.
The cave floor was empty.
No skulls.
No bones.
No blood.
Just bare stone and dirt, undisturbed.
The officer slowly lowered his light.
"Nothing," he said.
Jenna stared in disbelief. "No… no, this isn't possible."
Charlie shook his head. "They were right here."
The dog whimpered behind them, refusing to step farther in.
Darren didn't say anything.
But he knew.
Whatever lived here hadn't just watched them.
It had cleaned up.
"So we went all the way out here for nothing," one officer muttered. "No body. No skulls. No proof." He scoffed. "I'm starting to think these kids were high."
The dog handler didn't laugh.
The dog stood rigid at the cave's edge, hackles raised, low growl vibrating in its chest. Its nose kept pulling toward the darkness, paws digging into the stone like it wanted to retreat and advance at the same time.
"That's not normal," the handler said quietly.
The chief stepped closer, eyes narrowing. "What is it?"
"He won't go in," the handler replied. "Won't come away either."
The dog whined softly.
The rude officer rolled his eyes. "Dogs get spooked. It's a cave."
The chief didn't answer right away. He watched the animal for another long second.
Then he looked at Darren.
"You said this is where it happened," he said.
Darren nodded. "Yeah."
The Chief looked around the empty cave again. Stone. Dirt. Nothing else.
Too clean.
Jenna swallowed and stepped forward. "Officer… is there any news about Emma?"
The Chief turned toward her.
"I'm her sister," she said quickly. "My mom—she talked to the police last week. She went missing near the forest."
The rude officer sighed. "Yeah. We've been looking all week. No sign of her." He rubbed his eyes. "People wander off all the time. Happens more than you think."
Jenna's face fell.
"I hate cases like this," the officer muttered. "Makes you hate the job."
The Chief shot him a look. The officer fell silent.
The dog growled again — low, steady.
The Chief exhaled slowly.
"Alright," he said at last. "You kids need to head home. Now."
Charlie frowned. "What? You're just gonna—"
"We'll handle this," the Chief said, firm but not unkind. "We'll search the area again. Bring in more units if we need to."
He paused, eyes lingering on the cave entrance one last time.
"And if you remember anything else," he added, quieter, "anything at all… you come straight to me."
Jenna nodded.
As there followed the officers back toward the trail, Darren glanced over his shoulder.
The cave stood silent.
But he knew better now.
Whatever lived in the forest didn't just hunt.
It erased.
Later that day, Darren's house.
No one wanted to be alone.
They sat scattered around the living room — couch, floor, chairs pulled in too close — like spacing themselves apart felt dangerous now.
"God…" Charlie muttered, rubbing his face. "This is insane."
No one argued.
"Stacy's death," he went on. "Jenna's sister disappearing. The skulls. The cave. And the police just…" He trailed off with a helpless shrug.
Silence followed.
They weren't sure what words were supposed to come next.
James broke it.
"Hey," he said, eyes fixed on his laptop. "You guys need to see this."
They leaned in.
An old-looking article filled the screen.
It wasn't from a major news site.
No network logo. No editor's name.
Just a block of text, posted under the author's name.
By Ted Burrow.
James swallowed. "He says his daughter went camping in the forest. After that, she started acting… off. Talking about things she heard. Places she needed to go."
Jenna's breath caught. "That's exactly what happened to Emma."
James nodded. "Yeah."
He scrolled.
"The article says he tried to warn people. Tried to tell the police." James paused. "No one believed him."
Charlie frowned. "So what did the police say?"
James clicked another tab. "Official report. They ruled it a bear attack. No further investigation."
"Convenient," Ava muttered.
Darren stared at the screen.
A wood monster.
The words shouldn't have meant anything.
But his stomach twisted anyway.
"So this guy's just been… screaming into the void?" Charlie asked.
"Pretty much," James said. "Comments are brutal. Everyone calling him crazy."
Jenna hugged her arms to her chest. "What if he wasn't?"
No one answered.
But the silence felt different this time.
Focused.
Like the pieces were starting to lean toward each other.
"What do you guys think?" James asked quietly.
And for the first time since the cave—
No one laughed it off.
Darren stared at the screen, at the man's name beneath the article.
"We go to him," he said.