Chapter 1 - The Hollow Echo
Elena froze in the freezing mud, her breath catching in her throat.
Her bleeding fingers traced the smooth, unnatural curve of whatever lay buried beneath the rising water.
It was definitely not a rock or a tree root.
It felt like heavy, industrial steel.
Panic and adrenaline surged through her exhausted veins.
She dug frantically with her bare hands, ignoring the stinging pain of her popped blisters.
The dark water continued to bubble up around her knees, a miracle she had prayed for.
But the object she was uncovering felt like a dark, terrifying nightmare.
It was a massive, rusted lockbox, secured tightly with heavy iron chains.
And those chains were wrapped around something else entirely.
Elena let out a horrified gasp as her hand brushed against a smooth, curved shape.
It was a human skull.
She scrambled backward against the muddy wall of the deep well, her heart pounding against her ribs.
The moon cast an eerie, pale light down into the pit.
It illuminated the skeletal remains of a person, forever chained to the metal box.
Elena wanted to scream, to climb out of the well and run far away into the night.
But the terrifying face of Mr. Silas flashed in her mind.
He had wanted this specific plot of land with a desperate, dark hunger.
He didn't want to farm it.
He wanted to make absolutely sure that whatever was buried here stayed buried forever.
Elena swallowed her fear and reached back into the freezing water.
She needed to know the truth if she was going to save her daughters.
With all her remaining strength, she untangled the heavy metal box from the grim remains.
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She tied it securely to her hauling rope.
Slowly, painfully, she climbed out of the pit and hoisted the massive box to the surface.
