Author: JKMATHEW

Rain lashed against the canvas awning as Clara Bennett, black coffee steaming in her nimble hands, watched the coffin lowered. Not rain, fog condensed and heavy, clinging to Ravenwood Cemetery like a shroud. Her goal: observe, remember, understand. This funeral wasn’t just grief; it was a performance. A raven croaked overhead, a sharp, unsettling sound.… Read more

The Ferris wheel groaned, a metallic leviathan against the bruised twilight sky of Ashbourne’s annual Veridia Festival. Evelyn Hart, perched on a wobbly bench, nursed black coffee, her gaze sharp, missing nothing. Around her, revelers, oblivious to the subtle unease that prickled her skin, jostled and laughed. Then, a child’s thin wail sliced through the… Read more

Emma Parker navigated the fog-choked alleyways of Ravenwood, her slender frame agile as she scaled a crumbling brick wall. Her goal: bypass the locked gate barring access to the old district. A metallic click echoed – the lock she’d picked gave way. As she dropped to the other side, a raven screeched from a nearby… Read more

Rain lashed against the stained-glass windows of Ravenwood Chapel as Alex Morgan gripped her coffee cup, the lukewarm liquid doing little to thaw the chill clinging to her bones. She watched the casket descend, the heavy thud echoing the hollowness in her chest. A hand touched her arm. Sam Thompson, his face etched with an… Read more

Elena Thorne, slender and sharp-eyed, navigated the fog-choked streets of Duskwell, tattered map clutched in her hand. The abandoned clock tower loomed, a skeletal finger against the bruised twilight sky. Her goal: find answers in this town that felt like a tomb. Reaching the tower’s base, she found the heavy oak door secured not by… Read more