The library
Every story written so far — for toddlers, teenagers and everyone in between.
Teens🕸️ Hollow Manor+1
The Uninvited Companion
Devi found the iron gate of Hollow Manor unlatched, swinging two inches off its rusty hinges in the windless dusk. The house had stood empty since her grandmother was young, its grey stone wrapped in dead ivy that rattled like dry parchment. Her phone showed no signal, but the light from its screen illuminated the dust hovering motionless in the vestibule. Inside, the grand staircase curved up into soot-black shadow. She did not mean to stay; she had only come to fetch the brass compass her brother dropped through the cellar grate yesterday. Yet as she stepped over the threshold, the front door clicked shut behind her without a draft. A cold pocket of air settled against the nape of her neck, smelling faintly of river silt and tallow. Devi turned the glass door handle, but it spun uselessly in her grip. I am just passing through, she thought, keeping her voice silent. You can come as far as the edge.
Englishhorror + spooky4 min♥ 0
Adults🕸️ Hollow ManorCustom
The Light That Answers
I kept the lens polished. Every evening I wound the clockwork mechanism and filled the brass reservoir with paraffin. The beam cut through six miles of black salt water. North Rock sat three miles out, jagged and silent. Mariners hated the narrow channel between the headland and the shoal. My job was simple. I pointed the beam. They saw the flash and sheared away. I counted six vessels that autumn. They passed like grey teeth against the sky. I logged each hour, each wind shift, each pint of oil burned. The ocean was quiet that November. The fog came down early and stayed. It smelled of wet copper and rotted kelp. I turned the crank. The light spun.
Englishcosmic horror2 min♥ 0