Genre: Mystery | Supernatural | Thriller
The Arrival
The thick fog rolled in at dusk, swallowing the streets of Black Hollow. It was always like this—fog creeping in when something unnatural was about to happen.
I first saw him that evening, standing under the broken streetlamp near my bookstore. His coat was long and dark, his hat casting a shadow over his face. He didn’t move. He just stood there, watching.
At first, I ignored him. But every night, he returned. Always in the same place. Always silent.
Curiosity got the better of me. One evening, as the fog curled around my ankles, I stepped out and approached him.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
The man tilted his head slightly. “Do you believe in fate?” His voice was calm, but something about it made my skin crawl.
I hesitated. “I believe people make their own choices.”
He chuckled. “That’s what they all say… at first.”
Before I could ask what he meant, he turned and walked into the fog, disappearing as if he had never been there.
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Part 2: The Warnings
After that night, strange things started happening. I would find old books in my shop that I had never stocked before—books about lost souls, forgotten prophecies, and ancient warnings. Each one had a single page marked with a red ribbon.
Then came the dreams.
I dreamt of a town swallowed by fog, people vanishing into the mist, their screams echoing as shadowy figures reached for them. And at the center of it all, the man in the coat, watching.
One night, I woke up gasping for air, only to find a book on my nightstand that I had never seen before. Its title?
“The Final Chapter.”
Inside, there was only one sentence written in blood-red ink:
“You have until the next full moon.”
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Part 3: The Truth
Panic settled in. I tried to leave town, but no matter which road I took, I always ended up back at my bookstore. The town had become a looping maze of fog and silence.
On the night of the full moon, I found him waiting inside my shop. He stood near the shelves, fingers trailing over the books.
“What do you want?” My voice was unsteady.
He turned to face me, finally letting the dim light reveal his face. And that’s when I realized—he looked exactly like me.
“I am the ending of your story,” he said. “The moment you stepped into the fog, your fate was sealed.”
Memories rushed back—this had happened before. Every few decades, a new version of me took my place. The town, the fog, the books… they were all part of a cycle I had unknowingly been trapped in.
“But… if I’m the next one, then what happens to you?” I asked.
He smiled, stepping backward. As the clock struck midnight, he vanished into the fog, leaving only a single book behind.
Its title had changed. It now read:
“The First Chapter.”
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Ending: The New Watcher
I stood in the fog, wearing the same dark coat, the same hat, watching as the next soul entered the town, unaware of their fate.
The cycle had begun again.
THE END.
