The new beginning

Jungkook and Taehyung had been married for a few years, and life had been good to them. They had decided to move out of the city and into the countryside, looking for a quieter, more peaceful life. After weeks of searching, they found it: Willowbrook, an old, secluded house on the outskirts of a small town. The house was beautiful, with its tall, ancient trees and a garden that seemed to have a life of its own. The locals had whispered about the place, calling it haunted, but Jungkook and Taehyung didn’t believe in such things. They were too happy with their new home to worry about old stories.

The first night in Willowbrook was uneventful. They unpacked their things, cooked dinner together, and laughed as they arranged the furniture just the way they liked it. The house was quiet, almost too quiet, but they didn’t mind. It felt peaceful.

As the days passed, strange things started to happen. At first, it was small, almost unnoticeable. A picture frame would be tilted, even though Jungkook was sure he had straightened it. Doors that they had closed would be open when they returned to the room. Taehyung shrugged it off, blaming it on the old house settling or drafts, but Jungkook couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

One night, as they were getting ready for bed, they heard a loud thud coming from the hallway. Taehyung jumped, dropping the book he was holding. “Did you hear that?” he asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Jungkook nodded, his heart pounding. “I’ll go check,” he said, trying to sound braver than he felt. He grabbed a flashlight from the nightstand and stepped into the dark hallway. The air was cold, much colder than it should have been. As he walked down the hallway, the beam of the flashlight flickered, casting eerie shadows on the walls.

When he reached the end of the hall, he saw it—a figure standing in the corner, barely visible in the dim light. Jungkook froze, his breath catching in his throat. The figure was tall and thin, its face hidden in the shadows. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then, the figure slowly turned its head towards Jungkook, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

“Taehyung,” Jungkook whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the figure. “There’s someone here.”

Taehyung rushed to his side, his eyes wide with fear. “What is it?” he asked, but when he looked down the hallway, the figure was gone. The only thing left was a deep, unsettling silence.

They spent the rest of the night huddled together in their bedroom, too afraid to sleep. The next morning, they tried to laugh it off, convincing themselves that it was just their imagination. But the unease lingered, and the strange occurrences only grew more frequent.

One evening, as they were sitting in the living room, the temperature suddenly dropped. They could see their breath in the air, and the lights flickered. Jungkook reached for Taehyung’s hand, but before he could touch him, the room was plunged into darkness.

“Taehyung?” Jungkook called out, his voice shaky.

“I’m here,” Taehyung replied, but his voice sounded distant, as if he was far away.

Jungkook fumbled for the flashlight, but when he turned it on, the light revealed something terrifying. The walls of the living room were covered in scratch marks, deep and jagged, as if something had clawed its way through them. The furniture was overturned, and the air was thick with the smell of decay.

Suddenly, they heard a low growl, coming from somewhere in the darkness. It was a sound that didn’t belong in the house, something primal and hungry. They backed away, but the growling grew louder, closer.

In a panic, they ran to the front door, but it wouldn’t budge. No matter how hard they pulled, it stayed shut, trapping them inside. The growling was now right behind them, and they could feel a presence, something cold and malevolent, closing in on them.

Jungkook turned around, ready to face whatever it was, but there was nothing there. Just the empty, dark house, echoing with the sound of their own rapid breathing.

“We need to get out of here,” Taehyung whispered, his voice trembling.

Jungkook nodded, his heart racing. They sprinted to the back door, praying that it would open. When they finally burst through the door and into the night, the cold air hit them like a wave. They didn’t stop running until they were far away from Willowbrook, their hearts pounding in their chests.

They never went back to the house. The next morning, they packed their things and left town, leaving Willowbrook and its dark secrets behind. They didn’t talk about what happened, not to each other and not to anyone else. It was as if the house had never existed, a nightmare that faded with the light of day.

But sometimes, late at night, Jungkook would wake up in a cold sweat, the memory of that dark figure in the hallway haunting his dreams. He would reach out to Taehyung, needing to feel his warmth, his presence, to remind himself that they had escaped. But deep down, he knew that the terror they had faced in Willowbrook would stay with them forever, lurking in the shadows, waiting.

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