Chapter 1: Return to the Beginning

The winds were howling fiercely that night, as if they opposed every step Olivia took, as if they didn’t want her to return to the place she had fled from ten years ago. The road ahead was dark, occasionally interrupted by faint lights from vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. These lights flickered briefly, like fleeting ghosts watching her as she neared the city she had tried to forget. But history does not forget, and neither does the city, once full of life, now deserted and dark, as if it shared her solitude.

Olivia’s eyes were tense, following the road that had once been so familiar, yet now felt strangely alien. Everything was in its place, but everything was different. She was holding a mysterious letter, written by someone in shaky handwriting. The words were written quickly and urgently, as if the writer was facing an internal battle. “What happened ten years ago was not what you think. Return to the Clock House, and you will know the truth.”

Her eyes narrowed as she read the words, which carried a sense of anxiety and doubt. There were endless questions in her mind about the disappearance of her sister Ava—questions that had remained unanswered for ten years. She felt confused, yet at the same time, there was a strong desire for answers, despite the fear that was beginning to creep into her heart. It felt like a battle between mind and heart, between the desire to explore and the fear of facing the bitter truth.

Alongside the letter, there was an old photograph that had suddenly appeared in her bag—of Ava, her little sister who had disappeared under mysterious circumstances years ago. The photo had been taken on a sunny family day in their garden, where the entire family sat together around the dining table. Ava’s smile lit up her face, her eyes full of hope and life, just as she had been before she disappeared so suddenly. That moment seemed like part of another life, part of a dream far away. And since that moment, Ava had vanished as if she had evaporated into thin air, disappearing from everyone’s lives, from her family’s eyes, and from all who knew her.

The police had no clues, and despite their ongoing efforts, they closed the investigation after several months of searching. No trace of her was found, and all that remained were the questions that her family was trapped with. The letter in her hand carried something strange between its lines. Did this person know something about Ava’s disappearance? Was he the one who left her the letter? The more she thought about it, the more her questions grew. There was an odd feeling consuming her mind, as if something was pushing her to return to this place, to the city she didn’t want to remember, to where it all began.

The car sped along the dark road until it reached the old neighborhood. These were the streets she knew well, but something had changed. Everything was quiet, and at night, nothing looked at you except the faint light of the moon, reflecting off the dilapidated buildings. There was a strange smell in the air, as if the whole city carried within it many secrets. The city glittered with memories of the past, with every corner breathing life that had long since faded. But at that moment, everything seemed different, as if time had stopped at the moment when Ava had disappeared.

The car stopped in front of the house everyone knew. The Clock House, which had become a symbol of the crime that had changed Olivia and her family’s lives forever. The house looked as Olivia had left it years ago, but now it seemed even more abandoned. The doors were covered in dust, and the windows were tightly shut, showing cracked lines. Although the place looked the same, it carried a heavy burden of painful memories. There was something strange in the air around this house, something unnatural, as if the place itself was calling her to return.

She pushed open the creaky door slowly, which opened with a faint sound, almost like a scream in the deep silence. Olivia entered, the heavy air disturbing the atmosphere of the place. The house was dark, filled with dust, as if it had been isolated from the world for years. The only light breaking the darkness was the flashlight in her hand, revealing old, broken furniture, torn curtains, and walls covered in cracks. Everything in the place spoke of the absence of life, as if the place itself lived in isolation, trying to forget the tragedy that had occurred here.

Upstairs, Olivia entered a small, abandoned room, filled with old things. There was an old table piled with boxes filled with neglected memories. On the table, there was a small wooden box. Her heart began to race as she approached it. She opened it carefully, and inside the box were a collection of old photographs and a dusty diary. It felt as though this box held the key to all the questions that had been haunting her.

She began flipping through the photos, one by one. In one of the photos, Ava was smiling beside a group of children, but behind them, in the shadows, there was a mysterious man standing, watching them. His eyes were focused on Ava in an unnatural way, as if there was something unclear, something suspicious that connected him to her. Olivia felt a shiver run down her spine, and something deep inside told her that this man knew something—maybe he knew what had happened that night.

As for the diary, it contained words that had a deep impact on her heart. The words were clear, but filled with anxiety and fear. “Someone is watching us... I feel his presence all the time.” This sentence echoed in her mind, as if she were hearing whispers from the past. But what made her heart race faster were the following words: “The Clock House hides a secret. I’m going to discover it.”

Olivia stopped reading when she noticed that the last pages were carefully torn. Between the torn pages was a gap, as if something had intentionally disappeared. Had the pages been torn deliberately? Or was someone trying to hide something? As she was about to search for the rest of the diary, her phone suddenly rang. It was a text message from an unknown number. The message was simple, but carried a threat in its tone: “Stop. Some secrets must remain buried.”

Though her heart was pounding with tension, Olivia had no choice but to continue. She knew that this message was just the beginning of a long journey, a journey that would open dark doors she wasn’t prepared to face. And every step she took brought her closer to the unknown, where the truth awaited, a truth that might be more terrifying than she had ever imagined.

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