Knock! Knock! I rapped my knuckles on the hard but smooth wooden door.

I heard some shuffling of footsteps from the inside and within a few moments, the door was opened to me and it was none other than my aunt Hannah.

"Y/N, my dear," she greeted me although not as cheerfully as I expected. She sounded grief- stricken and quite tired. I didn't take any offense. I understood that she was going through a lot these days and it is more than any woman of her age could bear.

I smiled at her. "Hey, Aunt Hannah," I said cheerily. I didn't even dare ask the question of "how are you doing" because I knew more than enough and her face had already answered my unasked question. Let's just say that she has had better days. She smiled and stepped aside to let me enter with my luggage.

"My, you have grown very pretty over the years, quite beautiful for a soon to be 18-year-old" my aunt exclaimed as she gestured for me to take a seat on the sofa.

I giggled feeling a bit embarrassed by the compliment. I wasn't used to being in the center of attention. "Thank-you," I said while chuckling. Aunt Hannah beamed before disappearing into the kitchen and within a moment she was back with a tray filled with two cups of hot chamomile tea and a platter of cinnamon rolls.

"Go on, do help yourself,"aunt said before taking a seat across from me in the comfortable light greenarmchair. I looked at the tray of treats and couldn't help but smile in content at the mouth-watering sight. It felt so comforting and gave me the sense of home and family.When I was little, I used to visit my aunt all the time for Christmas and she would never make her presence known in the house without a platter of steaming cinnamon buns, Christmas cakes, apple pies or any type of feel good treats. That was until, my family decided that it's best for me if I don't visit my aunt's house too often due to the dangerous circumstances it is located in andI had dearly missed coming here. Although, what happened to my cousin was an absolute tragedy, I was secretly glad that it provided me with some sort of an excuse to visit the glorious havens of the neighborhood.

I graciously took a cinnamon bun and relished in its mint and sweet taste for a few minutes, enjoying every savor inthe best way I could.

"It feels so wonderful to be backhere in the neighborhood again," I happily said the sweet, delectable cream tickling my taste buds.

Aunt Hannah managed a wry smile beforetaking a sip of her tea. She placed the cup down on the platter before sighing heavily , "Actually, y/n, I really don't think that you should be visiting here at all. It would have been wiser if we had stuck with the old traditions ."

She gazed down solemnly at the darkbrown liquid in her cup before mumbling in a voice filled with pain. "I would never forgive myself if what happened to her... ever happened toyou..."

I silently gasped as I saw my aunt's lip quiver slightly. "Oh no, Aunty. Please don't worry," I comforted in a gentle voice feeling terrible sorry for her. "The police are still on the case. Those kidnappers will pay for what happened to my darling cousin and believe me we are never letting them go until they get what they deserve. Until we find her." I got up and made my way over to my dear aunt and hugged her tightly around her shoulders.

She sniveled as she buried her nose inthe crook of my neck. "Thank you, y/n. You're being a huge strength to me,right now. You don't know that." She croaked between sniffles.

"That's why I'm here." I mumbled warmly. "To be your strength in your hard times,"

We pulled apart and I could feel tears almost brimming up in my eyes. I quickly decided on a change of topic."Where is Uncle? How is he doing now?" I asked curious because I haven't seen him since I got here.

Aunt Hannah groaned angrily while gesturing with her head upstairs. "Still lost in his fantasies," she mumbled bitterly with a roll of her eyes. I winced, saddened at how brutal and tense things have gotten between my once ever close aunt and uncle. Aunt Hannah had told me about how uncle had changed in a bizarre manner ever since thedisappearance of my cousin. In fact, he doesn't even seem to be in the rightworld either. No one could quite explain what had gotten into him. It's all so strange . Mysterious, even.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I heard a person make his way down the stairs and stop at the foot. Uncle Shernon .

"Y/N!" he exclaimed ecstatically as he spread his arms open for me. Smiling, I made my way towards him and hugged him tightly as well. My uncle was a tall, muscular, well-chested man with hazel brown hair and a burly beard framing his face to match. His eyes sparkled at seeing me and his face bore a gleaming grin.

"It's so good to see you again!" he exclaimed after we pulled apart. The funny thing was that, unlike my aunt, he seemed super happy and cheerful and doesn't seem to be at all heavy-hearted or aggrieved about the kidnapping of his beloved daughter. Uponseeing him, my aunt huffed and quickly turned the other way around.

"Hannah! Y/n is here. Can you believe it?" he said while placing a large hand on my back while I had my hands clasped in front of me and smiled awkwardly.

"I know," my aunt said without turning her face towards him."I opened the door for her and let her in and I do have eyes, Shernon,unlike you," she added coldly.

My uncle groaned loudly before furrowing his bushy eyebrows at her. "Why are you so worked up all the time,Hannah?" he asked my aunt in an annoyed tone.

My aunt gave out a hearty laugh. Oh boy , this is not good, I thought.

"Why I'm so worked out?" my aunts scoffed while shooting a mock smile at my confused uncle. She immediately put her cup of tea down on the coffee table in front of her before slowly rising to her feet never breaking the glare she held on my uncle. She made her way towards him with slow, dangerous strides.

"Why I'm so worked up, you ask is it,Shernon?" she once again repeated with such detest in her voice. Her face was just a mere inch away from my uncle who stared right back at her but I swore I saw his throat move as he gulped.

"I'm so worked up here is because our only daughter, our darling little one, our only hope had been kidnapped and only God knows where she is and what, whoever those villains, have done to her!"she shrieked at my uncle while aggressively punching each syllable of her sentence with a sharp shove of her index finger to his chest.

"Look, I have already told you- "my uncle stammered but he was cut off by my aunt.

"It is now a week since that loathsome Halloween night," she continued, she looked away for a moment  towards the window, she wasn't looking at anything outside, rather her face appeared to be clouded by the long felt sorrow. "The night that you took our darling Celine for Trick or Treating. The one night that I was not able to be with her and so I had to entrust her care in your hands but then what did you do?" she paused before attacking my uncle's slightly terrified eyes with her glowering ones.

She went on while her voice surrender completely to fury and grief. "You let her wander off by herself in the middle of the night until you lost sight of her. Until there wasn't a trace of hers to be found,and then you return home with not a single ounce of guilt or forlorn engraved in your heart and just casually announce that you are not able to find her!"
"Celine is not kidnapped, ok?" my uncle roared irritated pushing himself off of his wife and stepping away to maintain a safer distance. My body shook in fear at his rage. Well, both of their rage to be honest. Everything is getting extremely tense and it scared me. I wanted so badly to break in and stop them but I was distracted by my uncle's next action.

 He closed his eyes, drew a deep breath and exhaled to compose himself before saying in a much calmer voice, "Celine was not kidnapped, ok?" he explained. My aunt's jaw was clenched tight and she stared baffled at him. My uncle went on. "You are leading the police on a goosechase. That Halloween night, Celine said about how she was feeling trapped in this house, how she wanted to escape for a bit. So she asked me whether she could spend a couple of days at her friend's house right after trick or treating and I agreed and she went on her way."

My uncle paused to give my fuming aunt a death stare. "And I, for one, certainly don't blame her for wanting out of this irksome house as a result of your controlling ar-"
"JUST SHUT UP, SHERNON!"  my aunts screamed as I flinched terribly. "You know that Celine is never a one to leave home or go anywhere without us. And don't you dare try to say that any of this is my fault, you sick bastard! I regret ever leaving her with you!"

"OH MY GOD! ENOUGH!" my uncle growled while clutching his head in his hands frustrated. "Shall we just behave ourselves for once?" he said before gesturing to me with a flick of his head."We have guests." He added. My aunt's eyes found me before she exhaled slowly but still slightly panting with rage. I looked at her sympathetically while chewing my lower lip.

I just can't believe how much had changed since my cousin disappeared. How much had changed in this lovely family and between the aunt and uncle who were once so affectionate and warm towards each other.

My uncle gave my aunt a glare as cold as ice before making his way over to the coat rack to fetch his crimson woolcoat. He opened the door and gruffly mumbled, "I'm heading out," before stepping out into the autumn scenery outdoors.

The door slammed shut and I released a breath that I never knew that I had been holding. I turned to my aunt and she was already busy picking up the tray of left over treats and cups of tea. She made her way over to the kitchen next door and I followed suite.

I stopped at the dining table and placed my hand on the back of a wooden chair. "I'm so sorry about Uncle Shernon, Aunt," I somberly said. I heard my aunt sigh miserable as she said, "I just don't know what's gotten into him," she whispered heartbroken.

I came closer to her and put my arm around her shoulders as I pulled her to me for a hug. "Don't lose hope, aunt,"I firmly said. To my utmost relief, I managed to make my aunt slightly smile.She looked up at me and took my hand in hers and squeezed it gently. "I won't,"she replied.

I continued to hold her close. I was ready to hold her for as long as she needed me to. My mind was churning and frothing with doubts and unanswered questions. Aunt had told my mother over the phone over how uncle Shernon took a turn for the most peculiar and unexpected behavior she had ever thought of. I was substantially worried but seeing it take place right in front of my bare eyes made me extremely bewildered and alarmed even. It was for this exact reason that I was sent for.

As soon as my mom got to know that her sister's daughter had been kidnapped and on top of all that her husband is acting completely alienated from the crisis, it was clear as daylight that my aunt was supposedly facing this huge terror alone. Until my mom asked me to break the unwelcomed tradition of never visiting my aunts place again by packing my bags and take the next train to Silverlake and lend a shoulder to my middle-aged aunt . Of course I happily agreed.

                                                                                 
                                      --~~--

 I had gotten myself changed into my super comfy, lavender cotton pajamas and was drying my dripping wet hair with a pearl white towel. It felt simply lovely to have had quite a feast at the dinner table tonight, curtesy of my aunt's wonderful culinary talents and then step out of the bathroom right after a steaming hot bath to fight off the cold chills of the fall season. Still frantically drying my hair I made my way over to the tallest window in my room.The balcony window. I opened it and stepped outside to the darkness which was slightly illuminated with the flickers of light from the windows of the neighboring houses and of course from the soft orange glow from the charming lanterns which were hung around the borders of my balcony ceiling.

My aunt and uncle's place was a one-story house and my room was situated in the first floor facing the neighboring houses across the road with the mighty branches of a giant oak tree decorated with amber leaves elegantly framing my arched window. I looked down at the commotion beneath me. Little girls and boys were joyfully playing with wooden toys near the doorsteps of their houses only to be ushered in doors by their parents.

"Come on, kids. It's bed time,"reminded a mother to her child. The little girl groaned and pouted. "Oh come-on, mommy," she whined on the door step clutching her wooden chariot. "A few more minutes, please?" she begged.

"No my dear, it's quite late at night,now," the mother gently chided before pulling on her daughter's arm to get her to stand up. The girl whimpered and got onto her feet. As the mother ushered her daughter indoors, I heard her say to her little one, "If you stay up all by yourself too late at night, the forest monster might get you," with that thought the door was softly slammed closed.

"Monster?"

I wondered aloud abruptly stopping the task of drying my hair at the mention of that ominous word. My eyes subconsciously drifted towards the dark forest in the distance at the foot of the towering and majestic mountain range.

From a far away, the forest looked like a streak of ink across the land that goes on for miles on end which consiststed of huge groves of an astounding amount of trees both big and small and of all shapes and sizes. I observed that it was quite dense and took up aconsiderable amount of space of the grassy land it was situated on. The end of the forest could not be seen so much that I even started to question on whether it even has an end. It appeared to be deadly silent over there and it had a mysterious aura surrounding it.

As far as I can remember, the forest had always been there, only I felt like it had expanded even more since the last time I was at Silverlake. And I have heard my fair share of the horror stories that made up the Howling Hallows forest. About the vicious monster thatprowled around in its depth.

During the times I spent here inSilverlake with my family, my mother and Aunt would always warn my older sisterand I to keep well out of the forest and we've always obeyed. Did I believe in the stories? I don't know what to believe. I have never seen the monster with my eyes neither have I heard anything strange from the forest but I certainly did not want to go around exploring it.

But what made me feel startled whilst I gazed at the apparently paranormal forest submerged in a cloudy white mist, was that I was suddenly reminded of the fact that according to the latest police reports, all the evidence left ofmy cousin's disappearance had led them to believe that Celine was kidnapped somewhere near the edge of the Howling Hallows Forest.

Even though being snatched away by the impossible to catch neighborhood child kidnapper is truly horrifying, I'm glad to know that at least my sweet cousin wasn't massacred to death by a demonic beast.I'm sure that the monster of Howling Hallow Woods is just an old family myth.

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A/N

I wonder why Uncle Shernon is acting so bizarre. :)

Y'all asked for uploads and here I am with one.

Please note that I have never ever written a horror story before in my life. This is my very first time trying it out and I'm working really hard on it and I'm trying concoct the most gruesome tale ever. So kindly show me some love instead of hate please.

I apologize if my writing is trashy, however I'm trying my best. Feel free to politely advise me on how to improve my writing. I always yearn for opportunities to learn.

Feel free to vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter! I'd really appreciate the support.

Peace! <3