The Vanishing of Eliza Stone

 Lena Montgomery had always chased the truth. As an investigative journalist, she thrived on uncovering mysteries, bringing forgotten stories to light, and giving a voice to those who had vanished into the shadows. But when she received an assignment about the recent disappearance of Eliza Stone, a young woman from the nearby town, Lena didn’t realize she was about to uncover something much darker than she ever expected.

Eliza had been reported missing two weeks ago. Her friends said she had gone out to photograph an old, abandoned building on the outskirts of town—the kind of places Eliza loved to explore. But when she didn’t come back, the town was gripped by fear. The police had no leads, and the case quickly became a cold one, with no new evidence, no clues, and no suspect.

Lena was intrigued. She had a hunch that there was more to this story than just another missing person case. When she first started digging into Eliza’s background, she discovered something odd: Eliza had been obsessed with a local urban legend—the disappearance of a group of teenagers at Elmwood High School, an old, decaying building that had been abandoned for decades. Though the Elmwood story wasn’t widely discussed anymore, Lena couldn’t help but find the connection unsettling.

She decided to visit the town’s library to look up old articles, hoping to find something that might tie the disappearance of Eliza to the ancient myth of Elmwood. The librarian, a frail woman named Mrs. Greene, looked up from her desk with a knowing expression when Lena asked about the school.

“Elmwood?” Mrs. Greene said softly. “You won’t find much about that place in the papers. People here don’t like to talk about it.”

Lena raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Why not?”

The librarian hesitated, glancing nervously toward the back of the library. “It’s just... better left alone, dear. Some stories are meant to fade away.”

But Lena wasn’t one to shy away from a story, especially not when she smelled a hidden truth. She dug deeper, flipping through dusty archives until she found a faint reference to Elmwood High. It was buried in a forgotten article from over two decades ago, just a short mention in the middle of a piece about strange disappearances in the town.

“On the night of November 12, 1998, five teenagers went missing after allegedly playing a game of hide-and-seek in the abandoned Elmwood High School. No trace of them was ever found, and the building was sealed off. Authorities never pursued the case further, labeling it an isolated incident. To this day, the school remains untouched, but some locals believe the spirits of the missing teens still haunt its halls.”

Lena’s curiosity grew. She could see the connection forming. Eliza Stone, a young woman obsessed with ghost stories, had vanished after venturing to Elmwood’s ruins. But why? Was there a new twist to the legend that even Eliza didn’t know about?

Lena decided to head out to Elmwood herself, hoping to find more answers. The school sat on the outskirts of town, a crumbling structure wrapped in vines, its windows boarded up and its roof sagging under the weight of years of neglect. It was the kind of place that breathed unease, a place where stories died, and yet never seemed to be fully forgotten.

She approached the building cautiously, her heart racing. The stories about Elmwood had always been vague—whispers of strange noises and eerie lights—but there had been no solid evidence to suggest it was anything more than an urban legend. Yet something told Lena that Eliza’s disappearance might have something to do with the haunted history of this place.

As she stepped into the overgrown courtyard, Lena noticed an old, rusted fence that led to a side door—barely hanging on its hinges. It had been pried open recently. The door creaked loudly as she pushed it, her flashlight illuminating a dark hallway that seemed to stretch forever.

The school’s interior was exactly as she expected—abandoned, frozen in time. Dust covered the desks and lockers, and graffiti marred the walls. But it was the silence that unnerved her most. It felt oppressive, as though the building itself was holding its breath.

She made her way deeper into the school, each step echoing in the stillness. The halls were empty, but there was a strange feeling that she wasn’t alone. Lena’s flashlight flickered, casting long shadows on the cracked walls. She paused, her breath catching as she heard something faint—a soft scraping sound, like footsteps, coming from the second floor.

“Hello?” she called out, but only silence answered.

Lena cautiously ascended the stairs, her footsteps creaking on the old wood. She found herself in a long hallway lined with classrooms. But at the end of the hall, one door stood ajar, a pale light spilling out from within.

She hesitated but pushed the door open. Inside, she found nothing—except a small, old photo frame resting on the floor. It was a picture of five teenagers, all grinning for the camera. One of them, a young woman with dark hair, was unmistakably Eliza Stone.

Lena’s pulse quickened. Eliza had been here. The photo had to be from before she vanished—maybe even from when the school was still active. She flipped the frame over and gasped as a small piece of paper fell out. It was a note, written in hurried handwriting:

“The curse is real. We made a mistake coming here. If you find this, leave now. Do not look for us. Don’t play their game. You can’t escape once you’ve been marked.”

Before Lena could fully process what she had just read, the door slammed shut behind her, plunging her into darkness. The temperature dropped sharply, and she heard the faintest whisper in the air:

“You shouldn’t have come.”

Lena spun around, her flashlight sweeping the room, but there was no one there. Her heart raced. Panic set in as she rushed toward the door, but it wouldn’t budge. The whispers grew louder, now a chorus of voices, low and guttural, filling the room. The walls seemed to close in on her, and the floor beneath her feet trembled.

In the distance, she thought she saw something—a shadow, too tall to be human, standing motionless in the corner. Her breath caught in her throat as the figure began to move toward her.

Suddenly, the door to the classroom flew open, and Lena was knocked to the ground. She scrambled out into the hallway, gasping for air, her mind racing. When she looked back, the classroom door was shut tight again, as though nothing had ever happened.

With her pulse racing and terror creeping up her spine, Lena bolted from the school, not daring to look back. She didn’t know what had happened in that room or if anyone would ever believe her, but one thing was certain: the legend of Elmwood was more than just a ghost story—it was a curse. And now, it seemed, Eliza Stone had become a part of it.

As Lena returned to the town, she stopped by the police station to report what she had found, but she was met with cold stares. The officers said the case of Eliza Stone was closed, and no one had seen her in days.

And yet, as Lena left the station, she could swear she saw a figure in the distance, standing by the gates of Elmwood High. A young woman, her dark hair hanging in front of her face, staring at Lena with eyes that seemed both lost and eternal.

Eliza Stone was not gone. She had become part of the curse—and Lena, unknowingly, had just become the next to join her