Chapter 1 - I followed my younger sister Silly down a deserted road deep in the night.The highway was far behind us now. The sound of trucks and motorcycles had disappeared, swallowed by the darkness. Here, there was only moonlight, drifting clouds, and the distant howling of dogs.
The road beneath our feet was cracked and uneven.
Every few steps, my shoes crushed dry leaves that sounded much louder than they should have.
Silly walked ahead of me without hesitation.
She had always been fearless.
When we were children, she was the one who opened abandoned rooms first. She was the one who climbed into empty houses after dark because she wanted to know what was inside.
But tonight was different.
Tonight, she kept looking over her shoulder.
Not at me.
Behind me.
That was what made my skin crawl.
“Silly,” I whispered.
She stopped.
“What?”
“Why do you keep looking behind me?”
“I don't.”
“You do.”
She stared at me for several seconds.
Then she smiled.
That smile somehow made everything worse.
“Keep walking.”
“Where are we going?”
“You'll know at midnight.”
I checked my phone.
11:37 PM.
“That's twenty-three minutes.”
“I know.”
“You dragged me out here at midnight for something?”
She didn't answer.
We continued walking until the road narrowed and disappeared into a forest.
The trees stood close together on both sides.
Some were tall and thin.
Others looked ancient, their trunks twisted into shapes that resembled limbs.
Then we heard it.
A dog howled in the distance.
Another answered.
Then another.
Three separate howls.
Silly stopped immediately.
She grabbed my wrist.
“Don't look toward the forest.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Just don't.”
Naturally, I looked.
There was nothing there.
Only darkness.
“I don't see anything.”
“Good.”
She started walking again.
A minute later, she suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me into a thick bush.
I nearly fell.
“What are you doing?”
“Shh.”
She put a finger over her lips.
Then she pointed ahead.
I looked through the leaves.
That's when I saw it.
A massive tree stood beside the road.
It was so large that three people could probably have wrapped their arms around its trunk and still not touched.
Its branches twisted upward like skeletal fingers.
The canopy was impossibly dense.
Not even moonlight reached the trunk.
“I’m being eaten alive by mosquitoes,” I whispered.
“Wait.”
“For what?”
“Midnight.”
I stared at her.
“What happens at midnight?”
She looked at the tree.
Her expression changed.
It wasn't excitement.
It wasn't fear.
It was anticipation.
Then she pulled a bundle of incense from her bag.
My eyebrows lifted.
“Incense?”
“Light these.”
“To keep mosquitoes away?”
“Exactly.”
I took the bundle.
“Why do you have enough incense to burn down a temple?”
“Just light it.”
Trying to act brave, I struck a lighter.
The entire bundle caught fire.
Smoke exploded around us.
Silly immediately started coughing.
“You idiot!”
“You told me to light it!”
“Not like you're trying to summon every ghost in the village!”
My smile vanished.
Silly grabbed the incense from me and split it into smaller groups.
Then she handed them back.
“Take them over there.”
She pointed toward the tree.
“Place them in a circle.”
“Why me?”
She gave me a flat look.
“Do you want the ghosts to come here instead?”
I swallowed.
She wasn't joking.
I stepped out of the bushes.
The air immediately felt colder.
I walked toward the tree.
The closer I got, the quieter everything became.
The insects stopped chirping.
The wind disappeared.
Even the dogs went silent.
Then I saw the hollow.
A massive opening split the base of the trunk.
It was black inside.
Not shadow-black.
Deeper.
It looked like the tree had a mouth.
I placed the incense around it.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
I hurried back.
“Done.”
Silly nodded.
Then she whispered something.
I couldn't hear the words.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
We crouched in the bushes.
I tried not to look at the tree.
Then I noticed something.
Something was pressing against my left shoulder.
I froze.
“Silly?”
“What?”
“Are you pushing me?”
“No.”
“You're on my right, right?”
“Yes.”
My throat became dry.
Something cold touched my left arm.
I slowly looked sideways.
No one was there.
“Silly...”
She grabbed my wrist.
“Don't move.”
“There's something beside me.”
“I know.”
My heart stopped.
“You know?”
She nodded.
“Don't look at it.”
Something pressed against my other shoulder.
Now there was pressure on both sides.
Like two people were standing beside me.
Silly pulled a yellow talisman from her pocket.
She began whispering an incantation.
The pressure grew stronger.
Something breathed beside my ear.
Warm.
Slow.
Human.
I almost screamed.
“Get them, Silly!”
She slapped the talisman onto the ground.
The candle flame appeared from nowhere.
It burned bright yellow.
The pressure disappeared.
Silence returned.
I stared at her.
She stood up.
Then she walked toward the tree.
I followed with my eyes, convinced my little sister was some kind of exorcist.
At the base of the tree, she placed a mirror against the trunk.
Then she lit a candle.
Then she pulled a small doll from her bag.
A handmade cloth doll.
Its face had been drawn with black ink.
Silly pressed the doll tightly against her stomach.
I felt a strange chill.
“Why are you holding it like that?”
She looked at me.
For the first time that night, I saw fear in her eyes.
Then she whispered:
“Because I'm not the one the tree wants.”
A branch cracked above us.
Silly looked up.
The leaves began moving.
There was no wind.
Then the tree made a sound.
A low creaking groan.
Followed by something that sounded unmistakably like a whisper.
A single word.
My name.
I stared at Silly.
Her face had gone white.
The tree whispered again.
This time louder.
Then Silly dropped the doll.
“Run.”
I didn't move.
“What?”
She grabbed my arm.
“RUN!”
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Behind us, something stepped out of the hollow.
And it was wearing my face.
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