The Hollow

The Hollow

I sighed as I got to school, Ella had gone missing a week ago, without a trace. I was getting worried. I went to class as normal and that night I went into the forest to try to find her.

I said “Ella? Hello, is there anyone there?”

My footsteps echoed, but I kept walking. I didn’t want to turn around in fear that whatever took Ella would take me. I stopped walking and looked around, nothing. Then footsteps, I turned around afraid of what I might find.

An old man said “A little late to be out, are you lost?”
I jumped and ran out of the forest as fast as I could. I got to my house and my dad said “What happened?”
I said “I saw a creepy old man in the forest.”
“Never go in there again ok. You know what happened to Jason.”
I nodded “I know dad, it just feels weird without her.”
“Just stay out of there.”
“I will.”
The next day I went to talk to Ella’s dad. He saw me and said “Kiera, what is it?”
“Can you tell me the last time you saw her, please?”
“Ok, come in.”
He locked the door behind me and said “There was an old man by the door, we asked for a place to stay that night. I didn’t let him in. The next week a young girl came, she was six or seven and asked for us to help her find her mom. Ella took her up to her room and when I went to check on them, they were both gone.”
“Thank you.”
That night I went home to get to sleep so I could get up early when I heard something that froze me stiff. Ella’s voice. I ran into the forest smiling. When I saw what was there I was shocked.
Ella was dead, but there was nothing left of her except her skin, hair and eyes. I saw the creepy old man standing behind her and said “You killed her?”
He nodded once, I was frozen in place, I couldn’t run. I came to my senses and ran as fast as I could away from that creepy old man. My dad yelled at me when I got home he said “What if he had decided to attack you, then what? He would kill you.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“This time listen to me, don’t go back in there. I
was fourteen and knew I should listen to him and said “I won’t unless I see her.”
He said “Ok sweetie, be careful ok, I don’t want you getting hurt again. I smiled as he moved my hair revealing a scar on the back of my neck. He told me that when I was twelve I was attacked by something that gave me the scar. I said “I’ll be careful, I promise. The next night I snuck into the forest in hope of finding Ella. I
found her skin laying on the ground and the old man said “Little late to be out, isn't it?”
I smiled “No, still moonlight.”
He smiled and said “I have a gift for you. I turned to face him and watched as the skin on his face started peeling off. Not like a sunburn I mean his entire face just fell off. I stared in terrified awe and before long his skin was at his feet. What was in front of me was a hollow of a man. All of his mussels and veins were exposed, but he wasn’t bleeding. It was like he had an invisible skin keeping the blood inside his horrifying figure.
He smiled, his eyes were hollow holes in his head and his mouth was full of shark-like teeth and his smile was wide and bloody.
I smiled as he said “Hey Ash, nice to see you again.”
He picked up the skin of my former best friend and said “I got you a welcoming present.”

I smiled widely and said “I see you got me a new skin and with that my own skin fell to the ground and I slipped myself into my new skin. I felt alive as I pulled the eyes over my hollow eyes and said “Fits like a glove.”
He slipped into a skin laying nearby and said “Now Ash, time to go.” Ash was my real name, my birth name. Anyone of your friends could be a hollow and by the time you figure it out they have already targeted you as their next skin. Do with this information what you wish, just consider it a warning. You can’t kill them so the best you can do is run as far as you can, before it’s too late!