The Forgotten Town

A Mystery Thriller

Chapter 1: The Vanishing on Route 19

The road stretched endlessly before Daniel Carter, the neon glow of his dashboard clock blinking 2:37 AM.

He had been driving for hours, lost on some forgotten stretch of Route 19, with no cell service and no sign of another car.

Then he saw the sign.

WELCOME TO BLACK HOLLOW
Population: 682

Daniel frowned. He had driven this way a dozen times and had never seen a town here before.

Yet, when he rolled into the main street, the buildings looked old, like they had been standing for a hundred years. Gas lanterns flickered along the sidewalks, casting eerie shadows.

And then he noticed the people.

They were watching him.

Chapter 2: The Town That Shouldn’t Exist

Daniel parked outside an old diner.

A man in a fedora and suspenders stood by the entrance, smoking a cigarette. His clothes looked straight out of the 1950s.

“You lost, stranger?” the man asked.

Daniel hesitated. “I… I don’t know. I didn’t even know this town existed.”

The man smirked. “Most don’t.”

Inside the diner, everything was wrong. The radio played an old jazz tune, the air smelled of coffee and something metallic. The people inside—men in suits, women in polka-dot dresses—stared at Daniel like he was an intruder.

A waitress approached. Her name tag read "Evelyn."

“You need to leave,” she whispered, sliding him a folded napkin.

On it, three words were scrawled in red ink.

“GET OUT NOW.”

Chapter 3: The Clock Stopped at Midnight

Daniel stepped outside, his heart pounding.

Then he noticed the clock tower in the center of town.

It was stuck at 12:00 AM.

Every building had no modern technology—no phones, no TVs, no internet. It was like the town had been frozen in time.

Then—

BONG.

The clock chimed.

The people stopped moving.

Their heads all turned toward Daniel at once.

And they smiled.

Chapter 4: No Way Out

Daniel ran to his car.

He turned the key.

Nothing.

He grabbed his phone. No signal.

A shadow loomed beside his window. Evelyn.

“You can’t leave,” she whispered. “None of us can.”

Daniel’s hands shook. “What do you mean?”

Evelyn’s eyes were full of fear. “This town… it’s a trap. We don’t belong here, but we can’t escape.”

Daniel’s blood ran cold.

“How long have you been here?”

Evelyn’s voice was hollow.

“Since 1952.”

Chapter 5: The Final Warning

A figure appeared at the end of the street.

A tall man in a black suit.

His face was pale, his eyes like empty voids.

The townspeople bowed their heads as he approached.

Daniel felt his body freeze. The air turned ice-cold.

The man smiled.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said in a voice like rusted metal.

Daniel tried to move. He couldn’t.

“You belong to Black Hollow now,” the man whispered.

Then everything went dark.

Epilogue: The New Stranger

The next morning, a new sign stood outside of town.

WELCOME TO BLACK HOLLOW
Population: 683

And in the diner, a new man sat at the counter—wearing modern clothes, looking confused.

Evelyn slid him a napkin.