The Kieran's Curse

Eliana Scott sat at her desk in the newsroom, her thoughts drifting away. The sound of keyboards clacking and phones buzzing filled the air, but her mind was preoccupied with the dull political stories she had been covering for months.

She craved something more, something meaningful that would justify her time.

"Hey, Eliana", her editor's voice pulled her back to reality.

Eliana glanced up to see Paul standing in the doorway of his office, waving a folder in his hand. His usual untidy look, loose tie, rolled-up sleeves, and a pen stuck in his hair.

His looks made him resemble a detective more than the editor of a newsroom.

"Hey, Paul."

"Got something for you", he said, tossing the folder on her desk.

Eliana opened the folder, quickly scanning its contents: a black-and-white photograph of a teenage girl, a few handwritten notes, and a newspaper clipping.

"New Raven Town?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nineteen-year-old Lia Jacob went missing two weeks ago. Her family has been asking questions, but the local police are hitting dead ends, and there's still no lead."

"No witnesses?" Eliana asked, surprised.

"No witnesses, no clues, nothing."

Eliana studied the photograph of the missing girl.

"Two weeks and nothing?" Eliana murmured. "What's the story?"

"It's not just about Lia. New Raven Town has a reputation. People go missing there more often than anyone reports. The local police say it's a coincidence, but her family believes she didn't just disappear."

"So then? Are we talking about a serial killing?" Eliana asked, her reporter instincts kicking in.

"Maybe. It could be something stranger than that", Paul replied, his tone turning serious. "The residents of New Raven Town are quite superstitious. There are rumors of curses, ghosts, and dark magic."

"Do you think there might be some truth to this?"

"That's why you're going there."

Eliana chuckled softly, shaking her head. "You're not sending me to chase some ghost story, are you?"

"I don't care if its ghosts, aliens, or any other shadowy tale. What matters to me is that there's a story here, and no one seems to be discussing it. Especially one that the authorities are trying to bury. I want to uncover it, so yes, you're going."

She looked again at the photograph in her hand. The notion of a small-town mystery, filled with whispers of strange occurrences, fascinated her more than she wanted to admit. It was a change from the political scandals she was accustomed to. It could even turn into a compelling news.

"So?" Paul asked, raising an eyebrow.

Eliana smiled and closed the folder. "Count me in."

"Settled then. You leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"That's so soon!" Eliana's voice rose in surprise.

"I need you on this as soon as possible."

The next day, Eliana found herself driving down a narrow, winding road that seemed endless. Trees flanked both sides of the highway, their branches arching overhead and blocking out much of the sunlight.

The further she drove, the more isolated she felt. She turned onto a muddy road as her GPS instructed. The sign for New Raven Town was barely visible, setting the tone for what lay ahead.

Eliana slowed down, navigating the bumpy path that led into the town's center. As she arrived, the first thing that struck her was the profound silence. No birds, no breeze, nothing but stillness.

A few locals wandered about, casting quick glances her way before hastily moving on, as if they were afraid to speak or get close to her. She pulled into the town square, where a handful of small businesses stood, stopping next to a gas station that looked like it hadn't seen an update in years.

As she stepped out, she felt the weight of the town's atmosphere settle heavily on her shoulders. New Raven Town was more than just quiet. It felt haunted.

"You're not from around here," an old man nearby rasped. His face and sunken eyes scrutinized her with an intensity that sent a shiver down her spine.

Eliana smiled politely. "Just visiting. I'm a journalist."

"Journalist, huh? What have you come here to do?"

"A nineteen-year-old girl went missing two weeks ago." Eliana glared at the man.

"Lia Jacob, right?" He asked.

"Do you know anything about her?"

"Why not ask the local police?"

"They will not want to disclose anything, I think."

The old man chuckled at her, a sound that sounded nearly like laughter. "You are not going to find anything. No one will say anything. They've got secrets in this town, and they don't like prying nosey-outsiders."

"What kind of secrets?"

"One that doesn't concern you."

"What are you all so afraid of?" Eliana asked.

The man gave a slight, powerful lean forward, placing his voice in a low whisper. "This isn't the first time someone has gone missing, and won't be the last either, so you better watch where you dig."

As Eliana opened her mouth to ask more, the man limped away, seemingly warning her with his words. She sighed. It was not the first time she had been warned to leave a story alone, and it would probably not be the last.

She looked up at the trees of New Raven Town in the distance, looming, and felt a strange pull towards it.

That evening, Eliana checked into a local inn-a small, dusty place with worn carpets. The innkeeper was a man in his fifties who eyed her with suspicion as he handed over the key to her room.

"You're the journalist who just arrived?"

"I see words travels fast around there". Eliana nodded.

"You here about the girl. Lia?", the innkeeper asked.

"Yeah, hopefully I will be able to find something", Eliana said.

The innkeeper spoke again, much colder this time, "Lady, i would advise you to leave soon. People around there don't like strangers."

"I'm just here to help. I mean there might be something that the police missed."

The innkeeper didn't respond. He just shook his head and walked away. Eliana went to her room. Whatever was happening in this town she was not quite sure, but the more people wanted her out of it, the more she wanted to know what kind of secret lay behind so many warnings.

Eliana's focus shifted back to the room almost as soon as she got comfortable, her eyes flicking at the window, as she pushed aside the curtain. She watched the people as they moved about their businesses outside.

"I have to find out," she said with determination.

Eliana walked into the diner, the bell above the door jingled as she entered. Scents of freshly brewed coffee and sizzling bacon filled the air, arousing hunger. A few eyes glanced over with interest as she walked toward the counter.

Eliana sensed their eyes on her, sizing up the unfamiliar face. They watched her with a mix of worry and curiosity, not used to strangers in their town, especially a journalist.

Approaching the counter, Eliana met a middle-aged woman diligently cleaning the spotless surface. The woman "Harriett" was short and stout, her black hair pulled tightly back in a neat bun.

"Welcome to New Raven. What can I get for you?" Harriett inquired, her tone conveying fatigue.

"Just coffee, please black," Eliana replied, politely.

Eliana took a seat and pulled out her notebook, hoping a few quiet moments would help her relax before getting into her inquiry mood.

Elena looked at the interior of the coffee shop as she enjoyed her drink. The temperature in the room could not be compared to one being in a sauna, it felt more like trying to breathe underwater. It appeared as if the entire city was calm, too calm for comfort, waiting on the verge of an event, probably any event.

"You shouldn't be there," Harriett said, attracting her attention.

"Why," Eliana replied.

"Some things are better left untold."

"Do you know Lia?" Eliana asked her, deliberately sounding as casual as possible.

"Sure," Harriett replied, leaning on the counter.

"This is a small town, so everyone knows everyone. Her family has lived in this town for ages. They are nice people."

Eliana shrugged. "And how long have you been living in this place, if I may ask?"

"This is my home. I have lived here longer than you will ever imagine. I was raised in New Raven."

"Then you know this town too well. Care to share your knowledge with me."

Harriet gave her a long stare, then leaned to whisper. "More people go missing here without any cause of death than should be normal. The police can't tell us anything."

"There have been other missing persons reported before Lia?" Eliana inquired as she jotted down some notes.

"Yes. Mind you, they disappear at different times and this makes us anxious. The point is none of them have ever returned, none has been located."

Eliana felt a chill run down her.

"What then do the police do about this?"

"They choose to ignore it."

"I see"

Eliana sat in silence for a while, as she wondered what would make people go missing and why the local police chose to do nothing about it. She drank her coffee while tapping on her little notebook with the few notes written in it.

"I have to get to the bottom of this situation."

The rest of the day, Eliana walked the streets of the town in search of the answers that she needed. She walked into the local bakery that was filled with the enticing aroma of oven-baked bread and pastries. She engaged the owner, John, in a casual conversation.

"Good evening, how much for the bread roll?"

"Fifty cents."

"I'm sorry; I haven't seen you around here before. New?"

"Yes." Eliana replied. "How long have you worked as a baker in this town?" As she decided to change the direction of the conversation.

"Six Year. What brings you here?"

"I am a journalist."

"Oh! You are a journalist, the one everybody has been talking about." John's expression lost joy, and he said wistfully, "It is not safe here."

Before Eliana could respond, the door leading to the bakery shop flung open, and Sheriff Mac stepped inside. He had heavy boots which thudded on the ground as he walked towards Eliana. He was a short, stocky man with no more than forty years, and with a face embedded with stress.

"Eliana, right?" He asked in a hoarse comradely voice.

Eliana nodded her head.

"Sheriff Mac". As he stretched his hands towards Eliana for a handshake, "I hear that you have been walking around my town making inquiries about Lia."

"Yes, sheriff, is it possible for you to give me some information?"

The sheriff looked at Eliana, running his hand across his face. "Listen, Miss Scott, I get why you're worried, but we've been through this already. We looked all over the woods and questioned folks in town. There's nothing more to find."

Eliana didn't back down. "Lia isn't the first person to vanish, right? Others have gone missing before, and nobody seems to know where they are. Right?"

The sheriff frowned. "I don't think those cases have anything to do with Lia disappearing. Don't come to our town and try to do our job for us. It would be better if you leave."

"Well, I'm staying until I figure out what's going on."

"You're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. This town deals with things in its own way."

"People vanishing without a trace? That's not 'dealing with things,' Sheriff. That's a big problem."

Sheriff Mac stared at her, unhappy with how the talk was going.

"I suggest you back off."

What are you hiding, Sheriff? Eliana's instincts snapped

The sheriff's face turned black, "Leave." The sheriff walked away mad.

As Eliana leaves the bakery shop, she felt more and more determined to uncover what the sheriff was so desperate to hide.

She looked around, as she saw a figure watching her from across the street, a man. His eyes burned across the distance. His gaze was a warning, a silent alarm that shouted danger.

Then, like a ghost, he disappeared.

She was scared for a moment, but she wasn't one to back down that easily.

Eliana wanted to know who the man was. She turned left to the street that led to the inn. The cool air hit her face as she called her editor.

"Hello Paul"

"Eliana, what's the update? Found anything?", Paul's voice crackled through the line.

"More questions than answers. This town is weirder than we thought," Eliana replied.

"Talked to any of the residents yet?"

"None of them would talk, and even the sheriff seems to be hiding something."

"Keep digging, but be careful. We can't afford to lose you."

"I'll get to the bottom of this." Eliana determined.

Eliana hung up and walked faster. The moon was casting ghostly shadows on the trees and the street, and she was the only one on it and as she walked, she hummed to herself to calm her wandering mind.

The streetlights flickered and went out. Darkness fell. Eliana's heart skipped.

As she looked around in the dark, she saw a figure. The same figure that was watching her while she had stood outside the bakers.

"Who are you?" she called out, trying to sound calm.

No response. The figure didn't move or speak.

"Who are you?" Eliana said again, her voice trembling.

No answer.

Eliana panicked and turned to run, but her feet felt rooted to the ground.

The figure didn't move, yet Eliana could feel it watching her, its eyes on her. Again, the figure disappeared into the darkness as the streetlight flickered back on.

Eliana took to her heels. She ran without turning back.

Eliana ran without catching her breath. On reaching the inn, she hurried to her room, bolting the door as she tried to flash back at what had happened.

The next day, Eliana sat in her room at the inn, feeling the heavy burden of New Raven Town's secrets. She flipped through her notes, reviewing the points she had made during her investigation.

The information was limited; just a few lines from the local paper and a brief description from the sheriff's report. How could a girl disappear from a small town two weeks ago without leaving a trace? She picked up the phone and called the local station.

A voice on the other end sounded both casual and weary. "Hello, New Raven police station."

"This is Eliana from Revelation Newspaper. I've been trying to gather information about the case of a young girl who went missing two weeks ago," she said.

The man on the other end paused, as if he were considering his words carefully. "I'm sorry, but if you need any information, you'll need to come to the station."

The man sounded firm.

"The authorities had mobilized their resources, searched through the woods and interviewed neighbors and friends but to no avail."

"What if the police aren't even looking at the right angle or pursuing the case with the wrong leads?" Eliana said.

"Madam, are you attempting to educate us on how to perform our duties? If you require any help or have any information, the station is open." The man said as the call ended.

Eliana focused intently on the phone, wondering what dirt the local police were trying to conceal. However, when she went through the case, it did not make complete sense.

The residents of New Raven Town were overly careful, overly reserved. It was as though everyone had something to say, but were not willing to actually say it.

"I have to go see Lia's parents. I must find out their take on this matter." Eliana said, as she rose to her feet, reaching for her coat.

Eliana reached the Jacob's family house, which appeared modest in size yet exquisite in architectural design.

Maria and Dave Jacob, Lia's mother, and father answered the door. Their faces were pale, an indication of the level of sorrow they contained within them.

Thank you for coming," Maria said in a small voice. "We had really hoped someone from the outside would help because the police weren't giving us any news."

"I'm glad you have accepted my request to meet. Thank you, Maria. And I am sorry about Lia."

Lia's photographs hung in the living room. Lia was just nineteen, a high school graduate, and was about to leave New Raven Town with hopes of furthering her studies at a college in the city.

Maria made herself comfortable on the couch, as she held a handkerchief a little too tightly in her hands, as if she was trying hard to suppress her emotions. Dave stood by the window, watching the street outside, hoping his daughter could walk in through the door any minute.

"Everything has been done," Maria said. "The police checked everywhere, but they did not yield any results. Nothing. No clues."

"I know this is tough, but can you tell me more about Lia? What happened the day she went missing?"

Eliana held her notebook, ready to write.

"She was supposed to pick up a few things from the store. Lia left the house around seven, and I was cooking at the time. We waited, but she didn't return. We then went to the store, but we were told she had left hours earlier."

"Did she mention any plans to go somewhere else?" Eliana asked softly.

"No," Dave replied, his voice steady but weak. "She wouldn't go anywhere without asking. I know my daughter."

"What about the days before she disappeared?" Eliana asked, feeling there might be more. "Was there anything unusual? Anything different?"

"I remember Lia seemed a bit distracted and quiet in the days before she went missing. She didn't talk much about it, but I could tell something was bothering her."

"Bothered?" Eliana repeated, pausing for a moment. "Did she say what the problem was?"

"Not much," Maria said, shaking her head. "I tried to ask her about what was weighing her down, but she just brushed it off, saying it was nothing. A mother knows when something is wrong."

David turned from the window, his face tense. "After her disappearance, we found a message left on her phone.

The message read: "We know you."

Eliana's eyes widened.

"And before she went missing, I overheard her speaking to her best friend, Bonnie, on the phone, saying something about Kieran's estate."

Eliana became more interested.

"The Kieran's estate?"

Eliana jotted down these details.

Was Lia in some way related to Kieran's estate? What was Lia talking to Bonnie about? Eliana couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it as well.

She looked at the lead she had written.

After meeting with the Jacob's, Eliana thanked them and left. As she walked along the street of New Raven, she was receiving a lot of attention. She thought about the new leads she had just gathered after leaving Jacob's house. She decided to meet with Bonnie, Lia's best friend.

As Eliana walked into the café, she headed toward the counter where a nineteen-year-old girl with dark brown hair and an olive-toned complexion, stood. "Bonnie?"

"Yes?", Bonnie asked.

"I am Eliana, a journalist. I need some kind of lead as to what happened with Lia, and I learned you were her best friend."

"Yes, she was my best friend," Bonnie said, almost in tears.

Eliana pursed her lips and nodded encouragingly. "I am sorry about your friend, but can you tell me what you know? What you think might help?"

Bonnie paused, as if contemplating whether to speak.

"I didn't tell the police this, but i feel like i can trust you. A few days before she went missing, she said something about having a bad feeling, and she would feel like somebody was watching her."

"Did she say who might be watching her?" Any name? Or say anything that made her feel unsafe."

"No, but she had said something over the phone" Bonnie looked at Eliana terrified.

"Lia saw something she wasn't supposed to see".

Eliana leaned in, curious. "What did she see?"

"She said, she saw a guy standing in the woods. She did not get that close to see who it was, but it spooked her out and, by the light of the full moon, she saw a human turning into a huge monster werewolf.

"Werewolf?" Elena's intestines twisted in knots.

"She said, the man looked like Vance. The heir to the Kieran's estate." Bonnie whispered.

"Are you sure?"

"I heard her well. I am sure Lia wasn't imagining things. She described the glowing yellow eyes, his body twisting... it was real for her."

Elena shivered as she walked out of the café. "Why did my skin crawl? And who was Vance? What was she getting herself into?" Elena pondered.

That evening, Elena sat at her table in the inn. She tried to organize the information she had gathered, pencil between her lips. She wrote "Kieran's estate" boldly on her paper and stared deeply at it.