WHERE ELARA SLEEPS

Maya's POV

If Maya had known what really happened at Camp Hollow Pines twenty years ago, she never would've taken the job. She thought it would just be a summer gig. Free food. Some fresh air.

The next morning, Ash was gone. His bed was empty. His cabin was cold. Director Hayes brushed it off.

"Probably just took a walk. He will turn up."

But Maya wasn't sure about Ash coming back, she had woken up very early and followed the trail behind the cabin to search for Ash. Maya searched the surrounding bushes but Ash was nowhere to be found. Instead the trail behind the cabins, she found something lying in the dirt. A tooth, it was still bloody, Still warm. and beside it, scratched into a tree trunk, were three words:

SHE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING.

Maya almost fell to the ground with fear. She quickly took out her chaplet and made the sign of the cross. She picked up the tooth, she knew it will come in handy later. By lunch, the camp was acting like Ash never existed.

No one mentioned his name. His bunk was cleared out. His clipboard was handed to some guy named Evan. And when Maya asked Director Hayes if they should file a missing person's report, he just gave her a tired smile.

"He's a grown man, Maya. Sometimes people get cold feet. Ash does this every few years. Trust me, he will show up."

That was the first lie. What what Maya witnessed last night, she knew deep within her that Ash will never show up again. Maya didn't trust him. Not after the look on Ash's face last night. Not after that whisper. Not after she found a tooth behind the cabins like it had been yanked straight from someone's skull.

She didn't tell anyone about what had happened and about the tooth. Not yet. She wasn't sure who to trust in this damn camp.

After lunch, Maya ducked into the staff room and pulled Ash's file from the box labeled "Emergency Contacts." No one was around. She flipped through the thin folder quickly. Most of it was boilerplate, first aid certs, allergy form, references from other camps. But one line stood out:

"Former camper. 2005-2008."

So he had history here. She pulled out her phone and Googled Camp Hollow Pines 2005, expecting photos. What she got instead was... nothing. No camper blogs. No old Facebook albums. No archived websites. Just one article. Teen Girl Drowns at Summer Camp – Body Never Recovered

The article didn't mention Hollow Pines by name. But the date and the town matched. The girl's name?

Elara Dawn Wren. Age 18.

The photo hit Maya like a slap. Dark hair. Pale skin. A small scar under her left eye.

It was her. The girl from the lake. The one in the mirror. The one from her dreams.

Maya slammed the file shut and stuffed the paper back in. Her hands were shaking. Ash knew her. Maybe even loved her. And now he was gone. Maya didn't go to the fire circle. She stayed in Cabin 7, watching the window, listening to every sound. Every creak. Every breath that wasn't hers. The girls in her cabin whispered about her behind cupped hands.

"She's weird," one of them said.

"I heard she talks to herself," another added.

They weren't wrong. But it wasn't herself Maya was talking to. It was Elara's ghost and now everybody thinks she weird. The girls avoided her. Around 1:12 a.m., Maya woke to the feeling of pressure like someone had just sat on her bed. She blinked into the darkness. Nobody was there

Then the mirror groaned.

It didn't crack. It groaned, like something was pressing against it from the inside. Maya grabbed her phone, aimed the light at the glass.

At first, all she saw was her own face pale, sweat-slick, eyes wide. Then behind her, in the reflection. Long wet hair. White dress. Bare feet.

And those same milky eyes.

She turned around fast. The cabin was empty. The bed across from her was unmade. The floorboards creaked. But there was no one there. She looked back at the mirror. The words were already forming.

"She lied." She knew me" 

" She was my friend.

"They were my friend 

"Yet they killed me.

Maya screamed and ran out of her cabin. What is happening to me? She asked herself. Why am I the only one seeing all this. And what is Brookes connection with Elara? She need too find out as soon as possible. Maya searched for Brooke in her cabin but she was nowhere to be found. She saw one of the camp crew who told her that Brooke and the kids were heading towards the lake

She ran towards the direction of the lake, she waited until the kids were down at the lake, and cornered Brooke in one of the trees.

"Who was Elara?"

Brooke flinched. "What?"

"You said this place was magic. You said I was lucky. So tell me who she was."

Brooke's eyes narrowed. "Where did you hear that name?"

Maya didn't answer.

Brooke shook her head, arms folding tight. "Look, that was forever ago. I barely remember it. Just some campfire story one of those things they tell to scare us."

"But she was real," Maya snapped. "She died here. And Ash knew her."

At the mention of his name, Brooke looked away.

"Don't talk about this anymore," she said, voice low. "Seriously. You're new. You don't get it yet, but… people who dig too deep around here tend to disappear."

Maya felt a cold weight settle in her gut what's that statement a threat or a warning? But she didn't back 

"Like Ash?" Maya said

Brooke turned back sharply. "He didn't disappear. He left."

"That's a lie."

Brooke didn't deny it or confirmed it.

"Look Maya, I don't want to talk about this again and with that she left maya. 

"Why doesn't she want to talk about Elara anymore? Does she really not know Elara or is she hiding something? Maya was worried. Strange things are happening in this camp and the one person that seems to know about it, doesn't want to talk about it. There's more to it and she won't give up searching. But for now she needs to get back to her job.

Later that afternoon after the break. Maya found a group photo nailed to the back of the old nature hut. The edges were curled and water-stained. It looked like it had been there for years. She wiped away the dirt and leaned closer. It was a picture of a row of campers. Arms slung around each other. Grinning in the sun. One of them was Elara. Back row, far right. Hair in braids. Smile lopsided. And standing right beside her? Ash. His arm was around her shoulders. Maya turned the photo over, hoping for names. Instead, she found something scratched into the back of the wood. A message. Carved in jagged letters.

"She was the sacrificial lamb."

How is this possible? How was Elara the sacrificial lamb? Is there some sort of ritual or witchcraft happening? She removed the photos gently from the nature hut. She doesn't want any of them to get torn.

"Maya some of the campers needs help. The camp director called 

"Coming. She yelled carefully hiding the pictures behind her as she ran out to meet the others.

That night, the whisper came again. But this time, it wasn't soft. It screamed.

 "MAYA!"

The windows shattered.The mirror cracked. And the cabin door blew open like it had been kicked in. The girls screamed, diving under blankets, clutching each other. Maya just stood there here body shaking with fear.

At the threshold, a shadow stood there, it has the form of a woman. Her hair was wet and dripping. Her yes glowing faint white. And her Lips was moving. but no sound was coming out. Just the shape.

"Help me." 

Then she vanished.

The girls screamed with so much fear, that the whole camp was in commotion. Maya couldn't sleep after that. None of the girls could. One of them Erin had to be sedated by the nurse after she started clawing at her face and mumbling about someone inside her skin.

Director Hayes called it "group hysteria." He Said they were just overtired. And dismissed everything. Maya and the other girls knew what they saw. But why is the Mr Hayes trying to dismiss it?"

Maya was done listening. She was going to find out what happened to Elara. Even if it killed her.