Chapter 1: The Vanishing
Ada had never been one for small towns. The air always felt thicker, the people quieter, their glances more piercing. She arrived in Cliffton, a seemingly serene village nestled between rolling hills, with little more than her notebook and a sense of unease. The assignment from her editor was simple: cover the disappearance of a local woman. But Ada knew—this wasn’t just another missing person case. Something about this town whispered of buried secrets.
It was early in the afternoon when Ada stood in front of the Cooper family’s home. The house was old, weathered by years of neglect, but its charm still held an eerie grace. The paint on the door chipped, the windows fogged with age, and the flowers in the garden barely clung to life. The disappearance of Sarah Cooper, a 28-year-old nurse, had gripped the small town for two weeks, but the story hadn’t gained much traction outside of Cliffton. Ada’s editor had been clear—this wasn’t just about Sarah. There were rumors, whispers, that something darker lingered beneath the surface of Cliffton’s tranquility.
Ada knocked on the door, her heart racing a little faster than she expected. The door creaked open, revealing Mrs. Cooper, a frail woman with gray hair tightly pulled into a bun. Her eyes were red, and her face pale. She had likely been crying for days. Still, there was a quiet strength in her demeanor. The kind of strength only those who have suffered can understand.
“Ms. Ada Williams?” Mrs. Cooper asked softly, her voice cracked but polite. “You’re here to write about Sarah, aren’t you?”
“I am,” Ada said, her voice firm, though her insides felt anything but. “I’m sorry for your loss. I hope I can help bring some answers.”
Mrs. Cooper nodded slowly, stepping aside to let Ada into the house. Inside, the air was heavy with the scent of old wood and incense. Pictures of Sarah lined the walls—photos from childhood, graduation, family vacations. Each image showed a young woman full of life and promise. But the emptiness of her absence hung in the air, visible in the lines etched on Mrs. Cooper’s face.
“I’m afraid there are no answers,” Mrs. Cooper said as she motioned for Ada to sit on the couch. “Sarah was always a good girl. A quiet one. She was the one who took care of me after my health started failing. And now... I don’t know where she’s gone.”
Ada opened her notebook and clicked her pen. “What was Sarah doing the day she disappeared?”
“She was working at the clinic,” Mrs. Cooper replied, her hands wringing a handkerchief. “She was supposed to come home around 7 p.m. for dinner. But she never showed. Her car was found near the woods, about two miles outside of town. The police say there’s no sign of foul play, but I know something isn’t right. I can feel it in my bones.”
Ada jotted down the details, her instincts telling her that something was off. The fact that the police had found her car without any trace of Sarah only made her more suspicious. Missing persons cases weren’t always this complicated—unless there were people in power who didn’t want the truth to come out.
“Have the police found anything else?” Ada asked, trying to maintain a neutral tone.
“No,” Mrs. Cooper replied bitterly. “They say they’re looking, but they’re not. I know they’re not. They keep saying it's just another runaway, but Sarah would never leave me like this. She was all I had left.”
Ada’s pen scratched across the paper. “Has anyone unusual been in town recently? Anyone that might have seen something?”
Mrs. Cooper hesitated. “There were rumors... whispers, I suppose. People say the town’s not what it used to be. But no one has said anything concrete. It’s just that... there’s something about the people in this town. Some of them, I mean. They’re not who they seem to be.”
Ada’s interest piqued. The woman’s words were cryptic, but they struck a chord with her. She couldn’t put her finger on it yet, but something about Cliffton felt wrong. The way Mrs. Cooper’s voice dropped at the mention of certain townspeople, the hesitation when she spoke of rumors—there was more here than a simple missing person case.
“Mrs. Cooper,” Ada began, lowering her voice slightly, “Is there anyone who might know more about Sarah’s life? Perhaps someone she spoke to often?”
Mrs. Cooper wiped a tear from her eye, then nodded slowly. “There’s a man... Jacob Hayes. He was... close to Sarah, I suppose. They were friends. Maybe more, I don’t know. He runs the local bar in town. If anyone knows what happened, it’s him.”
Ada stood up, her heart racing. She knew this was only the beginning, and whatever lay ahead was going to be more dangerous than anything she had encountered in her short career as a journalist. She thanked Mrs. Cooper, her mind already turning over the information. She had a new lead, and if it meant digging deeper into the secrets of Cliffton, she would.
As Ada stepped out into the cool evening air, the weight of the town’s silence pressed in on her. She didn’t know it yet, but this was the moment she would lose herself in Cliffton’s darkness—a darkness that had long been waiting for someone to uncover its truths.
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