🩸 The Change
Weeks passed.
Then came the news.
Evangeline was pregnant.
But from the beginning… nothing about it was normal.
Her body changed too quickly.
Her stomach swelled at an unnatural rate, stretching the fabric of her dresses within days. She stopped leaving the house entirely.
At night, faint sounds drifted down from Cedar Ridge.
Not cries.
Not voices.
Something… in between.
When Dr. Webb was called again — secretly, urgently — he found Evangeline barely recognizable.
Her skin had grown pale, almost gray.
Dark circles hollowed her eyes.
And her expression…
Was empty.
“This isn’t right…” he whispered, examining her.
The heartbeat he listened for came and went.
Fast.
Then gone.
Then back again.
Like something struggling… to exist.
Evangeline gripped his wrist suddenly.
Her fingers were cold.
Too cold.
“It moves,” she said softly.
Dr. Webb frowned. “That’s normal—”
She shook her head slowly.
“No… you don’t understand.”
Her eyes met his.
“It moves when I’m watching.”
⏰ The Night of November 13
At exactly 3:17 a.m., the silence of Milfield Hollow shattered.
A scream echoed down from Cedar Ridge.
It was not human in any ordinary sense.
It was too sharp.
Too long.
Too full of something beyond pain.
Moments later, the town’s phone operator, Dorothy Kemp, received a call.
The line crackled.
Then came a voice.
Weak. Trembling.
Barely recognizable.
“The blood…”
A pause.
“Our blood…”
A breath that sounded like it hurt to take.
“…is ruined.”
The line went dead.
