Strånge Tåles - #1

Ethan Cross, a popular vlogger known all around the world, prided himself on his ability to turn any trip into an adventure.

His vlogs were not just travel guides—they were experiences. And once again, he believes he had come up with yet another internet-breaking content—

"A solo survival challenge," he said to his friend, Daniel who sat across from him with a smile on his face and a plate of pancakes in hand.

"It's going to be groundbreaking," he said, already feeling the thrill. "I was doing some research and I read about this remote mountain town— Raven Creek," he revealed.

Daniel furrowed and set the plate down on a nearby table. "Raven Creek?" He repeated. "I'm pretty sure I've heard of it before."

Ethan shook his head no. "There are two Raven Creek, yours must be the café near the train station." He said, determined. He wasn't about to let hours of research go to waste.

Daniel thought for a second before leaning back, brushing the thought from his mind. "Well, is there a story with this... Raven Creek?" He probed, like always, eager to hear more about his friend's next adventure.

"Yes," he nodded. "Apparently, this town is haunted."

He paused, waiting for Daniel's reaction but all he got was a raised brows. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not," he replied, a little more seriousness in his eyes. "A lot of reporters have travelled there and all confirmed it."

He leaned closer, his expression turning surreal. "Rumors have it that some reporters haven't returned since leaving for the town years ago."

Daniel shook his head. He picked up his empty plate and walked into the kitchen. "I'm telling you, it's going to go viral," Ethan said, following his friend.

"Sure," Daniel muttered. "It seems you've already made up your mind."

"I have."

"Well, when do you leave?"

"Tomorrow, I already prepared everything."

Daniel sighed. "Good luck then."

Ethan was excited, all his previous vlogs were simple— mount Everest, skydiving, visiting islands around the world and the likes off.

He always had a professional accompanying him for safety reasons but this time... this time it was "A solo challenge," he would say.

Why does he need a professional? All he will be doing is travel to a town at the edge of the world rumoured to be infested with ghosts and explore,

"It's not as if the rumours are actually true," he said to Daniel before boarding the train to leave for Raven Creek.

He had never felt as excited. For some reason, he felt this trip was going to be more than just an adventure, and he couldn't wait for it to begin.

As he announced on his page, informing his subscribers of what he had planned, some warned him that the rumours weren't just rumours, they were true, they even went on to provide a list of reporters and police officers who went missing in the town but he would have none of it, claiming he would be the one to unravel the mysteries of Raven Creek.

----

The wind had picked up by the time Ethan reached Raven Creek. The train station was quite far from the town and he couldn't find any taxi so he had to walk the way to the town. His smile seemed to have flickered as he noticed the streets were almost empty. There were no cars. No distant voices. Just the occasional rustling of leaves... it was unsettling.

He quickly took out his phone, his mind beating his lips to a race to mumble some prayer words.

As he held the phone in his hands, he looked up at the network bar and let out a sigh of relief as he saw it was full.

Ethan brushed off the eerie feeling and walked towards the first place that caught his eye— Pine Inn.

He adjusted the strap of his camera bag over his shoulder and stepped inside.

A faint chime rang from an old bell above the door. The air smelled of aged wood and something faintly floral, like dried lavender left too long in a wooden area. The lobby was dim, the only light coming from a low-hanging chandelier, its bulbs flickering. It was as if he had walked into a whole different timeline.

At the front desk, a woman—mid-thirties, sharp features disturbed by exhaustion—looked up from the cell phone she was holding. Her name tag read Miriam.

She smiled the second her eyes caught Ethan. Her eyes glittered, urging him to walk up to her. "You must be Ethan Cross," she said, her voice too sweet for where she was.

Ethan gave a polite nod. "You know who I am?"

"Yes," She nodded with a smile. "Not much to do here so I follow each episode of your vlogs, I especially enjoy the one where you visited that island, the one with the abandoned temple, it was amazing."

Ethan's face morphed into a smile, glad that he's videos didn't miss the edge of the world. "I'm glad you liked it."

"Are you here for another episode?"

"I am," he replied. "I've heard of all the ghost rumours of Raven Creek so I've come to check it out myself."

The woman's face turned almost entirely grim but it was quickly concealed with a smile. "I don't really leave this inn that often, so I can't confirm."

With an unchanging expression, Miriam picked up a pen and a book, the inn's registry and scribbled stuff into it before sliding a key to him. "Room 207."

"You're staying for a week?" she asked, though it didn't sound like a question.

"That's the plan." Ethan reached for the key, hesitating at its cold, almost wet texture. He glanced down, his fingers looked clean, but the key felt like it had been left out in the rain. "Is it... I may stay longer, is it okay if I only pay for a week now?"

"Of course." Miriam exhaled softly. "We don't get many visitors."

He nodded. "Yep... That's quite, obvious..." He let his words trailed off as he noticed the look on her face. "Ehm, see you later." He picked up his things and started towards the stairs.

The hallway leading to his room was longer than it should have been. He felt like he had been walking for at least half an hour.

The wooden floors groaned under his sneakers. Faint wallpaper peeling at the edges hinted at the age of the place. A single light source flickered near the end of the corridor.

Ethan glanced at the room numbers as he walked. 201… 203… 205…

Then, finally— he stopped.

"Was it 206 or 207?" He muttered to himself.

He looked down at the key but it didn't have any designation for the door number. For a second, he just stood there, entirely lost for ideas until the door to room 207 opened and an elderly man stepped out of the room, he looked as though he was older than the building itself.

The man eyed Ethan as he shut his door close before walking in the opposite direction from Ethan.

Having confirmed it was 206, Ethan slipped his keys into the lock. The brass key turned in the lock with ease and the door slid open, revealing a modest space.

A single bed, its sheets tucked so tightly they barely had wrinkles. A wooden writing desk, old but sturdy. A small TV resting atop a dresser, the kind with dials instead of buttons.

A window, slightly open, letting in a thin, cool breeze.

Ethan entered the room and shut the door behind him. He let his bag drop onto the bed and turned in a slow circle, surveying the room. The air felt… still. Stagnant, almost.

He took out his camera and flipped open the viewfinder, instinctively checking how the lighting looked inside.

He faces the camera at his reflection on the window glass. It wasn't clear.

"Maybe it's the evening light."

Ethan lowered the camera and turned, as he did, he caught a glimpse through the side of his eye as if his reflection was still holding up the camera. He turned back quickly, but everything was normal.

The reflection was normal.

He let out a slow breath, forcing a laugh. "Okay, maybe I need sleep." He let himself fall onto the bed and shut his eyes, drifting asleep almost immediately.

----

The next morning, Ethan got up, cleaned up quickly and headed out. He adjusted the camera on his gimbal, sweeping it over the empty streets of Raven Creek as he explored. Just like the day he arrived, the place was still basically empty.

"This place is seriously something else," he said, his voice relaxed but curious. "Population? Practically zero."

He spoke into his camera as he walked through the streets of Raven Creek.

Comments like—

"You shouldn't have gone there."

"It's so creepy." — kept flushing in from his phone which he held in his other hand but it didn't matter, he was determined to explore every corner of the town.

He turned down a narrow alley, the walls on either side lined with faded posters of events long past, some torn, some still clinging stubbornly to the brick. The ground was littered with discarded papers some were entirely smudged by mud while some remained fine. He picked one up.

"You promised me we'd leave together. But now I'm waiting in a town that feels less and less like home."

Ethan frowned slightly but smiled for the camera. "Okay, now this is the kind of cryptic stuff I was hoping for. Just casual heartbreak notes left on the street."

He tucked it into his pocket and moved on, weaving through small shops, most of them locked up. A few had lights on inside, but there were no customers, and in some cases, no visible owners.

Next was the library. It had books piled in strange formations, almost like someone had stacked them deliberately, only to abandon the effort midway.

The theatre still had film titles from over a decade ago. The glass doors were slightly ajar, but Ethan resisted the temptation.

"Maybe later," he said before turning away.

Finally, the café. His stomach was grumbling, reminding him that he hadn't had anything all day.

A small bell chimed as he stepped in, and for the first time all since he arrived at the town, the place actually felt alive. Warm lighting. Soft jazz humming from an old radio. And most importantly—people.

Ethan exhaled, grinning. "Finally, civilization," he said, a smile washing over him.

He adjusted his camera, giving it a slow pan across the counter, where a barista in her mid-20s was leaning lazily against the espresso machine. She had dark eyes and expressions that turned to a smile the second she saw him.

"Wow," she said, crossing her arms. "Ethan Cross. Didn't think you were the type to visit nowhere towns."

Ethan blinked. "You know me too? It's almost as if everyone here knows who I am."

She smirked. "I watch your stuff sometimes. The abandoned hotel vlog? Classic."

Ethan grinned. "Yes, finally... That one is my number one too."

She laughed, then nodded toward his camera. "You filming now?"

"Always."

She smiled, the thought of knowing she was going to be in his video seemed to make her happy.

"Want an actual story?"

Ethan raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "I'm listening."

She leaned forward. "This town? It's got more than just 'empty streets' and 'cool decay shots.' There are places here that people don't talk about."

"Like?"

She paused for a second before leaning back. "Tell you what, meet me tomorrow. I'll show you."

Ethan tilted his head. "That easy, No 'you shouldn't have come here' speech?"

She grinned. "Nah. But if you chicken out, I'll be disappointed."

"Okay then," he said. "So, where am I meeting you?"

She reached for a napkin and wrote something down.

"My place," she said, sliding it over. "10 AM. Don't be late... Actually, make it 11, I have to put my grandma to sleep." She smiled.

Ethan glanced at the address, then back at her. "You are just going to invite a stranger over, pretty bold."

She shrugged. "You're a vlogger. If you kill me, at least it'll be documented."

Ethan laughed. "Fair enough. And your name?"

She smiled. "Lena."

Before he could push for more, another customer waved for her attention, and she was gone.

Ethan pocketed the napkin, feeling the excitement already starting to pick up on his adventure.

Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

----

By the time he made it back to Pine Inn, the front entrance was slightly open. Inside, a small group of five or six people, -he didn't bother to count- were gathered near the lobby, their voices carrying a soft melodic tone.

"Happy birthday to you… Happy birthday to you…"

Ethan slowed down and looked into their middle.

The old man he saw when he first arrived sat on a chair, a small cake with one lit candle in front of him. He looked… tired. But he smiled as they sang.

Ethan hesitated before stepping in.

Miriam, the front desk woman, noticed him and walked over.

"Didn't think I'd see a party here," Ethan said lightly.

Miriam glanced back at the group, then shrugged. "My granddad. He's over hundred. At this point it's a tradition. We always come together for his birthdays."

Ethan nodded slowly. "That's nice. Family's important."

She studied him for a moment before speaking. "How's your stay?"

"Interesting," Ethan replied. "Met someone at the café. She's gonna show me the town's weird spots tomorrow."

Miriam's expression flickered for half a second almost to a frown before she smiled.

"I'm still finding time to watch the one you did today, but I will."

Something about the way she spoke the words made him pause, but before he could respond, the old man looked up from his cake, straight at Ethan.

Ethan didn't know why, but the stare sent an odd shiver through him.

He forced a chuckle. "Anyway, big day tomorrow. Gotta get some sleep."

Miriam nodded once. "Good night, Ethan."

As he turned toward the stairs, the group behind him started singing again.

"Happy birthday to you…"

For a man who had already blown out his candle. Odd.

----

Ethan stood at the address Lena had given him, staring at the crumbling remains of what was once a house.

"What is happening?" He mumbled, then looked once more at the napkin he was holding, then at the sign on the wall of the house.

It was all confusing. Not only does the sign on the wall shows that he was in the right place, but he had asked around and a local shopkeeper he saw on the street pointed him in the direction. But all that's left of the house was... ruins.

The windows were shattered. The front door hung open at an odd angle. The entire place was swallowed by vines and weed.

"This… this can't be right," Ethan muttered into his camera. "She said she lived here. She gave me this address. Was she messing with me?"

He checked the napkin again, his fingers gripping it tightly. Same numbers. Same street.

The place looked like it hadn't been lived in for years.

He turned and spotted an elderly man walking by. The man's eyes seemed to be on Ethan just as Ethan's was on his.

"Hey! Sir?" Ethan called, jogging up to the man. "Do you know who lives here? A woman, mid-20s, dark hair, goes by Lena?"

The man stopped, blinking at him. Deep confusion settled into his wrinkled face. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped as if he were trying to figure out how to answer.

After a while, he finally spoke. "Son… nobody's lived there since before I was born."

Ethan felt a cold chill run down his spine. He couldn't believe it. "That's not possible. I... I talked to her yesterday. She works at a café."

The man frowned. "Café?"

Ethan gestured down the street. "The one a few blocks down."

The old man paused then shook his head slowly. "There hasn't been a café in Raven Creek for a long time, the last one closed years back, got too expensive to keep alive."

Ethan's eyes widened, not just in shock, but also in a bit of fear. He took out his phone to read the comments but there was nothing, the vlog he had started earlier shows that it had ended a while ago

----

Ethan practically ran back to the Pine Inn, breath ragged as he rushed up the steps and into the lobby.

He didn't spare the Innkeeper any look as he sprinted up to his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Alright, alright," he muttered, trying to calm himself. "This is insane. Did I... did I just imagine everything?"

He sat on the edge of his bed, running his hands through his hair. "Okay, let's just go over this logically," he mumbled to himself. "I talked to her. She wrote down her address. I have it right here."

He held up the napkin, looking at the address boldly written on the napkin with black ink. "So what the hell is going on?"

A sudden knock on the door caused him to snap out of his thoughts.

Ethan froze.

"…Miriam?"

Silence.

He stood up slowly and walked over to the door, slowly gripping the doorknob. He inhaled and exhaled deeply before pulling it open but no one was there. He looked down the hallway, it was completely still.

Ethan stepped out of his room and looked left and right. He glanced at his room number— 207, then that of the door next to him, the room he saw the old man walked out of on his first day— 206.

His heart pounded in his chest as he climbed down the stairs.

No one at the front desk, Miriam who he had sawn on his way up to his room wasn't there anymore.

No guests.

No lights.

It was like the place had been abandoned for years, shackled with cobwebs and dust. He swallowed hard and rushed back up to his room only to stop in the doorway of the room, it was stripped clean of his things.

His bag? Gone.

His clothes? Gone.

His tripod, his extra batteries, his laptop? All gone.

The only thing left was his camera, sitting perfectly centred on the bed.

Ethan slowly picked up the camera while his eyes searched around the room. He turned back to the camera and scrolled through the files, searching for all the recordings, there was just one. But when he clicked it to play the video, he got an error message.

ERROR. FILE NOT FOUND.

He swallowed hard.

"This isn't real," he whispered to himself, it can't be.

Ethan bolted outside, stepping into the cold morning air, except the town was dead silent, not the silence he noticed when he first arrived, it was much worse, too quiet, eerie even.

Some buildings which he had seen on his arrival were gone, and others were replaced by ruins of their remains.

He turned a corner—where the café should have been.

Gone.

Not just abandoned. Not even boarded up. Completely gone. In its place was only a space, overgrown with weeds and surrounded by a rusted, waist-high fence.

Ethan's breathing grew shallow. His mind raced as fast as it could to process what was happening but he couldn't find a single stable thought to hold on to, he was utterly confused.

And then… he saw it.

An old signboard, weathered by time, standing crooked near the sidewalk.

"Raven Creek – Northen Military Camp"

As he stared at the sign, his camera slipped from his fingers, landing in the dirt with a soft thud.

He stood still, turning around what he thought was a town, his mind unsteady until everything blurred, his vision darkening at the edges.

----

"Hello," Daniel greeted as he stepped into the cafeteria that was just a few blocks from his house. "Two americanos, please," he ordered.

The barista shot him a smile before turning to get his order.

Daniel took out his phone and leaned on the counter while he waited for his order.

As he scrolled through his phone a notification popped up, one that sent chills down his spine.

"New video by 'Cross Trip'." His brows furrowed as he read the message. He raised his head and scanned the cafeteria for reasons he wasn't sure why before turning back to his phone.

With a pounding chest and shaking thumb, he pressed the play button.

....

Written by Veinti3eis.

ns18.188.216.102da2

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