Elena stirred her coffee, watching the cream swirl into the dark liquid, her thoughts tangled in the conversation. The Hollow Man. She hadn't thought about him in years, not since her childhood nightmares. But now, sitting in the same diner where she'd spent hours as a teenager, those old fears crept back.
Miles was still there, leaning against the counter, watching her. She could feel his eyes on her, not just the cop's scrutiny, but something softer. He'd always been protective of her, even when she hadn't wanted it.
"Elena," he said, his voice low. "You're not gonna ignore this, are you?"
She glanced up at him, meeting his gaze. His jaw tightened, and she could see the weight of the past in his eyes. "I don't know what you expect me to do, Miles. I'm just passing through."
"But you're not," he replied quickly. "You never really left. Not in here." He tapped his chest. "You know that."
Elena's heart fluttered at the intimacy of it, but she swallowed the feeling. "What happened to Sarah?"
Miles ran a hand through his hair. "Nothing. Not yet. But people are scared. They say it's the Hollow Man again. It's like... like a pattern that starts, and no one can stop it."
There was something in his tone that made her stomach turn. This wasn't just about the disappearances. It was about something else—something buried under the town's skin that neither of them wanted to face.
"You believe that?" Elena asked, her voice shaky.
"I didn't, when I was a kid. But now? I don't know what to believe anymore."
The silence between them grew thick, like the air before a storm. Elena felt the weight of his words settle around her, and her fingers tightened around her mug. Her chest ached with a mix of anger and fear. She hated the way he made her feel like she was being pulled back into something she couldn't escape.
"We should go look for her," Miles added quietly. "If she's out there..."
Elena hesitated. She hadn't signed up for this. But the town's ghost, the one that had haunted her even when she'd left, was pulling her back. And she couldn't ignore it any longer.