Samantha Monroe had always been the kind of beauty people in Raven's Creek whispered about — the kind that made strangers smile and neighbors talk. Nineteen, with sunlight hair and soft green eyes, she was the pride of her family, the kind who lit up every corner of the quiet town.
That night, the fog rolled in thick and low, swallowing the roads beyond the last streetlight. She'd gone to meet some friends near the woods — close to the Raventon Tunnel. Hours passed. Her mother waited by the window, the phone pressed to her chest.
When it finally rang past midnight, relief flooded her voice.
"Samantha? Where are you?"
"Mom…" The line crackled with static. "There's… there's someone here."
Her tone wavered between confusion and fright. "She looks strange — like she's wearing some kind of mask. She asked me something."
The mother's heart began to race. "What did she ask, sweetheart?"
Samantha's voice turned distant, trembling. "She said, 'Do you think I'm beautiful?' And I told her yes."
A faint, distorted giggle came through the receiver — then silence. The call dropped.
Samantha Monroe never came home that night.
By morning, Sheriff Reed's cruiser was parked outside the Monroe house. They found her near the Raventon Tunnel — lifeless, pale, and smiling.
But it wasn't her smile.