The Stitched

In the shadowed heart of Hallowbend, a cursed village where the Fraser river runs cold and the trees whisper secrets, a night of unimaginable horror unfolds. Around a flickering campfire, the children of the town stand motionless, their faces shrouded in darkness, their eyes glowing like dying embers. Parents and officers, gripped by dread, watch as these silent figures, pale, gaunt, and wrong, step into the firelight. Some bear crudely stitched lips, trembling with something trapped inside; others stare with slack, lifeless jaws. Then the nightmare begins. One by one, the children convulse, their bodies splitting open in grotesque ruptures. From their torn chests emerge sprouts, tiny, writhing creatures, slick with gore, clawing their way into the earth to vanish beneath unnatural growths of grass. The air fills with the stench of blood and rot, punctuated by the chilling laughter of unseen shadow stalkers echoing from the trees. As the hollowed shells of the children rise, their mouths re-sewn by invisible hands, they lurch toward the river in a chilling, marionette-like march. In Hallowbend, the villagers face an ancient evil that festers beneath the soil, a force that claims their children and defies all reason. This is a tale of terror, loss, and the desperate fight to uncover the truth before the ground itself consumes them all.