When Silence Takes Hold

In the remote mountain village of Mayhem, life follows one sacred rule: Every night, the entire village must fall asleep at exactly 10:10 PM. No exceptions. No questions. No memory of why. For centuries, the villagers simply obeyed the nightly descent into silence—believing it kept them safe. But to Hexa Rael, a restless 18-year-old who feels caged by Mayhem's traditions, the rule has always felt wrong, like a story missing its ending. Then one night, 10:10 PM arrives… and Hexa doesn't fall asleep. She becomes the first person in generations to stay awake—and what she witnesses in the minutes that follow shatters her understanding of reality. The houses of Mayhem shift. Shadows crawl where nothing exists. Old doors creak open as if pulled by invisible hands. And the sleeping villagers whisper names they shouldn't know. Hexa discovers that the sleep is not natural. It is forced. Something beneath Mayhem awakens at night. Something the village has been hiding, suppressing, and burying beneath tradition. As Hexa digs deeper, she uncovers forgotten diaries, an old map stitched into a dead woman's shawl, the unsolved disappearance of six children—including one with her name—and a hidden chamber that hums through the soil long after midnight. When the truth surfaces, Hexa realizes the people of Mayhem aren't just sleeping. They are being silenced. Now she must stay awake, night after night, while the rest of the village dreams, sleepwalks, and unknowingly follows a path set centuries ago. But awakening the truth means confronting a night that Mayhem deliberately erased from its memory—a night tied to betrayal, fear, and the kind of collective guilt that shapes generations. As the clock nears 10:10 PM each night, Hexa must make a choice: Break the rule and free Mayhem—or sleep like everyone else and forget she ever fought. A chilling, emotionally charged thriller blending folklore, psychological suspense, and a mystery that forces readers to question how far a community will go to protect itself.