The Secret My Mother Buried

My dad vanished four years ago on Widow's Peak, a notorious trail.

I thought I'd finally found closure when rangers declared him dead, burying his ruined journal in our backyard.

But then, late one night, the back door creaked open, and he was back.

Not really.

He was a horrifying shell of a man, caked in dirt, radiating a preternatural chill, and grinning with an empty, fixed smile.

My mom, Linda, took one look at him and whispered, "That is not your father," before fleeing, leaving me alone with it.

Desperate, I unearthed Dad's journal, its water-damaged pages filled with warnings, and a chilling photo of Carol, my biological mother, dead near a cave.

His last legible entry, scrawled in what looked like blood, screamed: "MAYA! LINDA ISN'T YOUR MOTHER!"

My world shattered.

Who was Carol?

And if Linda wasn't my mother, then who was she, the woman who raised me, now possibly a betrayer?

I had to unearth every dark secret the Appalachian mountains held, from the chilling 'Hollow Man' in my living room to the twisted truth of my family, even if it meant confronting the woman who sacrificed everything for me.