Chapter 4
The First Discovery
A search party finds William. The discovery is grim, confirming their worst fears: he's been murdered. Shock and terror grip the remaining friends, and suspicion immediately falls on each other.
The silence that descended after William’s shout was more deafening than any scream. It clung to the damp air, thick and suffocating, pressing in on us from all sides. We stood frozen, a tableau of disbelief and dawning horror. The forest, moments before a place of shared adventure, now felt like a cage, its ancient trees silent witnesses to something unspeakable.
“William?” Nancy’s voice, usually so steady, trembled. “What is it?”
He didn’t answer. His gaze was fixed on something beyond our immediate clearing, his face a mask of shock. Then, slowly, he raised a hand, pointing a shaking finger towards a dense thicket of ferns and shadowed undergrowth.
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