THE CHILD

 The village elder, his voice raspy with age, warned the child, “Stay away from the old well". Shadows linger there and whispers slither out under the full moon. But the child, fueled by youthful braveness and an insatiable curiosity, scoffed the well, shrouded in moss and legend, pulsed with an allure he couldn’t resist.

He crept towards the well as the moon bled silver onto the cracked earth. The silence was thick, broken only by the rustle of dry leaves under his feet. He peered into the inky depths, a shiver slithering down his spine. A faint glint caught his eye, something submerged far below. He lowered a stone tied to a rope, its descent punctuated by sickening thuds.

Suddenly, the rope went taut. Panic surged through the child as he pulled, feeling an unnatural weight resisting. With a final heave, a skeletal hand emerged, the flesh blackened and leathery. Attached to it was a tarnished silver locket, a chilling whisper emanating from within.

Driven by morbid fascination, the child pulled the locket open. He saw a faded inscription in the moonlight: “Free me, and share my fate”. The whisper intensified, slithering into his mind, weaving tales of forgotten promises and unspeakable vengeance.

Terror clawed at him, urging him to flee. But the whisper held him captive, promising power in exchange for obedience. Blinded by fear and ambition, the child hung the locket around his neck. The world around him warped, darkness replacing moonlight. Shadows stretched, morphing into grotesque figures with glowing eyes. They spoke in the same chilling whisper, their voices merging into one.

The child screamed, but no sound escaped his constricted throat. He was trapped, his fate entwined with the dark spirit in the well. As the shadows closed in, the chilling whisper echoed in his mind, a constant reminder of his foolish bargain: “You are free, child. Free to share my eternal darkness”.

And in the silent horror of the well, under the watchful gaze of the moon, child's screams dissolved into the night, replaced by the ever present, chilling whisper, a testament to the price of curiosity and the seductive lure of forbidden knowledge.