Chapter 2: The Smile That Didn’t Reach Her Eyes

June stared at the letter in her hands long after her aunt had gone to bed. The handwriting was unfamiliar—neat, careful, almost too perfect—but it made her hands shake all the same. “It begins where it once ended.” Maple Town.

She hadn’t been there since she was nine. The town had been blurred into the background of her life, tucked away like an old scar. Her parents had taken her there for a short vacation—and never made it out. June was found wandering alone in the forest, clothes torn, blood on her knees, eyes blank.

No one ever told her what really happened.

She pressed the letter to her chest and closed her eyes. The air around her felt tighter, charged like it had the night before a thunderstorm. She wasn’t imagining this. Something had been stirring her whole life—and now it was waking up.

The next morning, June packed quietly. Just enough clothes for a week. Her aunt noticed but didn’t say much until breakfast.

“You’re leaving?” Meera asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Just for a few days. I need... to clear my head.”

Meera looked unconvinced. “June, you’ve been quiet since your birthday. Again.”

“I need to go somewhere,” June said, voice low. “Alone.”

Meera tapped her coffee mug. “Where?”

June hesitated. “Maple Town.”

Her aunt dropped the mug. It shattered across the floor. Coffee pooled around their feet like an omen.

“You’re not serious.”

June looked her in the eye. “I am.”

“June,” Meera said, stepping over the mess. “That place is cursed. You know what happened there—don’t you remember?”

“No,” June whispered. “I don’t. That’s the problem.”

Her aunt’s face changed. Something behind her eyes faltered, then turned hard.

“I promised your mother I’d protect you,” Meera said. “And I’m telling you now—don’t go back there.”

But June had already made up her mind. The voice in her head, the letter, the flashes—none of it was going to stop unless she faced it. She had to go.

Two days later, she was on a dusty bus winding through hills and pine forests. Maple Town was still three hours away. She watched trees blur past the window, her fingers lightly tracing the shape of the moon pendant around her neck—a gift from her father when she turned seven.

As the sky dimmed, a boy slid into the empty seat beside her. He looked about her age, maybe a year older, wearing a faded gray hoodie and jeans, earbuds in, head tilted slightly toward her.

She caught a glimpse of his eyes—silver-gray, almost unnatural. Her breath caught.

“You okay?” he asked, pulling one earbud out.

June blinked. “Yeah. Just tired.”

“You heading to Maple?”

She nodded.

“First time?”

“No,” she said, unsure why she was even answering. “I used to live there. Kind of.”

He smiled faintly, but something about it unsettled her. It didn’t reach his eyes. Not even close.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

He paused. “Call me River.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Unusual.”

“I get that a lot.”

River leaned back against the seat, watching her without watching her. Like he already knew who she was. Like he was waiting for something.

The bus jerked slightly. June’s fingers curled into her jacket sleeve. She felt watched—not just by River, but by the trees, the sky... even the moon.

River finally looked away, muttering, “Maple has a strange pull, doesn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

He tilted his head. “You’ll see.”

Then he closed his eyes, and the conversation was over.

By the time they reached Maple Town, the sun had set. Fog rolled over the ground like it had been waiting for them to arrive. The town looked almost untouched by time—quiet streets, old streetlamps, and stone cottages with ivy creeping up the sides.

June stepped off the bus, the cold air clinging to her skin. Her heart thudded against her ribs.

She turned to look for River, but he was already gone.

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