The House on Hollow Ridge

It started as a joke, like most bad ideas do. Jace Carver sat in a cracked vinyl booth at Millie’s Diner, the neon sign outside buzzing faintly, casting a red glow over the parking lot. It was Friday night, two weeks before Halloween, and the air was thick with the restless energy of teenagers with nothing better to do. Jace, Ben, Mia, and Tyler were crammed around a table littered with half-eaten fries and milkshake glasses, the jukebox playing some old rock song no one recognized. Tyler, always the loudest, was spinning tales about Harroway House, the abandoned mansion on Hollow Ridge that every kid in town knew about. “They say the old man, Harroway, snapped one night. Killed his whole family with an axe. People still hear screams up there.” He leaned forward, grinning, his eyes glinting with mischief. “Bet none of you would dare set foot in that place.”