The Drowning (ePub)

The first day back to school was meant to be routine for veteran teacher Judith Ellis, but fate had other horrifying plans. As she scanned the fresh faces of her 6th grade class, her eyes locked onto a boy bearing an unsettling resemblance to her late son Tommy, who had drowned in their pool five years prior at that very age. A cold sweat formed as the new student introduced himself as Scott Ellis - Tommy's middle name. Impossibly, he listed Judith's own address as his home. When he solemnly declared her his mother, the ground seemed to shift beneath Judith's feet.

Though the class proceeded unfazed, Judith's world had been shaken to its core. She tried dismissing it as mere coincidence, but found herself inextricably drawn to this mysterious child. Unnatural occurrences began manifesting around her - objects drifting across rooms, shadows contorting into disturbing shapes. The uncanny sense of being watched creeped up her spine. One haunting night, Judith awoke to the translucent form of Tommy at her bedside, warning her that darkness was coming and he would protect her. But just as suddenly as he appeared, he vanished, leaving her to question her grip on reality.

The more Judith struggled to unravel the truth about Scott, the deeper she tumbled down a rabbit hole of terror. He was no mere schoolboy, but rather a sinister being that had slipped through the veil between worlds, leeching off her anguish over Tommy's death to manifest on the physical plane. As the malevolent force's grip tightened around her, Judith realized too late that it had been slowly devouring her essence, her sanity hanging by a thread.

With her world spiraling into a waking nightmare, the boundaries of the natural world frayed and decayed. Visions of her beloved son were cruelly warped, wielded as weapons to torment her. Judith found herself plunged into a metaphysical tug-of-war, battling the eldritch entity for her very soul as it thrashed violently against her attempts at exorcism. Darker secrets about her family, her marriage, and the circumstances surrounding Tommy's tragic demise bubbled to the surface to be weaponized against her.

Only by confronting these haunting truths could Judith hope to sever the unholy tether and banish the malignant force back to the abyss. Her anguished screams echoed through the night as she relived her most traumatic memories. With her soul and psyche pushed to their limits, an extraordinary resilience welled up from her maternal depths. Summoning every ounce of love for her lost child, Judith broke the dark curse and cast out the evil presence in a shattering blast of anguished catharsis.