I can hear her calling

Hallowtide Files: The Gheeldyn

Transcript from leather-bound journal, turned in anonymously 10/9/25 to the "Hallowtide Files: The Gheeldyn" Request for Materials

Text and image copyright © 2025 Ed Herrington

⚠️ Content Warning: Implied sexual assault, murder

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I can hear her calling

Sept 18, 2024 — Full Moon — Partial Lunar Eclipse

I woke in a cold sweat. It was almost 2. I don’t have time for this! I’d have to wake up for school in a few hours. I tried to go back to sleep.

    But I could hear her calling

I didn’t want to go to her.

    But I could feel her calling

My parents would hear me if I went out the front door. The last thing I needed was for dad to find me half-dressed and out of my room. So, I went out my window. Bare feet hitting flower-bed gravel and sending it crackling.

Her voice cried out again. I knew exactly where she was calling from, but I promised myself I would never go there. I could never be seen there.

     But I could hear her calling

Hesitantly, I turned towards the back of the neighborhood, then headed to the woods, feet slapping on smooth asphalt. The road was still warm from the sun’s daily rays. The cool autumn air grabbed at my bare arms and ankles and tried to drag me back to bed.

I reached the edge of the asphalt where it meets the ground covered in pine needles. I would have just stayed there all night if I could, but the shadows wouldn’t let me. The shadows crept across the ground towards me, pushing me to go into the lone trail.

According to the text on back, this is a photo of the entrance to the trail leading to where the journal was discovered, dated 10/7/25.

As a kid, I’d been to this trail many times. I played with foam swords and shields with my friends. I climbed every big oak. I hung ropes on their branches and we swung on them until we collapsed, exhausted, in their piles of leaves. I snuck my first kiss with a girl behind one of these trees.

But tonight, they were a lonely place. No owls hooted, no crickets chirped. They weren’t dark though. Tonight was a partial lunar eclipse. I marked it on my calendar, but it was when I was supposed to be fucking sleeping, so I didn’t plan on seeing it.

The fog scattered the scarlet moonlight through the trees. It was quite beautiful. I admired it for a moment. The shadows got impatient and egged me on.

I entered the trail and tried not to walk to that place I said I’d never go again. No matter what path I took, the shadows caught up with me.

I told the shadows to go fuck themselves, and ran back towards the road. What followed me was larger than a shadow. Twigs snapped and leaves rustled behind me. I kept running.

    I could hear her calling

I said, “Fuck no, not tonight bitch!” and kept running. I could feel her behind me, just a finger away. Her talons scraped at my arms, tore at my ankles, but I kept running.

I made it to the road and ran home, feet bloody from roots and rocks. I dove through the window. I wanted to slam it shut, but I didn’t want to wake the house. I slid it down quietly, climbed into my bed, and covered my head with the comforter.

I don’t know if I slept, but the alarm woke me up on time.

Sep 19

She called to me again last night. I told her, yet again, to fuck off. She didn’t listen, but I ignored her—for the most part. Her howls kept me awake all night.

Sep 21

Text on back of photo: View of sky from forest clearing., dated 10/7/25.

I awoke in the woods.

I didn’t remember going there. But I could hear her calling. The clearing was lit by the waning moon. I knew this clearing. I didn’t want to be at this clearing.

I scrambled to my feet, bare on the dirt. The moonlight crowned the trees and made a perfect circle of shadows. The edge of the shadows pulsed, circling my feet in waves.

    I could feel her calling

“What do you want from me?” I shouted into the trees. The shadows snapped to a shape that obeyed the laws of physics.

        You have a secret

“What—what the hell are you talking about?”

             Your secret
        feed it to me

“How?”

             Write your truth
                    put it in the soil

I did as I was told and dropped to my knees, using my finger to scratch a message into the dark earth.

Charlotte was here

She growled.

            Half-truths will not save you

I felt her reach for me, talons breaking skin. Just then, a cloud passed in front of the moon, and the shadows receded into darkness. Her grip vanished.

I stood up and ran home.

Sep 22

    I could hear her calling

I returned to the woods and wrote my truth into the soil.

Charlotte was here

I awoke to my alarm in my bed. I do not remember anything else.

Sep 23

Charlotte was here

Sep 24

Charlotte was here

Sep 27

Many nights, I awake in the forest. I never remember going there or going home. But I write my half-truth and awake in bed.

Charlotte was here
                   Charlotte was here
                                      Charlotte was here

Oct 3

    I could hear her calling—faintly.

I could feel her hold on me weakening as the moon moved into darkness. Without shadows, she had no dominion over me. So I did what any sane person would do, and walked to the woods.

As I entered the clearing, I turned off my flashlight. I didn’t want her to have any shadow to work with.

“What do you want from me? I can’t tell you my secret.”

          Write your truth
                put it in the soil

“I have!”

        Your grief

                  Your shame

           I can taste it

                        It festers in you
        
                 I want it

“It’s not yours.”

                                It will be

I tried to talk to her again, but she was only a whisper on the wind.

Oct 9

    I could feel her calling

I looked at the lunar calendar on my phone—full moon in eight days. I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist her for long.

I rolled over and tried to sleep.

Oct 11

                   Charlotte was here

Oct 12

Charlotte was here

Oct 13

I stood at the edge of the forest, willing myself not to enter. The streetlight brightened, and the shadows grew darker, cutting a crisp black edge. They pushed me forward.

I had a plan. I reached the clearing.

                 Give me your secret

“I’ll give you a secret,” I said, pulling the knife out of my pocket.

        That won’t hurt me

“It’s not for you.”

I pressed it against my wrist, breaking the skin, letting a trickle of blood escape. If she wanted my misery, I was going to give it to her. But she couldn’t have my secret.

The shadows rushed in, pulling at my arms, pinning me into the dirt.

        Fool
             why would you give your life for this secret

“Because it hurts too much,” I sobbed. “I must not remember.”

             Reveal your secret in the soil

“No!”

                I will set you free

The shadows pushed the knife into my hand. I began to dig. One slice after another, I broke into the soil until I hit bone.

There was his face. The face I must not remember. I didn’t want to remember his hands on me, his hot breath, his vile stench. His face was half rotten, much improved over his living visage.

She demanded

        Put it in the soil

I stabbed the knife into his chest, for the second time.

She moaned

                  Delicious

The knife rusted to dust. The corpse crumbled into ashes. The breeze carried them away.

I just lay there, crying, folding into a ball. The shadows surrounded me, warmed me, comforted me. Hello darkness, my old friend.

Oct 15

                               here 
                    was            
Charlotte                      

Oct 16

I awoke in the woods. I thought I was done with this, didn’t I feed her what she wanted?

But the clearing was different. A circle of mushrooms always surrounded the center of the clearing. My mom calls them Fairy rings. When I realized where I was, I shouted “No—no-no-no!”

             You still have a secret
        I want it

“No...”, I cried. “This, this one is too much!”

              Feed it to me
                    I will set you free

“I can’t!”

I ran. This time, the shadows didn’t follow. She knew the moon cycle as well as I did— tomorrow, I would be powerless.

Oct 17, 2024 — Huntress Moon

I couldn’t hear her calling. But I knew I had to go.

I would bring this journal. I had one final entry to write.

When I reached the clearing, I started digging.

I did not unwrap the little bundle inside.

She wailed and cried with me.

The bundle turned to ash and floated to the Heavens.

This journal is the final secret. I have to put it in the soil.

I will fold this letter for you, my darling, and place it with the journal.

ENCLOSED LETTER

My little darling,

I don’t know who your father was. All I know is he was an evil man. The night he came to me, I killed him. But not before he planted a seed.

I don’t tell you this to be cruel. I tell you this because I love you, and you should always be honest with those you love. I did not expect to have you, but the moment I knew you were there, I loved you.

I wanted you to know that your father was an evil man, but that did not make me love you less. I wanted to hold you in my arms, to kiss the top of your little head.

But the distress he caused me was more than I could bear, more than my body could bear. When my body could no longer carry you, I had to let you go.

I was afraid to tell my parents about the man and about you. I was afraid no one would believe me. I was afraid people would think I got an abortion and put me in prison.

So, I buried the truth, and I buried you in the soil. My favorite spot in these woods as a child. Where we would play, sing songs, and have fun. I thought you would enjoy that, a way to experience a little of the childhood you were robbed of.

I do not want my father’s name, so I will not give it to you.

My mother named me Charlotte, and I love her. So I give you my name, and mine alone.

Charlie, I love you.

Mom

LAST PAGE OF JOURNAL

If you’re reading this journal, you have spoiled sacred ground. Your guilt of reading this will drive you to keep it hidden—to keep it secret. She feeds on secrets.

Lady Misery will find you.

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