Experience Tumblr like never before
THE HOLLOW MAN
It started with a whisper.
"Come closer."
Mia bolted upright in bed, her breath caught in her throat. The room was dark except for the dim glow of the streetlights outside. Beside her, Jake was fast asleep, his chest rising and falling in steady rhythm.
Had she imagined it?
She held her breath, listening.
Silence.
Mia let out a shaky exhale and laid back down, pulling the covers up to her chin. She was probably just tired. But just as sleep began to take her—
"I’m waiting."
The voice was right beside her ear.
She jerked up so fast her head spun. Her hands trembled as she reached for the bedside lamp, flicking it on. The room was empty.
Jake groaned and turned over. “Babe, what the hell?”
“There’s—” She hesitated. She couldn’t explain it. Couldn’t make him believe.
Nothing,” she muttered, turning off the light.
But it wasn’t nothing.
The whispers continued each night, growing bolder. The air felt heavy, suffocating. Shadows shifted in the corners of the room. And then—she saw him.
A shape.
Tall. Wrong.
It stood in the corner, limbs too long, torso stretched unnaturally thin. Its face was a smudge of darkness, an absence where features should be. It did not move. It did not breathe. It only watched.
Mia shut her eyes, whispering, “Not real, not real, not real.”
When she opened them again—he was closer.
She screamed.
Jake jolted awake, cursing. “Mia, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“There’s someone—” She pointed.
But the corner was empty.
“Mia, you need to sleep,” he sighed, pulling her into his arms. “You’re just freaking yourself out.”
But she wasn’t.
Because each night, the Hollow Man crept closer.
She refused to sleep. The lights stayed on. But the whispers only grew louder.
"Let me in."
Then, Mia made a mistake.
She whispered back.
"Who are you?"
The room collapsed into silence. The air turned rancid, thick with the smell of rot.
Then, slowly—it grinned.
The lights flickered.
Mia choked on a scream as her body seized, her back arching violently. Her skin rippled and split, as if something inside her was crawling its way out.
Jake watched in horror as deep, jagged cuts tore open across her stomach, something moving beneath the flesh. Her veins bulged, black and swollen, spreading like a spiderweb under her skin.
“MIA!” He lunged for her—
Her jaw snapped open.
Too wide.
Unnatural.
Her tongue split down the middle, peeling apart like rotting fruit. Her teeth sharpened before his eyes, jagged like broken glass.
Her fingers clawed at her own face, peeling away strips of skin. The flesh sloughed off in wet chunks, exposing muscle and bone.
Jake gagged. Something was pushing out from inside her.
He grabbed her wrists, trying to hold her together, but her body buckled and ripped apart, spilling blood, viscera, and something else—something dark, shifting, wrong.
The Hollow Man stepped out of her, shedding her body like a useless husk. Jake’s mouth opened in a silent scream as the creature turned toward him—
And Mia’s skinless face grinned back.
Then, the lights went out.
(Sorry this took so long, my lovelys. I hope this lives up to expectations and let me know what you want to write! Love you xx(
“you were his favorite girls”
I love this so much 😭
Alastors the dad that stepped UP
I could read a series about this I’m a sucker for happy family type shit
Alastor never anticipated that a silly little game of pretend would have his head dipping in a rare display of compassion, his heart fluttering and a subtle blush dusting over his usually cold, sharp features. You, on the other hand, nervously chuckled away right next to him, an ‘I’m sorry, what did you just say, baby?’ tumbling from your lips as you failed to process your daughter’s innocent plea in your state of shock.
“I want Mr. Alastor to pretend to be my daddy forever!” She repeated herself, her little fingers toying with the hem of her shirt. “Pretty please? He’s so nice,” She tentatively added with a sniffle, “And maybe the other kids will stop making fun of me for not having one.”
You were prepared to gently turn her down, but Alastor took her smaller hands in his larger ones before you could utter a single syllable, his ears falling back with an uncharacteristically sympathetic smile. He couldn’t say no to your daughter, her big, round eyes brimming with tears and threatening to stain the chubby cheeks he’d come to adore, his decision only solidified by her gut-wrenching admission.
“I would be honored to pretend to be your father for all of eternity, little one,” Alastor leaned down to tell her, your mouth falling open in disbelief as you observed the tender exchange between the two of them. “So long as your mother permits it, of course.”
Your daughter turned to you with an expectant look on her face, impatiently bouncing on her knees, eliciting an amused chuckle from Alastor. You supposed that there was no harm in entertaining her, mumbling ‘Fine, I’ll think about it,’ to satisfy her. And it worked, an excited squeal flooding the parlor as she turned away and resumed the game with a renewed fervor, a permanent smile etched onto her youthful features.
“You know that means that you’re stuck as my pretend husband, right?” You joked, gently bumping your shoulder against Alastor’s as he leaned back, a newfound affection towards him brewing in the depths of your stomach. “I’m sure you failed to consider that.”
“Oh, the absolute horror!” Alastor turned to you with a gasp of mock-disappointment, however he quickly succumbed to a bout of laughter. “But I could live with it,” He added, reaching out to caress your cheekbone with the back of his hand. Now it was your turn to blush.
While Alastor was unfamiliar with matters of the heart, he’d be willing to sit down with his dear friend Rosie over a long cup of tea if it meant that he could have you two, and not just in a make-believe setting. Besides his mother, you were his favorite girls, and he desperately wanted to chase that foreign feeling that overwhelmed him every time either one of you smiled up at him as if he wasn’t the Radio Demon, the most terrifying, bloodthirsty sinner in all of Hell.
“Does that mean you’re going to have babies now?” Your daughter suddenly asked, eliciting a surprised bleat from Alastor. You could only clamp a hand over your mouth, stifling your nervous laughter. “Because I want to be a big, happy family with many siblings!”
“Baby, I don’t think that’s going to—“ You started, assuming that she had pushed Alastor too far, but he quickly composed himself.
“Perhaps we could arrange to provide you a sibling or two?” Alastor interrupted you, your eyes widening in shock. “Oh, I think you’re just cruel, darling,” He said as he turned to you, gesturing to your pouting daughter, “How can you say no to that sweet little face?”